A Chinese Hymn for Lent

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March 22, 2022 by Sarah

A song for Lent, from a Catholic hymnal that my father-in-law used growing up in Taiwan. Our Mandarin speaking mass continues to use the very same hymnal. 

My father-in-law recalls songs sung during Lent, full of sorrow over sin. We sat together after dinner last night, translating the lyrics to one of the songs. 

My Heart is Sorrowful” 

A sigh, my heart is sorrowful. I remember my Lord is suffering. It brings me to tears, it makes me so ashamed of my sin. 

1 When I lived in the world, I did all the wrong things and only desired vainglory. All my life, I forgot about kindness and never thought of righteousness. Sigh, how bad I was. I couldn’t do anything to change my way. The good days are gone when I can get back all the blessings. 

2. My earthly life hasn’t ended yet. I need to repent in time so that I can come back to the Kingdom of God and so that I can avoid the punishment of hell. 

3 I am really sorrowful for my sin. I should disregard all these empty earthly promises. After I change my wrongdoing, I should work on building up my virtues and goodness. Luckily, I haven’t died yet. I should really use the days I have remaining and pursue eternal blessings.”


Books about Chinese Catholic History and Saints

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March 18, 2022 by Sarah

Are you interested in learning more about Chinese Catholic History and Saints?

Here are places to start:
📚Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang: Companion graphic novels that tell the story of China’s Boxer Rebellion from two different perspectives.The Boxer Rebellion was a violent uprising in China against foreigners (all Christians were included) from 1899-1901, many of our Chinese Saints were killed during this time. 
📚Pray for Us by Meg Hunter-Kilmer: Included among the 75 saints are St. Martha Wang Luo Mande and St. Mark Ji Tianxiang. 
📚Diaries of the Chinese Martyrs by Sophia Press: Autobiographical testimonies of Chinese Catholics imprisoned for their faith in the mid 1900’s.
📚Church Militant: Bishop King and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai by Fr. Paul Mariani, Harvard University Press.
📚Saints Around the World by Meg Hunter-Kilmer. Saint stories for children includes St. Martha Wang Luo Mande and St. Peter Wu Guosheng.

Not pictured:
📚The Red Book of Chinese Martyrs by Ignatius Press
📚Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng: A window into the suffering of people of faith in China.

Thank you to Fr. Phil Yang for providing book suggestions!


Diverse Books with @AsianLitforKids Creator Shuli de la Fuente-Lau

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October 25, 2021 by Sarah

I’ve been so looking forward to sharing this conversation that I recorded with Shuli de la Fuente-Lau earlier this year. Shuli is the creator of the Instagram @AsianLitforKids, and the Content Lead at LittleFeminist.com – a monthly book club subscription and publishing house. By day, she is an assistant principal at an elementary school.  

In this episode, Shuli  shares her story behind starting the Instagram account and why representation in books is so important. She also talks about her own story as a third culture kid, growing to hold her Chinese Malaysian American identity with gratitude. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-growing-home-podcast/id1546945712


Episode 20: Inspiration to Grow in Prayer

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October 5, 2021 by Sarah

I’m so excited to share this conversation with you all!

Theresa and Rosa are sisters who have 8 children between the two of them ranging from a freshman in college to a kindergartener. They have taught me pretty much everything I know in the Catholic mom department.

I wanted to learn from them about how to teach kids to pray, and that’s where our conversation started. But here’s the thing, everything they shared actually gave me ideas of ways to grow in my own faith life too. So, get ready for some inspiration in both your kids’ prayer life and your own.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inspiration-to-grow-in-prayer-with-theresa-yang-and-rosa-lee/id1546945712?i=1000537617564


Episode 19: An Interview with BuzzFeed’s Director of Diversity

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October 5, 2021 by Sarah

I love hearing peoples’ stories and in this episode, my friend Dionna Scales is sharing hers. Dionna is Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging and L&D at BuzzFeed. I know, super interesting right? I ask her about what that role involves and the story to getting there. Dionna also shares about her journey as a black woman, what that experience has been in different settings, how that has shaped her faith life. And, one of my favorite parts of the conversation was hearing about how God speaks to Dionna through worship music.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-interview-with-buzzfeeds-director-of/id1546945712?i=1000534452245


Episode 18: Finding Your Voice, Friendship and Strengths Finder

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October 5, 2021 by Sarah

I’m so excited to share this conversation!

Tracey Gee is a leadership coach and consultant who is passionate about working with vision-driven leaders, especially women of color. She has over 20 years of experience in ministry designing training experiences and resources. Tracey is certified in three frameworks – Gallup StrengthsFinder, Cultural Intelligence, and the Enneagram as tools to help leaders grow in self-awareness, development, and healthy teams. She is also a published author of a book by and for Asian American women called “More Than Serving Tea.”

I had so much I wanted to chat with Tracey about! In this episode, we dig into the journey of finding her voice and how her Chinese heritage influenced this. She shares about her “war counsel”, her deep, trusted group of friends and why this is so needed and important to her. We also talk about strengths finder, what it is, what led Tracey to become a coach and also some next steps if you want to go deeper with the tool.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-your-voice-friendship-and-strengths-finder/id1546945712?i=1000531441956