聖若望一書　1:5-2:2

親愛的諸位：我們由耶穌基督所聽見，而報傳給你們的，就是這個信息：天主是光，在他內沒有一點黑暗。如果我們說我們與他相通，但仍在黑暗中行走，我們就是說謊，不履行真理。但如果我們在光中行走，如同他在光中一樣，我們就彼此相通，他聖子耶穌的血就會洗淨我們的各種罪過。如果我們說我們沒有罪過，就是欺騙自己，真理也不在我們內。但若我們明認我們的罪過，天主既是忠信正義的，必赦免我們的罪過，並洗淨我們的各種不義。如果我們說我們沒有犯過罪，我們就是拿他當說謊者，他的話就不在我們內。

我的孩子們，我給你們寫這些事，是為叫你們不犯罪；但是，誰若犯了罪，我們在父那裏有正義的耶穌基督作護衛者。他自己就是贖罪祭，贖我們的罪過，不但贖我們的，而且也贖全世界的罪過。

World Religions reflective journal #11

This is the last lecture.

I feel quite surprised that the content of today's lecture is very usable in our group report: globalization and secularization. As said before, when we were presenting our project, we were afraid that the part about syncretism is not correct, but after today's lecture, I found that we can add many concepts about the topic in our discussion to enrich our report.

In our project, I learnt that the Catholic is adopting the Taoist ritual Piu Sik in the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima in Cheung Chau. Actually I feel quite odd that why the Catholic has to do so. The answer is secularism. I have also add this view in the conclusion part of our report. In the contemporary era, it is becoming harder for religions to survive if they don't adapt to the globalizing climate. But will the church lost its function?

Last Sunday, I have attended the closing ceremony of the Year of Faith organized by HK Catholic Church. Indeed I have noticed something: 1. the obvious decline in number of participants in recent years; 2. the change of format of the thanksgiving mass by using "rock" hymns. The later one seems to be a solution to the former one, the Church "secularizes" itself so that to attract more followers. Once a sister told me that the anti-church force is growing rampantly, especially in the regions that Catholicism used to be flourishing and impactful, e.g. France, Ireland, etc. And there is the "wash back effect" for the re-evangelization to the declining Church. Is secularization the best way to maintain the Church's life? God knows...