Feast of St Michael the Archangel
Good morning! Time really flies! It’s already the last Friday in September. For three Fridays this month, we have celebrated three feasts: the Feast of the Birth of Mary (8/9), the Feast of the Holy Cross (14/9), and today, the Feast of St Michael (29/9), the angel. Michael is not just any angel. He is the archangel. Archangel means the angel leader. The suffix “arch” is added for something greater. For example, the US thinks that the communists and Iraq are their enemies. But the US has invaded Iraq because they think Iraq is their greatest enemy. The US thinks that Iraq is their archenemy. Anyway, if your name is Michael or Michelle, that means you have Michael as your patron. A Happy Feast Day to all the Michael’s and Michelle’s!
To start off today’s morning prayer, let’s read the Psalm on page 32 of your prayer book. The Psalms are Poems found in the Bible. [Psalms = p is silent! Say: S-AH-Ms] Please respond the part saying all. You may remember the word protector which we learnt last week. Protector: someone who protects. Defender: someone who defends. Trust: believe in and rely on. [Psalm 91]
Just two quick questions for you: In the psalm, almost every sentence has a “you” in it. Like: in the first verse: “The Lord will defend you.” “You have made the Lord your defender” in verse number 2, etc. And also in the response: “You are my defender and protector.” Can you guess who the “you” is in these cases? Well, the answer is simple. In the verses, the poet is talking to you, the reader, the audience, us. So really, the poem is about: “The Lord will defend us/me.” “We/I have made the Lord our/my defender” But in the response, the poet now talks to God. So we are saying: “God, you are my defender and protector.
Now – shall we sing Amazing Grace on Page 9 of your hymnbook? We will sing verse three only. [Song] Quite a few interesting things about this song which I would like you to pay attention to. The first line:
“Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come” means
“I have already come through many dangers, toils and snares”
In poetry, we often find sentence structure a bit unusual than what we would come across in normal situation. I am sure you know what dangers are. If you do not know what toils and snares are, please take a look at the second part of verse 3. It’s about “how grace hath brought me safe and grace will lead me home”. It’s old English here: hath brought means has brought. So this song is saying: “the grace of God has brought me safe and will lead me home after I have come through many dangers, toils and snares.” So we may safely guess that dangers, toils and snares are similar in meaning – or at least, things that do not make us feel safe! Indeed, the word toil means hard work. For example: Sophia gets very good results in her HKCE exams after five years of hard toil. [TOIL] A snare is a trap. Some people use a snare to catch small animals. The business world is full of snares for those who are not careful. It is easy to be tricked or fooled. [SNARE] Let’s sing the song again, now that we know what this song means.
Today, we celebrate the feast of St Michael the archangel, because God has given us St Michael and all the other angels to protect and defend us. St Michael and all the angels are God’s servants and they are here to help us. So let us say the prayer on page 32 to express our trust in God. Please make the sign of the cross and say the prayer together aloud. [Say: IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.] Do not just make the sign without saying the words. [Prayer]
Thank you. I will see in you two weeks because next Friday we are having the Feast of St Francis – next Friday: a holiday for students.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
for transcript of today’s Morning Prayer
http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
Wednesday 27 September 2006
Friday Morning Prayer for 22 September 2006
Playing before the Lord and praying to the Lord
Good Morning! As Mr Mackenzie says, the pr- sound and the pl- sound are not easy to distinguish. I notice that when I ask students to do dictation of the Hail Mary. Many students would write: “Holy Mother of God, play for us sinners” rather than “pray for us sinners.” I know Mr Mackenzie is very strict with blends. The PL sound and the PR sound should be distinguished well.
Every time at the end of each school prayer, the leader would say “St Francis” and everyone would respond by saying “Pray for us.” However, so far, I have never heard anyone mispronounce the word and say: “play for us” instead. Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? You would not want to invite St Francis or St Joseph to play for you. If they play for you, that means you don’t get to play yourselves but they will play on your behalf. (So, don’t say “play for us.”) However, when we ask St Joseph or St Francis or any other saints to pray for us, it doesn’t mean we don’t pray to God ourselves. Instead, everyone, including all fellow Christians on earth and all the saints, should pray to God together.
Speaking about praying and playing, why don’t we sing the song on page 8, “Play before the Lord.” Please note that we will sing it without repeats. That means after the second last line, we will jump to where it is labelled “II” “telling of all His Ways.” [SONG]
Please note that the title of the song is NOT a misprint. It IS Play Before the Lord, not Pray Before the Lord. Why? Really, we do not exactly pray before the Lord. Instead, we pray to the Lord. But surely we can play before the Lord. So what do we play before the Lord? Does the author mean we play basketball or football before the Lord? Can you guess why does the author of this song say “play before the Lord”?
I will give you some clues: please take a look at the other lines. There is a keyword that appears several times. Now, I will give you all ten seconds to talk to your friends about what is being played before the Lord. [10 seconds] Aha – I can hear that someone over there in 7A has guessed the meaning correctly. Yes, the author is really talking about playing music or playing a musical instrument. Why? The clues are musical words like “singing” and “melody” which appear several times: I will sing to Him my melody. Let us sing before the Lord. Let us sing to Him. Sing, people of God. Often in examinations, you will find questions of this kind: asking things only hinted about. Upper form students know this very well and are well prepared for this, right?
I would also like you to take a look at the third line where it says: “Let us sing before the Lord” and the fifth line where it says: “Sing! People of God!” Do you know the differences between “Let us sing” and “Sing! People of God!” When I say: “Let us sing” – I am inviting you – the listener – to sing with me. That’s why I say let us sing. When I say: “Sing! People of God!” I am asking or ordering the People of God to sing.
The word “Sing” is a one-word sentence. The meaning is very clear even though there is no subject. It is like: your teacher may say to you: “Stand up!” “Keep quiet!” It is not at all like saying: “Would you mind standing up?” At first, she may say, “I would appreciate very much if you could keep you quiet.” When that doesn’t work, she may have to yell at you at the top of her lungs: “Keep quiet!” We call this kind of sentence structure imperative. We use imperative when we order or invite someone to do something directly. So, let us now sing the song through again. Sing! Students of St Joseph’s, sing! [Song]
Please turn to page 28. The Bible passage chosen for this morning expresses how St Paul lives for God. St Francis, who feels the same love of Christ, would have said the same thing too. [Bible reading]
Note that on the third line: St Paul said: “I might live for God.” Although St Paul was talking about himself, these concepts can be applied to St Francis too. St Francis used to be selfish. He lived for himself. But he changed and lived for God, rather than living for himself. Why he changed? He has discovered the goodness of God. We are going to say the prayer written by St Francis. You will find lots of descriptions of God. Please pay attention to the underlined words: you see the word “good” appears four times. St Francis thought that God is so good that he couldn’t think of other ways of saying “good” but repeating it.
There are some more underlined words towards the bottom of the page. Let’s go over them before we start the prayer. Please repeat after me: protector = someone who protects, haven (not heaven) = harbour, eternal = forever and ever, almighty = very powerful, merciful = kind, full of mercy, saviour = someone who saves.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
Good Morning! As Mr Mackenzie says, the pr- sound and the pl- sound are not easy to distinguish. I notice that when I ask students to do dictation of the Hail Mary. Many students would write: “Holy Mother of God, play for us sinners” rather than “pray for us sinners.” I know Mr Mackenzie is very strict with blends. The PL sound and the PR sound should be distinguished well.
Every time at the end of each school prayer, the leader would say “St Francis” and everyone would respond by saying “Pray for us.” However, so far, I have never heard anyone mispronounce the word and say: “play for us” instead. Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? You would not want to invite St Francis or St Joseph to play for you. If they play for you, that means you don’t get to play yourselves but they will play on your behalf. (So, don’t say “play for us.”) However, when we ask St Joseph or St Francis or any other saints to pray for us, it doesn’t mean we don’t pray to God ourselves. Instead, everyone, including all fellow Christians on earth and all the saints, should pray to God together.
Speaking about praying and playing, why don’t we sing the song on page 8, “Play before the Lord.” Please note that we will sing it without repeats. That means after the second last line, we will jump to where it is labelled “II” “telling of all His Ways.” [SONG]
Please note that the title of the song is NOT a misprint. It IS Play Before the Lord, not Pray Before the Lord. Why? Really, we do not exactly pray before the Lord. Instead, we pray to the Lord. But surely we can play before the Lord. So what do we play before the Lord? Does the author mean we play basketball or football before the Lord? Can you guess why does the author of this song say “play before the Lord”?
I will give you some clues: please take a look at the other lines. There is a keyword that appears several times. Now, I will give you all ten seconds to talk to your friends about what is being played before the Lord. [10 seconds] Aha – I can hear that someone over there in 7A has guessed the meaning correctly. Yes, the author is really talking about playing music or playing a musical instrument. Why? The clues are musical words like “singing” and “melody” which appear several times: I will sing to Him my melody. Let us sing before the Lord. Let us sing to Him. Sing, people of God. Often in examinations, you will find questions of this kind: asking things only hinted about. Upper form students know this very well and are well prepared for this, right?
I would also like you to take a look at the third line where it says: “Let us sing before the Lord” and the fifth line where it says: “Sing! People of God!” Do you know the differences between “Let us sing” and “Sing! People of God!” When I say: “Let us sing” – I am inviting you – the listener – to sing with me. That’s why I say let us sing. When I say: “Sing! People of God!” I am asking or ordering the People of God to sing.
The word “Sing” is a one-word sentence. The meaning is very clear even though there is no subject. It is like: your teacher may say to you: “Stand up!” “Keep quiet!” It is not at all like saying: “Would you mind standing up?” At first, she may say, “I would appreciate very much if you could keep you quiet.” When that doesn’t work, she may have to yell at you at the top of her lungs: “Keep quiet!” We call this kind of sentence structure imperative. We use imperative when we order or invite someone to do something directly. So, let us now sing the song through again. Sing! Students of St Joseph’s, sing! [Song]
Please turn to page 28. The Bible passage chosen for this morning expresses how St Paul lives for God. St Francis, who feels the same love of Christ, would have said the same thing too. [Bible reading]
Note that on the third line: St Paul said: “I might live for God.” Although St Paul was talking about himself, these concepts can be applied to St Francis too. St Francis used to be selfish. He lived for himself. But he changed and lived for God, rather than living for himself. Why he changed? He has discovered the goodness of God. We are going to say the prayer written by St Francis. You will find lots of descriptions of God. Please pay attention to the underlined words: you see the word “good” appears four times. St Francis thought that God is so good that he couldn’t think of other ways of saying “good” but repeating it.
There are some more underlined words towards the bottom of the page. Let’s go over them before we start the prayer. Please repeat after me: protector = someone who protects, haven (not heaven) = harbour, eternal = forever and ever, almighty = very powerful, merciful = kind, full of mercy, saviour = someone who saves.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
Friday Morning Prayer for 22 September 2006
Playing before the Lord and praying to the Lord
Good Morning! As Mr Mackenzie says, the pr- sound and the pl- sound are not easy to distinguish. I notice that when I ask students to do dictation of the Hail Mary. Many students would write: “Holy Mother of God, play for us sinners” rather than “pray for us sinners.” I know Mr Mackenzie is very strict with blends. The PL sound and the PR sound should be distinguished well.
Every time at the end of each school prayer, the leader would say “St Francis” and everyone would respond by saying “Pray for us.” However, so far, I have never heard anyone mispronounce the word and say: “play for us” instead. Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? You would not want to invite St Francis or St Joseph to play for you. If they play for you, that means you don’t get to play yourselves but they will play on your behalf. (So, don’t say “play for us.”) However, when we ask St Joseph or St Francis or any other saints to pray for us, it doesn’t mean we don’t pray to God ourselves. Instead, everyone, including all fellow Christians on earth and all the saints, should pray to God together.
Speaking about praying and playing, why don’t we sing the song on page 8, “Play before the Lord.” Please note that we will sing it without repeats. That means after the second last line, we will jump to where it is labelled “II” “telling of all His Ways.” [SONG]
Please note that the title of the song is NOT a misprint. It IS Play Before the Lord, not Pray Before the Lord. Why? Really, we do not exactly pray before the Lord. Instead, we pray to the Lord. But surely we can play before the Lord. So what do we play before the Lord? Does the author mean we play basketball or football before the Lord? Can you guess why does the author of this song say “play before the Lord”?
I will give you some clues: please take a look at the other lines. There is a keyword that appears several times. Now, I will give you all ten seconds to talk to your friends about what is being played before the Lord. [10 seconds] Aha – I can hear that someone over there in 7A has guessed the meaning correctly. Yes, the author is really talking about playing music or playing a musical instrument. Why? The clues are musical words like “singing” and “melody” which appear several times: I will sing to Him my melody. Let us sing before the Lord. Let us sing to Him. Sing, people of God. Often in examinations, you will find questions of this kind: asking things only hinted about. Upper form students know this very well and are well prepared for this, right?
I would also like you to take a look at the third line where it says: “Let us sing before the Lord” and the fifth line where it says: “Sing! People of God!” Do you know the differences between “Let us sing” and “Sing! People of God!” When I say: “Let us sing” – I am inviting you – the listener – to sing with me. That’s why I say let us sing. When I say: “Sing! People of God!” I am asking or ordering the People of God to sing.
The word “Sing” is a one-word sentence. The meaning is very clear even though there is no subject. It is like: your teacher may say to you: “Stand up!” “Keep quiet!” It is not at all like saying: “Would you mind standing up?” At first, she may say, “I would appreciate very much if you could keep you quiet.” When that doesn’t work, she may have to yell at you at the top of her lungs: “Keep quiet!” We call this kind of sentence structure imperative. We use imperative when we order or invite someone to do something directly. So, let us now sing the song through again. Sing! Students of St Joseph’s, sing! [Song]
Please turn to page 28. The Bible passage chosen for this morning expresses how St Paul lives for God. St Francis, who feels the same love of Christ, would have said the same thing too. [Bible reading]
Note that on the third line: St Paul said: “I might live for God.” Although St Paul was talking about himself, these concepts can be applied to St Francis too. St Francis used to be selfish. He lived for himself. But he changed and lived for God, rather than living for himself. Why he changed? He has discovered the goodness of God. We are going to say the prayer written by St Francis. You will find lots of descriptions of God. Please pay attention to the underlined words: you see the word “good” appears four times. St Francis thought that God is so good that he couldn’t think of other ways of saying “good” but repeating it.
There are some more underlined words towards the bottom of the page. Let’s go over them before we start the prayer. Please repeat after me: protector = someone who protects, haven (not heaven) = harbour, eternal = forever and ever, almighty = very powerful, merciful = kind, full of mercy, saviour = someone who saves.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
Wednesday 13 September 2006
Friday Morning Prayer for 15 September 2006
Good Morning! Last week, we celebrated the Birth of Our Lady. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross. The word FEAST means festival, just like the Mid-Autumn Festival, which we will celebrate very soon. Let’s start off today’s Morning Prayer with a Bible passage on page 24. [READING]
From this reading, we understand three things. First, Jesus is HUMBLE. We say someone is humble when someone is not proud; someone does not believe that he is important, and he always tries to lower himself. For example, Jane is a humble student. She has excellent results in her exams but she does not go around and tell everybody. She keeps a low profile. Despite her good results, she does not look down upon her classmates who do not do as well as she does. Jesus is such a person. He is the Son of God. Being the Son of God, Jesus could enjoy a lot of privileges, good things. But he gave up all he had, as the Bible says, and he became a human being – just like you and me.
The word humble is an adjective and we can use the word humble as a verb. In the prayer section, we say Christ humbled himself. We say that Christ humbled himself, meaning Christ made himself humble. So if you get 100 marks for your dictionary, your teacher may ask you not to laugh at other students who are not as smart as you are. So we can say: your teacher asks you to humble yourself. Your teacher asks you to be humble.
Second, the word obedient is an adjective, meaning doing what you have been told. We say someone is obedient when someone obeys rules and orders. Obedient – spelt with a “t” – you have an adjective. Obedience – spelt with “ce” – you have a noun. Both words come from obey. To obey means to listen to and follow rules and order. In the Bible passage, we say Christ walked the path of obedience, meaning Christ was very obedient.
Finally, we notice the word cross. I am sure you understand what the cross is. Christ died on the cross for us – even it was very painful for him. He did it because he loves us very much. That’s why we have the festival, the feast, of today: Feast of the Holy Cross. The actual date of the Feast of the Holy Cross is 14 September, yesterday. The origin of this feast is quite interesting. There was a Queen Helena who was the mother of the King, the Roman Emperor Constantine many years ago. Queen Helena loved Jesus very much because Jesus loves every one of us deeply. Christ loves us so much that he died on the cross. So, Queen Helena went to the Holy Land, that is today’s Israel, to look for the cross on which Jesus died. It was many years ago on this day that Queen Helena found that cross.
Think for a moment, Jesus died on the cross – and I can tell you it is not pleasant to die in that way. But Jesus was humble and obedient. He humbled himself and he obeyed God the Father. Well, we all have our crosses to bear: not a real cross, but hardships or difficulties that we have to face in life. Going to school everyday may be a cross to you. Having a naughty little brother or a noisy baby sister may be a cross for you. Do you know what my cross is? You can find that out if you log on to the Friday morning prayer blog at http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
I don't think I have only one cross but many crosses to bear... I will just name one. I have poor vision. My left eye is long-sighted and by right eye is near-sighted. As a result, I cannot see three-dimension well. That's why I am not good at ballgames. Even with glasses on, I cannot see clearly with my left eye only.
If you are reading this now, that means you have logged on to our friday-morning-prayer website! Congratulations! I am pleased that you are here. The first five students who come to see me would get a little gift. When you come to see me, please say: "I have visited the morning prayer website. Please give me the promised gift."
Let us now have some music. Please turn to page 9: All Flowers Will Sing. I am sure if all flowers will really sing, but I do hope all of you will sing. [Song] We will just sing the 3rd verse.
Notice in the third verse, we sing: “every cross that we encounter can become our golden wings.” In simple English, it means every cross that we face can make us fly. For Jesus, his cross is his “golden wings” because God raised him to the highest place. “Every time we embrace it, everlasting peace it brings.” Here the “it” refers to the cross. Christ embraced his cross because he was humble and obedient. My dear students, please do not be troubled by the cross that we have to take up. Christ has endured, has persevered, has taken up his own cross and with his help and following his example, our own crosses can become golden wings for us.
So let us pray – (The prayer is on page 24) – let us ask Lord Jesus to bring us to the glory of his kingdom. Please respond clearly and loudly.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
From this reading, we understand three things. First, Jesus is HUMBLE. We say someone is humble when someone is not proud; someone does not believe that he is important, and he always tries to lower himself. For example, Jane is a humble student. She has excellent results in her exams but she does not go around and tell everybody. She keeps a low profile. Despite her good results, she does not look down upon her classmates who do not do as well as she does. Jesus is such a person. He is the Son of God. Being the Son of God, Jesus could enjoy a lot of privileges, good things. But he gave up all he had, as the Bible says, and he became a human being – just like you and me.
The word humble is an adjective and we can use the word humble as a verb. In the prayer section, we say Christ humbled himself. We say that Christ humbled himself, meaning Christ made himself humble. So if you get 100 marks for your dictionary, your teacher may ask you not to laugh at other students who are not as smart as you are. So we can say: your teacher asks you to humble yourself. Your teacher asks you to be humble.
Second, the word obedient is an adjective, meaning doing what you have been told. We say someone is obedient when someone obeys rules and orders. Obedient – spelt with a “t” – you have an adjective. Obedience – spelt with “ce” – you have a noun. Both words come from obey. To obey means to listen to and follow rules and order. In the Bible passage, we say Christ walked the path of obedience, meaning Christ was very obedient.
Finally, we notice the word cross. I am sure you understand what the cross is. Christ died on the cross for us – even it was very painful for him. He did it because he loves us very much. That’s why we have the festival, the feast, of today: Feast of the Holy Cross. The actual date of the Feast of the Holy Cross is 14 September, yesterday. The origin of this feast is quite interesting. There was a Queen Helena who was the mother of the King, the Roman Emperor Constantine many years ago. Queen Helena loved Jesus very much because Jesus loves every one of us deeply. Christ loves us so much that he died on the cross. So, Queen Helena went to the Holy Land, that is today’s Israel, to look for the cross on which Jesus died. It was many years ago on this day that Queen Helena found that cross.
Think for a moment, Jesus died on the cross – and I can tell you it is not pleasant to die in that way. But Jesus was humble and obedient. He humbled himself and he obeyed God the Father. Well, we all have our crosses to bear: not a real cross, but hardships or difficulties that we have to face in life. Going to school everyday may be a cross to you. Having a naughty little brother or a noisy baby sister may be a cross for you. Do you know what my cross is? You can find that out if you log on to the Friday morning prayer blog at http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
I don't think I have only one cross but many crosses to bear... I will just name one. I have poor vision. My left eye is long-sighted and by right eye is near-sighted. As a result, I cannot see three-dimension well. That's why I am not good at ballgames. Even with glasses on, I cannot see clearly with my left eye only.
If you are reading this now, that means you have logged on to our friday-morning-prayer website! Congratulations! I am pleased that you are here. The first five students who come to see me would get a little gift. When you come to see me, please say: "I have visited the morning prayer website. Please give me the promised gift."
Let us now have some music. Please turn to page 9: All Flowers Will Sing. I am sure if all flowers will really sing, but I do hope all of you will sing. [Song] We will just sing the 3rd verse.
Notice in the third verse, we sing: “every cross that we encounter can become our golden wings.” In simple English, it means every cross that we face can make us fly. For Jesus, his cross is his “golden wings” because God raised him to the highest place. “Every time we embrace it, everlasting peace it brings.” Here the “it” refers to the cross. Christ embraced his cross because he was humble and obedient. My dear students, please do not be troubled by the cross that we have to take up. Christ has endured, has persevered, has taken up his own cross and with his help and following his example, our own crosses can become golden wings for us.
So let us pray – (The prayer is on page 24) – let us ask Lord Jesus to bring us to the glory of his kingdom. Please respond clearly and loudly.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
http://friday-morning-prayer.blogspot.com/
Friday Morning Prayer for 8 September 2006
Good morning. Welcome to the first English Day of this school year. What a wonderful coincidence that we have the first English Day on the Birthday of Our Lady! We remember the birth of Mary on this date not because it is really her birthday. Christians for many centuries pay a special tribute to Our Lady on this date. Just like Jesus was not really born on 25 December, we are quite sure Mary was not really born on 8 September. But because both Jesus and Mary are real historical persons, they must have been born at some point in history. The main thing is not when Jesus or Mary was born but the fact that they were born and were born for a purpose.
To celebrate this feast, let us sing Hail Queen of Heaven on page 7 of your HPB. This is a new song. We will sing just the first verse. Since most of you do not know this song, allow me to teach you this song line by line. [Song]
Now let us hear a story – printed on p.20 in your Hymn and Prayer Book. At the end of the reading, please respond “Praise to you Lord, Jesus Christ.” [Story]
I would like you to notice three things about this story. First, the message that Gabriel said to Mary has become the prayer that is known as the Hail Mary. The first half of the Hail Mary is the greetings of the angel: “Hail! Mary full of grace the Lord is with you.” Each time we say the Hail Mary, we are repeating the greetings of the angel Gabriel. The word “Hail” is the same as saying Hello.
Second, as I have underlined the words for you, Mary was troubled and afraid when the angel Gabriel spoke to her. We usually use the word trouble as a noun. Your parents might have warned you before you leave the house: “Be good and don’t cause any trouble today!” If you do cause trouble, your teacher may arrange to meet your parents. If that is the case, you are in trouble. But here, the word trouble is used as a verb. We say Mary was troubled that means she was afraid and she wondered what was happening. When was your last time that an angel would visit you and speak to you? You may be as troubled and afraid as Mary, if an angel knocks at your door. At the beginning of the new school year, especially if you are new to this school, or if you are facing public examinations, you may be troubled by schoolwork or you may be afraid of the new school environment or new teachers. You may have many questions and there are many things you may not understand. In this story, Mary wondered about the message of the angel. That means she did not understand. When you have a question about why something happens. You can say: I wonder why. When you have a question about when something is going to happen. You can say: I wonder when. If you remember, just now at the beginning of morning prayer, I said, “What a wonderful coincidence that we have the first English Day on the Birthday of Our Lady!” You may know the word wonderful. Here wonderful doesn’t mean full of questions – it means something great and amazing.
Finally, please notice the last part of the message of the angel. Gabriel said, “For there is nothing that God cannot do.” There is nothing that God cannot do. This is a double-negative sentence. It is a good idea to avoid using double negatives because it may be confusing. If I say, don’t put up your hands, if you do not understand me. You have to think twice or listen twice to understand what I mean. However, we use double negative here to emphasize the fact that because God is God, there is nothing that He cannot do meaning God can do everything. Because God can do everything, we need not be afraid or troubled.
If you turn back to page 7, the song we just sang, we can say a few things using the words we have just learnt. Let’s concentrate just on the second line: Tossed on life’s sea, I claim thy care, (“thy care” means “your care”) save me from peril and from woe. Both of the words “peril” and “woe” are bad things. Peril is the same as danger and woe means unhappiness or sorrow. So facing life’s peril and woe, you will naturally be troubled and afraid. You may wonder when these peril, woe, danger, unhappiness and sorrow would end. You may wonder why such bad things are happening to you. Luckily, we remember that there is nothing God cannot do. So He will protect us and guide us through life, even if the sea of life is full of troubled waters. Mary, as our song suggests, is the Star of the Sea, she will pray for us.
Please say the response.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
To celebrate this feast, let us sing Hail Queen of Heaven on page 7 of your HPB. This is a new song. We will sing just the first verse. Since most of you do not know this song, allow me to teach you this song line by line. [Song]
Now let us hear a story – printed on p.20 in your Hymn and Prayer Book. At the end of the reading, please respond “Praise to you Lord, Jesus Christ.” [Story]
I would like you to notice three things about this story. First, the message that Gabriel said to Mary has become the prayer that is known as the Hail Mary. The first half of the Hail Mary is the greetings of the angel: “Hail! Mary full of grace the Lord is with you.” Each time we say the Hail Mary, we are repeating the greetings of the angel Gabriel. The word “Hail” is the same as saying Hello.
Second, as I have underlined the words for you, Mary was troubled and afraid when the angel Gabriel spoke to her. We usually use the word trouble as a noun. Your parents might have warned you before you leave the house: “Be good and don’t cause any trouble today!” If you do cause trouble, your teacher may arrange to meet your parents. If that is the case, you are in trouble. But here, the word trouble is used as a verb. We say Mary was troubled that means she was afraid and she wondered what was happening. When was your last time that an angel would visit you and speak to you? You may be as troubled and afraid as Mary, if an angel knocks at your door. At the beginning of the new school year, especially if you are new to this school, or if you are facing public examinations, you may be troubled by schoolwork or you may be afraid of the new school environment or new teachers. You may have many questions and there are many things you may not understand. In this story, Mary wondered about the message of the angel. That means she did not understand. When you have a question about why something happens. You can say: I wonder why. When you have a question about when something is going to happen. You can say: I wonder when. If you remember, just now at the beginning of morning prayer, I said, “What a wonderful coincidence that we have the first English Day on the Birthday of Our Lady!” You may know the word wonderful. Here wonderful doesn’t mean full of questions – it means something great and amazing.
Finally, please notice the last part of the message of the angel. Gabriel said, “For there is nothing that God cannot do.” There is nothing that God cannot do. This is a double-negative sentence. It is a good idea to avoid using double negatives because it may be confusing. If I say, don’t put up your hands, if you do not understand me. You have to think twice or listen twice to understand what I mean. However, we use double negative here to emphasize the fact that because God is God, there is nothing that He cannot do meaning God can do everything. Because God can do everything, we need not be afraid or troubled.
If you turn back to page 7, the song we just sang, we can say a few things using the words we have just learnt. Let’s concentrate just on the second line: Tossed on life’s sea, I claim thy care, (“thy care” means “your care”) save me from peril and from woe. Both of the words “peril” and “woe” are bad things. Peril is the same as danger and woe means unhappiness or sorrow. So facing life’s peril and woe, you will naturally be troubled and afraid. You may wonder when these peril, woe, danger, unhappiness and sorrow would end. You may wonder why such bad things are happening to you. Luckily, we remember that there is nothing God cannot do. So He will protect us and guide us through life, even if the sea of life is full of troubled waters. Mary, as our song suggests, is the Star of the Sea, she will pray for us.
Please say the response.
Brother William Ng OFM
brotherwilliam@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)