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.

JOURNEYING TOWARDS OUR PARISH VISION

Our first Parish Recollection took place last Saturday, 21^st January with 36 participants from the various ministries and BECs. The session commenced at 9 am and ended at 12.15 pm with inputs, group discussions, individual sharing and silent prayer. 

For the benefit of those who did not attend, let me give a brief overview: I began the session by explaining how our Vision for 2017, "Towards Strengthening Our Faith Community" came about. The two-year mission which we started in 2015 focusing on the family and 2016 on BEC and Mercy have led us to set our plans and to strategise our vision for this year. The journey of this last two years has made our parish more vibrant and strong in faith.

I went on to elaborate briefly about our community prayer which we recite after the Prayer of the Faithful during our weekend Mass. When we recite this community prayer we are reminded of our four commitments in materialising the vision of our parish. During the session we only discussed the first commitment on "Deepening Our Prayer Life" and the importance of prayer. 

Alan Jong continued the session by developing on the parish vision by using various biblical texts mainly from the St Paul's letters. He invited the participants  to read the texts and to share at a personal level. After his input and individual sharing we had the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and invited everyone to reflect in silence for 30 minutes. I believe this recollection has helped our participants to reflect on the parish vision for the year 2017 and the individual commitment in enhancing his/her spiritual life.

We have formed a New Evangelisation Ministry under the Parish Coordinating Council (PCC) led by Alan Jong. He and his committee will be in-charge in coordinating various formations, activities and events in our parish.

Our parish monthly recollection has been introduced for the first time in our parish. As we have stated in our year planner there will be another 7 more recollections including a parish retreat which will be held in the coming months. I hope more leadership positions in the Church will be taken up and parishioners will participate in these recollections and retreat.

My dear parishioners, I would like to bring to your attention the first commitment on “Deepening Our Prayer Life.” Jesus was a Man of prayer and he had set as an example the important of prayer. Below here are few of the biblical texts show us the priority Jesus gave to prayer in His life ministry.

·       Jesus prayed during 40 days of fasting in the desert, (MT 4:1–11).

·       “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed,” (MK 1:35).

·       “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed,” (LK 5:16).

·       “After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray,” (MK 6:46).

·       “Jesus prayed after the 72 disciples returned from ministering in surrounding towns,” (LK 10:21–22).

·       “Jesus prayed in Gethsemane before His death,” (LK 22:41-44).

As we journey together with this year’s vision I hope and pray that every member of our parish will be committed towards reaching those who need Christ, grow in faith and be more grounded spiritually.

UNITED THROUGH CULTURE AND RELIGION

The Tamil festival of Thai Pongal is a thanksgiving ceremony in which the farmers celebrate the event to thank God for providing a successful harvest. The Tamil population of the world celebrates the harvest festival to give their thanks to the farmers for the production of food.

I would like to congratulate the Tamil Speaking Community of St Joseph’s Church, Sentul, for the well-prepared Pongal (harvest festival) celebration last Sunday, 15^th January. Our theme for this year’s celebration was “… the first fruits of your harvest,” (Lev 23: 10). This year the Pongal celebration was celebrated differently than the usual. On Sunday morning at the 7am Mass the community offered a thanksgiving Mass by boiling a small pot of sweet pongal at the entrance of the Church. They offered it during the offertory together with other fruits, vegetables and sweet goodies.

In the evening the Tamil Speaking group organised Pongal Cultural Nite. Archbishop Julian Leow was our honourable guest and he was ushered from the parish house to the community hall with traditional music. He officiated the event by lighting up “kuthuvillavu” (oil lamp). There were many programmes prepared by the group. This included performances of old and new Tamil songs, Indian traditional and modern dances. One of our famous local artistes, Lokup Nathan, came to perform a few songs. About 500 people attended this cultural show and they were served with dinner and sweet rice. The Pongal cultural nite ended at 10.30 pm.

This cultural show is basically to appreciate and treasure the Indian cultures and customs. I must say a big “Syabas” to John Paul and his committee who have organised this pongal cultural nite successfully within a 2-week period. It was the first time our parish Tamil community has celebrated the cultural show. This event helped us, especially the Tamil community to realise the importance of promoting, respecting and valuing our cultures and traditions.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally held every year from January 18 – 25. It has a history of over 100 years. Christians around the world have taken the initiative to move towards the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper “that they all may be one,” (Jn 17:21). By coming together during this week, we join with Christians around the world to pray for Christian unity in prayer, worship, reflection, study and fellowship.

The 2017 theme for the Week of Prayer is, “Reconciliation – The Love of Christ Compels Us,” (2 Cor 5: 14-20). This biblical text emphasises that reconciliation is a gift from God. We recognise the pain of the divisions, which afflict the Church and the love of Christ compels us to become ambassadors of Christ’s message of reconciliation.

We are thankful for this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for being together as Christians and for the different ways we experience the Lord’s presence. May this theme and the invitation of St Paul to be ministers of reconciliation bring healing for our churches’ division. Let’s continue to grow in unity and reconciliation and be instruments of peace in our country.

BLESSING AWAITS!

What is the Good News from the Beatitudes? The word “beatitude” is a declaration of blessedness or happiness. The Beatitudes show God’s blessings for us, both in this world and eternal as well.

The Lord wants us to make us more faithful, comfortable and successful. We are expected to go the hard way, enduring poverty, pain and persecution but in the end surely the blessing awaits and we shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Does it mean that you have to be poor? No!

It does mean that we recognise that we are spiritually poor before a holy and righteous God. That means we recognise how much we need God. So being poor in spirit is placing value on God not on earthly possessions.

We must recognise our poor spiritual state and the need for God’s rule in our lives. God has promised a special blessing to all who follow His Son – the blessing of eternal life with Him in heaven.