HONG KONG (SE): “Sometimes we worry about little things [but] what is important is what is in our hearts,” said Father Dave Conception—The Filipino priest whose grounded, anecdotal homilies—online via YouTube or in person, have reached out and touched the hearts many, was briefly in Hong Kong and celebrated the 6.30pm anticipated Sunday Mass at a jam packed Church of the Annunciation, Tsuen Wan, on August 31.
Affectionately known as “Father Dave”, the current chaplain of the Sto. Niño de Paz Chapel in Greenbelt, Makati, the Philippines, noted that “sometimes we are too particular with rituals.” He pointed out that the second reading [James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27] tells us to “be doers of the Word, not just performers of the ritual.”
During his homily, Father Dave referred to the scribes and Pharisees who asked why Jesus’ disciples were eating with hands that were ritually unclean. He mentioned that in this context, washing hands is not just about cleaning dirty hands, but also about cleansing away iniquity and sins—ritual.
He jokingly noted that many people can participate in Mass while sleeping because they already have memorised its parts, illustrating how people can become immersed in the rituals. “But where is your heart?” he wondered.
“Don’t just be good at reciting the rosary,” he continued, “but be good in contemplating the mysteries.”
He remarked that people can be good at giving but fail to be generous. “Giving does not make us generous, but what is in our hearts. Generosity,” he continued, “is not about how much we give, but about how little we have kept for ourselves.”
He asked the congregation to consider why it so easy to count the sins of others, but fail to to look into ourselves and consider what we have become. “Maybe it’s because we have become so good at rituals and we are always praised for being so good at them.”
Father Conception emphasised, “We will not get into heaven by doing rituals, unless we do the Word and observe the Commandments.”
He went on to remind those gathered that reciting prayers does not make us prayerful people, stressing that “prayer is not a self-centred monolith, but a God centred dialogue, where we as people go beyond the rituals and allow God to speak to our hearts.”
