REJOICE AND BE GLAD!

“This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad,” (Ps 118: 24)

Today we rejoice and are glad that we have faithfully journeyed during the season of Lent and Holy Week. Today we rejoice and are glad to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, His Triumph over sin. Our preparation during these past weeks has helped us to enter into a spiritual preparation for the great Paschal Mystery. We rejoice and are glad because we have equipped the interior disposition of our hearts and Christ has empowered us, comforted us and snatched us out of the realm of sin.

These past few days have been an emotional one for me. I was saddened to have encountered two little kids who have been admitted for more than 10 days at IJN Kuala Lumpur due to hole in their hearts. One is only a month old baby from Sabah named Aaron Daniel whom I baptised in the hospital on 19 March at 10 pm in the presence of his parents. Another one is a three-year-old girl, Veronica from Jalan Ipoh, KL. Both are in a critical condition and I asked God, why allow these infants to suffer?

During the season of Lent this year, I visited 65 elderly and the sick, who are home-bound. Some of them are really in a state of discomforting illness and just waiting for the Lord to redeem them. I can feel how the family members are juggling their time looking after them, taking them to the hospital for regular medical check-ups, paying the medical bills, etc. It is not an easy task to provide round the clock care for the sick and the elderly. Continuous care-giving can cause depression / stress and prevent us from enjoying life like we used to.

Let’s move on with life. After the Easter celebrations we will be gearing up for our Novena to St Joseph, the Worker, our own parish patron saint. It will commence on 22 April till 1 May 2016. We are in the midst of working out the themes for Novena Masses and inviting priests for the celebrations. We will also be having two major fund raising projects namely “Food and Fun Fair” and “Ladies Day”. The funds raised will be channeled for the refurbishment of our SJC Community Centre.

Thus far, I am very glad to see that a majority of our BECs are progressing towards our parish vision and mission. I invite more parishioners to come forward to play an important role in leadership and to journey together as a community. My prayer for you, my dear parishioners, is that from Easter Sunday onwards we shall commit to continue our mission “Towards Strengthening Our Faith Community” and to bring the BEC members together and make ourselves one as we witness Jesus through corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

May you and your family experience the mercy of the glory of the Resurrection!

Christ is Risen! Truly, He has risen!

Alleluia!

HAVE A BLESSED EASTER!

HOMECOMING FOR A SON OF THIS PARISH

On Tuesday, 15 March, 2016, our KL Archdiocese celebrated the Chrism Mass at Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Puchong. About 50 priests gathered together around the altar to concelebrate the Holy Mass with Archbishop Julian Leow. It was the day when all our priests stood together and renewed our priestly commitments, the promises, which we had made at our ordination to serve the Lord and His Church. With this renewal of promises we felt that we have come a step closer to Christ in serving the Church and His people.

On this auspicious day, we the priests of the KL Archdiocese were filled with joy as we welcomed once again our fellow brother priest, Rev Fr James Gabriel, into our Presbyterium to serve the Lord and His Church. It was a most significant day for him. I believe that this year, the Chrism Mass was one of his favourite Eucharistic celebrations besides his ordination Mass because the whole congregation present there on that day gave him an overwhelming welcome after he had been away for several years. It was really a home coming for him. Fr James Gabriel (JG) has been a priest for the past 27 years and was ordained here in our parish of St. Joseph in 1989 by Archbishop Dominic Vendargon. On the following day after the Chrism Mass, Fr JG celebrated his first Mass with us on the second day of our monthly priests’ recollection.

 

He also celebrated the Eucharist with St Joseph’s parishioners on Saturday,19 March, 2016, the feast of St Joseph, the Husband of Mary. The parishioners welcomed the son of the parish whole-heartedly.

Jesus had not given up on Fr JG these past years and he remained very much rooted in Jesus Christ and in the Catholic Church. That is why Jesus has invited him back in action to serve and to walk with His people as a priest, spiritual leader, teacher, guide and minister of the sacraments. We shall continue to pray for his ministry and his faithfulness to the priesthood.

The Lent season has come to an end. We begin the Holy Week with the Palm Sunday celebration and it will end on Holy Saturday. The final three days of Holy Week are the part of the Paschal Triduum, i.e. Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter vigil. During the Holy Week, I invite every one of you to read the narration on the Passion of Christ, the last days of Christ’s life, which you can find in the last two chapters in every gospel. Do reflect and pray on Jesus’ message. This is a lovely way to prepare for Easter, the greatest feast of the Church.

Blessings and wishes for the Holy Week!

God's Mercy and Forgiveness

As we go on in life we tend to set a higher value on the virtues of mercy and kindness. When we look back on our lives we remember with regret acts of unkindness. Jesus was kind and merciful to individuals whom he was called to judge. The classic example is the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11).

We must learn from the example of Jesus today. Jesus condemns the woman’s sin but He didn’t condemn her. What she needed was mercy and compassion. He treated her in such a way that it made her want to reform her life. He condemned the sin and pardoned the sinner. He got her to own it and take responsibility for her wrongdoing. The compassion and forgiveness of Jesus give life to her. Jesus condemns the sin but loves the sinners.

“Be merciful as the Father is merciful,” (LK 6: 36). Merciful is essential to true justice. It is something we all stand in need of, and therefore, it is something we must be ready to extend to others. We often raise an accusation finger against another when we ourselves are in constant need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

The Holy Father, Pope Frances invited the Universal Church to open its doors for a 24-Hour Prayer Vigil on March 4 and 5, 2016 in honour of the Year of Mercy. It was one of my critical moments as I planned and listed down hours for the vigil and encouraged as many parishioners / families / BECs as possible, to take part in the Pope’s initiative. After much thought and prayers and with the assistance of Ms Cynthia Rosario and BECCOT members, we finally came up with a method and schedule for parishioners to participate in the vigil according to their convenience.

We displayed the list of BECs who signed up for the 24-Hour Prayer Vigil on our church notice board and we also circulated it via emails to all BEC leaders. We strongly encouraged all BEC members to come in groups according to the scheduled list. Copies of “Prayer Guide” based on the theme “Be Merciful, as the Father is Merciful,” (Lk 6:36), were made available which helped everyone to utilise the hour of prayer meaningfully and prayerfully.

Despite the hot and humid weather many of you did not fail to be present in the church. I was really taken up with your response and it was overwhelming. I have noticed that at least 20-50 parishioners were present every hour to keep the prayer chain going. Previously, (there were two such occasions), we had overnight prayer vigils but only 3-5 persons were really sitting throughout the night praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Surprisingly, the response was awesome this time round, and I didn’t have trouble getting enough people praying.

We decorated the altar with simple candle lightnings around the Blessed Sacrament and placed pots of palms in front of the altar. To create a solemn atmosphere conducive to prayer, we played the Gregorian chant as soft instrumental background music.

Another interesting part of the Prayer Vigil, which amazed me, was our Altar Server Boys’ commitment. They simply stayed the whole 24 hours at the church sacristy and rested periodically. They burned the charcoals continuously and every hour without fail, they came up to the altar incensing the exposed Blessed Sacrament and ringing the bell as a signal to the faithful to genuflect, and to offer a joyful sound to the Lord.

I am very proud of my parishioners especially in the level of their commitment to come together as BECs, families and individuals to spend time with the Lord in honour of God’s Mercy.

Each moment you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament 

brings joy, pleasure, and delight to His Mercy!

“My joy, my pleasure, my delight is to be with you.” (Prov 8: 31)

DON'T BE A PRISONER TO ANGER

Are you angry? What does your anger feel like? Are you in control of it, or do you allow it to control you?

Since our childhood we have been confronted with one of the 7 deadly sins that is ANGER.  Over the years it has been increasing and constantly we are struggling with it.  We have confessed to the priests many times, we have tried to battle with it but we have not learned from the past lessons.

What is anger? Anger in itself is a feeling of “displeasure” and it is a desire for revenge.  Anger also includes insult, gossip, plotting to harm someone emotionally, tarnish someone’s reputation, aggressive behavior and using hurtful words towards persons. We get angry suddenly if someone cuts you off in traffic, you curse the person for no reason. Or you yell at your spouse or children when something goes wrong. You may scream or attack people on social media for not reporting the injustices.

During this Lenten season, again we confront our deepest anger that has become a hindrance for us to go deeper into experiencing Christ.  Therefore, we must learn to abandon this sin, which is sometimes a by-product of our Pride. Anger comes about from the state of the world, injustices, past hurts, bad childhood experiences, chronic pain or illness, hormone issues, habit and many other reasons. If you don't overcome anger then we shall be walking with it for the rest of our lives.

We battle with our anger whether it be within the family, workplace, church community, or other areas of life.  As we walk in this Lenten journey, let us help ourselves by humbly receiving fraternal correction even though it is difficult to confront this ugliness within ourselves. This pain, humiliation, and struggle are necessary, for one day, we shall be able to handle and conquer this negative emotion ourselves.

A regular Confession is essential because it gives us the grace to overcome it. We should have a right mind and control of our emotions. We have to think wisely before we act in a situation that makes us angry. We need to walk away when a situation aggravates us.  We need a fervent prayer to overcome anger because God’s grace can truly transform us.  We should forgive past hurts and move forward.  We cannot blame anyone because we are responsible for how we respond.

It’s time to let the bad stuff go and focus on a new habit this Lenten journey.  Remember that forming a new habit is the only way to get rid of an old one. We are made for happiness and we cannot be happy if we are enslaved by anger. Let us search for the peace that outshines all understanding. Let us search out the mind of Christ, who is our Way, our Truth and our Life!