EPHPHATA - BE OPENED

In today’s scripture (MK 7:31-37) is the story of the healing of a hearing impaired man. Jesus reaches out His hand to touch him and it has changed his life.

These friends of deaf and mute man love him enough to make a special effort to bring him to Jesus. They have faith, they have trust in Jesus. Jesus touched this deaf and dumb ears, placed the spittle on his tongue and He says this word EPHPHATHA and he could hear and speak. Because of Jesus, his life is forever changed. He experiences God’s grace in a powerful way in his life.

Whatever the brokenness or suffering is, Jesus meets our needs. Jesus meets us at our point of need, be it frustration, fear, failure, sin, guilt, sorrow, broken relationships, whatever is our burden, Jesus meets us with His grace. Everything will be all right for us if we surrender to Him.

When we are touched by Jesus we will be changed for ever. If you haven’t experienced His healing touch please do come to Him. He provides what is best for you.

PRAYING FOR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

One of the most significant feast days that we celebrated in August was Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, which falls on 15 August. A week later, the Church celebrated the memorial of the Queenship of Mary as Queen of heaven and earth. After the Solemnity of the Assumption, there was a serious issue on clerical sexual abuse, which rocked the Roman Catholic Church. A Pennsylvania grand jury released a report in August 2018 that in six Pennsylvania Catholic Dioceses identified, more than 1000 children were abused over the past seven decades by 300 priests and these were covered-up by bishops.

For the first time in history, the Pope released a letter to the entire Catholic population on the topic of sexual abuse. On 20 August 2018, Pope Francis issued a 2000-word letter to the people of God, directly addressing the US scandal and acknowledging that the Church must act immediately. He describes the “heart-wrenching pain of these victims” that were “long ignored, kept in quiet or silenced”. In his message, he says, “if one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26) and he invites the Church to come to grips with the reality of what has happened in a “comprehensive and communal way”. The Holy Father realises the greatest crisis of his papacy and the failure of the Church to deal with abuse and ask for forgiveness. In his letter to all the Catholic population, the Pope also promised that there will be “no more cover ups” of sexual abuse in the Church.

Pope Francis visited Ireland for the 9^th World Meeting of Families (WMOF), which took place from 21 – 26 August, 2018 in Dublin. The WMOF is a celebration of faith, bringing together a large number of Catholic families from all over the world, to pray and reflect on the central importance of marriage and the family as the cornerstone of our lives, society and the Church. On his two-day apostolic visit (25 & 26 August), he “begged for God’s forgiveness” when the Church failed to offer compassion to “survivors of any kind of abuse.” The Holy Father also spoke of the protection of human life at all stages, including the unborn, deprived of the very right to life.

The Catholic Church continues to struggle with these issues on sexual abuse. The Church will continue to have a self-reflection about this. Many people criticised the Roman Catholic Church after the sexual abuse of minors in Pennsylvania, asking how the Church handles sexual abuse cases? The priest, a man of God, is also a human being. He has a sexual identity, like all human beings. The Church has promised to follow the Pope’s apology to victims of clerical abuse with concrete action to ensure children are protected and offenders are held accountable.

These past few weeks, I have been really perturbed while reading articles pertaining to sexual scandals in the Church. I am praying silently for the Roman Catholic Church and all the Church authorities - Cardinals, Bishops, Religious Superiors, Priests and others, who are involved in the sexual abuse. While I celebrate Mass and during my personal prayers, I remember with sorrow asking the Lord for guidance and forgiveness of our sins and the sins of others. We shall pray for the end of child abuse. I invite everyone to pray the Rosary for the Catholic Church, priests and most importantly, the innocent children which include the abused, neglected, lost, lonely, abandoned, orphaned and those suffering with illness.

JESUS CHANGES FROM INSIDE OUT

In today’s Gospel Jesus confronts the Pharisees and Scribes (Mk 7:1-23). The Pharisees and scribes are the religious experts of the day and they gather together to team up against Jesus.

These hypocritical “holy men” saw that some of the disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed and that upset them. Does this mean that the disciples were practicing bad hygiene by not washing up before meals?

We live in a world that is very quick to pass judgment on others without looking at ourselves first. We are quick to judge people based on their race, their income level, statues, where they live, etc.

Many choose to ignore the shadows or dark side of our lives. We can’t change ourselves. We can only rely upon God’s love, forgiveness and grace. God reshapes our hearts and minds and allows what is on the inside to honor Him by expressing itself in love for Him and for our neighbor. It starts with us admitting our inward sinfulness and trusting Jesus to change you from the inside out. He wants us to be renewed, transformed and empowered us.

BINDING TOGETHER FOR THE COMMON GOOD

There has been large devastation in various parts of Kerala, India due to floods in the state, and many people have lost their lives and thousands have been left stranded. The rain, which started early August 2018, was recorded as the highest rainfall in 90 years. About 223 deaths have been reported and 10 million people are stranded and homeless in 3274 relief camps. However, there hasn’t been rain this week and the floodwaters have started receding in some parts. People from flood-affected areas are slowly returning to their homes.

His Grace, Archbishop Julian Leow has immediately released RM50,000 from the Natural Disaster Fund of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur in aid of the relief work to support the flood victims in Kerala. All parishes in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur will take a second collection at all Masses on 8 - 9 September 2018, for the flood victims. In the meantime, we shall continue to pray for all those who are affected by the floods and for those who are engaged in the rescue and relief missions.

Two months ago, our government started a donation campaign for Tabung Harapan Malaysia, to help the government tackle the RM1 trillion national debt. Many Malaysians contributed generously and the total collection went up more than RM170 million. The Catholic Church in Malaysia has collected a sum of RM1,143,635.10 for Tabung Harapan Malaysia. This was the collective amount from various parishes throughout Malaysia during the Masses of 22 - 24 June 2018.

The end-of-year brings about our usual campaigns: one is school uniforms for poor students and the other is a provision of grocery for poor families. The St Joseph Parish Integral of Human Development (PIHD) committee will start collecting funds during the weekend Masses from the end of September 2018 onwards. We should give our strong support for these two campaigns, and we should not fail in reaching out to the poor and marginalised families in our vicinity. In the past years, we have done a good job and this year we expect to be more successful in this outreach program. Each parishioner should make a commitment in assisting the poor children and their families to lessen their financial burden. It is part of bringing our Christmas joy to their homes.

On 18 November 2018, we shall be celebrating the 2^nd World Day of the Poor with the theme, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,” (Ps 34:6). Last year we had a great celebration with lots of fun, games and meals together. This year we shall be celebrating the 2^nd World Day of the Poor in conjunction with the 110 years of establishment of the parish of St. Joseph. We are expecting at least 2000 people to come together in celebrating our faith in Jesus and the joy of the establishment of our parish. It is also a time for us to evangelise the poor through our outreach, and celebrate in a spirit of joy with them.

As Church members, we should bind together for the common good and for peace in the world regardless of nationality, religion and ethnic differences. A sense of solidarity and Christian values is necessary to create and sustain a truly good Christian community and society. Your generous contribution towards any project will ensure that we are able to continue our commitment in caring for the poor and marginalised living in our midst. “How good and pleasant it is when people of God live together in unity!” (Ps 133:1).

"TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?"

For the last five consecutive weeks, our gospel readings have come from Chapter 6 of the Gospel according to St John. We have heard about the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus, the Bread of Life comes down from heaven, and Jesus has the words of eternal life. This lengthy discussion that Jesus described is about the sacrament of the Eucharist, the Holy Communion.

The Roman Catholic beliefs that the substance of bread and wine change completely into the actual Body and Blood of the Christ. The word “Transubstantiation” (transformed forever), which is the proper theological term for this change. We believe in the true and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist which becomes spiritual food and drink for us.


“To Whom shall we go?” (Jn 6:67). To whom can we go in times of such frustration and despair? Do we remain in Jesus or simply walk away? Do we really committed to Jesus, or is our Christianity just a social thing? 

Today, many people no longer follow Jesus. However, we must go to Jesus who is the Way, Truth and Life and the One who has the true answers to life’s eternal questions.