LEGISLATORS AND POLITICAL leaders are policy makers. People place their trust in them and believe that they will set the right norms for good governance. Trustworthy legislators in turn will undertake the right consultations and take their people into confidence before they finalise the laws of the land. But, this is only the ideal of good governance and the reality is often far different, whether it is democracy or authoritarian. 
 

CLAUDE LEVI STRAUSS, who studied the ancient anthropological underpinnings of modern behaviour, has cited the examples of ancient tribes who used to exchange women in order to stop a war between two tribes as a token of settlement. The one who receives booty treats the woman as they please. 
 

THIS AUGUST 4 IS the 160th death anniversary of St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney, who died in 1859, and was canonised and declared the patron saint of parish priests in 1929 by Pope Pius XI. His life is a timeless example of dedication to souls especially through the sacrament of confession. This occasion provides an opportunity for priests to reflect on the ministerial priesthood they share with Christ and for the laity to pray and pledge their support for their priests.  
 

HONG KONG HAS been seriously injured due to backlash to the now-suspended extradition bill.  The School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong found that nearly 10 per cent of people in Hong Kong were found to have suspected depression in the past two months in the course of the last two months and that the city it suffering an “epidemic of mental health” issues.
 

“Holy Trinity is a mystery. If you fail to understand what it means, it’s alright, because if you understand what it is, it’s no more a mystery!” This is one of the sentences that I remember from my classes on the Trinity during our Theology studies. Today is Trinity Sunday. Comprehending and explaining the concept of One God in three persons has always been a difficulty. 
 

THE FEAST OF the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on May 31 is also marks the third year the Pro-Life Day will celebrated in the Diocese of Hong Kong.
 
Many places overseas organise pro-life processions to show their concern for the unborn, whose lives are especially fragile. These silent ones are the least able to defend their own lives.
 

Divine Mercy Sunday is the Church’s assertion of God’s boundless mercy and healing for broken humanity. Everyone is in need of some sort of healing—physical, emotional, or spiritual—simply because we mortals are broken!  
 

Holy Week and Easter are the heart of the liturgical year. The progression from Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the Last Supper, where he washes the feet of his disciples, institutes the Eucharist and gives his disciples the bidding commandment of love, his anguished prayer in Gethsemane, the shocking events of his betrayal, trial and execution, the desolation of his death and, finally, to the dawn of a new world on Easter Sunday.

Why did the Holy Father travel to the Holy House in Loreto to sign the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Christus Vivit? My colleague posed this query on March 25, the day when the pope signed Christ Lives his latest apostolic exhortation, in the House of Mary in Loreto, a small town in Italy. The document focuses on young people and was published on April 2, the death anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II. 
 

As Christians, we have experienced the Lord’s conversion power and the Passover joy brought by him. From this, we are able to return love with love and serve and devote ourselves to the Church and society.
 
On Ash Wednesday the mark of the cross of ashes on our foreheads reminds us that we will return to dust one day and that this world is not our ultimate destination. In this earthly journey, what we focus on is how much we have loved and whether we see the Jesus in the weakest.