PREPARING OUR HEARTS FOR THE COMING OF THE INFANT JESUS

As we come closer to Christmas and the New Year, of course there will be a lot of parties, visitors and celebrations taking place in your home. In the midst of all these we too face a lot of tension, anxiety, stress and many more things in our lives. These last days of Advent the Church invites us to make our life much better, more meaningful, and more Christ centered as we clear our pathways and to make ready our hearts to welcome Jesus into our midst once again this Christmas. We shall make our pathways to enter into the ambiance of silence in order to experience the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit – “Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity,” (CCC 1832).

As we enter more profoundly into this 3^rd Week of Advent, our hearts yearn for more interior peace than any other riches that the modern world can offer. It is a time that we should learn to examine ourselves, our spiritual and moral lives, and time alone with God we shall find peace in the inner rests of our soul. We need to do a lot of examination of our conscience and repent from our wrongdoings in order to experience the inner joy and peace. The Lord demands patience, attention, humility, selflessness, genuine love and charity towards others which will lead us into a joyful Christmas and the New Year celebrations. May we imitate St Joseph and Mother Mary so that Jesus can take us into the depth of our hearts.

The Forth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Masses are falling one after another this year. Both celebrations are obligations for us to fulfill. The Fourth Sunday of Advent begins with Sunset Mass on 23^rd December and ends with Sunday morning Masses on 24^th December. Whereas our Christmas Masses begins at 7.30 pm and 10.00 pm on 24^th November and ends on Monday, 25^th December with 7.30 am and 10.00 am. I hope you don't skip both days of obligation for no reason.

           

As we enter into this new chapter of our parish vision for the year 2018 “Committing Ourselves To New Evangelisation” we shall pray for inspiration and courage to serve and spread the Gospel with joy and respectfully with EVERYONE, including with people of our Faiths. We pray this prayer regularly every weekend and make it familiar among us and come together to own the vision and mission as we grow as a Church.

Below is the prayer that we have composed to help us focus on New Evangelisation:

COMMITTING OURSELVES TO NEW EVANGELISATION

Heavenly Father, we thank you for Your love and grace in helping us experience wholeness and hope in our lives. We put ourselves, our lives, and our future in Your hands. May the power of Your Son’s resurrection work in us and transform us according to Your will.

We embrace the commitment of love graciously as stewards of patience, kindness, and gentleness as we engage with EVERYONE.

We commit ourselves in the spirit of new evangelisation as we step forward in faith, to go where You lead us without hesitation or fear and to trust that Your presence is with us and that You will provide all we need.

Loving St. Joseph, our Patron, watch over us, protect us and guide us. Most Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

POINTING THE WAY TO JESUS

John’s Gospel (Jn 1:6-28) stresses the role of John the Baptist as that of pointing us to the Messiah, who was coming to bring the light of God’s redemption to a darkened world.

John the Baptist was a creation of God, but without the light of Christ, he was nothing. His role was to let the light of Christ shine through him and help him point the way to Jesus. In our everyday life, we are called by God to bear witness to Christ and His saving grace in our lives.

God wants us to give hope to those we meet this Christmas. He wants us to bring hope to despair, to bring comfort to those hurting, to bring hope to the grieving, to bring a measure of His grace into this world.


As Isaiah says: because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; The Christ is the one who is going to bring hope into this world (Is 61:1-2, 10-11).

A SUCCESSFUL AND FULFILLING THREE-YEAR VISION

Over the past three years (2015 – 2017), we have been faithfully united as a community to bring our vision and mission statements: “Towards Strengthening Our Faith Community” to a completion. It was a spiritual journey that we made through our collaboration and prayers. Every one of us was committed in one way or another and played our roles in fostering and vitalising our community of faith. In each formation, event, activity and fellowship we ensured that Christ’s values were present and enacted in our community and family. There were times when we encountered some hiccups and misunderstandings but overall, we supported one another and shared our joy in living out our Christian values each day in our community and families.

On Saturday, 2^nd December, about 12 of us came together in prayer to set our pastoral priorities and vision/mission statements for the next three years (2018 – 2020). A few values and core needs were discussed, especially on the current realities and challenges in our parish community and society at large. With these in mind, we look forward to working together with true commitment and zeal, in order to establish the mission of our parish. We realise that as Catholics, we should share the Light of Christ and bring His presence to our non-Catholic friends and fallen-away Catholic bothers and sisters, by inviting them to know our faith.

In today’s digital world, our parish should be able to communicate the Good News very clearly, share the faith of Christ more profoundly and speak of Jesus more effectively. We should be able to form relationships within our community and build bridges with everyone, including people of other Faiths. We have to find ways in expressing our faith and to ensure that the Good News of Christ reaches and touches the hearts of everyone within our parish and every part of our world. Through communication, the message of Christ will strengthen our authentic witnesses to our Church and Christ Jesus.

When we take others seriously, and show our respect for them and consider their opinions, we avoid any form of manouevring and manipulation, then we can share a witness to our faith in Jesus. Every parishioner of St Joseph Sentul should know our faith and inspire our parish community by serving and sharing the love of Christ with one another. We need to put effort of strengthening family unity in the new spirit of evangelisation, as we bring light, hope and joy of the Gospel to a deeper meaning and understanding.

As Pope Francis has stated: “The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel,” (Evangelii Gadium/The Joy of the Gospel, No. 114). Every one of us has a commitment to proclaim Jesus, in our way of life, in each and every culture, in every reality and in every language. In keeping with these sentiments, we have establish the following pastoral strategies and priorities:

VISION: COMMITTING OURSELVES TO NEW EVANGELISATION

      PASTORAL PRIORITIES FOR THE YEARS 2018 - 2020

• 2018 YOUTH: Empowering Transformational Youth
• 2019 EIRD: Engaging in Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Dialogue
• 2020 PIHD: Embracing the 5Ls (Lost, Last, Least, Little and Lonely)

MISSION STATEMENT: As disciples of hope, we the parishioners of St Joseph, commit ourselves to sharing the light of Christ by building bridges with EVERYONE, including people of other Faiths, respectfully and joyfully.

MAKE THE U-TURN!

Advent reminds us that very soon we will be celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Advent should be a time of preparation, preparation for both the celebration of Christ’s birth and preparation for His return.

This weekend John the Baptist (MK 1: 1-8) takes centre stage and invites us to repent. He tells us clearly that it is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who will forgive sins. Everyone has to take a step of being sorry and asking God to forgive us. John the Baptist asked the people to repent, to look at their lives of sin, and then repent, to make a U –turn to God, to turn away from their sins.

All of us must make the u-turn, not just once, but on a daily basis, for each day sin and must repent and to Christ for forgiveness.

“Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation,” (Psalm 85).

Our preparation for Christmas is entirely inward. God has given us the sacrament of confession for the forgiveness of our sins. How often do I take advantage of it? Am I faithful to frequent confession?

PREPARING FOR A MEANINGFUL ADVENT

On Sunday, 26th November on the Solemnity of Christ the King, 27 of our students received their First Holy Communion. They have encountered the real and true presence of Jesus in the Holy Communion. My heart felt thanks to our catechism teachers especially Assunta, Gregory and Michelle and the parents of the students for preparing them for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

In my homily on this solemnity, I was sharing with our First Holy Communicants about Jesus, the Head of their lives based on St Paul's letter to Ephesians who invites everyone to fit and join together into the Body of Christ (cf. Eph 4: 15-16). For instance, when we draw a picture of a man or woman we first draw a sketch of a head then slowly we add one by one other parts of the body. We never draw a picture of a man or woman first with other parts of the body and finally we fit the head into them. The head is the first and foremost a part of the body. Once the head comes out well then, the other parts surely turn out to be right.  During the Sunday morning Mass they have chosen Jesus as the Head of their lives and they themselves have fitted and joined together into the Body of Christ. Jesus will be in control of their lives and will show them the right path in life. As they grow they will grow in love and peace.

My dear parents of the First communicants, I urge you to assist your kids in their faith life. It is your responsibility to bring them for the Sunday Mass to fulfill their obligation and for the Catechism classes. Please do not deprive them from these commitments. It is your duty to guide them in their faith education and their spiritual life. They need to grow and learn maturely in faith. It is our commitment to help them grow maturely in faith and wisdom. This will direct them to love the Church more and more as they grow in age.

Advent begins this Sunday and with it comes our short four weeks of the Advent season. My dear parishioners as we look forward a favourable Christmas and dawn of New Year 2018, we shall expect a Christmas and a year full of new hope and a meaningful one that sparks rejuvenation in our families and parish at large.

I will be a little occupied with a few important commitments during this Advent season. As usual I shall be making my visit to the home bound, the sick and the elderly to administer to them the Sacraments of the Holy Anointing, Reconciliation and Eucharist. Besides this I shall be going around from parish to parish to help out in the Penitential services practically every evening. I am also thinking of how to beautify our church compound with Christmas lightings, putting up the nativity set and other decorations to create the atmosphere of Christmas and New Year. Your ideas are most welcome.

Once again, this Advent we are given an opportunity to begin anew and to prepare ourselves receiving Christ Jesus more deeply into our hearts and our homes every day. To receive this gracious gift, we have to open our hearts to the light of Christ. The Prophet Isaiah whose words we read and reflect through much of Advent, tells us of the coming of Messiah, who is to be the Saviour of the world. He brings us the light into darkness and peace and justice into the world. Isaiah's words help us to walk through Advent with hope and expectation.

Let us pray during this Advent Season for the grace to allow the Light of Christ to enter into our hearts and our homes. We shall live this time of grace in a watchful and prayerful way while we await the coming of the Messiah this Christmas.

"O Lord, we are the clay and you are the you are the potter: we are all the work of your hands." (Is 64: 7).