By Cindy Wooden
SINGAPORE (CNS) — The true significance of Singapore’s soaring skyscrapers, robust economy and high-tech achievements must be found in the stories of love and care that are behind them, Pope Francis said.
“If there is anything good that exists and endures in this world, it is only because, in innumerable situations, love has prevailed over hate, solidarity over indifference, generosity over selfishness,” he said Sept. 12 as he celebrated Mass in Singapore’s landmark National Stadium.
Without love, he said, “no one here would have been able to give rise to such a great metropolis, for the architects would not have designed it, the workers would not have worked on it, and nothing would have been achieved.”
During the Mass, on the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, Pope Francis also remembered fellow Jesuit St. Francis Xavier, who spent several days in Singapore in 1552 on his way to China. Parishes, the local seminary and the archdiocesan retreat center, where Pope Francis is staying, are named after the saint.
The pope asked the estimated 50,000 people at the Mass to appreciate the amazing architecture and signs of progress around them, but to look deeper and see that “behind each of the works in front of us there are many stories of love to be discovered: of men and women united with one another in a community, of citizens dedicated to their country, of mothers and fathers concerned for their families, of professionals and workers of all kinds sincerely engaged in their various roles and tasks.”
They also “remind us that there is an even greater wonder to be embraced with even greater admiration and respect: namely, the brothers and sisters we meet, without discrimination, every day on our path, as we see in Singaporean society and the church, which are ethnically diverse and yet united and in solidarity!” he said.
Pope Francis asked Singaporean Catholics to listen for and respond to “the invitations to love and live justly that continue to come to us today from the infinite love of God.”
The concelebrating bishops and priests from Singapore were joined at the Mass by dozens of priests from Malaysia, the Philippines and at least 100 from Vietnam. Burmese Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, also was present. Joining him was Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan of Hong Kong and about 150 migrant workers from China.
Sister Linda Sim, a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Divine Motherhood, said Pope Francis’ visit and message “is the best gift to Singapore at this time.”
“Singapore is so affluent that there is a soullessness, but I hope the pope’s visit will inspire people to realize there is so much more (that is) important than wealth and progress,” she said. “There is so much suicide because there is nothing solid. But even if I have nothing, I have everything because I have God.”
Sister Sim doesn’t exactly have nothing. She has a 5th-dan black belt in tae kwon do and several senior championship titles.
Born to a Catholic family in Singapore and educated in Catholic schools, the diminutive sister said her dream was to be a police officer, but she did not meet the height or weight requirements. “But my first love was Jesus, and he doesn’t care how tall I am,” so she entered religious life and professed vows in 1979.
She provides pastoral care to patients at her order’s hospital in Singapore and teaches tae kwon do to children.
“God gave me tae kwon do before he gave me a vocation,” she said, but she uses the martial art to teach and witness to the values of “love, peace, respect, harmony and unity.”
“People keep asking, ‘Why is a sister doing tae kwon do?’ and I love that because then I can share my story,” she said.