My Journey of Faith (Part 4)

By Peter Kong

I am Peter Kong and I come from a mixed religion family. My father was an Anglican from a young age and my mother is a Buddhist, but she converted to the Anglican faith together with my second eldest sister after our father’s passing five years ago.

My eldest sister is a Methodist and I pray that my younger sister will one day also accept the Lord Jesus Christ and become a Christian. When we were young, we used to follow our father to St Thomas’ Cathedral once a year for Christmas Mass. Most of the time I accompanied my mother to the temple. But after her conversion to Anglicanism in 2018, she became a very devoted Christian.

My wife is a cradle Christian and my two children were baptised when young. Sometimes I followed my wife and children to attend Mass at Holy Trinity Church (HTC). I had thought of becoming a Christian then, but it didn’t get serious as I was still going to Buddhist temples, mediums and praying to the deities.

In 2021, my friend Christopher and I planned to become Christians as most of our family members were already Christians. We planned to join the online RCIA class at Blessed Sacrament Church but we never got round to do so.

In 2022 during one of our gatherings, Christopher asked me again whether I was serious on becoming a Roman Catholic. He said if I went and joined RCIA class, he would follow. A few days later, I asked my friend Patricia Hiu who was a church member to check the date for registration for RCIA class. So the two of us made up our minds to join RCIA class at HTC and Christopher also asked his kids to follow the class to get their Sacrament of Confirmation as they were already baptised at their young age.

I really salute my friend Christopher for joining the English RCIA class even though he is Chinese educated and had zero knowledge on the Bible teachings. As for me I still had some Bible knowledge as I studied in a Christian school before. Joining RCIA was really a big step for us both to become Catholics. We didn’t know if we were going to finish the sessions when we first received the timetable. Wow, there were so many weeks for us to attend class and we even needed to be interviewed!

Since we already registered for class, we obligated ourselves to go every week for the lessons. In the beginning it seemed very hard for me to understand the faith and Bible teachings, but as we went along attending class regularly, I began to understand more. In RCIA, we learnt a lot of things about living a Christian life. I didn’t know all these when I was just attending Mass before.

We were very blessed to have very patient and committed facilitators to teach and guide us. They put in all their efforts to make us understand the Word of God, the Christian faith and the right way to a Christian life. In class we got to know nice people of mixed cultural backgrounds and religions. There was a helper who was always there to get our room ready for class.

I think attending RCIA is very important before we get baptised. Joining RCIA class has made me understand more on the Word of God and to have an increased faith in the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. I believe that the Almighty God is the creator of all things and that God is for all mankind.

After my baptism and becoming a Christian, I feel very thankful and blessed to be able to receive God’s grace and forgiveness for my sins. I am also thankful to Fr Eugene SDB to have my marriage blessed at the Church. I pray that my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will get stronger each day.

There is still a lot to learn and understand in my newfound faith. This is a new experience for me and I have to make a lot of changes towards living a Christian life. I pray that my faith will be strengthened and I place my hope in the gift of salvation God has given me. Amen.