FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF CHRIST

On Sunday, 14 July 2019 during the 6pm Mass, Archbishop Julian Leow administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 51 candidates. There were 28 students from the Form Five catechism class, 5 candidates from RCIA (Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults) and 18 from the Myanmar Zomi community. This is the first time we have had the Myanmarese candidates join the Sacrament of Confirmation with our own students.

After a long period of preparation, learning, sharing, serving, fellowship and through their commitment of attending classes regularly – they have come forward with promising hearts to be faithful servants and ambassadors of Christ. By the laying of hands and anointment with the Oil of Sacred Chrism, they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Catechism of the Catholic Church: # 1300-1301).

Today, they have become spiritually matured adults. This Sacrament has brought them deeper into communion with the Catholic Church. They have the opportunity to learn more about the Catholic faith and put into practice their faith in order to be Disciples of Christ.

My dear confirmands and also young people, a great future awaits you if you focus on the bright side of life and identify your real value. When your faith sparks in the life of others - that is the day your faith becomes alive. Once you go out and seek for people who need your help and make these people’s lives better and beautiful, then you will know that you have changed someone’s life. That is the day you can proudly say that your faith in Christ is alive and you are alive in Christ! Let’s “seek the Lord; your faith will revive,” (Ps 69: 32).

Godparents, you have a significant role to play in the life of your spiritual sons and daughters, in order for them to be living examples of faith. I am happy that the candidates have chosen you to be their sponsors and I hope and pray that you will offer your support and encouragement in their faith journey.

As parishioners, we need to serve as role models to our confirmands and RCIA candidates. We need to encourage them to learn more about the Catholic faith and welcome them into our community. It is our duty to look after their faith and share the joy of Christ, which we have experienced ourselves.

The Holy Father, Pope Francis said that the Sacrament of Confirmation “strengthens our relationship with the Church and gives us special strength from the Holy Spirit to defend the faith”and “it unites us more firmly to Christ.”The Church will continue to be responsible for their regular Mass attendance and for their growth in spiritual life. The Church will also continuously offer formations, so that they may increase their faith and be united firmly in the Catholic Church.

We will be inviting RCIA candidates who have been baptised and confirmed in recent years to come together for the “RCIA REUNION 2019”on 18 August 2019 at 7.30pm. We realise that many of them have not come back to our Church after receiving their sacraments. The Church has taken so much initiative to prepare them for the sacraments and it is the duty of the Church to assist them in their faith life for the rest of their lives.

I would like to express many thanks to the Form 5 teachers and Catechism coordinators: Priscilla, Matilda, Puspa Rakini and Monica, the RCIA coordinators:  Christina and Veronica, as well as the many others who have played their part in preparing our students and candidates for the Sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation. God bless you all!

The visit of Jesus to the home of Mary and Martha (LK 10:38-42) reminds us that hard work is a Christian ethic but sometimes we just need to sit and listen.

In our daily lives we can become so busy and stress with our every day things of life that we lose our focus. We rush here and we rush there. We are like Martha when Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things.”

The best thing we can do is stop rushing and start resting in Jesus. We need to stop worrying about “so many things” and refocus on those things that are really important.

Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, do You not care....” At time we accuse Jesus that He is not caring us. We can become so distracted and disturbed by what is going on in our lives.

God always takes care of us. As we go through this busy world - let our focus always be on Jesus.

“He will make His dwelling with those who keep His Word and practice justice.” (PS 135).

http://www.stjosephsentul.org/faithful-servants-of-christ-1/

SIT AND LISTEN

The visit of Jesus to the home of Mary and Martha (LK 10:38-42) reminds us that hard work is a Christian ethic but sometimes we just need to sit and listen.

In our daily lives we can become so busy and stress with our every day things of life that we lose our focus. We rush here and we rush there. We are like Martha when Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things.”

The best thing we can do is stop rushing and start resting in Jesus. We need to stop worrying about “so many things” and refocus on those things that are really important.

Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, do You not care....” At time we accuse Jesus that He is not caring us. We can become so distracted and disturbed by what is going on in our lives.

God always takes care of us. As we go through this busy world - let our focus always be on Jesus.

“He will make His dwelling with those who keep His Word and practice justice.” (PS 135).

THE LIVING WORD

On the 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we celebrate Bible Sunday with the theme – “Strengthening the Family through Word and Eucharist”. Once again we renew our commitment to make the Living Word alive in us, as we live and share the knowledge of God with one another.

Two important things always occur when a family gets together – meal and talk. Why do we need to eat food and what is the significance of talking? God has provided two most precious graces - Eucharist (meal) and Bible (talk). 

The Eucharist has its origin in the Passover Meal (it was a ritual meal held before Moses delivered the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt to the Promise Land – Exodus 11-12). The Bible (talk) is described as a love letter from Heaven for us. God the Father “shows forth his great, patient and unfailing love throughout history of humankind”in his love letter. He hopes that we may inherit eternal happiness by paying attention to his message, but often we fail to heed his advise.

The Bible is the “Family Book”. It describes the relationship of the human family, family crises, love stories, and it contains great wisdom and spiritually. In the Bible, God helps us with practical advice and wisdom for each family member in order to build relationships with one another. In our family, we encounter “hope and disappointment, love and betrayal, joy and despair, triumph and failure”. We cannot run away from these realities of life. Thus, the Family Book “ As a family, we should cultivate reading the Bible together prayerfully and meditatively, and make the words “active and alive” (Heb 4:12). So a family that prays and eats together, always stays together and indeed this family is very strong in the Eucharist.

Jesus practiced what He preached. In the Eucharistic celebration, we encounter the Real Presence of Jesus in the Word (Liturgy of the Word) and in the Sacrament (the Liturgy of the Eucharist). The Word and the Eucharist complement each other as how the word and action go hand-in-hand. Without action, the word remains meaningless. Each time we celebrate and participate in the Eucharist, we remember and re-enact “the self-giving act of Jesus” and his commandment of “Do this in memory of Me,” (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-26).

The Eucharist gives us strength and grace to bear witness to Christ and His Church by living together in love and harmony. What we have learned and received from the Eucharist is what we should become in the Church community and society. At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, we are reminded that through this Sacrament we are to “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life,”or “Go and announce the Good News of the Lord.”

Either on your personal level or BEC level, please spare a couple of minutes on the questions below and write down or share your reflection:

1.    God’s word has power. Our words too have power to heal or to hurt, especially those closest to us. How aware are we of that? How often do we put our words to good use?

2.    The bread-provider of the family is the one who exercises the power, but he/she is also called to make sacrifices, even to the extent of laying down his/her own life (like Christ in the Eucharist) in order to provide for the family. Are we convinced that with greater power comes greater responsibility and servanthood?

(An abstract from the Bible Sunday Message 2019 by Regional Biblical Commission of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei).

BE KIND AND GOOD

A very well-known Gospel from the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37). The parable takes place on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. The Gospel lesson is giving us a list of the things we can do in order to get into heaven. That is what the Jewish lawyer is asking Jesus – “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

What we can learn from this Good Samaritan as an example of loving our neighbour. Jesus teaches us the importance of caring for others. The reality is you never know how much caring can do until you do it.

The priest and Levite were both busy men, but they were too busy if they couldn’t spare the time to help a fellow traveller in need. The Samaritan gave freely his service to the wounded traveller.

We need to show our interest in our friends and neighbours and open our hearts and care for those in need. Speak a kind word to others. Bring hope to the hopeless, compassion to the crushed, and healing to the injured. Let us be kind and share the goodness to our neighbours always.

http://www.stjosephsentul.org/the-living-word-2/

BRINGING THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL

As Jesus traveled to Jerusalem from Galilee for the last time, He commissioned seventy-two disciples whom He sent ahead of Him in pairs to every town. It reminds us about our responsibility to join the task of sharing the good news with those who have not yet heard.

Jesus instructed these seventy disciples, and to all all of us, to ask God to send out more laborers. Why must we pray because this is the Lord’s work. It is through prayer that we will see that there is great potential in the harvest. It is through prayer that we will ask for the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers.

The need for reaching many people as quickly as possible with the gospel is urgent. We have the capacity to make God rejoice by our faithful ministry. We must remember that when carry the message of the gospel to others and do a favour for Jesus, we bring joy to the heart of Jesus. Are we ready to do a favour for Jesus by bringing the joy of the Gospel to ALL?

“Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.” (Psalm 65)