PRAYING FOR NEW HOPE AND NEW LIFE – ALLELUIA!

These past weeks have been an unprecedented time of uncertainty for people throughout the world due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. In Malaysia, Churches suspended Masses and closed their doors even before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced. Since then, we Catholics have been following live-streamed masses from within our homes. Many of us have expressed our longing for the Eucharistic celebration – Jesus who is truly present in the Eucharist. However we are still under the movement restriction order - staying at home and doing our best while wisely spending time with God. We believe that this current crisis will surely - by the grace of God, come to an end soon, and we will return to our Church. Till then, just stay at home, stay healthy and stay fit!

I take my hat off to all of you, my dear Parishioners for staying in touch, interacting and supporting one another spiritually, physically and mentally. During this time of trial, we are “like sheep without a shepherd,” (Mk 6: 30-34) moving and wandering aimlessly within our four walls. Everyone loves Holy Week and the Easter Triduum. However, we are unable to celebrate this highest and most favourable of the liturgical celebrations in Church this year. Nevertheless, we are spiritually in communion with the Church, praying together with our families at home.

During Holy Week, starting from Palm Sunday and continuing until Easter Sunday, I decided to turn on the PA system to celebrate Mass at the Church altar together with our Sacristan, Joseph. On Easter Vigil night, I will play the recorded Exsultet (the Proclamation of Easter) and the Easter Alleluia proclamation in the Church, just to stimulate the heart of the Church and your hearts, so as to be in communion with the Church. Rev Fr Moses Rayappan, who will be con-celebrating with me on the Easter Vigil Mass - we will also bless the whole church with the sprinkling of Holy Water, whilst imagining that you are all present, sitting in your usual pews with your respective families in church. You may be wondering why we do all these unnecessary things! Deep inside, I feel these gestures and actions will help to invigorate you to help keep your faith alive. I believe this will help to raise your spirits!

Once we are back again in Church, celebrating mass, we shall sing joyfully all the Easter hymns and proclaim the “Alleluia” with pride and joy. We will never get tired singing the “Alleluia”. The word “Alleluia” is a Hebrew word, meaning “Praise Yahweh”. It is proclaimed triumphantly at Easter Vigil – a term of great jubilation. I am eagerly waiting to hear “Alleluia” echoing through our Church and the bells tolling once again when all of you return to the Church of St. Joseph. Come back with all your hearts to express your conviction and your faith in the Risen Lord, and begin the mission of the Church. The Church is always on mission.

During this Coronavirus pandemic, we have not neglected the Church’s mission on outreach to the Little, the Lost, the Last, the Least and the Lonely (5Ls). For the past two Sundays, our Parish Ministry of the Poor (MOP) has carried out their mission of outreach towards the poor families. With the help of a few MOP members – Aloysius Anthony, Gabriel Moses, Teresa Shaun, Jacqueline Franciss, Dorothy Anthonysamy, George D’Cruz and also our Myanmar community coordinator, Bosco, we managed to reach out to almost 300 poor families (80 families who live in and around Sentul and 206 Myanmar families). We provided them with groceries and some money to them. This is only the first phase, and the second outreach will take place sometime towards the end of April 2020.

On Friday, the Prime Minister announced that the MCO has been further extended till 28 April 2020, and this may probably go on till May 2020. Many of us may be facing some kind of financial challenges ahead and many will lose jobs and their livelihood. Nevertheless, the Church mission continues and our outreach mission work towards the poor and the needy will never end. We must remember to support them the best we can, and to be more committed in our Church mission work. When we give joyfully and generously in the service of the Kingdom of God, in return God will bless us abundantly.

I wish to invite everyone to light candles at home, beginning from Easter Vigil right up to Easter Sunday, when you end with the Evening Prayer (Vespers – The Church Prayer) and family Rosary. Let us all be in solidarity with the world by fervently praying for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. I will play the Gregorian Chant in the Church immediately after Easter Sunday Mass and I will turn on the Gregorian Chant every day after my daily morning Mass throughout the Easter Octave (the eight-day period that starts on Easter and concludes on the following Sunday, the 2nd  Sunday of Easter).

We pray for the Grace of God and His holy intervention for the Coronavirus crisis to end soon and that God will give humanity, new hope and new life in the Risen Lord. Alleluia!

HAVE A PEACEFUL AND LOVELY EASTER WITH YOUR LOVED ONES. GOD’S BLESSINGS BE UPON ALL OF YOU.

REJOICE AND BE GLAD - ALLELUIA!

Easter Triduum celebrations have turned us upside down this year. Everyone was expecting to return to our Church once again to celebrate joyfully the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We have quarantined ourselves behind locked doors but Jesus will get into our homes and hearts and nothing can keep him out. He will say, “Peace be with you.”

God loved the world so much and He gave His only Son to us. Today, He invites us to have a change of life and continue our relationship with Him and place our faith in Jesus’ resurrection so that we can have new life in Him

Easter makes all the difference because the Risen Lord frees us from the bondage of unforgiveness, pride, grudges, frustration, depression, illness, etc. On this Easter Sunday, Jesus is going to give us totally different reason for living. 

It is going to be a very tough life with this current crisis of COVID-19 but be assured that He is in your midst and He is with you always to uplift your spirit and make the tough going. The Spirit of Risen Lord is at work in you and you will go through the “valley of darkness.”

“This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are god!” (Ps 117)

Have a blessed and holy Easter!

https://www.stjosephsentul.org/praying-for-new-hope-and-new-life-alleluia/

YOUTH: ARISE AND STAND UP

On Palm Sunday, the Church celebrates World Youth Day. The Holy Father has chosen the themes for three years (2020-2022).

i)               35^th World Youth Day, 2020: “Young man, I say to you, arise!” (Lk 7:14).

ii)             36^th World Youth Day, 2021: “Stand up. I appoint you as a witness of what you have seen” (cf. Acts 26:16)

iii)           37^th World Youth Day, 2022 (Lisbon, Portugal): "Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39)

In these three themes, there are two verbs which the Holy Father, Pope Francis, wants the young people to focus on – “arise” and “stand up”. These two key words lead in the preparations of the next World Youth Day gathering to be held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2022. It is an invitation to our young people to be missionary disciples, because Lisbon, in the 15^thand 16^th centuries had encouraged “great numbers of young people, including many missionaries, set out for unknown lands, to share their experience of Jesus with other peoples and nations.”

The Holy Father invites the young people to read and meditate on these two verbs “arise” and “stand up” which occur in the miraculous story of the son of the widow of Nain who was restored life (LK 7: 11- 17), as a preparation for 37^th World Youth Day in Lisbon. 

As we focus on this year’s theme, the Holy Father highlighted five focal points in his message to the youth, especially the young people who have lost their “vitality, dreams, enthusiasm, optimism and generosity.” Jesus stood before the dead son of the widow, and with all the power of his resurrection he urges: ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’” (Lk 7: 14), and he restored her son to life and young people – you need arise.

First, the Pope wants the young people to be able to see “pain and death” which is a reality of life. Jesus saw these realities in a widowed mother. In today’s world, how are you encountering, experiencing and being eyewitnesses of events that cause pain, suffering, illness and death? The Holy Father says, “our first reaction is to take a picture with our cell phones, without even bothering to look into the eyes of the persons involved.” We may encounter all “negative situations,” or “failures,” but all these are part and parcel of life but these could also “end up being a grace” for you.

Secondly, Pope Francis invites the young people “to have compassion” (Lk 7: 13) of heart as how the widowed mother’s grief became Jesus’ own over the death of her son. The young people must be sensible and proactive towards natural disasters, victims of violence, persecution, etc. They must be willingly to step up offering their services whenever situations arise demanding it. They must be able to say “arise, you are not alone”, to face the difficulties and challenges in someone else’s life.

Thirdly, the Holy Father invites the young people to come forward and “touch” as how Jesus went and stopped the funeral procession. He touched the dead young man and brought new life to him, (Lk 7: 14). The Pontiff wants the young people to be constantly close to those who are hungry and thirsty, or are sick and naked, or imprisoned (Mt 28: 31-46) so that they “can bring the dead to life.”

Fourthly, the Holy Father wants the young people to give attention to look deeper into the phrases and words of scripture which give meaning to their lives. The word of God alone “can bring the dead to life.” 

Finally, the Holy Father warns the young people about the use of electronic devises. They are often “connected” but not communicating their “personality, desires, needs and dreams.” After restoration to life, the dead young man “began to speak,” (Lk 7:15). The young people need to “arise” and to be more “committed to changing the world, to rekindle hopes and aspirations,” and “make your voices heard.”

Through the intercession of Mary, we implore her through her Son, Jesus Christ to restore our dead faith to life. Let ourselves “arise” and “stand up,” and when you “arise” and “stand up”, everyone’s life arises and the Church also arises. 

AN EXCTRACT FOR THE MESSAGE OF HOLY FATHER, POPE FRANCIS 

FOR 35^th WORLD YOUTH DAY 2020

HAPPY WORLD YOUTH DAY AND GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS!

By Fr George Packiasamy

Church of St Joseph,

Kuala Lumpur

Note: The attached photos are from past events of St Joseph’s Youth, KL, in 2019

Photo #1 (from top): Youth Picnic on 24 Feb 2019

Photo #2: Youth Gathering on 4 August 2019

Photo #3: Youth Picnic on 24 Feb 2019

Photo #4:Youth Christmas Party on 8 Dec 2019

Photo #5:Youth Gathering on 4 August 2019

HOSANNA, COME TO OUR AID!

We began our Lenten season on Wednesday, 26 February 2020 and now it has come to an end as Holy Week begins. Out of the 52 weeks in the year, Holy Week (the last week of Lent and a week before Easter), is the best time of the year for us Catholics. It is a week that prepares our hearts for the Easter celebrations. Although it is not the busiest week of the year for us, when compared with Christmas, - where we are busy shopping, travelling and planning big parties with family and friends. Holy Week is very different because it guides us to enter into the solemn liturgy of the Church - the Easter Tridium. 

Holy Week celebrations this year will be much quieter for all of us due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Church throughout the world has suspended Masses for several weeks now and we don’t know when we will be able to get back to our Churches. It is the first in our lifetime that our Easter Triduum will not be celebrated in the Church. However, it can still be an amazing celebration of the Pascal Mystery of Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection as we celebrate it from within our homes. Various websites will be carrying live streaming of the solemn celebrations throughout the world, including our own Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur (tv.archkl.com), and I strongly encourage you to watch and participate in these reverently. 

As a part of my preparation for Holy Week, I have started reading a spiritual book entitled, “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week - From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection” written by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 2011. We begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday celebration by exclaiming “Hosanna.” This word “Hosanna” is echoed in all the four Gospels. Pope Benedict XVI said that the exclamation “Hosanna” originally means – “Come to our aid!” During the feast of Tabernacles, the priest in the Old Testament would be “processing seven times around the altar of sacrifice, as an urgent prayer for rain.” This feast lasted seven days and it marked the completion of the harvest (Lev 23:43-44). The Lord would bless all the produce and all the works of their hands so that they would all be joyful together. The feast of Tabernacles eventually “changed from a feast of petition into one of praise, so too the cry for help more and more turned into shouts of jubilation.” The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem has become a joyful praise of God because it points us towards a future time of messianic hope and salvation, when Jesus comes and restores all things.

All of us are grieving about not being able to attend and celebrate Mass and Good Friday Service during Holy Week. It’s mind-boggling to think that a virus pandemic has effected the whole world with such magnitude, and that we are now forced to celebrate Palm Sunday and the Easter Triduum within the confines of our homes. However, this year we will celebrate our life of faith through Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection within our own families. We can make it as nourishing for our spirit and faith by participating wholeheartedly in the live stream Masses and engaging ourselves by helping one another journey towards a joyful Easter celebration. As preparation, we could read the last two chapters of any of the Gospels and meditate on the last week of Jesus’ life on Earth. Perhaps we could also prepare our altar and home in anticipation of Holy Week.

This year, I am going to turn on the PA System and celebrate Holy Week Masses and Services alone at the Altar. In all the Mases and services, I will definitely remember all your families and children. For the past few weeks I have been praying particularly for this pandemic to end, but I will keep you and your family close to the Altar and to my heart each day during Holy Week. I invite you to join me in spirit, and together as a Church we shall celebrate a meaningful and significant Holy Week at home. My prayers and best wishes are with all of you in that you will have a spirit-filled and prayerful Holy Week with your respective families.

HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!

Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday is the day that the historical triumphal entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It is a day that marks the beginning of the last week of Jesus on earth. As we approach this Holy Week we focus on Jesus who was suffered grievously – He was beaten, mocked and crucified for us and His willingness to go to the cross.

We begin with the Gospel reading exclaiming “Hosanna, in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest.” Hosanna basically means “Save Us! Save Us! The crowds were screaming “Save us! Save us!

During Holy Week we shall make the priority to pray and meditate the Passion story of Jesus Christ and hope that it change the way we think and live. As we celebrate the Holy Week in our homes, let’s listen to what He wants to say to us and allow Him to stay with your families. The King Jesus will be with you this Holy Week in our home to show us the way of humility and obedience - is a path to glory.