PREPARING FOR LENT

We are coming to end of the second month of the year, which is also the shortest month of the year. We have already kicked-start our first meeting for the Nine-Day Novena and Feast of our Patron saint, St Joseph, the Worker. The Feast Day committee has already set the dates starting from 22 April till 1 May 2017. We will be inviting some of our local priests to celebrate and concelebrate the Novena and Feast Day Masses.

These past few weeks, the Life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS) committee has been working hard to recruit our parishioners to join the session. The LSS will be held during the season of Lent commencing 8 March till 2 April 2017. It will be held every Saturday after the Sunset Mass and one on a weekend. Thus far, we have almost 60 people who have signed up for this LSS. We expect more of our parishioners to register by this weekend.

Last weekend there was a Parish Recollection for the month of February presented by Tomson on prayer life and the important of reading the Scripture. At the same time, our Parish Youth organised a Youth rally with a total of 56 participants including 15 members from the KASIH Ministry. Our youth ministry had shared this programme with our neighbouring parishes. It was a very great spiritual experience for many of our young people. I hope they will return to their respective Parishes to be more involved in the Church and to find the Real Jesus in their lives.

We had a pleasant surprise when Archbishop Julian Leow showed up at the rally just before at the opening session, without any prior notice. His Grace addressed the youth about the preparatory document on the upcoming Synod of Bishops to be held on 6 October 2018, which will focus on Youths. Archbishop Julian added that the Bishops in Malaysia would present the preparatory document of the pastoral care of the Church for the young people in Malaysia on “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment” at the Synod assembly.

Meanwhile, the Parish Retreat committee will be meeting for the first time on 28 February 2017 (Tuesday) before the Lent Season begins. The committee wants to brainstorm about the process of the retreat and responsibilities of each committee member. According to our year planner for this year, we have planned to organise our Parish Retreat from 11-13 August 2017 and the venue will be announced after Easter.

The Ash Wednesday marks the Lenten season and this year it falls on 1 March 2017. The Holy Father invites us to journey through Lent on the theme, “The Word is a Gift, Other Persons are a Gift.” We are called “to hear and ponder more deeply” the word and “find an inspiration on the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus” (LK 16: 19-31). May this parable assist us to make a good preparation for the coming Easter on 16 April 2017.

I hope this Lent will be a time of renewal and transformation Following the Way of Christ and live a life that is centred on Him.

DO NOT WORRY

Jesus says: It’s God or Money. It’s one or the other. It is a difficult choice. You cannot serve both God and Money (MT 6: 24-34). If we don’t show love and concern for people who were created in God’s image, we are not serving God. We might be serving money.

If you have loved the heavenly Father, your wealth is worry free. Loving God eradicates worry. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God wants us to trust Him and follow Him. God wants us to discover the worry-free treasure of loving and trusting Him. Love and trust go hand in hand. Trust is an important part of any close relationship. Our heavenly Father already knows us and He knows what we need. He promises to provide for us.

Just leave behind all those attractions that keep us from putting God first. It is a struggle but the Lord will help us to put Him first, above all else in our lives so that we may truly strive for the Kingdom of Heaven.

LET US PRAY FOR OUR NATION

Before ending the year 2016, the 13^th Malaysian Parliament sat for the last time on 24 November 2016. The 5^th session of the 13^th Parliament will commence again on 6 March 2017 (Monday) - 6 April 2017 (Thursday).

The Parliament of Malaysia will automatically dissolve the 13^th Parliament before or on 24 June 2018, and it will elect its members for the 14th Parliament of Malaysia before 24 August 2018.

The Church in Malaysia has set a Day of Prayer for Malaysia this coming Friday, 24 February starting from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm. The Church invites us to participate in this liturgical celebration beginning with recitation of Rosary, the Eucharistic celebration, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Evening Prayer, a time of silent prayer and listening to the Word of God, etc. The Church has taken special readings and prayers for this Eucharistic celebration. The composed prayers and the prayer of faithful will be focusing on the situation in the country and its people.

As the Malaysian Parliament is preparing to sit with its elect members on 6 March 2017, the Church invites every Catholic to gather in the Church in prayer so that the coming 14^th General Election will be conducted peacefully and justly. The Church with great hope expects every parishioner to gather in prayer for the common good of our nation and for the country’s economic growth, political stability, fair education and decrease in social issues such as corruption and violence.

In this time of economic downturn and crisis, Malaysians are struggling with a high level of personal debt, reduction in public investment in various sectors and our currency, the ringgit, is sliding rapidly. Malaysia's economy is growing more slowly and will continue to remain unstable. Our top political leaders are the cause of this loss of confidence in Malaysia’s economy. The political scene has been equally unsettled and many are worried about which direction the country is heading.

Corruption and violence have become a major issue in our country. Now our country is one of the top in the list of corruption. At one time Malaysia was considered one of the safest country in South East Asia but now it has become one of the most dangerous countries in this region especially Kuala Lumpur City, which has become a center for criminal activities.

We also realise that Schools and education systems hardly serve as channels for the development of peaceful societies. The poor quality of the school education system also causes our economic, political and social skills to weaken. Why is our education system failing our students? Is it because of bad parents, bad teachers or bad administration? It is time to solve the problems within our education system to enable our students to succeed in the future and to bring the nation to success.

Let’s come together next Friday evening to pray for our nation to enjoy true peace, justice and love. We too pray for ourselves to hold firmly to our Christian faith and to courageously and generously serve our country.

“Be perfect as your Father is perfect,” (MT 5:48).

We agree with to say, “nobody is perfect”, meaning every one is “imperfect”. Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father is the greatest of all because He is perfect. 

So as we seek to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect, we can take Jesus as our model. We should struggle to be like Jesus in both character and outlook.

The call to “be perfect” shouldn’t discourage us instead it should motivate us. As we seek godly perfection or godly character in our lives, we will develop habits of virtue – patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good temper, gentleness, and sincerity.

When we stumble on the way to perfection, Jesus will always be there to pick us up, forgive us, and set us on our way again. He understands and He gives grace. We just need to trust God to help us to live it by faith.

LET THE SPIRIT LEAD US

Since 1960s, Vatican II has called for the renewal of the spiritual life of Catholics which resulted in the Life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS). Since then, the Catholic Church has for more than 40 years, been organising the LSS which has helped millions of people all over the world. The two main objectives of the LSS are for renewal and rekindling the power of the Holy Spirit that we received through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.

We will be starting the LSS in our parish. Our programme is designed for once a week and it will be conducted over a seven-week period. The LSS provides teachings, guidance, group sharing, testimonies, and prayers, which will lead you to experience a new and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. It leads us to a way of learning more about living in the Spirit as we grow in faith. It helps the church members to have an ongoing personal conversion and to renew their baptismal commitments in order to experience a fuller life in the Spirit.

The LSS committee is inviting ALL our parishioners to participate in these sessions. The theme which they have chosen, is “Behold I Come to Bring Fire…” (Lk 12: 49). 

There are 5 things the organising team wants to accomplish through this LSS:

• ·     Rekindle your first love of God
• ·      Open yourself to His healing
• ·      Restore any area of brokenness in your life
• ·      Rediscover the purpose of life
• ·      Living it to the full through the Grace of God 

The LSS committee has set the above tasks as objectives to bring conversion, renewal and transformation in our parish. The committee intends every parishioner to make a first commitment in enrolling in this event. Some of you may think that this is only for those who are in the prayer group ministry and for those who are deep in their prayer life. The LSS is not just solely on prayer and healing.

We invite all of you to come with an open-mind and fully participate in this. Come and experience the sacramental graces and empower yourself with a new and fuller relationship with Jesus Christ. Your active participation in the session, Eucharist and reconciliation will enhance and strengthen your faith. We hope too the gift of the Holy Spirit will fill your life and change you so that you may experience His love abundantly, “I came that they might have life and have it to the full,” (Jn 10:10).

As one community let us pray:

• ·      For the LSS committee and all other sub-committees, in time of discouragement, that they may remain humble before God and have confidence that He is at work bringing our church together.
• ·     Pray for the participants to continually submit to God’s will and become filled with a zeal for Jesus and His Church.
• ·     Pray for the presenters to faithfully preach the Word of God and to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of Christ.

The LSS is for everyone. We invite you to come and join. Please do register soon.

PURIFY OUR MINDS

We are still with a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gave His followers extended instructions about life in the kingdom of God. In this Sermon (MT 5: 17-37), Jesus reveals that God’s law always aimed at the heart. The law in the Old Testament says, “You shall not commit adultery.”

Jesus affirms it when He says, “if a man looks on a woman lustfully,  he has committed adultery with her in his heart,” (MT 5:28).

Our motives and desires determine the sin. It is in our minds that sin is developed. Therefore, we need to control our minds. The root is at our mind. We need to purify our thoughts and actions daily.

Lord, help us to see our brothers or sisters as you see them. Help us to love them as you have loved us, with humility and generosity, without counting the cost.

CELEBRATION OF THE LUNAR NEW YEAR

On January 28th, Our Chinese Apostolate organised a Thanksgiving Mass on Chinese New Year Day. We began the Mass at 9am by bidding farewell to the Year of the Monkey and welcomed the Year of Rooster. About 350 parishioners gathered that morning for the Mass and celebration of the Lunar Year with Catholic tradition and faith.

After the Eucharistic celebration, there were offering of greetings to The Trinity God, the Priest and congregation. Immediately after the offering of greetings, the Mandarin oranges and Red packets were distributed to the congregation. The custom and traditional practice of distributing Mandarin oranges and Red packets are signs of blessings and good wishes of longevity, prosperity and great health. The Lion dance group performed the lion dance at the courtyard and also set off firecrackers. According to traditional Chinese belief, the Lion dance, gongs, drums and firecrackers’ noise are to chase away ghosts and evil spirits.

The Chinese believe that people who were born in the Year of the Rooster are very observant, hardworking, energetic, intelligent, resourceful, courageous, confident and talented. They also believe that Roosters are always active, entertaining, talkative, outspoken, frank, open, honest, and loyal individuals. They always appear as the center of attention. Besides this, they always keep their promises and are always true to their word.

We appreciate very much and congratulate the Chinese Apostolate under the leadership of Josephine Kee and her team for spending almost 3 weeks to prepare this celebration well. In spite of the small numbers, they have made the celebration more meaningful and significant to all those who were present. As one community of St Joseph, we continue to pray for our Chinese brothers and sisters that the Lord will bless them with love, joy, happiness and prosperity this Year of Rooster.

WISHING YOU and YOUR FAMILIES A PROSPEROUS and VERY HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! GONG XI FA CAI!

On 18th February (Saturday), our parish youth will be organising a Youth Rally. It is opened to all our parish youth aged 18-36. The theme of our rally is “Made Alive in Christ,” (Rom 3:23). We encourage all our youth to register and it will be good to recommend youths from our neighbouring parishes to join in this rally as well.

We organise this rally to help our young people to discover their faith, find joy in their lives and discern their vocations. The Catholic Church distinguishes four vocations: married life, single life, religious life, and ordained life. The whole parish expects that our young people will take part in this meeting allowing yourselves to fully participate in this event. We hope that this rally will make you more responsible in our Church community and to your parents. On your part, do open yourselves up to an encounter with God and your friends and actively take part in the rally.

Your contribution to the Church will help you be a part of Pope Francis preparation for next year with the theme, “Young people, faith and vocational discernment.” May your faith be strengthened and grow with the young Church.

Be A Shinning Light!

In the Gospel today (MT 5: 13-16), Jesus charged us to be the light of the world! Jesus used an image of light to remind his followers that they have an identity and a mission.

Don’t hide your light! God has chosen us to be the light that the world needs. Our identity and mission are to bring others into the light of Christ and to share the glory of God. 

A shining light is a witness. We should bring light not just to others but for ourselves, too. We are to be witnessing light to others and for one self. 

Today we have seen the need for every Christian to be a shining light. You are to be a witness of God's light in your home, and in your neighborhood, in your workplace and to the ends of the earth.