Two Stories From China
By Tina
What do you say before eating?’
‘What can I say before eating? I know that you say something. What about me? I don't have anybody to pray to. Could I just say “thank you” to my mom and dad?’
A twenty-year-old student of mine and I were having lunch together when he asked me this. I couldn’t answer well for we were in a restaurant where quite a few foreigners were eating too. I was surprised and at the same time paranoid in answering such a simple yet striking question. This young man tested my beliefs in a way he couldn't imagine.
In China, we can’t to be so open expressing our faith. That makes it quite awkward for a Catholic like me to make the sign of the cross before a meal or even call a clerical colleague by his proper title. This can be hard to adjust to at first. So before eating I’d rather say a short prayer silently and skip the sign of the cross. This can be difficult at the beginning but you eventually get used to doing your Catholic practices in a subtle way.
So I answered, ‘Yes, I think you can say “thanks” to your mom and your dad for giving you the money for the food you are about to have, and wish that they too may eat the same kind of food.’ He then asked, ‘What could I really say if I was like you? Could I possibly hear it?’ And so I uttered, ‘We usually say, “Bless us, o Lord, and this food we are about to eat. Bless those who prepared it and those who are not having the same kind of decent meal we have now. Amen.”’
I hoped that I explained the matter well and let him know what he wanted to know. I hope that, more than the words he heard from me, he saw something good in that practice that will make him think that I am a good person. Sometimes I ask myself if I’m still making sense with my life in China. Am I capable of changing the ideas and opinions about life of others by my own way of living? These questions can bother me. I’ve been here four years and the students never cease to amaze me. It's so strange how simple questions from them can rock my spiritual peace. I almost forgot to pray that day in the restaurant until the young man’s question reminded me that I needed to do so before I bit into that juicy, expensive burger.
In 1990, in my first assignment, as parish priest of St Isidore the Farmer Parish, Moises Padilla, I had a dream of serving my people zealously in the Diocese of Kabankalan. I worked hard in building Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), the foremost program of our diocese under Most Rev. Vicente M. Navarra, now Bishop of Bacolod. 
