At this evening’s Youth Mass at the Chengdu Cathedral, Father Jia Zhilu shared a story to explain the meaning of Advent. As a twilight glow fell over the Sacred Heart Chapel within the cathedral complex, 50 young adults showed up for the vigil mass.   Father Jia told a story of a young man who overslept one morning and was late for an appointment. He rushed to get dressed and headed out. As he made his way through the day, he noticed that people looked at him differently, some making faces and others smiling awkwardly. He didn’t know why that...

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Featuring Crossings Tea at the Dongtaoyao Porcelain Factory's 10-year anniversary expo in Beijing. 

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Enjoying a cup of Crossings China Black Tea as the sun sets over Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace in Beijing. 

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  Last night I stumbled upon this small tea house down a small alley in Beijing. The owner, originally from the Bai minority in a tea-growing region of Yunnan Province, came to Beijing to promote the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony. Hidden behind an unassuming exterior in the Beiluoguxiang hutong, the tea house uses simple design, natural colors, and classic tea ware to accentuate the tea ceremony.   The owner, Yuan Zhen, described her training as a tea master. We reflected on the word yun (韵), often used to describe tea's aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel. With no direct English translation, the word simultaneously means rhyme, tone, and...

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   Building on this Sunday's gospel reading, where Jesus fed 5,000 from five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21), the Beijing North Cathedral young adult fellowship's core group showed a strengthened resolve. Founded in 2002, the fellowship's mission is "to help young adults establish a personal relationship with Christ." Under the spiritual direction of Father Liu Zhe (Roger), the group meets every Sunday afternoon before the North Cathedral's young adult mass for group prayer, bible study, guest lectures, and service projects. For many years I have served as an advisor to this fellowship, providing leadership training and teaching classes...

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These hollyhocks come alive at the Hualiling church. Daisies, dahlias, and red clover burst with color on the church grounds this time of year.

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Our travels brought us to the Hualiling church near Lichuan, in the remote Northwestern corner of the Three Gorges region. The muddy roads kept us from the local market today, so we picked our own greens and potatoes in the church garden. Fathers Li Xiaoguo and Zhu Jinlong cook up the greens... ...and happily put me to work mashing the potatoes.   

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Huangshan in Anhui Province in home to many famous Chinese teas. Today I'm visiting with a farming family in Taiping County, where they shared some secrets of making the prized Houkui green tea. We picked the fresh leaves and then "killed the green" (or shaqing) in the wok. After, we placed each leaf on a tray, flattened with a roller, and baked in wood-fired oven. We drank the fresh tea that very evening. An amazing experience.

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Father Shuai Ziqiang and I visited with this farming family outside of Enshi. Now in their 90s, this couple still grows tea and raises bees. As Catholics for many decades, they deeply appreciated Father Shuai's celebrating mass in their home.

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Here at the Yichang Cathedral, we spent two days decorating a total of 1,084 salted duck eggs. Fueled by a constant supply of the local maojian green tea, we finished up just in time to distribute them at the Easter Vigil mass.

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