The Beautiful Hands of a Priest (Father Anthony Ho)

Fr. Anthony Ho Ting Yiu

When I first came across Father Anthony Ho's blog more than 11 years ago, I found it very unique and interesting and I have been following him on his blog ever since. What is so special about his blog? It is special because it is the blog of a Catholic priest who values his vocation and proudly shares his priestly life with the world. Through his blog, I can find the life of Christ - a life of sacrifice and service that can make a difference in others' lives. Every article in it is written deep from his heart - the heart of a priest who wants to tell the whole how proud he is to be on call all the time to serve the faithful from their cradles to their graves. I don't deny the fact that I envy him because he is living the kind of life that I would love to live but I can't as I am a woman. At the same time, I have been observing him and time really flies - before I realize it, more than a decade has passed. 11 years from then, Father Anthony Ho is still proudly serving God and His people wholeheartedly and although I still envy him, I feel that I must write something about him. What a beautiful experience to be called to a life of holiness and to walk in the footsteps of Christ - nothing can be more meaningful than that. In a way, Father Anthony Ho's life also reminds me of a beautiful poem entitled "The Beautiful Hands of a Priest" written by an unknown author:

The Beautiful Hands of a Priest

We need them in life's early morning,
we need them again at its close;

We need their warm clasp of true friendship,

we seek them while tasting life's woes.

At the altar each day we behold them,

and the hands of a king on his throne

are not equal to them in their greatness;

their dignity stands alone.

And when we are tempted and wander

to pathways of shame and sin,

It's the hand of a priest that will absolve us,

not once but again and again.

And when we are taking life's partner,

other hands may prepare us a feast,

But the hands that will bless and unite us,

are the beautiful hands of a priest.

God bless them and keep them all holy

for the host which their fingers caress,

What can a poor sinner do better than

to ask him to guide thee and bless?

When the hour of death comes upon us,

may our courage and strength be increased.

To see, raised above us in blessing

the beautiful hands of a priest!

Around 1963, Father Crowley of Dunsallagh gave the words of this poem to Tom Linehan and the Clare singer put a tune to it and recorded it in a song. This poem clearly tells us how important our priests are in our lives because we need them from the moment we come into this world until the hour we breathe our last. In today's world, it is not easy to find single, celibate, and devout men who can live the life of Christ and who don't mind working for long hours with low pay to serve God's people. If we can come across one, then he is indeed a great blessing from God. In this article, I would like to share the amazing and wonderful life of a Catholic priest, Father Anthony Ho.

Father Anthony Ho is a Chinese priest of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. His father grew up in Hong Kong and his mother grew up in Macau. They attended Catholic schools and that was one reason why they became Catholics. Father Anthony Ho was born in Hong Kong in 1976 where he attended a Catholic high school run by the Salesians of Don Bosco and that was when he began to consider a vocation to the priesthood. The Salesians of Don Bosco, also known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, was founded in 1859 by John Bosco, an Italian priest Saint, and named after the a 17th Century bishop of Geneva, Saint Francis de Sales. With the motto "Da mihi Animas caetera tolle" which means "Give me souls, take away the rest", the society was initially intended to help poor children during the Industrial Revolution. 

Father Anthony Ho's ordination

Father Anthony Ho and his parents and younger sister moved to Canada in 1993. He served as a Catechism teacher and prayer group leader before he attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), a polytechnic in Burnaby, where he studied Computer System Technology. In 1998, he entered the Seminary of Christ the King, a beautiful and healthy community to prepare for priesthood, in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. He was ordained a priest on 30 May 2006 at St. Anthony's Parish in Vancouver. His mother died of cancer in 2001 while he was studying to become a priest. Before she passed away, she promised him that the first thing she would do when she entered heaven was to pray that he would become a good priest. 

When asked why he has chosen the Catholic Priesthood, Father Anthony Ho said that he loved the lives of the saints and their writings. His involvement in various religious activities such as altar serving and the Legion of Mary also had  a role to play in helping him to discern his vocation. In a way, he was also attracted to the Catholic priesthood through his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady.

Father Anthony Ho was an assistant pastor at 3 different parishes for 6 years before he became a pastor. He was a pastor in another parish for 5 years before he was assigned to St. John the Apostle Parish in Vancouver. It is now his 4th year at his current parish. What kind of priest is he? After observing him more than 11 years, my conclusion is, he is the kind of priest who loves his vocation and pours his heart into his parish ministry every moment of his life. In other words, he is not a priest for himself but gives himself  fully and completely to lead and serve us. According to him, helping people to pray and teaching them about faith is a very meaningful thing to do. He enjoys teaching the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and is especially happy whenever he is preparing to welcome new members into the Catholic Church. As "Father" to everyone, he strongly believes that the duties of a priest is not only to look after the spiritual needs of the faithful but also to reach out to non-Catholics.

The life of a priest is not a bed of roses as there are always lots of things to do in the parish because he is needed all the time by everyone and everywhere. Father Anthony Ho is certainly not an OP (ordinary person) because his hands are always full. He is the one who started the Chinese Mass Community in his current parish. He is also leading several prayer groups and Bible study groups in English and Cantonese. His prayer groups are not just ordinary prayer groups as these are intended to promote the messages of the Divine Mercy and Our Lady of Fatima. And please do not assume that the RCIA is easy to teach as it has to be taught in 3 different languages - English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. As though these are not enough, he is also writing a weekly article for The B.C. Catholic Multimedia Catholic News and giving a short weekly radio talk show on the Sunday Gospel in Cantonese. Wow! Where does he find the time to so so many things? He is truly a most extraordinary man called to an extraordinary ministry!

Father Anthony Ho is not the kind of priest who would waste his time looking for a girlfriend and pestering the Popes to allow him to get married. Where is he going to find the time for that? He is the kind of priest who believes in perfect chastity in priestly celibacy as it enables him to love God and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament with an undivided heart. According to him, "priestly celibacy is a source of fruitfulness for spiritual fatherhood and that the focus of priests should be on God and souls." How right he is! As what St. John Vianney says, a priest is an alter Christus and he should do what Jesus did. And doing the works of Jesus means that his top priority should be the salvation of souls and not his sex scandal. The unmarried man focuses his life on the Lord's affairs and is concerned with serving the Lord but the married man focuses on the world demands and is concerned with pleasing his wife (1 Corinthians 7:32-33). Sad to say, there are many people who want to become priests but do not understand the role and importance of priestly celibacy. Perhaps they should turn to Father Anthony Ho for advice.

Father Anthony Ho is of the opinion that: "Developing a deep friendship with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and with Our Lady is the source of happiness and strength for priests. By being faithful to our daily prayer and daily duty, we grow in holiness and bring many blessings to the people." Yes, Jesus and Mary are the source of happiness and strength for priests - not sex, lakefront homes, private jets, luxury cars, and pop music. What the faithful would love to see is a true priest who grows in holiness as he brings them closer to God - not a priest who quits the Catholic Church to get married or embezzles Church money for his personal use.

Father Anthony Ho is a man taken from among men to serve God's people and to lead them to union with God. As a shepherd tends to his scattered flock when he is with them, so I will tend my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered when it was cloudy and dark (Ezekiel 34:12). Priests must be joyful and stubborn and do not mind taking risks to seek out those who are most distant from God just as what Jesus has done (Pope Francis). And that is why Father Anthony Ho has devoted himself entirely to his special mission as a priest. The word "entirely" here means "all he has" and not just 30% or 40% because his focus is only on God and souls. 

In this final paragraph, I would like to share a piece of Father Anthony's invaluable advice with the faithful: "A good prayer life and knowedge of the Catholic faith are very fundamental to our spiritual life. Friendship can only be deepened by spending time together and by communicating. So, we must spend time with Christ and communicate with Him each day. Daily prayer is like food and drink for our soul. We need prayer to deepen our friendship with Christ."  That is why he is always busy helping us to deepen our faith and our relationship with Jesus for the salvation of our souls. If only we can have more priests like him, the world would be a much better place for everyone. To those who wish to join the Catholic priesthood, why not seek some invaluable advice from Father Anthony Ho? I am sure you will be inspired by him and become good priests too. Who knows, you may one day change many lives by God's grace!

You may also like to read FATHER OC LIM - OUR PRIEST LAWYER, Cardinal Robert Sarah: The Christian Priesthood Is in Mortal Danger, WHY POPE BENEDICT XVI CLARIFIES, REAFFIRMS, REINFORCES AND DEFENDS CELIBACY? and From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy, and the Crisis of the Catholic Church. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.