Life-Giving Connections
By John Wang Zongshe
When I was baptized my godfather chose the name John in honor of St John the Baptist. I was born into a traditional Catholic family and brought up in Hebei Province, four hours by train southwest of Beijing. Our village was one-third Catholic. When I was young there was no television in our home so I asked my father to tell me Bible stories and that is where my faith journey began. As a primary school student, each Saturday I would play with my friends in our village but also made time for one hour’s adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in the local church. It was the custom in our village to have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday afternoon and the Catholics would spend some time in prayer in the church. I feel that my personal relationship with God has its origin in those hours before the Blessed Sacrament.
January. He reflects on his mother's visit to China while he was there on his first mission assignment (FMA) with Fr Andrei Paz when they were still seminarians. Both new ordained priests will take up their first missionary assignment as priests in Taiwan in September. The article first appeared in 
11-years-old and have a mother who suffers from manic depression. Every now and then I give her some tips and targets that she should work up to. I say things like ‘When you keep up your good mood you have nearly emptied your drinking cup, but every time you keep a bad mood your glass fills up again.’ This gives her a big boost and helps her to feel a bit better. When you have a mental illness, plenty of rest is needed, so every couple of nights I give my mom a massage on her back, feet or head. All massages can tone your body and refresh your mind.
The author is a diocesan priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan, comprised of the province of Oriental Mindoro. The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) has been working in the island of Mindoro since before World War II.