The Diaspora Encounter: With Devotion to Our Lady of Fatima 100Th Anniversary Edition a Memoir

By Francisco Cruz

As a historian of a different making, Francisco seeks to capture the heart of his past and that of spirituality through lifetime memories from boyhood days in Shanghai and Macau to day dreams as a young man in Hong Kong, from new family life in San Francisco as a naturalized citizen to rebirth of mind through a number of pilgrimages to Fatima, Medjugorje and Moscow with his extended family. Together with his spiritual partner and second wife of 30 years Terry, he witnessed the crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Red Square in Moscow for the 75th Anniversary of the ‘Fatima Apparition’ in Portugal. As just two amongst one thousand plus of God’s children from bishops to priests, theologians, brothers, sisters, youths and other laypersons that were there that day, they joined together at the 1992 World Youth Congress in Moscow to share a very special message with the world about the need for change. It was a message of ‘WARNING’ as prophesized by the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God, on Sunday the 13th of May in the year 1917. But more importantly, it was also a call for love and spiritual renewal. There has been no phenomenon like it ever before recorded, but the miracle of the sun in Fatima continues to shine bright even at the darkest of times and is the hope behind this book.
Many of history’s greatest thinkers have wrestled with the question of belief and non-belief in God through their literary circles and often simply by the way they have lived their lives:
1) “Is there a God?” and 2) “Why would He care about me?”
Those are profound and universal questions considered in the first two books of this family story and re-visited here in this third encounter in trilogy. Though it might seem unlikely that any new arguments can be raised from either side between Science and Theology on Christendom, ultimately, each reader needs to ask through his or her own voice of Faith this question of GOD and His existence. It is at that spiritual juncture of question and answer that mankind may decide which path to follow.
As seminarian students, Terry and Francis took three years of theology at St. Patrick Seminary & University in Menlo Park under the Diaconate Formation Program with the hopes of Francisco becoming a deacon with the Class of 2006. Though God had other plans for Francisco, both husband and wife humbly served at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco and at St. Bruno Church of the San Francisco Archdiocese for three decades.
This soulful dialogue is for anyone seeking out answers about Judeo-Christian ethics and the belief that GOD reveals all in time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jan 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781698713335

Francisco Cruz

Francisco Cruz is an immigrant and naturalized American citizen since 1962. I arrived in San Francisco on Dec. 8, 1956, aboard the "President Cleveland.” With forty-one years in U.S. Civil Service, twenty-eight years in banking, then five years as franchise owners with my wife, Doreen (deceased 1984), of a 7-Eleven in Fairfax, California, and aggregated an unbroken double career of twenty-five years minimum. Now I live with my wife, Terry, in Rio Vista, California. We have been married for twenty-nine years and have six grown children (extended family), six grandchildren, and a Pomeranian dog, Rex.

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Copyright 2023 Francisco Cruz.

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Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

ISBN: 978-1-6987-1334-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6987-1333-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022920401

Trafford rev. 12/13/2022

CONTENTS

Ancestry Composition

Preface

Chapter 1In Genesis

Chapter 2Our Flight to the Promised Land

Chapter 3Life in America

Chapter 4San Francisco Is Our Chosen City

Chapter 5Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal

Chapter 6Painful Episodes

Chapter 7A Sense of Déjà Vu

Chapter 8In the Midst of Sorrow

Chapter 9Golden Years at Trilogy

Chapter 10A Trip to the Samuel P. Taylor State Park

Chapter 11Living in an Melancholic World

Chapter 12Spiritual Mentor

Chapter 13Parish Ministry

Chapter 14Why I Am So Certain

Chapter 15Memory of the 1940s in Shanghai

Chapter 16The Wedding Covenant

Chapter 17Thank You for Responding to My Call

Chapter 18Epilogue : The Gift of Interpretation

Chapter 19Genealogy

Chapter 20Another Prophetic Warning

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

About the Author

In

dedication to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

The Holy Family of Nazareth,

JMJ was written more than one

thousand times in school.

ANCESTRY COMPOSITION

An ancestry composition can tell you of my DNA, which comes from each of thirty-one populations worldwide. The analysis takes into account DNA I received from all of my ancestors from both sides of my family. The results reflect where my ancestors lived five hundred years ago before ocean-crossing ships and airplanes came onto the scene.

Francisco A. Cruz 100%

East Asian 71.1%

Native American East Asian 47.8%

Chinese 40.4%

Korean 0.4%

Broadly East Asian 7.1%

Southeast Asian 21.7%

Broadly East Asian and Native American 1.6%

* The people of East Asia and the Americas have a shared genetic history. Their common ancestors left the Near East as early as eighty thousand years ago, migrating across Asia. The ancestors of Native Americans began to cross into the Americas twelve thousand to fifteen thousand years ago.

European 26.6%

Southern European 21.8%

Iberian 9.7%

Italian 2.4%

Broadly Southern European 9.7%

Northwestern European 2.8%

British and Irish .4%

Broadly Northwestern European 2.4%

Broadly European 2.0%

* Much of Europe was buried under miles of ice ten thousand years ago. As the glaciers receded over millennia, Neolithic farmers from the Near East joined Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to settle in Europe.

Sub-Saharan African 0.9%

West African 0.8%

Central & South Africa <0.1%

Broadly Sub-Saharan Africa <0.1%

* The genetic diversity of Sub-Saharan Africa reflects both the deep history of humans in the region and the recent migrations that have carried the diversity of Western Africa to both Southern and Eastern Africa.

Middle Eastern <0.5%

North African Middle Eastern <0.1%

Broadly Middle Eastern <0.4%

North African

* The people of Northern Africa and the Middle East have not only genetic but also deep linguistic connections with one another.

South Asian 0.2%

Broadly South Asian 0.2%

* South Asia is represented here by the diverse population of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Scientists believe that when modern humans first left Africa, they traveled along the coast of South Asia, reaching South Asia very early. During the last few thousand years, South Asia has been influenced by both Europe and Eastern Asia.

Unassigned 0.7%

From Documented Records

PREFACE

The story of The Eurasian Gentile is further enriched in merit from the original thesis through the creation of this third book in trilogy, The Diaspora Encounter retold. In faithful spirit to the first two books, this second edition of The Diaspora Encounter retells a family story but from the third person perspective. The ultimate hope is that the messages and spiritual takeaways may be considered more universal rather than personal. The underlying theme is the prophecy of 1917 that was made in Fatima, Portugal. It is meant to be viewed from a layperson’s eyes as a certain recollection of Judeo-Christian encounters and ethics that may well be heeded, and all for the glory of God.

Thus, it was a prophecy of warning by Mary at Fatima in 1917.

In this brief journey of a family storyline from the point of the early 1900s onwards, origins are inherently represented herein as partial extensions of historical context still richly sourced from the universal lessons of Scripture as they were written by authors of the Old Testament and the New Testament. They are all inspired by the Holy Spirit. Luke, John, Matthew, and Mark are all manifested. And it is markedly categorized into these three subjects: centering first on the topic of Religion above all, second foraying into historical accounts, and then ultimately leading to cultural evolutions that showcase a unique class of people who defined themselves as the people of Macanese or Eurasian ancestry.

As a timeline, it spans the years of the first half of the twentieth century namely World Wars I and II. These wars were fought with the greatest clashes in battlefield spirit and devastation of civilization in the Modern World. If humankind chooses to persist with that kind of warfare mentality as justification for continued nation-building without mercy, a One World Order Entity is what we are enabling.

Without the proper control of weapons of mass destruction in this nuclear age, we risk facing another repeat of horror with limitless destruction as that was unleashed twice in Japan. Now, the modern culture is readily launching into an even worse encounter akin to a World War III event. Heaven always forbids this! If power-hungry nations are not slowed and monopolistic ideologies go unquestioned, peace-loving countries are at risk and the world’s populations become targets for further decimation and greater suffering. Enough is enough when it comes to such a Culture of Death for society today!

Now, formulated as a labor of love to all those who would seek interest in reading one of the greatest biblical accounts is an important question rising from the epic story of Moses from the Old Testament. It was in the Exodus of Jewish people for forty nomadic years in Egypt that the question was asked, How do we lead ourselves out of this?

As seminarian students at St. Patrick Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California, with his then wife, Terry (Maria Teresa Del Rosario-Cruz), the couple studied theology for three years from 2001 to 2004 to better enable themselves for the future. It was a commitment as prerequisite for the Diaconate Formation in order for Francis to become an ordained deacon with the Class of 2006 as decreed by the San Francisco Archdiocese. Wife Terry joined in on as many of the activities and required services as was possible to support her husband and to learn for her own sake.

It is during Lent, that forty-day liturgical season of fasting, special prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for Easter that the number 40 is noted in the Canon of Nicaea (AD 325) and an honorific imitation of Jesus’s fast in the desert before His public ministry is made. With Old Testament precedents through Moses and Elijah, the people learned that it was time to prepare.

On February 26, 2016, with extreme sorrow from the abyss of her heart and his, Terry suffered a most severe and unexpected heart attack. She passed away suddenly at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, just one day after a major spinal procedure. Her untimely death left him with a loss for words and life. What was the point of living without his partner in spiritual works?

Thank you Terry for the encouragement to have brought us to this third stage of a trilogy for the children of our extended family! If it weren’t for your remarkable tenacity to stay on course with the first two volumes of these memoirs, this third volume would never be. You gave countless hours of counsel and boundless insight that will never be forgotten. You are my kindred spirit and the source of the innate good humor and sensibility that allowed this endeavor to take form and find its way to the written page. It took over nine plus years of research and endless trials of patience to say the least.

In providence and belief, in body and soul, this maternal angel was summoned as a heavenly messenger for completion of this last memoir in trilogy. The intent has always been to pass down the family’s story to the six grown children and extended families, but also to share some of their spiritual awakenings.

Terry and Francis shared a love for each other with fidelity, bestowed in abundance of cherished memories that lasted for thirty years on this good earth, America, a land of milk and honey. On February 16, 1986, they married becoming one Christian family again; both were widow and widower previously. They felt much blessed in this marital covenant as a loving couple. She was humbled with the attitude of openness to the will of God. May God bless her abundantly as a disciple of Christ for her extensive work in evangelizing with faith and courage all for His Glory.

The Apostle Paul made clear on the profound marriage vow when he says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the Church and gave Himself up for her. And the two shall be one. This is a great mystery, in reference to Christ and His Church. On May 29, 2016, the widower attended a 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass at St. Matthew Catholic Church in San Mateo celebrated by Msgr. John Talesfore.

He remembered their relocation and full transition to retirement life just 5 years prior. He embraced this time as the Golden Years at Trilogy Resort. Their home was located in a safe, gated retirement community for active seniors, complete with an 18-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a clubhouse outfitted with state-of-the-art athletic equipment, and of course various programs aimed at living happier, healthier lives. Simple medical services were available in the complex for residents while the larger Sacramento Delta area offered an extensive network of medical providers and services for added peace of mind.

Terry left behind a loving family consisting of husband Francis; six grown children: Carl, Marie Marguerite, Christine, Gary, James, and Marie Therese; nine grandchildren: Christopher, Alexander, Kayla, Matthew, Sabrina, Nathan, Hanalise, Giselle, and Maia; and, of course not forgetting the family’s most cherished Pomeranian pet dog Rex. His beloved wife Terry (affectionately known as Inday to many within the family) was buried at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in the town of Colma, California. There are no words that could ever express the level of grief he felt and the amount of tears he shed from her loss.

Please join him in this prayer for Terry:

This sickness is not to end in death; rather, it is for God’s glory, that through it, the Son of God may be glorified.

Saints of God, come to her aid!

Come to meet her, angels of the Lord!

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for her.

Saint Joseph, pray for her.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, pray for her.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for her.

God of mercy, hear our prayers and be merciful to your daughter Terry, whom you have called from this life. Welcome her into the company of your saints in the kingdom of light and peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Undeniably, subjected to a state of mind or mien in so many respects, that is to say, he could no longer live, nor imagine life without her.

Only through God’s gift of mercy did he share a spiritual milieu of their marital covenant through Our Lord Jesus, holy and compassionate. Forgive Terry her sins.

By dying, You opened the gates of life for those who believe in You.

Do not let our sister be parted from You, but by glorious power, give her light, joy, and peace in heaven where You live forever and ever. Amen.

Returning to their original parish at St. Matthew Catholic Church in San Mateo where his beloved second wife and he were married by the late Fr. William J. Ahlbach some thirty years prior, he found some solace. Father had always been a very good and compassionate priest that gave many a great sermons and was much loved by the family for many years.

The Gospel message that day was that human beings under God’s mercy will always be destined under Providence. It was about the miracle of how five thousand were fed when we share our gifts in His name. There is always more than enough.

Also shared on this visit was the timely stewardship of Pope Francis’ affirmation which was an added as a tribute to the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy from December 8, 2015 up to November 20, 2016. In this liturgical calendar of May 29, 2016, the church also celebrated today the feast of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ as the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist is honored.

The Lord Jesus, on the night before he suffered on the cross, shared one last meal with his disciples. During this meal, our Savior instituted the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages and to entrust to the Church, his Spouse, a memorial of his death and resurrection. As the Gospel of Matthew tells us (Mt 26:26–28; cf. Mk 14:22–24, Lk 22:17–20, 1 Cor 11:23–25).

In retrospect, what is stated briefly in the second volume of the memoir and implored in perpetuity is that there is a land of milk and honey as all people are destined under Providence for restoration of the freedom and liberties of the world. This is a specific reference to the Macanese population and likewise the current refugee crisis involving the various cultures of the Middle East. These are people in their own right also spearheading a migration of their own around the globe. The hope is that they may preserve their basic sanctity of human dignity and the fundamental title that it bears. Their identity as a unique class of people deserves to be remembered as indelible.

As defined by the family name of Cruz which stands for the Cross, he was truly honored and privileged to be the firstborn son of Roberto Cruz. This father was a true disciple and follower of Christ and so the epitome of this eulogy. He was in every sense of the word a God-fearing man. Our beloved St. Pope John Paul II’s words of wisdom, in his reflection, bears great meaning as it relates to discipleship: it means to carry the Cross.

Sweat and toil is a condition of the human race. It presents everyone with the opportunity of sharing lovingly in the work that Christ came to do. This work of salvation came about through His suffering and death on the cross. By enduring the toil of work in union with Christ Who was crucified for us, we collaborate with the Son of God for the redemption of humanity. We show ourselves to be true Disciples of Christ by learning to carry the Cross in our everyday activities as we are called upon to perform them. Christians find in human work a small part of the Cross of Christ and accept it in the same spirit of redemption in which Christ accepted His Cross for us.

On Sunday, August 28, 2016, the Church also celebrated the Memorial of St. Augustine, bishop and doctor of the church. It was an opportune day to have also attended the 10:30 a.m. Mass at Saint Luke Catholic Church in Foster City, California. It was celebrated by Fr. Kiera McCormick who gave the most splendid homily at the pulpit on the twenty-second Sunday in ordinary time.

On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’

Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Then he said to the host who invited him, When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. (Lk 14:1, 7–14)

Saint Augustine was born in the year 354 AD at Tagaste (Algeria) in North Africa. He was brought up in the Christian faith, but without receiving baptism. An ambitious schoolboy of brilliant talents and violent passions, he lost both his faith and his innocence early. He persisted in his irregular life until he was thirty-two. Being then at Milan as a professor of rhetoric, he tells us that the faith of his childhood had regained possession of his intellect but that he could not as yet resolve to break the chains of evil habit. One day, however, stung to the heart by the account of some sudden conversions, he cried out, The unlearned rise and storm heaven, and we, with all our learning, for lack of heart, lie wallowing here. He then withdrew into a garden when a long and terrible conflict ensued.

Suddenly, a young fresh voice (he knows not whose) breaks in upon his strife with words, Take and read, and he lights upon the passage beginning, Walk honestly as in the day. The battle was won. He received baptism, returned home, and gave all to the poor. At Hippo, where he settled, he was consecrated bishop in 395 AD. For thirty-five years, he was the center of ecclesiastical life in Africa, and the Church’s mightiest champion against heresy; his writings have been accepted everywhere as one of the principal sources of devotional thought and theological speculation. He died in 430 AD.

Other key developments to be celebrated in this narrative as to spiritual enlightenment, service to God, and faith in our Heavenly Mother.

Mother Teresa Canonized as a Saint

Pope Francis on September 4, 2016 declared Mother Teresa an Saint. He briefly summarized the life of the candidate for sanctity as the saint’s relics were brought to the altar. The Pontiff celebrated the Thanksgiving Holy Mass for the canonization of Mother Teresa. Pope Francis invited 1,500 poor people to eat pizza at the Vatican after the canonization. Just that simple act alone was a blessing in the style of the newly sainted messenger of God’s work.

(St. Mother Teresa, also in Chapter 14)

Fatima Apparitions 1917

The Most Holy Virgin is very sad no one has paid any attention to Her message, neither the good nor the bad. Sister Lucia of Fatima described these words in numerous occasions in her lifetime to pray for the Consecration of Russia by the Pope and all the bishops of the Catholic Church.

(Fatima: also in Chapters 5, 17, and 18)

Francis Cruz

October 13, 2017

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It wasn’t just a 70th year birthday party for Francisco. It was the genesis of a book in 2006 and a chance to recollect both personal and spiritual lessons reaching as far back as 1930’s Shanghai, China.

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A wonderful Springtime weather togetherness on that day

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Xaverian group shot taken at the Swingin’ Door British Pub in San Mateo on February 22, 2016, just 4 days before Terry’s passing.

(front) Larry Collaco, Arnie Barros, Lula Ossipoff, Remy Anselmo was guest of Terry and Francis. (middle) Ricardo deSenna, Al Ossipoff, Ellen Boisseree, Charlie Stock, Cora and Joe Chennault.(back) Vic Boisseree and Oscar Collaco. Ed (Sonny), Annie and Joal Machado not pictured but attended.

A very gracious note of condolence was received on February 29, 2016 following this memorable gathering:

Dear Francis,

I was saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Terry. I feel like I have known both of you for a long time after reading your book. Thanks for the book- it was well written and informative! I can feel the love you have for her. I also have the group picture to remember her by. Our thoughts are with you and your family.

Joe and Cora Chennault

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Portrait of Terry as a young woman in Paris, drawn with charcoal in 1963.

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The writer celebrates the memory of two 25-year plus marriages at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California with Doreen (deceased 1984) and Terry (deceased 2016). These incredible women are honored along with parents, grandparents, and other family members that once made the long voyage across the Pacific.

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There is love in the soul for the Ocean and for the ancestry of recent generations that came from the largest one, namely the Pacific Ocean. There is memory in these Catholic cemeteries that offer home and refuge to cremated remains, from not so distant places and times. And yet permanent memorization is not as important, nor is it an isolated opinion. That being said, some people would utter this refrain: Where is my hero or heroine interned? We all after all want to know where our loved ones rest as we search for meaning in genealogy. The soul will persist, as does God’s many blessings! Just one view of many from the top of the Serramonte hills in South San Francisco, overlooking Holy Cross Cemetery in the distance.

CHAPTER 1

In Genesis

The goodness of God is both the first cause of things and the ultimate final cause (the end or goal) for which things as created.

Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is Thou my God, because Thou, O Father, in Him Who is the Beginning of our wisdom. Which is Thy Wisdom, born of Thyself, equal unto Thee and coeternal, that is Thy Son, created heaven and earth.

Much now have we said of the Heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form, and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering, instability of its spiritual deformity, unless it had been converted unto Him, from Whom it had its then degree of life, and by His enlightening became a beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven, which was afterwards set between water and water.

And under the name of God, I now held the Father, who made these things, and under the name of Beginning, the Son, in whom He made these things and believing, as I did, my God as the Trinity, I search further in His holy words, and lo, Thy Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, Creator of all creation. (St. Augustine, born in 354 in Tagaste, North Africa)

Today’s readings (thirty-third Sunday in ordinary time, 2016):

First Reading: The sun of justice will shine on you.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Malachi:

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays. (Mal 3:19–20a)

Responsorial Psalm

R. (cf. 9) The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song. With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the Lord.

R.

Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell in it, let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy.

R.

Before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to rule the earth, He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity.

R. - (Ps 98:5–6, 7–8, 9)

Second Reading: If anyone is unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.

A reading from the second Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians

Brothers and sisters:

You know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat. We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to eat their own food. (2 Thes 3:7–12)

Gospel Acclamation (Lk 21:28)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down. Then they asked him, Teacher, when will his happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen? He answered, See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end. Then he said to them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand for I myself shall give you wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

This brief explanation of a wondrous vision makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. St. Paul tells us that the human race takes its origin from two men: Adam and Christ.

The first man, Adam, he says, became a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The first Adam was made by the last Adam from whom he also received his soul, to give him life.

The second Adam stamped his image on the first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role and the name of the first Adam in order that he might not lose what he had made in his own image.

The first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as he himself says: I am the first and the last.

Now, the tracing of the direct descendants from Adam whose lifetime was nine hundred and thirty years (Gen 5:5) to Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood. The whole lifetime of Noah was nine hundred and fifty years, then he died (Gen 9:28–29). This is the record of the descendants of Terah. Terah became the father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot (Gen 11:27). The whole span of Abraham’s life was one hundred seventy-five years. Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life, and he was taken to his kinsmen (Gen 25:7–8). Jacob constitutes the major part of the book of Genesis while the genealogical tables of lateral branches are not so developed nor of such interest as those that pertain to the story of the Israelite people. In fact, these lateral branches gradually disappear from the narrative.

And with the introduction of Abraham and his covenant with God, the history of humanity as such becomes contracted to the story of the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, the chosen people. With the story of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (11, 27–50, 26), the character of the narrative had changed. While we do not view the account of the patriarchs as history in the strict sense, nevertheless, certain of the matters recounted from the time of Abraham onward can be placed in the actual historical and social framework of the Near East in the early part of the second millennium BC (2000–1500) and documented by nonbiblical sources.

It continues the history of the chosen people from the point where the book of Genesis leaves off. It recounts the oppression by the Egyptians of the ever-increasing descendants of Jacob and their miraculous deliverance by God through Moses, who led them across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai where they entered into a special covenant with the Lord. Following the legislation given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, Leviticus is itself almost entirely legislative in character; the rare narrative portions are subordinate to the main legislative theme.

Generally speaking, the laws contained in this book serve to teach the Israelites that they should always keep themselves in a state of legal purity or external sanctity, as a sign of their intimate union with the Lord. Accordingly, the central idea of Leviticus is contained in its oft-repeated injunction: You shall be holy, because I, the Lord, am holy. With the biblical accounts in the Old Testament of forty-six books and Malachi as its last was composed by an anonymous writer shortly before Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem (455 BC).

Because of the sharp reproaches he was leveling against the priests and rulers of the people, the author probably wished to conceal his identity. To do this, he made a proper name out of the Hebrew expression for My Messenger (Malachi) which occurs in 1, 1, and 3. The historical value of the prophecy is considerable in that it gives us a picture of life in the Jewish community returned from Babylon, between the period of Haggai and the reform measures of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is likely that the author’s trenchant criticism of abuses and religious indifference in the community prepared the way for these necessary reforms. The chosen people had made a sorry return for divine love. The priests, who should have been leaders, had dishonored God by their blemished sacrifices. In his first chapter, the writer foresees the time when all nations will offer a pure oblation (1, 11), a prophecy whose fulfillment the church sees in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

The author then turns to priests to people, denouncing their marriages with pagans and their callous repudiation of Israelite wives. Imbued with the rationalists and critical spirit of the times, many had wearied God with the question, Where is the God of justice? To this question, the prophet replies that the day of the Lord is coming. But first, the forerunner must come, who will prepare the soil for repentance and true worship. The gospel writers point to John the Baptizer as the forerunner ushering in the messianic age, the true day of the Lord. When the ground is prepared, God will appear, measuring out rewards and punishments and purifying the nation in the furnace of judgment. He will create a new order in which the ultimate triumph of good is inevitable.

God, the inspirer and also the author of both Testaments, wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old be made manifest in the New. For though Christ established the new covenant in His blood (see Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), still the books of the Old Testament with all their parts, caught up into the proclamation of the Gospel, acquire and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament (see Mt 5:17; Lk 24:27; Rom 16:25–26; 2 Cor 14:16) and in turn shed light on it and explain it.

Thus, the New Testament of Matthew’s gospel in its present form is written in a Jewish milieu, probably after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. There is evidence of the fulfillment of the Mosaic laws (1, 19; 5, 18) and also references to violence (21, 38–41), to the burning of a city (22, 7), and to punishment in the wake of Jesus’s death (27, 25). The gospel as a whole revolves around the concept, no doubt originally developed in Judeo/Christian circles, that Jesus is the expected Messiah-King of Israel, mysteriously unacceptable to his own, but no less mysteriously acceptable to many Gentiles.

The Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, is the last book of the Bible, and perhaps the least read. It is also one of the most difficult to understand because it abounds in unfamiliar and extravagant symbolism, which at best appears unusual to the modern reader. Symbolic language, however, is one of the chief characteristics of apocalyptic literature, of which this book is an outstanding example. Such literature was enjoyed and widely popular in both Jewish and Christian circles from 200 BC to AD 200.

Hope that the biblical events and the historical accounts were brought together into the present more or less connected narrative that my ancestry came from. In gracious goodness, God has seen to it what He had revealed for the salvation of all nations to abide perpetually in their full integrity and be handed on to all generations. Therefore, Christ the Lord, in whom the revelation of the supreme God is brought to completion (2 Cor 1:20; 3:13, 4:6), commissioned the Apostles to preach to all men that Gospel, which is the source of all saving truth and moral teaching and to impart to them heavenly gifts.

The Gospel had been promised in former times of the Old Testament through the prophets, and Christ Himself had fulfilled it and promulgated it with His lips. This commission was fulfilled by the Apostles who, by their oral preaching, by example, and by observances, handed on what they had received from the lips of Christ, from living with Him, and from what He did, or what they had learned through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The commission was fulfilled, too, by those apostles and apostolic men who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing.

Furthermore, find the task of authentically interpreting the word of God somehow, commit to the Church in sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture, and form one sacred deposit of the word of God, whether written or to be handed down in the spoken form. It is no easy task. It is has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the church, the magisterium, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. Holding fast to this deposit, the entire holy people united with their shepherds remain always steadfast in the teaching of the apostles, in common life, in the breaking of the bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42), so that holding to, practicing, and professing the heritage of the faith, it becomes on the part of the bishops and faithful a single common effort.

Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pt 1:19–20; 3:15–16), holds the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.

As a history buff, one collaborated for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. The First Civilization, although people settled in many regions, were settlements in the Nile River valley in Egypt, the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Southwestern Asia, and the Huang He valley in China of Eastern Asia had particular significance. In these four river valleys, people first developed civilizations.

The people of these civilizations became the first in the world to develop advanced technical skills, such as the ability to use metals. In addition, an increase in population, made possible by improved farming methods, encouraged the growth of cities. Eventually, the people of these communities developed calendars to predict when crops should be planted and harvested.

With the many changes of the late Neolithic times, life became increasingly complex. People in settled communities developed rules for living together and for protecting property. They also developed governments and traded with other communities. To keep government records and to better communicate with one another, the people of these civilizations developed the first forms of writing. The development of writing marked the end of prehistory and the beginning of history.

This great world that we live in has distinctive representatives, and though the biological landscapes of North America are varied and magnificent, the continent is not markedly different in many respects from Europe and Asia. In the early history of Portugal in the twelfth century, the ancestors of today’s Portuguese decided they did not want to be associated with their Spanish neighbors in Leon and Castile. The split that was to occur followed a typical medieval pattern of indiscretion, ambition, jealousy, open conflict, and the emergence of a popular hero around whom the people could rally in a cause of independence.

The Crusades were organized by Christians chiefly to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims. Even before the Crusades, trade had begun to revive in Europe. Italians acted as distributors for traders from Asia and from central and northern Europe. Trade was enhanced by fairs and led to the development of a monetary and banking system.

Medieval culture flourished with the revival, and vernacular languages developed and were used by writers such as Dante and Chaucer. At great universities, scholastic philosophers, including Abelard and St. Thomas Aquinas, sought to reconcile faith with reason that persevered in their vocation. As a reward for a saint’s fidelity, God conferred upon him the gift of perfect chastity, which merited him the title of the Angelic Doctor. Examples of outstanding medieval architecture are the Romanesque and Gothic churches.

In France, Joan of Arc (1412–31) later became a patron saint. Born at Domremy in Champagne, the daughter of a peasant farmer, she was just a young girl during this French victory over the English in the Hundred Years’ War that spurred patriotism. Louis XI added much land to the royal territory and helped unify France. In Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella had created a strong monarchy but had also weakened the country by driving out the Moors and Jews.

As the English armies regained ascendancy, Joan claimed to have heard the voices of saints urging her to save France. St. Margaret of Antioch and Catherine of Alexandria were the two saints revealed to Joan. At first no one paid any attention to her, but she was taken more seriously when some of her predictions of further defeats were fulfilled. She was sent to Dauphin (the future Charles VII), who was impressed that Joan recognized him through his disguise. Joan also passed review by a group of theologians at Poitiers. Her credentials established, she asked for troops to relieve Orleans in 1429 and was accorded the honor of leading them into battle in full white armor and accompanied by a special banner bearing a symbol of the Trinity and the words Jesus, Maria.

Orleans was saved, and English forts in the vicinity were captured. Thus, her title, the Maid of Orleans was established. Joan also took part in another successful campaign at Patay and stood at the side of the new king when he was crowned at Reims. The predominantly male court, church, and army, however, resented her newly elevated stature. Military reversals included a failed attack on Paris and her own capture by the duke of Burgundy which changed the situation drastically in 1430. The king made no attempt to save her.

Joan had repeated her conviction that God had sent her and that the voices were from God; she was declared a lapsed heretic, handed over to the secular authorities, and burned at the stake in the marketplace at Rouen on May 30, 1431. Her gaze fixed on the Cross, she died calling out the name of Jesus.

A member of the English royal court made the comment: We are lost. We have burned a saint. Some twenty years later, her family asked that the case be reopened. Pope Callistus III appointed a commission, which in 1456 set aside the verdict and declared her innocent. She was beatified by Pope Pius X in 1910 and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV, a gesture that helped in the restoration of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and France. Her feast day is on May 30.

About four centuries later, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was born on April 28, 1889, who served as prime minister of Portugal for thirty-six years from 1932 to 1968. Salazar founded and led the Estado Novo (New State), the government that presided over and controlled Portugal until 1974. Salazar had experienced living in the nation under the chaotic Portuguese First Republic (1910–1926) described as a period of continual anarchy, government corruption, rioting and pillage, assassinations, arbitrary imprisonment, and religious persecutions. After the May 28, 1926, coup d’état with President Oscar Carmon’s support, Salazar was eventually persuaded to accept a political charge although he was reluctant throughout. His Estado Novo would come to allow him vast power over Portugal. Opposed to communism, socialism, anarchism, and liberalism, Salazar’s rule was conservative and nationalist in nature.

Salazar was widely praised for astutely keeping Portugal neutral during World War II, effectively saving the country from probable devastation, and allowing European refugees a sanctuary. His territorial policy envisaged continuing to develop Portugal as a pluri-continental nation, under the doctrine of lusotropicalism, with the Portuguese territories of the time, including Angola and Mozambique, as extending and being an equal part of Portugal’s original land, which served as their source of civilization. Salazar wanted Portugal to be relevant internationally; through his government’s policy, the country came to be welcomed and recognized in the international community, participating comprehensively in several organizations such as the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO).

Having a background in law, finance, and economic policy, Salazar guided Portugal to variable economic growth, which was unprecedented while also increasing literacy levels. The New State favored Catholicism, and Salazar advocated for it. He argued the role of the Church was social, not political, and enabled the Concordat of 1940. According to American scholar J. Wiarda, despite certain problems and continued poverty in many sectors, the consensus among historians and economists is that Salazar in the 1930s brought remarkable improvement to the economic sphere, public works, social services, and enabled governmental honesty, efficiency, and stability.

Supporting a civilizing mission colonial policy, Salazar adopted Gilberto Freyre’s notion of lusotropicalism, maintaining that Portugal was a multicultural, multiracial, and pluri-continental nation and had been since the fifteenth century. If the country were to be dismembered by losing its overseas territories, that would spell the end of Portuguese independence. In geopolitical terms, no critical mass would then be available to guarantee self-sufficiency to the Portuguese State.

Salazar had strongly resisted Freyre’s ideas throughout the 1930s, partly because Freyre claimed the Portuguese were more prone than other European nations to miscegenation and only adopted lusotropicalism after sponsoring Freyre on a visit to Portugal and its colonies in 1951–2.Freyre’s work Aventura e Rotina was a result of this trip. By 1945, Portugal had an extensive colonial Empire, encompassing the Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome e Principe, Angola (including Cabinda), Portuguese Guinea, and Mozambique in Africa; Goa, Damao (including Dadra and Nagar Haveli), and Diu in India (the Portuguese India); Macau in China; and Portuguese Timor in Southeast Asia.

In retrospect, some fair critiques about the good old days in the Far East would perhaps be warranted at this point in time. Firstly, to reflect the darker side of stories still lodged in his memory. After the fall of Shanghai into the hands of Chairman Mao, many feared reprisal from the Chinese, who simply wished to scourge foreign nationals for any petty infractions or deeds in the past.

As Eurasians, one was often called by the Communist sympathizers foreign devils just for the sake of intimidation of the interracial populations within. This presented an opportunity for the deliberate reprisal to compensate for supposed racial discriminations from the past, i.e., infamous provocations by spontaneous mob scene mentalities to project their newly found patriotism, under the guise of for the people to mock their victims.

Stimulatingly, here is a short quotation from Chairman Mao’s famous Little Red Book under chapter 18 on Patriotism and Internationalism:

Can a Communist, who is an internationalist, at the same time, be a patriot? We hold that he not only can be, but he must be. The specific content of patriotism is determined by historical conditions. There is the patriotism of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler, and there is our patriotism.

Devout Catholic families of European and Asian extraction were an anomaly. Much honored to be the firstborn son, as a Christian in the first order and being Eurasian, one inherited a dual cultural heritage and responsibility. Bred of both Western and Eastern traditions, he was somehow set in between the two continents of Europe and Asia.

There were likely universal phrases expressed shortly after his birth on April 1936, though of course the child not knowing them for their value till many decades later. Nevertheless, it is in God’s will that a chronological flow of life is understood through the words of kinship. Conceivably, these similar expressions may have been pronounced in three different languages. From one’s national origin that were in attendance, such words and expressions were repeated and celebrated:

Graca de Deus! (Portuguese)

We praise God for this healthy child.

Then following in Chinese, a language that has been in existence since the epoch of the Old Testament, the family members would also have exclaimed:

Gum-yut, say-yuet, sub-gaw, yut-gaw-sarm-sug-look-neen, hai-nay-ga-chai-ka Saarng-Yut, taw-chey-nay teen-chee YEH-ZHO. The translation would be: Today as the fourth month on the nineteenth day of the year 1936 and is your son’s birthday. Thank you, heavenly Jesus!

This ancient text would have been expressed in the Cantonese dialect which is also often used in Shanghai as the second most spoken language for most folks from the Guangdong Region. It was undoubtedly employed in this instance. Conceivably, all Eurasians, Europeans, and Asians living in that part of China would have considered this a suitable idiom for such an occasion.

Incidentally, most Chinese communities here in America are likely from that southern region of China. The people of Guangdong Province were also some of the first Chinese known to have made contact with European merchants and armies at the very start of East-West trade relations.

The southern Chinese people also spearheaded the Chinese emigration movement to America,