After the many feasts such as Christmas, the Church’s liturgical year has entered another new season of Ordinary Time I, followed by Lent, Easter, Ordinary Time II, and Advent [the beginning of a new liturgical year]. We celebrate the same feasts every year and read the Bible through the three-year Sunday cycle of A, B, and C. Gradually we become quite familiar with the content and some may even become indifferent to its message. As Christians how do we maintain our enthusiasm and eagerly participate in Masses on Sundays instead of going to churches merely out of ritual habit?
The most important part in reading the Bible is to puttig God’s words into action, and the greatest commandment given by our Lord is love. “Love one another as I have loved you” [John 15:12]. We have to bring God’s love to others, to love others as ourselves, share our love with others, and to help those in need.
One of the best examples of love is the community activities and charitable services held by the parish. Many parish groups regularly organise activities to bring love and blessings to the disadvantaged in the city. For instance during Christmas, one parish collected winter clothes and food from church and sent them to the homeless in the hope bringing them some warmth and to share the message of God’s love.
Some parishes also invited the faithful to write their blessings on cards and send their wishes to those in need. In fact, over the past three years the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Workers, and the social concern groups in various parishes frequently provided Covid-19 prevention supplies to frontline cleaning workers, street sleepers, and the elderly who live alone. “Truly, I say to you: whenever you did this to these little ones who are my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” [Matthew 25:40].
In addition to community services, it is critical for the parish to support the formation activities to nurture the faithful. Now that the pandemic has subsided, parishes should have more opportunities to hold these activities.
Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, sj, pointed out in his Advent pastoral letter that the development of the diocese in the coming years will be focused on formation, which encompasses to three areass: Laity, Young People and Clergy. That is, the formation and sanctification of the laity, the pastoral support and formation of the young people and the formation as well as the ongoing formation of the clergy.
These are interdependent. Bishop Chow said that through internal formation and mutual accompaniment, the different sectors of the People of God will be better able to journey together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit for a synodal Church through spiritual conversation and discernment. We have to open ourselves, listen to others, and move toward together to become the synodal Church.
The diocese needs the clergy and laity of all ages to work together to build a community of communion. May we always sincerely and openly listen to one another to form a new vitality for evangelisation. SE
