HAPPY CHINESE NEW Year of the Ox! The eventful and tumultuous Year of the Rat is part of history. We begin the New Year with new hopes, new aspirations and new resolutions. The Ox, the second animal in the Chinese zodiac, denotes hard work, positivity and honesty. We hope the year will manifest these qualities in the lives of the people of China and all Southeast Asian countries who follow the Lunar calendar and celebrate the Lunar New Year, this year on February 12.
For the Chinese people and for many in the Southeast Asia, regardless of religious affiliation, the Lunar New Year is a reminder of our culture, traditions and common origin; a time to honour ancestors, to give thanks for the past year and to pray for a better year.
The Year of the Rat was particularly hard. Indeed, we sailed through a tempestuous year, anxious of an obscure future, both on account of the global pandemic and socio-political uncertainties. We welcome the Year of the Ox, thanking God for helping us wade through the rough times to walk toward a future of hopefulness and positivity.
This year like most years, Chinese New Year, and Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent occur within a few days of each other. Together with the festivities of the new year, the season of Lent calls for renewal of one’s life with a fresh start. It may be sheer coincidence that, as we begin the new year in the Roman calendar with deep spiritual preparations for Christmas, the Chinese New Year also begins with deep spiritual preparations for Lent and Easter. Ash Wednesday makes an explicit call for conversion, a detour in life to renew one’s relationship with God, with others, with family and with oneself.
But unlike in previous years, this New Year and Lent will have no common celebration of the Mass. Although the resumption of public Mass remains uncertain, recent pastoral guidelines from the diocesan chancery encourage the faithful, while observing government guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infections, to return to parishes and avail of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist on all feasible days and the liturgy of ashes on the Ash Wednesday. For Catholics who have had no access to the sacraments for months, the new arrangement brings immense comfort.
Although we greet one another “Happy Chinese New Year” and “good health” in Hong Kong, the annual festival is nothing close to being happy. Thousands have no place of their own to stay and find shelter on the streets and many more go to bed hungry, with no food to eat. This new year and the season of Lent provides us with an unique opportunity to be concerned about these less fortunate brethren on the streets that they too may share the hope and happiness of the new year.
Perhaps the message we should keep close to our hearts is provided by Pope Francis in his address for the World Day of Peace on December 17: “The culture of care … calls for a common, supportive and inclusive commitment to protecting and promoting the dignity and good of all, a willingness to show care and compassion, to work for reconciliation and healing, and to advance mutual respect and acceptance.” We wish our readers a prosperous New Year of the Ox! jose, cmf
