Week One: A Meditation on Friendship and Suffering
The US-China Catholic Association (USCCA) invites you to participate in the journey of Lent. All of us are people of friendship. All of us are people of suffering.
How easy is it for us to travel the six weeks of Lent and forget that it is the strength of friendship that sometimes actually provides us the willingness to take up and carry the cross for the suffering people around us? Likewise, acknowledgment of friendship and suffering enables us to be humble and open to the generosity of others who see and want to offer us compassion.
Photo credit: Rev Rob Carbonneau, C.P., Ph.D.
Worthwhile also for meditation during this first week of Lent is the friendship and sufferings witnessed by the many American Catholic missionaries alongside the peoples of China since the 1920s. The USCCA has valued the wisdom of this historic legacy since its founding 35 years ago.
This first week of Lent is an invitation to remember our personal and public journey of friendship and suffering. In this spirit, let us reflect on the life and memory of Matteo Ricci to inspire, sanctify, and unite us with the Catholic Church in China.
We invite you to learn more about the USCCA's mission of friendship with Chinese Catholics, including our Chinese and American Friendship Ministry (CAAFM).
Our prayers together and your financial donation (large or small) assist in our mission of friendship this Lent.
Lenten Blessings and Peace,
Rev. Rob Carbonneau, CP, PhD, Director Emeritus
And All of us at the USCCA
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Note:
This photo above was taken in 2008. It shows the statue of Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) outside the front gate of South Church, Beijing. An Italian, he first arrived in Macau in 1582. His proficiency in Chinese language and culture increased. Between 1595 and 1601, he wrote the Treatise on Friendship. His intent was to employ translated phrases, adapted texts, and known sayings of Western saints and people of wisdom, which would be appreciated by Chinese scholars of the day. Upon his death in 1610, the Chinese provided him with an honorific burial site that still can be visited in Bejing today.
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Reflections from Rev. Rob Carbonneau, CP, Ph.D., Director Emeritus
Finally, if you have enjoyed your visit to the USCCA website and learning about our mission, donate $35 to honor the 35th anniversary of the USCCA