St Joseph: Holiness and Simplicity

On May 1, we celebrated the feast of St. Joseph, the Worker. He has been described as a saint who "knows how to roll up his sleeves and put in a hard day's work." St Joseph reminds us that we should give dignity and respect to our work and that the fruits of our labours which we offer to God are corresponding to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. It is a good time for us to live out this dignity of work by following the example of SI. Joseph. We should redouble our attentiveness to the work and commitments, which are already laid before us. 

We have discovered about St Joseph's life of simplicity where he didn't take no attention of his own glory but seek God's glory alone. He didn't go around Nazareth working miracles rather, he lived his holiness wrapped in simplicity. God draws us to Himself through the ordinary means of simply fulfilling our tasks. 

Joseph was a great man. Right from the beginning, he was with his family, Jesus and Mary. His holiness and simplicity came through Jesus and Mary by serving and receiving from them. 

We know Joseph's family is not a normal family like ours. There is a special grace about this Holy Family. If we compare our families to the Holy Family, we will probably be discouraged because we are not able to live our lives like them. Nevertheless, they are intimately close to us and help us to draw closer to God. 

My dear parishioners, we are coming to the end of the novena and feast of St Joseph which reflected on the theme: "Jesus, the Heart of the Family." Despite the heavy rain almost every evening, I have noticed how devoted you are to St Joseph as you have been making yourselves present in Church, participating in the prayers and listening to the inspiring preaching by the celebrants during the Novena days. In our Eucharistic encounter with Christ, we receive Jesus' grace and His love. The little refreshments prepared by the various zones and the daily fellowship have strengthened our unity within our parish community. Thank you for being a devoted servant of God. 

How are we going to make our devotion to St Joseph and our focus of the year on family to be devoted servants of God? 

Here, we need to ask ourselves as individuals and families - Is there a need to forgive our spouse and children? Is there love that needs rekindling in our homes? Is there gratitude missing in my home and community? As members of family and community, we cannot grow in holiness and simplicity without the example of Mary, Joseph and Jesus and those around us especially our parents and children. 

Though we have come to the end of this feast of St Joseph, it is not the end of our focus on strengthening our faith and family commitments but it is a good opportunity to examine our closest relationships with Joseph, Mary and Jesus leading the way by example and family prayers. 

Easter to Pentecost

Our 47 days Lenten journey which began with Ash  Wednesday  and culminated with the Easter Triduum  engaged us in prayer, fasting and almsgiving as a preparation to die to self and so live in Christ. It was a journey from Ashes to New life at the Baptismal font!  

The Easter Triduum: The liturgy of Holy Thursday moves us into the celebration of “Three Days” (Holy Thursday till Easter Sunday and Solemn Vespers), during which we make memory of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (Paschal mystery). These three days are really one solemn liturgy. We had a fruitful and spiritual celebration.

The most  significant celebration during these three days was the Easter Vigil, where we witnessed the 9 catechumens/elect who received Christ in their lives through the waters of baptism. We too renewed our baptismal promises by rejecting Satan and all his empty  promises and we professed our Faith in 12 Truths  (The Creed).

Divine Mercy Sunday: Observed universally on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, we at SJC celebrated the first ever chanted Divine Mercy  Chaplet by our own Choir followed by Holy Eucharist and        Benediction. The two important  elements so beautifully contemplated upon were "Mercy and Forgiveness".

Parish Activities: In the midst of the  above  solemnities and celebrations, we as a parish, families, BEC’s and individuals came together to ensure the huge success of the SJC Jogathon which took place on 11 April, 2015 as well as the 100% sale of tickets for the Easter Gala Dinner, 18 April, 2015. Syabas to our beloved Fund Raising Committee!

Events come and go but how do we, as Easter People / Resurrected People proclaim in our life the reality of our own Easter joy?

In the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost we will have ample  opportunities to do so, to reassess the mission we have received from our Baptism.

Let us reflect on the significance of the resurrection in our lives. The Risen Lord didn't abandon his disciples but He hung out with them till the Ascension and put the finishing touches on the three most significant years of His earthly life.

He too didn't leave us orphans. The first 11 verses in the Acts of the Apostles suggest that we, too, can go deeper with Jesus and discover what particular message He has for each one of us.

May Jesus, Heart of our Families enlighten your faith always.
God bless you and your families.

3 Ways to Practice Forgiveness

“This outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us…”(CCC # 2840).

This Sunday we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday. The Church calls us to meditate on the gratitude of God’s gracious mercy shown to us and we should look sincerely  at the mercy that we show to others. Our God is a God of mercy.

3 Ways to Practice Forgiveness:

The English poet Alexander Pope stated: “To err is  human, to forgive is divine.” 
Following are three short and concrete suggestions to help us on the pathway to forgiveness and mercy!

1.  Beg for the Grace. To forgive our enemies, to pray for them and to love them goes far beyond our fallen human    nature. We desperately need God’s overflowing and   abundant grace. Saint Augustine says that we are all   beggars before God. Therefore, we should beg for the grace to forgive. God will not deny us this noble petition.

2.  Forgive Immediately. When we are offended, often the devil works on us right away fostering in our minds thoughts of revenge. Therefore, if we respond to God’s grace of mercy and forgive immediately there is a very good chance that the victory is ours. Be quick to reject unkind thoughts and be quicker still to forgive!

3.  Mercy is a Two-Way Street. Remember that receiving God’s mercy is not a dead-end but rather a two-way street. Jesus said: “Be merciful as your Heavenly Father is     merciful… and forgive…” (Lk 6:36). Therefore, if we want to experience God’s infinite mercy in our lives, we must extend our hand in forgiveness towards those who have offended us. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us the same    lesson:  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive        those …..”

Jesus told Saint Faustina that He desires that we practice at least one act of mercy every day. He specified that mercy can be carried out in any of these three manners:
1)  by kind words
2)  by kind deeds
3)  by prayer

Entering the Paschal Mystery

We started on our Lenten journey since Ash Wednesday with the best of intentions, expecting to grow closer to our crucified Lord.  In the last 5 weeks, you resolved to give up your favourite dessert, you were kind to your annoying neighbours and you tried hard not to miss your prayer times. You have been faithfully fasting by giving up at least one meal on Fridays.

You have become a little holier now. Am I right?!  Or are you, conversely, feeling worn out, finding yourselves growing irritable and impatient?

If so, you may have taken the wrong approach to Lent. As we have seen in these past few weeks, the heart of Lent is not about Resolutions -  it is about Repentance and Love. It is the orientation of our hearts back to a loving Father who awaits our return.  In what ways have we drifted away; what are we truly sorry about? The three tools of Prayer, Fasting (Penance) and Almsgiving will help to condition our mind and heart towards a right attitude in our observation of Lent.

The gift of Lent is not in what we have lost but rather in what we have discovered: the sweetness of sacrifice, the power of prayer. The depth of our encounter with the Risen Lord Jesus depends on how we lived out the holy season of Lent. Spend some time writing about how fruitful Lent has been for you instead of fretting about how wearisome and frustrating it has been so far.

HOLY WEEK is here once again. It begins with Passion    Sunday and ends with Easter Sunday with the Evening prayers (Vespers).  During this time of the liturgical year, we are called to enter into a deeper journey of uniting ourselves with Jesus, connecting our sufferings to His sufferings, our passion to His passion, our need for the glory of resurrection to His glorious Resurrection. Reading the Passion story of our Lord reflectively will predispose us towards experiencing the Joys of Easter!

God chose Our Lady to collaborate intimately in His work of our redemption and sanctification. May she accompany us in Holy Week as we unite ourselves with Christ in His Paschal Mystery reaching its climax at His glorious Resurrection! Let us enter Holy Week with a pure heart and a steadfast  spirit - dying to sin and rising to new life!

               Have a Blessed Holy Week

"COME BACK TO ME!!!

Many of us have drifted away from frequenting the Sacrament of God’s Mercy, which we call Confession. The reasons are many:  some of us have never had our conscience well-formed, others harbour a nagging fear or doubt while still others wrestle with the “I have no sin” notion!

Here are five concrete practices you can adopt to return to God’s mercy:

1.              Go for Confession: I can’t convince you, if you are putting up excuses to deny yourself God’s infinite mercy by avoiding Confession! So let us prepare ourselves and come in humility and faith to be redirected in our journey back to God, on 25 March (Wednesday) at our Parish @ 8.00 pm.  Do not let the devil of procrastination conquer you!

2.              Mercy: Remind our wandering souls, the lost sheep/prodigal son/daughter, that God’s mercy is infinite. Saint Paul reminds us: “Where sin abounds, the mercy of God abounds all the more.” Saint Faustina Kowalska asserts that the    greatest sinners can be the greatest saints if they simply place their trust in the infinite mercy of Jesus.

3.              The Prodigal Son and Confession (Lk. 15:11-32):  Read and meditate on the Parable of the Prodigal Son before and after the Sacrament of Confession.

  4.              Examination of Conscience.  The examination of conscience is like an attentive gaze fixed on Jesus, to imitate his virtues, to conform ourselves to him and to open our soul to His presence. It is the means for knowing ourselves and it grounds us in humility, disposes us in gratitude towards God, to sorrow for sin, and to affirm our resolution for the future. In the March 8 issue of ‘Herald’, Pope Francis offers handy tips for preparing for Confession (front page).

5.              How? When? Where? Somebody who has been away from the Church for many years and has not confessed for a long time, may not even remember the basics on how to go to Confession. Just go through the basics with someone.  Don’t worry! The priest will guide you. Do enter the confessional, make the sign of the cross, and tell the priest how long it has been since your last Confession. Then tell your sins to the priest who represents Jesus Christ.
Saint James encourages us, “… if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone brings him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his ways will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins,”(James 5:19-20)

May Our Lady, “Refuge of sinners” as well as “Mother of mercy” bring us sinners back to the loving and merciful Heart of our Lord Jesus!