THE KING WHO IS TO COME

The New Liturgical Year 2019/2020 has already begun with the first Sunday of Advent. At the end of this month, we will celebrate New Year’s Eve and then, of course, New Year’s Day. The season of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ordinary Time and all the other annual feast days mark our day-to-day lives with Christ and His Church. Every time we celebrate each season, we have an opportunity “to let the mystery of time become His-story of time.”

It is already the Second Sunday of Advent and Christmas and New Year will soon be upon us. The liturgy leads us to celebrate Jesus’ birth and to walk together towards the Lord and fulfil the words of Prophet Isaiah, “come, let us walk in Yahweh’s light,” (Isaiah 2:5). As Advent prepares us for the Nativity of Our Lord, we are reminded of the calling of all people, “Let us adore the Lord, the King who is to come,” (Invitatory Antiphon of Morning Prayer - Lauds).

Many homes, offices, hospitals and shopping malls excitedly set up Christmas trees, Christmas lights and decorations, but it is very hard to see people setting up nativity scene. This custom has slowly faded off from our generation. Pope Francis has published an Apostolic Letter on 1 December 2019 (1st Sunday of Advent) entitled “Admirable Signum,” on the meaning and importance of the Nativity Scene. The Pope hopes this Letter encourages families to carry out this admirable tradition of preparing the nativity scene. He hopes “this custom will never be lost and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be rediscovered and revived.”

Our Church purchased two beautiful nativity sets (1 foot and 4 feet in height) in December 2014. The one-foot size nativity set is always displayed at the parish office whereas the 4-foot size nativity set is at the Church. As far I know, we are the only Church that has the 4-foot size nativity set in the whole of Peninsular Malaysia. Initially, we placed this scene at the sanctuary of our Church but these past two years I placed them outside the Church because I noticed that many are only interested of taking photographs rather than spending time praying and adoring Baby Jesus in the manger.

I purchased it for the purpose of praying at the nativity scene and for evangelisation – “joyful proclamation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God.” The Holy Father says that “the nativity scene is like a living Gospel, rising up from the pages of sacred Scripture.” Each time we gaze at the nativity scene and contemplate the Christmas story (the Infancy narrative), we are “drawn by the humility of the God who became man in order to encounter” us and “we come to realise that so great is his love for us that he became one of us, so that we in turn might become one with him.”

It is good to set up the crib in our homes, offices or churches, as the Pope says that “it helps us to re-live the history of what took place in Bethlehem” and “it touches our hearts and makes us enter into salvation history” in order to experience God’s love and to believe that God is with us and finally “we find true happiness.” As we “feel and touch” the simplicity, humility and poverty of Infant Jesus, we are invited to imitate him in our lives by showing mercy and compassion to those in greatest need (cf. MT 25:31-46).

As we gaze at the nativity scene this year, especially figures of Mary and Joseph, let us respond to God as Mary responded with obedience, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). In this manner, we should submit ourselves in faith to the will of God and commit ourselves faithfully in spreading the Gospel. St Joseph has “entrusted himself always to God’s will” and stood next to Mary, “protecting the Child and His Mother.”

St. Francis of Assisi, who created the first crib scene in 1223 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, will pray for us so that we may open our hearts and pray with gratitude and thanksgiving. 

“The Lord has made known to us” (LK 2:15).

PREPARE OUR HEARTS AND MINDS

The Second Sunday of Advent is a time of preparation for the birth of Jesus and His Second Coming. The message of John the Baptist (MT 3:1-12), tells us how to prepare for the coming of Jesus in this Season.

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand,” and “Prepare a way for the Lord, make His paths straight,” (MT 3:3-4).

The word “repent” means “to change one’s mind.” Repentance is not a one-time thing in life? It is a continual repentance. Conversion is merely the beginning of a process of change.

In this season of Advent, we shall reset our clocks and relearn what it is like to be. It has to start with each of us – we cannot change the others’ minds and hearts but we can change ourselves first.

Let us start with our hearts and minds. Let us remove the sins that block the way of God and prepare the way for God as we embrace, care for and heal our fella brothers and sisters.

“In His day justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.” (Psalm 71).

https://www.stjosephsentul.org/the-king-who-is-to-come/

COMMITTING TO VISION AND MISSION 2020

At the end of 2017, the Parishioners of St Joseph’s Church set our parish vision – “Committing Ourselves To New Evangelisation” for three years (2018-2020) with three pastoral priorities as our parish missions. We laid our Parish vision and mission primarily to nurture, to renew and to make us grow in faith and holiness as one people of God. Every year on the last week of the liturgical year (34th Sunday in Ordinary Time), several of our committee members set a day and time to review, revise and re-examine our parish vision, mission and pastoral priority so that our parish always moves ahead in the right direction.

I am grateful to all of you for your collaboration and commitment towards our parish vision and mission. Each of you has contributed and shared your life, gifts, talents and love in the service of the Church as true stewardships. These past two years, we have been faithfully working hand in hand to make sure we carry out our parish mission and pastoral priorities on “Empowering Transformational Youth” (2018) and “Engaging in Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Dialogue” (2019). Now, we are at the threshold of our third strategy plan, which is  “Embracing the 5Ls” – (Lost, Last, Least, Little and Lonely) in the year 2020. 

On Saturday, 23 November 2019, about 10 of us from the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) and Parish Coordinating Council (PCC) came together once again to put our values and objectives into our parish mission and pastoral priority for the year 2020. Keeping in mind our three years’ vision on the work of evangelisation, we started with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Morning Prayer (Lauds) and an hour of silent adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Then we discussed, shared, and established the values and priorities, focusing on the “5Ls”. After 3 hours of praying and reflecting, we drafted our final mission statements for the year 2020: “As disciples of hope, we, the parishioners of St Joseph’s, are sent forth joyfully to embrace, to care for and to heal the Lost, Last, Least, Little and Lonely.”

Our Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur has chosen a theme – “Sent with Joy to Heal” for the year 2020. We have merged the above theme with our pastoral priority on the “5Ls” together with the values – embrace, care for and heal. The Lost, Last, Least, Little and Lonely are broken people and in need of healing. As a part of an evangelising community, we must always be on the frontline in contributing towards greater justice, peace and love for others.

Pope Francis says, “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 Gaudium [EG] – The Joy of the Gospel, #114). As disciples of hope, we must constantly be ready in bringing the love of Christ to others in any place - on the street, town, work place and be available to those in need. We need to get involved by words and deeds in people’s daily lives in order to bridge distances - to embrace, to care for and to heal them. It is our duty to defend the rights and dignity of those who are poor by listening to their cries and to treat them as our brothers and sisters, (cf. EG no. 199).

Our encounter with the “5Ls” must not only involve listening, but more importantly being one with our fellow brethren. We should always strive to enrich our faith, strengthen our vision and mission and make the difference. Let’s commit ourselves in the spirit of New Evangelisation through our ministry of teaching, encouraging, reaching out and praying for the “5Ls”, regardless of race, status or faith. 

MAY WE HAVE A BLESSED AND HOLY ADVENT

AS WE PREPARE FOR THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD!

STAY AWAKE AND BE READY

The Gospel  (Mt 24:37-44) records for us an extended conversation Jesus had with His disciples about the second coming of Christ.

On this First Sunday in the new liturgical year, the Gospel clearly tells us that no one knows when the second coming will happen, but only God knows. Jesus warns His followers to “stay awake!” because we do not know on which day the Lord will come.

Advent is a time of preparation and the one preparation we can do is repentance. Take off the dirty old selves and put on the clean new selves. We are to be ready for the coming of Christ through our act of repentance. Repentance does not just happen once, but it is a daily occurrence for us.

Let’s make time to renew our encounter with Jesus through faith and let’s also take time to engage in the works of mercy during Advent, ensuring justice for those who are least among us. 

“I rejoice when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.” (Psalm 121)

https://www.stjosephsentul.org/committing-to-vision-and-mission-2020-1/

JAPAN – THE LAND OF SAINTS AND MARTYRS

Japan is a country that I’ve always wanted to visit, and earlier this month, I had the opportunity to do so. From 4-13 November 2019, about 46 of us (consisting of Muslims, Hindus and Christians) made our pilgrimage and tour to Japan. It was led by Susan Yee and Doris Yap from Petaling Jaya. Fr Albet Arokiasamy from Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Puchong and I were appointed as Spiritual Directors for this group. We landed in the morning at Narita Airport in Tokyo on 4 November 2019. Our trip started in Narita and then we went on a quick half day Tokyo city tour. After that, we gradually travelled up to the north of Japan, taking a total of five days with various stops and overnight stays before heading down south to Narita on a different route, to conclude our trip.

We travelled in two buses and along the way we stopped in a few great cities, towns and villages for sight-seeing. It is a country with astonishing mountain scenery, a long history of culture and tradition and not forgetting wonderful sushi and sashimi! The Japanese food was delicious everywhere! Japan is a peaceful country and it is ranked in the top 20 in Asia. It was so adventurous to travel during autumn with the temperatures ranging between 6-18 degrees Celsius. The colourful autumn leaves were marvellous and vibrant. It was my first experience of autumn, which delighted me.

Another memorable experience was going up to Mount Zao Okama (1841 meters high) by cable car to the height of 1631 meters to view the platform where we experienced snow. From that platform, it took Fr Albet and I a bit of courage to climb on our own up to the summit of 1703 meters. We rewarded with a great view from the mountain top, with the temperature below -4 degrees Celcius. It was so cold!! When it started getting dark, we quickly ran down to get the cable car in order to return to the foot of the mountain. It was a great accomplishment for us and the snow experience was priceless!

On Day 5 of our trip, we had a Eucharistic celebration at the Church of Akita, Japan. After Mass we gathered at the wooden statue of Our Lady of Akita for the Recitation of the Rosary, followed by the Stations of the Cross at the garden. The miracle of Our Lady of Akita started on 13 October 1973, when Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa discovered tears, sweat and blood on the wooden statue of Mary in a convent in Akita. On 22 April 1984, Bishop John Ito (Diocese of Niigata) had authorised his entire diocese to venerate the Holy Mother of Akita.

As for me, one of the most fascinating things I learnt was about the Samurai Martyrs in Yonezawa, Japan. It is a story of the Martyrdom of 53 Yonezawa Christians and their families, who were beheaded in 1629. These Samurais were witnesses of Christ and they were proud to be Christians.

Japan is known as a land of saints and martyrs even though it has less than a 2% Christian population, with majority Catholics. At least 2138 Christians were officially martyred between 1640 and 1873. During the 16thCentury, the Catholic faith reached Japan through St Francis Xavier (1506-1552). He was a Jesuit missionary and he converted 800 people during his 2+ years in Japan and from that moment the Church continued to grow. In fact, Christianity “has struggled, and will always struggle, to take root” but the Church’s mission will never fail in Japan.

Saint Paul Miki was born in 1562, a Jesuit priest and a native of Japan. He became very well-known among the Martyrs of Japan. On 6 February every year, the Catholic Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Paul Miki and the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki (a group of native Japanese Catholics and foreign missionaries). They were stabbed to death with lances for their faith on 5 February 1597. They were beatified in 1627 and they were finally canonised in 1862 by Pope Pius IX. Pope Benedict XVI beatified 188 Martyrs in Nagasaki on 24 November 2008, and most likely, Pope Francis will beatify or canonise a few Martyrs during his Apostolic trip to Japan on 23-26 November 2019.

“After Christ's example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain,” (St Paul Miki).