“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord” Psalm 34.8
God is indeed so good. One of the many joys I have is to share in people’s experience of the goodness that God works in our lives! Quite often this experience includes literally tasting good food together in a way that helps us to build Gospel friendships. While in Toronto, at a gathering of the University of Toronto Chinese Catholic Community (UTCCC), we reflected on what we can do in Lent to improve our prayer lives, and our almsgiving, and our work for justice and peace. Then we went out to the Noodle Bowl!!!
One of the many gifts of UTCCC is that we bridge with other groups of Catholic young adults. This second picture shows a retreat day with some who came from the Chinese Catholic Community at Western University in London. We also shared an evening with the Korean Catholic group that meets at the University of Toronto! The editor of the UTCCC page wrote about the evening with the Korean Catholic group …. “we came up with some drama skit prompts. These prompts clearly illustrated some similarities and differences of our practices between Koreans and Chinese. Namely, both Chinese and Koreans seem to rush off after church for refreshments, except Chinese go for 點心 (dim sum,) while Koreans go for 소주 (soju) and 맥주 (beer), a.k.a. drinking.” I find it beautiful that there are so many friends from different cultures on our journey to our faith, that many of us of a similar age group shares the same love for One God, One Father.
As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.”
If you are in the Toronto area, and looking for a taste of Gospel friendship, no matter your cultural origins, then you are more than welcome to join UTCCC on Friday nights during the university year. During the summer watch out for their summer events! https://utccc.wordpress.com/author/utccc/
…… speaking of Chinese Catholic Communities, … this is a picture of some of the parishioners who joined in a New Year’s celebration at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Of course it also fits the theme of “Where’s Waldo” that I used in the last article but did not have the picture when we went to press. In this picture, the challenge is to find Fr. Peter Chin, C.Ss.R. and myself. Fr. Peter appears here in full smile, and in a traditional red and gold shirt, that is worn for the New Year’s celebration.
Fr. David Purcell, C.Ss.R.
Community Connections: Edmonton-Toronto Province
