COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS JOY

Since the beginning of Advent you would have noticed the glow of the Christmas lights twinkling on the trees around our Church compound as well as the façade of the Church. The crib and Jesse Tree have been set up in the Church by the efforts of the Tamil speaking youth. I too have set a wonderful nativity set and Christmas tree in the parish office.

Christmas is traditionally a season dedicated to wishing joy and love to our loved ones and friends. This year will be my third Christmas with you. I hope and pray that for this year’s Christmas I may bring joy, love and heartwarming thoughts to inspire your families, loved ones and close friends.

Before I became a priest I used to sit down and write Christmas cards to my close friends and relatives. I used to choose some expressive and perfect verses and quotes for Christmas cards. I too took extra care when I wrote the Christmas cards and made sure I wouldn’t make any mistakes on them. I used to keep my Christmas cards, which I received over the years and now I have disposed of them. Since I became a priest I haven’t sent out cards due to my commitments.

Sending Christmas cards is quite costly nowadays because we have to purchase cards and spend on postage as well. But by sending Christmas cards to our loved ones and close friends they feel appreciated when they open our cards and read our warm wishes. These Christmas wishes are sure to kindle warmth in the hearts of our families, friends and loved ones.

Presently, most of us don’t take time to sit down and write Christmas cards. Sending Christmas cards to people whom we are in contact with, is unpopular today. In this digital age it is much easier to just wake up on Christmas morning, type a greeting and just click on our smart phones and send greetings to all our contacts. All our Whatsapp group and Facebook friends will receive our electronic greetings in the blink of an eye.

We all have been waiting eagerly for the ‘Christmas Get Together’ event these past 3 months. The good news is that we have collected the amount that we need. I really thank all of you for your prayers, support, encouragement, contributions and the spirit of working together towards this event. It is going to be a beautiful charitable time of the year for the parishioners of St Joseph. We are going to bring so much loveliness into this mega event. On this day we shall get together many families and children from various cultures and backgrounds, friends of other faiths to have a special time with them through fellowship whilst we entertain them with a variety of events planned for the day.

Let’s give our share of Christmas joy to all those who are going to be present at this ‘Christmas Get Together’ and we shall proclaim the joyous Good News that “God is with us”. I give thanks for all my dearest parishioners and the blessings of a Merry Christmas to you and your family, and to all your loved ones. May you experience lots of love, laughter and joy this Christmas!

GOD IS WITH US

We have many plans in our lives. We work out all of the details, and we get excited about all of the good that is going to come. As we begin to complete our plans, things start going twisted; nothing works out right. This can be both frustrating and depressing. We begin to ask ourselves, “Where did I go wrong?”

This is exactly what happened in the life of Saint Joseph and Mary. Everything was going fine for them until they faced God’s intervention. God’s plans and their plan did not seem to match. Finally, Mary and Joseph let go their plan and embrace God’s plan with faith for the sake of all humanity.

What about us now? We have our plans, our strategies; and very often we say our plan and God’s plan do not match. We are unable to adjust to his way? What holds us back?

We have to learn to let go of our plans in order to embrace whatever God wants of us – be it difficult or easy, pleasing or unpleasant. 

We need to open our hearts to God’s marvelous plan. Open wide the doors of our heart to Christ! Welcome Emmanuel, “God is with us,” this Christmas.

COMFORTING THOSE IN NEED DURING ADVENT

Every time when it comes to the season of Lent and Advent, we Catholic priests take the opportunity to visit the home bound or the sick members of our parish. As usual, in this season of Advent as we prepare  for the coming of Christ,  I had the privilege of visiting these people  who are staying in Sri Gombak and Sentul.

I have total of 69 names of elderly and sick people during this time of Advent who need the blessings and prayers of the priest. It is a time for me to meet them as I administer the Sacraments of Holy Anointing, Holy Communion and Penance. My visits to the homebound and the sick, either at home or hospital or old folks’ home, is a sign of the support and concern of the church as a whole.

These sick members of our parish who are unable to get out from their homes due to their age or illness need our companionship, our visits and our time to engage in conversation with them. We priests are called to care for the elderly and the sick in order to bring comfort and show our concern for their physical and spiritual welfare.  through our prayers and our presence. It is also a time for us to listen to their feelings of loneliness,  depression and rejection.

“Is anyone among you suffering? Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him or her with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him or her up. And if he or she has committed sins, he or she will be forgiven,” (James 5:13-15). St James emphasises that the Church has always cared for her sick and dying and always rejoice with the gifts of healing and forgiveness.

Many of us in our daily lives deal with the care of family members and friends who are undergoing illness, injury, who are elderly or in the stage of dying. As Christians and as family members we should always be in contact with our doctors and our priests and the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion  (EMHC) so that these elderly and sick members may have our immediate, spiritual and physical assistance in times of their need. We can help them to experience God’s compassionate love and mercy as we serve their needs.

Next Sunday on 18 December 2016 we shall be celebrating “2016 Christmas Get Together”. I invite our BEC (Basic Ecclesial Community) leaders and family members not to  lose sight of our elderly parents, sick, lonely, grieving and marginal members in our BECs and families. It will be more rewarding if we could bring them for this occasion so that they may experience the sharing of Christmas joy and love with one another. Let’s remember these elderly, sick and dying members of our parish in a special way as we celebrate this year’s Christmas Get Together. May Jesus be born in the depths of our heart this Christmas!

JOY COMES FROM CHRIST

The 3rd Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. We rejoice that Jesus is going to be reborn in our lives, deepening in us His gifts of love, mercy and forgiveness during this Christmas season. Let us joyfully share God’s bountiful grace, forgiveness, and mercy with others especially among our families.

The first step to become joyful is to give up our sins. By committing sins we only feel remorse and guilt. During this season of Advent and always, we can rejoice in repentance. We must prepare our hearts to recognise and welcome Jesus. God is present among us, in our everyday lives. Let us believe in our hearts that the Holy Spirit will create a metánoia, a change of heart during Advent.

We need to open our hearts and let God transform our lives. Patient is one of the greatest challenge for us. Our lives can be transformed, if we are patient and place our trust in God, (James 5: 7-10).

"Lord, Come and Save Us"

2017 TOWARDS STRENGTHENING OUR FAITH COMMUNITY

We the parishioners of Church of St Joseph have committed ourselves to journey the next three years through our Vision 2015 – 2017, “TOWARDS STRENGTHENING OUR FAITH COMMUNITY.” These past two years (2015 and 2016) we have been journeying with our parish Vision 2017 by setting our missions and goals to achieve our parish vision in the Year 2017.

I just want to recap our past two years journey towards 2017 as a parish. I hope you still remember our journey in the first year 2015 where the mission of our parish was on Jesus: the Heart of our Family. Our second year mission was on BEC (Basic Ecclesia Community): Witnessing Jesus Through the Works of Mercy and Spiritual Works of Mercy.” Our third year mission will be “Celebrating Jesus”.

 As we were engaging every member of our parish to journey towards strengthening our faith as individuals and also as a community we have organised many events, activities and formations, etc. basically to enhance our spiritual life and community living. We the leaders from the various ministries together with each member from the BECs have worked tirelessly towards making our vision and missions into reality these two years. It was not an easy task. Along the way we had a lot of battles, arguments, back-biting, disagreements over issues, failures in carrying out our mission into realities, and many other unaccounted causes. Despite all these I truly admire your enthusiasm and the spirit of “let’s move” in the right direction and working hand in hand with your committees, ministries and me.

I personally felt these were necessary obstacles and hiccups for strengthening and building up a parish community. There were some members who backed out from being in the forefront of our parish commitments and missions. As for me this is really disheartening. On the contrary, I very much appreciated that although our members argued and disagreed with me on issues, they have however, always been on my side to ensure all things are possible for all parishioners and the parish as well. Our past two years missions on families and BECs are the most vital marks of strengthening our faith community. These missions have helped us to increase our commitments to live more productively and successfully for our coming mission in the year 2017.

For the year 2017 we have set our Vision: “STRENTGHENING OUR FAITH COMMUNITY”. To make this Vision 2017 a reality, we have identified relevant strategies as we commit ourselves to walk effectively in this coming year. To realise our vision we shall commit ourselves to celebrate Jesus by:

•   DEEPENING OUR PRAYER LIFE;

•   BEING DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE WORD OF GOD

•   EXPERIENCING THE SACRAMENTS AS A TOUCH OF GOD, AND

•   COMMITTING OURSELVES TO NEW EVANGELISATION (ACT 1:8).

Each of you have something to contribute towards our vision this coming year. “Do not lose your heart in the ministry which is entrusted to you,” but in humility and simplicity let us discern each other’s gift and responsibility as we connect ourselves in the parish vision and mission.

Fr. George Packiasamy