board require and internet SIM card and also to check if they would like to
go ashore. Unfortunately most ships are only in Hong Kong for about 12
hours so the guys onboard will have to choose between seeing the city or
sleep. More often than not they choose to rest. After distributing phone
cards and internet cards I will wait for about thirty minutes to see if
anyone on board has time to sit and talk. The conversation can range from
the NBA finals to life at home to modern politics. Finally I will
disembark and move on to the next ship trying to see as many as I can
throughout the day.
Most Seafarers are on board their ship for ten month contracts. Picture
yourself away from friends and family for ten months, and the only
contact you can make with them is through email, text, and Skype (if there
is access to internet). Sometimes ships will be at sea for 2 weeks at a time
with no access to even a telephone for personal use. For example sailing
from Hong Kong to the Americas take between 14 and 17 days depending
on weather. What would you do if you had to go two weeks without
contacting your family? Many of the seafarers I meet describe life
onboard a ship as a floating prison. However what other choice can one
make when there are 3 kids to put through university so that they do not
have to live this same life as their parents did, or a parent who needs a
medical treatment that cannot be paid for any other way? It can be
extremely isolating and lonely for these men and women but that is where
the Mission to Seafarers steps in. We bring phone card and internet cards
and DVDs but in reality we are there to be a friend, to be with and show
love to our neighbors on the sea.
In today's Gospel Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. It is a very
straight forward example of how to live life in theory but how many of us
can say that we truly love our neighbors as ourselves? Jesus is first asked
about how to enter the kingdom of heaven to which he replies "What does
the law tell you?" The lawyer replies "You shall love the Lord your God
with all your, heart and with all your mind and with all your soul, and with
all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself." This sounds easy
enough however the lawyer then asks the question that we still ask today
"Who is my neighbor?" To this Jesus responds with the parable of the
good Samaritan. It is important to remember that at this time Jewish
people and Samaritan people did not like each other at all. For Jesus to
P. 7

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