I thought all of a sudden – “Why must I choose?” Why choose only one part, one angle of the mass? No good reason! So, I tried choosing nothing, and chose everything instead.

A Catholic mass is a story which we perform again and again, a cycle which doesn’t spiral so much as circle. Depending on perspective, this can be a comfort or a trap. For me, so far from so many I love, it tends to be a great comfort indeed.

So – here is a narration of my mass, our mass, streamed from a COVID-emptied cathedral in Hong Kong at 9:30 am!

Have you ever read the Sunday funnies comic strips in a newspaper? I used to love those. My Sunday funnies strip just happens to be a spiral. Please feel free to watch the mass and spiral with me!

• 

• 

• 

• 

According to today’s gospel reading (Jn 2:1-11), Jesus said to Mary, the Queen of Saints, Blessed Among Women, Madre de Dios:

“Woman, how does your concern affect me?”

Apparently that was respectful at the time, but I can’t stop laughing. Picture that. Jesus. “Woman.”

---

My thanks to my amazing family and to St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Jackson, New Jersey – I have so much to be grateful for, especially the continued recovery of my parents, who have been grappling with COVID-19 and petty coworkers this past week. I wish I could fight all the battles for all of you.

If you’d like to watch the service, please see the then-live-streamed video here.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I draw from the Mass of the Baptism of the Lord, on Sunday, January 9th, 2022 9:30 am (UTC/GMT +8).

Thank you to Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 of the Bible, Verse 47 of Sura 18 of the Qur’an, and of course, the parish of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong!

If you would like to watch this mass too, please do! Here is the link which I use. I love the thought of you joining us, wherever and whenever you are. (We may as well all be on a levelled plain.)

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•