I’m willing to give up everything for an end to the occupation, which causes such a blight on this land that it’s impossible for me to feel holiness where there are deep injustices taking place.
— Aaron Rotenberg
Photostory (24 photos)
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Holy Land
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Peace with Thy Neighbours
In Luke chapter 10, the author tells the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a lawyer tried to test Jesus. First, he asked Him what should he do to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ answer, according to Luke, was “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
But the lawyer did not stop there and pressed on, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus then told the now renowned parable, in which a Samaritan came to be the lifesaver of a traveller who was robbed and beaten to half dead.
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Peace with the Creatures
in Faith
Two years ago, an animal rights society in Hong Kong was accused of putting down a lost cat erroneously. As a matter of fact, this organisation whose mission is “to promote kindness to animals”, is actually responsible for taking the lives of thousands of them every year. Ironic, isn’t it?
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“Holy Land” in Twenty Eighteen
7 years have passed since the photos in Holy Land were taken. Few positive changes can be found on the ground… if not the other way around.
Indeed, 70 years have passed since one diaspora found their homeland and brought forth another.
Since then, Peace has been a frequent traveller, alien to this place. Away most of the time, occasionally staying, rarely for long.
Her friend, Love, seemed to have deserted the land altogether.
But Faith urges us on, and we, encouraged by Hope, continue to seek the wanderer and the lost.
Kyrie eleison.
“Holy Land” in CCLC Bookstore. Photo taken by Louise Pang The second donation from the proceeds of this book has been made to Gush Shalom – an Israeli peace group founded by Uri Avnery, who penned the writing A Bird’s Eye View in Holy Land.
This bi-lingual book is now distributed by VW Link in Hong Kong (who also carries the Chinese edition of Palestinian Memories). And, as before, is available digitally on Google Play and iTunes.
2018-Aug-6: The book is now also available on Amazon Kindle.
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Expressions of Faith
A Reflection on Israel/Palestine and Hong Kong
Being a faithful witness to the Lord in our lives is an often discussed topic among the Christian faithful. Individual believers who follow the teachings of the Lord and glorifies Him through their daily deeds should be commended and encouraged indeed. At the same time, congregations, denominations and faith-based organizations may also engage in various social dialogue, and drive or oppose the implementation of government policies in order to bring about justice and peace. While being different in aspects, both types of actions can be considered “expressions of faith”, witnesses to the world by believing individuals or communities.
Meanwhile, the founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948 is considered by many believers to be a divine intervention, a validation of Biblical prophecies, or even a sign of the End Times. However, those who understand the historical background are few and far between, even though the event was arguably driven by “expressions of faith”.
Auschwitz concentration camp (C.Puisney, CC BY-SA 3.0) The mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust under the Nazi German rule had its roots in the long history of European anti-Semitism. For example, in 1475, a “ritual murder” happened in Trento, Italy: A boy named Simon was found dead, and the few Jewish families living there were framed for it and tortured by the religious-political leaders. They were forced to confess that they killed Simon to fulfill their ritual requirements, and as a result were either executed or incarcerated. Though the Roman Curia was suspicious of the authenticity of this “blood libel” case as we call it now, for various reasons, Little Simon was canonized as a Saint nonetheless. Only in 1965, after almost 500 years, was Simon removed from the Roman Martyology by Pope John Paul VI. And Little Simon was not the only blood libel case during all those years. Throughout the history of Europe, the Jewish people were negatively portrayed and persecuted since the time of Jesus’ death, in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Martin Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies, the Spanish Inquisition, the Black Death, the Crusades, to name a few. Being a foreign minority in Europe, the Jews became a convenient scapegoat of the power and people whenever problems arose.
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Peace with the Earth
Photo: NASA When God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful in Genesis, the land was still virgin and undefiled. Adherents of the three major monotheistic faiths have since taken this commandment literally, populating the earth and multiplying descendants, as with other peoples on this blue planet.
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Trent 1475
Before the Holocaust there was the Merchant of Venice, before the Merchant of Venice there was the Spanish Inquisition, before the Spanish Inquisition there was the Simon of Trent, and before the Simon of Trent there was the Black Death, before the Black Death there were the Crusaders…
The book Trent 1475 documents the proceedings of a blood libel case in Trento, Italy in the year 1475. A Christian boy was found dead and his Jewish neighbours were framed for it. This child, Simon, was once considered a martyr being killed in a ritual murder. His case contributed to anti-Semitism in the European history, which reached its apex in the Holocaust – six million Jews were murdered in that horrific genocide. Eventually, in 1965, Pope Paul VI removed Simon from the Roman Martyrology.
Perhaps it’s only fitting and reassuring that the Chinese edition is published by the Centre for Catholic Studies.
History doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We do not exist in a vacuum. To understand the present we have to consult the past. And history is not just ink printed on dead trees, it is about real living human beings and all that surround them. Nor it just one subject in the school curriculum, for it may lend itself to the betterment of us as individuals and as a species, if we are to pay attention. Paraphrasing George Santayana, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
The question is, have we started learning?
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The Passion of Jesus Through the Five Stages of Grief
in Faith
The Reflections of mine for this year are loosely based on the Passion of Jesus and the Kübler-Ross model, a.k.a. the five stages of grief.
Thanks to the technician for accommodating my frequent errors, and again to Rev. Judy Chan for editing the scripts.
