An Authentic Discipleship

"If anyone wants to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew16: 24).

An authentic discipleship is a lifelong commitment. Jesus asks for the greatest and most determined commitment of your life.

God doesn’t make mistakes when He chooses a man or woman to be Jesus’ disciple. He doesn’t just close His eyes and randomly picks a man or woman regardless of their heart. God chooses every one of us with a purpose. He knows your weaknesses! He knows your strengths! God knows your abilities, God knows your likes and dislikes.

He chooses to use you to be His disciple so that your life may shine as a hope for those around you who don’t know Jesus and who live in a world of absolute darkness. We must put God’s work and the call of God upon our lives ahead of everything else in life. We must put God first then every other need in life and every other desire of life.

To be an authentic Disciples of Christ and following Jesus mean to learn to be like Him in every way. Learning to trust Him, learning to believe in Him, learning to hear and know His voice, learning to know His will for your life, and learning His Word and its proper interpretation and, last but not least, its learning His compassion and desire to see lost souls saved are all a part of following Jesus.

We commemorate the 57th Anniversary of Merdeka and the 51st anniversary of the establishment of the Federation of Malaysia. May God bless our beloved nation with peace and harmony. “WE MUST CONTINUE TO HOPE”.

Do I Help Build My Church?

“Where is the Church”? Of course I know that my Church is right here around me, still on the same street. That is not what I am asking though; I want to know where the Church that was founded in Matt. 16:18, “You are Peter and on this rock I build My community/My Church, and the gates of underworld can never empower you.” Jesus chooses Peter to be the rock foundation, the head of His Church. This passage is crucial for a proper understanding of what the Church is, and our role in the Church.

The Church is founded on the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that He forgives our sins and He is the Savior of the world. Without Christ we have no power, no authority and no strength in building the Church.
Going to Church is very important. In fact, if you have no faith in coming to Church, we, priests have no one to celebrate and preach to.
Do I help build my Church?
Jesus did not entrust Peter and His successors alone the responsibility to build His Church. But everyone has a role in building the Church. The Priest cannot run the Church on his own or on one “Our Father” and three “Hail Marys”. 
We need you in building the Church. All God’s people have been called together as co-workers in His vineyard. But we do not own the Church. We belong to the church. The owner of the Church is Christ.
The question we could ask ourselves today is: “How is God using me to build up His Church? Am I letting God use me?” He needs to know from us today!

Exclusiveness vs Inclusiveness

This encounter between Christ and a Canaanites woman indicates that God has no favourites and no one is excluded from His sight. The good news is to be shared among all peoples, all cultures, and nationalities. There is no division among God’s children. Jesus’ whole mission is to break down barriers and to remove walls of division and prejudice between Jew and Gentile. The Canaanite woman was a foreigner and completely an outsider who had a great faith creates an awareness among among us. She totally convinces that Jesus will help her in her desperate situation and asks for her daughter’s healing. She kneels at his feet and cries out: “Son of David, take pity on me” (Mt 15: 21-28).

There are too many people in the world still believe that God is their exclusive possession. They still believe that they alone have access to God. Such narrow- minded people are apposed to dialogue. Don’t think that, I am baptised Christian and I am saved. Christianity is not yet complete by just receiving Christ. It is in the process of growing into the community and into a Church and the more we learn about Christianity and put into practice, then the most Christian we become, the most Christ-like we become.

What is necessary is to have faith and trust in God and reliance in His mercy. God does not discriminate but welcomes all who believe in Him, who ask for His mercy. God wish is to unite all people and that we may be sensitive to the needs of others and never exclude anyone from our company.

Save me, Lord!

“The Lord comes to us in many different ways, beyond our imagination and expectation.” As the disciples' boat was being tossed about by a terrible storm, they saw Jesus walking on the water.  They were so frightened that they thought He was a ghost. When He got into the boat, the wind calmed down. The disciples realised that they were in the presence of God.

How do we find God in the storms and struggles of our lives? The power of God is manifested in all sorts of ways in our lives, usually in ways that we least expect.

At such moment of trials, danger, threats, disappointments or sickness, we cried out to the Lord, “Lord, I’m drowning”. We hope to hear some encouraging word from the Lord, “Don’t be afraid,” or "don’t worry, you are going to be all right soon.”

Deviation comes from a lack of attention.

We take our eyes off from Jesus and that make us to sink! Circumstances may deceive us and frighten us. 

When the fear strikes us be like Peter who cried to God, “Save Me! Lord, I am drowning.” Jesus is saying, “Don’t take your eyes off of me! I will keep you afloat.”

Sure, Jesus will offer courage and hope. Stay focused on God. Fix your eyes on Jesus again. He will never desert you in the midst of the storm! He will never leave us to sink into the circumstances!

"Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help."

Nothing Is Impossible For God

The story of the Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand is not just the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish but it is the miracle of the changing of selfish attitudes into loving, caring and generous heart. God is able and willing to satisfy all our hungers and thirst. But He is waiting for our loving and generosity to give up our lunch pack “five loaves and two fish” which He needs to make the miracle possible.

Nothing Is Impossible for God: God can perform miracles whenever He wants and however He wants. Nothing can hold Him back. Still we often ask ourselves, “Why doesn’t Christ perform the miracle that I need in my life – my health problem, my work, my spouse, my children?” Could it be that we’re seeking something less than what He wishes to give us? 

God has a plan for each of our lives. It includes moments of great joys and of crosses. At times we may not understand God’s plan, but that’s when we need to pray all the more and entrust ourselves to Him even more than before. It is only through humble, constant, urgent prayer that we’ll receive the answers to our heart-wrenching questions and the grace we need to carry the cross courageously and lovingly, following in the footsteps of the one who shows us the way by carrying our cross first.

Pray for Angela, 14 months old from Myanmar who is in critical in ICU GH KL 

This is Eva Marybeth, a week old, who have received baptism on 2/8 in IJN KL.
She will be going for a surgery on 4/8.  Pray for Eva.