A TRULY BRAND NEW MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT

On early Tuesday morning, 8 May 2018, Fr. William Michael and I left to Penang Island to cast our vote, and returned to Kuala Lumpur after voting. Fr William left for his parish and as usual I took a walk around our Church compound at 5.30pm. About 5.45pm I went to light candles at St Joseph’s shrine and also at our Lady’s grotto and prayed that there would be no cheating during the elections, that ballot papers would be properly counted and ballot boxes would be safe. Then I entered the Church to light the Paschal Candle, which was placed at the sanctuary and stood for a moment in prayer. I hoped and prayed for a new government and also for matured leaders in all States and Federal Constitutions in Malaysia. I left the Paschal Candle burning the whole night until the evening Mass the next day, as the Church celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven.

I was awake the whole night, watching TV and tuned in to KiniTV (internet TV) to get the latest news, results and updates on GE14. It wasn’t only me, but all Malaysians were anxious and excited, to see our preferred candidate win and who would come to a power, governing our nation for the next five years. At one point, I was getting frustrated with the Election Commissioner (EC) for dragging and delaying the announcements of the results of winning candidates. Then finally, at around 4.30am, the EC announced that Pakatan Harapan (PH) under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad and his coalition with Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Democratic Action Party (DAP) crossed the minimum majority of 112 out of 222 parliament seats to wipe out Barisan Nasional. After hearing the significant news I was so happy and relieved that the voices of the people of Malaysia have finally been heard, hoping that democracy would be at work again.

During the 6.45 morning Mass, I announced this significant news to the congregation and after Mass I came to my room and waited for the swearing in ceremony of our new (and the world’s oldest) Prime Minister at Istana Negara. Unfortunately, it was postponed, and many rumours and speculations were going around in the social media that made me upset. Everyone was waiting for the historical swearing in of Tun Dr. Mahathir as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia and after a second postponement at 5.00pm, the ceremony finally took place after 9.30pm.

Today, after 61 years, Malaysians have put an end the reign of the Barisan Nasional government, and we have stepped into a new era under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir. After serving as 4^th Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years (1981-2003) and then going into retirement for 15 years, he has returned to politics with full of confidence and hope to revive, reform and rebuild our nation. He started his party with the manifesto, “Membina Negara, Memenuhi Harapan” (Rebuilding The Nation, Fulfilling Dreams).

As Christians, we pray that our beloved country now moves forward as a fair and all-inclusive nation for every Malaysian regardless of race, religion or circumstance under a graceful albeit ageing leader, who is wise and experienced in economics and politics. We pray that the new government works for the people and with the people to revive, reform and rebuild our nation. Malaysians have given a fresh mandate to the Pakatan Harapan government to restructure the administration system, economy and finance of our country, and we pray that they will honour this trust. Let us unite as a nation and stay focused so that we gradually bring changes to the way we live our lives within our families, communities and society.

Congratulations and May the Lord Bless the 7^th Prime Minister of Malaysia!

PRAYER IS POWERFUL

PRIESTLY PRAYER
The Gospel reading (John 17) finds Jesus in prayer speaking to His Father. This Priestly Prayer was prayed by Jesus just before He entered Gethsemane and Golgotha. Jesus prayed to the Father for guidance, courage and strength to persevere the suffering that is about to be put on Him.

Jesus tells His Father that He has now completed the work which had been assigned to Him by the Father. Jesus fervently asks the Father to glorify Him and bring Him back to Him. In today’s Gospel, from the Last Supper, He transmitted His mission

to his apostles and to each one of us that prayer is extremely powerful indeed. The prayer does not allow evil to penetrate our being at any time. Prayers should bring forth an inner peace, love, gratitude, and humility into our lives.

MOTHER’S DAY

Today, we celebrate Mother’s Day. The name “Mother” is precious because of the memories of tender and loving care. We should remember our Mothers. Our mothers bring us into the world. Often we thankless to our mothers the duty they do. To the all moms who raised us, nurtured us, protected us, supported us, instructed us and stood by us, “Thank you for being our mothers!”

The Jews say: “God could not be everywhere and therefore He made mothers.”

Happy Mother’s Day.

A FEAST DAY TO REMEMBER

Our parish’s feast day of St. Joseph, the Worker went well and everyone was happy. We prepared for the feast day with novenas for nine days, which started on 22 April to 1 May 2018.

The first day was celebrated by Nuncio Archbishop Marino Joseph and concelebrated by both Fr. William Michael and I. His Excellency blessed the 110th anniversary (1908-2018) of our parish flag and officiated the celebration on 22 April 2018. Then, for the next three days, Fr. Robert Daniel from the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Silibin, Ipoh celebrated the novenas. Subsequent days were celebrated by Fr. Clarence Dass, Fr. Edwin Peter, Fr. Putti Martin, Fr. John Gnanapragasam, Fr. Sebastian OFM and Fr. Alan Pereira.

Despite the rainy days, there was an increase in the number of devotees each day. On the first day of Novena we were supposed to have a flag raising ceremony at the Church car park but due to a heavy downpour, we only had the flag raising after Mass. His Excellency Marino Joseph apologised for not being present at the flag raising ceremony, as he had to leave directly after Mass, to attend prior appointments. However, it was indeed a blessing to have him with us during the opening celebration of our Patron Saint.

On Tuesday, 1 May 2018, Fr. John Gnanapragasam celebrated Mass and Anointing of the Sick for the elderly and the infirmed, at 11.00am. Fr. Putti Martin and I concelebrated with him. Our closing feast day celebration was celebrated by Archbishop Julian Leow in the evening on 1 May 2018. After the Eucharistic celebration, he led a procession with the Blessed Sacrament and concluded our Feast Day with the Benediction.

Approximately 1500 parishioners and pilgrims participated in our feast day celebrations. It was raining non-stop and I was worried and anxious that we would not make the procession with the Blessed Sacrament. However, the Lord blessed us with fine weather that night. Every one of us was able to walk prayerfully, in a beautiful candlelight procession.

On Monday, 30 April, there was a heavy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning. This then affected the electricity supply and the PA System in the Church. Thankfully, Tenaga National Berhad (TNB) technicians were able to successfully rectify the problem the very next day. Shaun Paiva and his team also managed to rectify the Church sound system problems just before we began the feast day celebration.

A series of hiccups and problems occurred throughout our celebrations. Frankly speaking, I was so anxious and agitated at times. However, the Lord challenged me to encounter them without being afraid, and to stand firm, move forward and put my trust in Him. He will guide us continually (Isaiah 58:11), and do not be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6) because He is our strength and power (2 Samuel 22:33) and for He has promised to “repay two blessings for each of your troubles.” (Zechariah 9:12).

As your parish priest, I would like to take an opportunity to thank our Feast Day Committee 2018, under the leadership of Leonard Paiva. They worked hard around the clock, to make the 110th Anniversary celebrations a memorable one. Everything turned out well, and I could not have been more pleased.

Thumbs up to all of you my dear parishioners! Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS

“You are my friends, if you do what I command you,” (John 15:14).

A friend is a person whom one knows well and is fond of; intimate associate; close acquaintance. Friends serve because they care. Friends of Jesus will go with Jesus and will give ones life for the poor, the outcast, the homeless and the lost. Friends, on the other hand, know that God always loves them, and in this love, they are free to serve one another joyfully.

How many of you get joy from being judged? How many of you get joy being condemned? Mother Theresa once said, “if you spend all your time judging people, there is no time left to love them.” Do concentrate on our walk with Jesus and don’t waste our time trying to figure out about others and just leave the judgment up to Him! Jesus knows all our failings and shortcomings and yet He loves us. Do we lose God’s love?

Jesus said, “This is my commandment: Love one another the way I love you.” What Jesus has for us is LOVE. We are His friends. He loves us.

I AM THE TRUE VINE

Jesus says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches,” (Jn 15: 5). Jesus is the True Vine. The word “true” means, “genuine and real.” The word “vine” literally means, “root,” or “trunk.” Since we are abiding in Him, we are invited to bear good fruit. 

Jesus uses the metaphor of a vine connected to a branch and we are connected to Him. He is talking about a permenant abiding, enduring and deeply rooted in Him. When we are connected in our relationship with Jesus Christ, the Real Vine, we will bear much fruit, fruit that endures forever. He emphasises what it means to live a faithful and fruitful life.

The fruit we will bear begins inside of us and touches the lives of others especially the lives of our families and communities. We must develop in faith and become mature in faith before we can expect to receive in faith and bear fruit.

Our responsibility is to stay as close to Jesus as we can. When we are faithful, we will be fruitful and it is our responsibility to go forward in our Christian lives, growing in fruitfulness.