BUILDING OUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST

Following relaxation of the Movement Control Order (“MCO”), the Health Ministry allowed many government and private sectors to gradually return to a new normal. Since the months of June and July 2020, our school and college students have returned to their institutes of learning after more than 4 months of being stuck at home. Despite a recent spike in COVID-19 cases from single to double digits, with new clusters, it is really wonderful to see all sectors happily reopen, albeit to a new normal.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Malaysia has been reporting double digit COVID-19 cases and the emergence of new clusters this past week. As we notice a spike in cases, MOH warns us once again of the need to pay extra attention to our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which we have been adhering to, since the implementation of the MCO in March 2020.

Individuals should make every effort to support each other as we face new challenges in our society. We need to be mindful of the need to wear our face masks, keep a one-meter distance from each other and wash our hands frequently, in order to stay safe and be in better physical health.

Life has to restart, although to a new normal. Wearing face masks, maintaining strict social distancing and frequent hand-washing, may be an inconvenience, or may appear odd and / or even perhaps create some form of paranoia, but these are necessary in this new normal. If we fail to adapt, then we may be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. We need an ongoing “responsible attitude” in respecting another human person by being mindful of the well-being of others. Thus, it is very important for us to be in solidarity with one another, as we strive towards a common good.

This weekend we will end Phase Two of the reopening of our Parish. On behalf of the Parish Response Team (PRT) I would like to thank all my dear Parishioners for your collaboration and efforts during these past five weeks. We will step into Phase Three in August 2020 and we need to continue to be mindful of and attentive to, our requirements and guidelines, whenever we are within the Church premises.

Since the outbreak and spread of COVID-19, our greatest challenge was to experience the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist frequently and regularly. Even-though Masses have resumed in many Parishes, many still choose to keep themselves “distanced” from being in-person to participate at the Eucharistic celebration. Our participation and involvement will lead us into a deeper unity with Christ. Our Parishioners should not to be hesitant to participate in Public Masses and other Church-related activities and events. We cannot simply rely on live-streaming of Mass, but instead we must be connected with the Church in-person and remain united in the life of the Church.

We have completed two cycles of Sunday Mass, covering all 34 Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) within our Parish jurisdiction. Our statistics show that only 600-700 out of 4500 parishioners have attended Sunday Masses during the last five weeks. There are many more who are simply reluctant to register for mass for reasons unknown to us. I hope you will be in communion with our Church in-person - either in our Public Masses or other activities. It is very important, as it is part of building our identity in Christ and to love Jesus and His Church for the rest of our lives.

We will move from online worship to in-person worship practices and activities as we “Commit Ourselves into New Evangelisation” to embrace, care for and heal the Lost, the Last, the Least, the Little, and the Lonely (5Ls). Let us make every effort in our personal on-going conversion, as we move forward in this new-normal way of life.

SEPARATE THE EVIL FROM THE GOOD

16^th Sunday 2020 (A) - Homily (MATT 13: 24-30) 

Do you know what is CKT? It stands for Char Keoy Teow. I started loving Char Keoy Teow when I was in the first year of seminary in Penang, in 1995. Every Tuesday, we would have CKT for breakfast and our cook would put a lot of taugeys (beans sprouts) into it. I was always the last person to finish my breakfast, every Tuesday.

Some of my seminary Fathers told me to inform our cook, Ah Ee to separate my CKT before she mixed with taugey for the others. Actually, I didn’t like to trouble her so much, so I didn’t inform Ah Ee, but would always take my own sweet time in collecting or picking up taugey one by one, before I dug in the CKT. The rest of the seminarians would be watching me separating the taugey from the CKT. Till now, I will still separate them from my noodles.  

What does CKT and taugey to do with today’s gospel (Mt 13: 24-30)?

Imagine this. CKT is wheat, the good ones. Taugeys are the weed or darnel, the evil ones.  The taugeys always corrupt my taste for CKT. The parable illustrated to allow the wheat and weeds or darnel to grow together until the harvest, and that is why, I did not ask Ah Ee to separate the CKT and taugey. Good and evil exist, and side by side in our world – in the past, today and future.

This imagery for a harvest of the good and the bad, will be coming soon. God allows for both the good and bad to grow together until harvest day. On harvest day, which is the end of time, He will gather and bundle “the weed”, set them aside and throw them “into the blazing furnace,” (Matt 13: 50). The good ones, on the other hand, will be gathered into the barn and “be in Communion with all saints in Heaven,” (The Apostles’ Creed).

We must master our heart, with goodness. The book of Wisdom said – “after sin, you will  grant repentance,” (Wis 12: 19). God is patient, and He is very, very patient and He is "good and forgiving," (Ps 85). He awaits for us to repent and He desires that greatly. God knows what is good and what is evil, as St Paul says, “Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good,” (Romans 12: 21). The evil can stifle the growth of our goodness. The temptations are great. Evil can be difficult to put a stop to, but it is NOT impossible. In fact, it’s very simple! At time we need to be courageous enough to say, “Get behind me Satan!” (Matt 16: 23). Just rely and trust on Jesus full heartedly.

In these two Sundays, we saw Jesus as the Sower and Him as the Landowner. Jesus helps us in every trial and temptation. He knows what is going on inside of us. He will helps us separate the evil from the good. We have to remain faithful and obedient to God’s Words, even during our tough times – just be patient and be attentive. We must be patient and let God work His way in our lives. We have all the opportunities to repair or correct our ways. 

The weeds, darnels can change their nature to keep attracting us. As human beings, we can repent, change or make conversion from our bad behaviours. We can be good and grow better. We must improve ourselves and separate ourselves from those weeds or darnels in our lives. It’s really possible (for those who have lost hope). Through His Grace, He will make the changes in us and in His time, He will make all things beautiful again! He promised us this.

PHYSICALLY SAFE AND SPIRITUALLY HEALTHY

For almost four months (March to June 2020) I celebrated Mass without my Parishioners, as that was the new norm of celebrating the Eucharist for many of our priests. However, with the relaxation of the Movement Control Order (MCO), churches are reopening and holding public masses with proper guidelines and requirements in place. We have now moved to another new norm of celebrating Mass, with a limited number of people. I feel happy that this new norm has lifted up the face of the Church throughout the country once again. Although the congregation is small, I hear the voices of the Church through the participation of the faithful every Sunday.

The Church of St Joseph, Sentul, reopened for the Eucharistic celebration on Sunday, 28 June 2020. The Parish Response Team (PRT) comprising 7 members, and around 25 volunteers, have been working hard making preparations these past three weeks, and registering Parishioners for Sunday Mass. Of course, they have encountered various obstacles, challenges and hiccups along the way, but overall, the team has been efficient and effective. They have gone through a process of learning, planning, accommodating and adjusting to the requirements of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which has been laid down by the Federal and State Government and the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.

When we were planning for the reopening of our church, we decided to extend the invitation to the Basic Ecclesial Committees (BECs). Currently, our Parish has 34 BECs and on the first day of reopening, although 166 persons from BECs 1-9 confirmed attendance, only 159 persons turned up for Mass. The following Sunday (5 July 2020), we had 269 participants registered (from BEC 10-21) but only 216 turned up for Mass. Last Sunday (12 July 2020) we had 263 parishioners from BECs 22-34 who confirmed attendance, but only 217 members attended Mass. Besides our BEC members, we have also extended invitation to those Catholics who regularly attend Weekend Masses at our Parish, but do not belong to any of the BECs in our Parish.

Over these past few Sundays, I noticed that only a few catechism students aged 13 and above as well as young people, registered for the Sunday Mass. These teenagers and young people are probably very comfortable following the many online Masses, (which by the way, are available on various channels throughout the world) from the confines of their homes. I hope parents and the respective BEC leaders would play a greater role in encouraging this group of persons to attend the Sunday Eucharistic celebrations in-person.

We are still in Phase Two of the reopening for the Sunday Eucharistic celebration. We are glad that we have completed a whole cycle, having covered all 34 BECs under our Parish jurisdiction within these first three Sundays, with regards to attendance at mass. This Sunday, 19 July 2020, we have extended invitation once again to BECs 1-17 to attend Mass and the following weekend, invitations will be extended to BECs 18-34. Recently, we would have heard or read about the announcement made by our government that places of worship no longer need to operate at 1/3 capacity (July 10, 2020) but still need to enforce the minimum one-meter social distancing requirement. We will try our best to accommodate between 250-300 Parishioners at Sunday Mass in our Parish, while still ensuring adherence to the social distancing requirement. 

In August 2020, we hope to commence Phase Three by celebrating additional Masses in English – Sunset Mass on Saturday and one on Sunday at 9am. Once a month we will have Mass in Tamil for the benefit of our Tamil-speaking Parishioners. During Phase Three, we plan to celebrate the other Sacraments - Baptism for Infants, Matrimony and the Anointing of the Sick.

We have about 10 RCIA candidates for 2019/2020 who have yet to receive the Sacrament of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist). We will celebrate these Sacraments together with the Scrutiny at the end of August or at the beginning of September 2020. We also have our Confirmation students who will receive their Sacrament later this year. His Grace, Archbishop Julian Leow, will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation on our 24 students in October 2020 in our Parish. The respective teachers and facilitators will continue to conduct lessons online during the months of August and September. I hope the candidates and students will be more responsible and serious about their lessons and their final preparations, before receiving the Sacraments.

We hope to have the support and cooperation of all our Parishioners in order to ensure a smooth flow for our celebration of Jesus in our lives. Please adhere to the guidelines and SOPs when attending mass, and kindly follow the instructions of our PRT members and volunteers. We want you to be physically safe, and spiritually healthy.

SOIL THAT BECOMES FRUITFUL

15^th Sunday 2020 Year A

(The Bible Sunday - Homily)

A parable is a story that illustrates a moral or a lesson for us to take away. 

Today’s Gospel (Matt 13: 1-23) is the Parable of the Sower and most fitting for Bible Sunday.

The seed represents the Word of God. Jesus is the Sower. The various types of soil signify the depth or fertility of the soil of our hearts.

In our country, we started the COVID-19 restriction orders on 18 March 2020. Different countries used different terminologies for the lockdowns. In Malaysia, we are more familiar with the three variations of the movement control orders - MCO, CMCO and now we are in the period of RMCO.

Let’s see how these restriction orders are connected with the Parable of the Sower and the four types of soils - the pathway, the rocky ground, the thorny bush and finally the rich soil. Let me first start with the seeds which fell on the rich soil.

1.              Rich soil: The seeds which fell on good soil produced grains 100 folds, 60 folds and 30 folds from what were sown (Matt 13: 8). When we were undergoing the first phase of MCO, many of us were spending hours praying the Bible and praying the Rosary, attending various virtual programmes, etc. We had ample of time to ourselves, with our family and with the Lord and we benefited in many ways particularly spiritually. We experienced and gained tremendous richness in the soil of our hearts, and our hearts in turn gave much fruit during the first phase. To a certain extent, the Word of God took root in us.

2.              Thorny Bush: The seeds which fell among the thorns - these seeds would grow up being chocked (Matt 13: 7) by the thorns. Not unlike the second phase – the CMCO (Conditional Movement Controlled Order), we were given a bit of relaxation to our movements. In this period of trial, we made some efforts praying and reading the Word of God, but our lazy habits and lack of enthusiasm were also taking place in certain aspects of our lives. In the first phase, we realised our spiritual efforts were progressing and we experienced an increase in our faith but in the second phase, we slowed down and hence chocked up like the seeds that fell in the thorny bush. We lost the power and discipline in our spiritual lives and we were not much growing during the CMCO.

3.              Pathway and rocky ground: The seeds fell on the edge of the path and the birds came to eat them up, (Mt 13:4) and some seeds fell on patches of rock (Matt 13: 5). The soil was very hard and dry, people stepped on the seeds and the seeds did not take root and “the Evil one comes and carries off what was sown,” (Matt 13: 19). During this present period of RMCO (Recovery Movement Control Order), we can see that life has become more hectic again. We rush to getting our lives back to normal, or the new normal as it is now called. Our minds have become more occupied with the things of the world, rushing to catch up what we lost in the past 4 months and trying very hard to restart. Some of us are enduring hardships, with pay cuts, or job lost, and are struggling to find ways to make ends meet. Many are left “fallen” and many feel “broken”, exhausting all our resources and time, chasing after worldliness again, just to catch up.

 

During this RMCO period, we may find that when we read and pray the Word of God, they do not fall onto rich soil, we may find that they do not take root in our hearts, and we may find that unknowingly, the Word withers away slowly from our conscious hearts and minds. Time spent with the Lord through reading the bible, becomes lesser and lesser due to our daily lives. Eventually our spiritual lives may also wither away, perhaps even diminish.

Therefore, we must pray with the Bible that we will always create that atmosphere and environment of the rich soil. We have to keep growing in hope for a good harvest in our spiritual lives and we must always stay close to the Word of God. The Word of God has Power in removing the rocky ground or the thorny bush.

On this Bible Sunday, we pray that the Lord will make fertile the soil of our hearts, and that it will become good soil to produce fruits, our yield. As the Psalmist said, the “seed fell into rich soil will yield fruitful harvest,” (Ps 64).

FrGPS

KEEP THE BIBLE IN YOUR HEART

This year, we celebrate Bible Sunday on 12 July 2020, with a theme based on the letter of St John, “Someone you can touch with your hands, and hear with your ears and see with you own eyes,” (1 Jn 1: 1).

We are living in a digital world and we are so “easily connected to one another through social media” which can sometimes mean that families and individuals are only interacting with each other on a superficial or functional level rather than on a personal level. The Word of God was passed on to us not as “myth, legend or philosophy” but as a living message for our personal relationship with God and with one another. We encounter Jesus Christ in our lives through the living word, in all the liturgical celebrations and in all events of our life. When we are constantly in touch with the Word of God, we are in touch with the Heart of Christ. Through our encounter with the Word, Sacraments, prayer and His healing touch, we enter into His living relationship, leading us to become true Christians.

We “read the newspapers, magazines, or study our textbooks or do research work in order to acquire more knowledge.” When we read the Bible prayerfully and meditatively, we are in touch with Jesus and He communicates to us – He “speak to us and we listen to Him,” (Cf. 1 John 1: 1) and we enter into a personal and intimate relationship with Him. The Word of God also “reaches and touches the depths of our hearts and frees us from all bondage – emotional, physical and spiritual.” By reading the Bible whole heartedly, we increase our faith and our prayer life. As we get in touch with Jesus in the Word, he reveals to us “the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mt 13:11).

The Word of God “comes alive in the Holy Spirit.” The intervention of the Holy Spirit in the life of Mary, “the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:3) and “God is with us,” (Mt 1:23). In the Eucharistic celebration, the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine, together with the words of consecration, change the substance into the Body and the Blood of Christ, the true and real presence of Jesus.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God becomes alive and active in us when we respond to it as how Mother Mary responded: “Be it done unto me according to your Word,” (Luke 1: 38). Once we respond to the Word of God, our lives will be “transformed, renewed and filled with the new energy and power.” We need to pray to the Holy Spirit, to discover the hidden treasures of the Word of God as how Mother Mary “believed and pondered these things in her heart,” (Lk 2: 19). The Holy Spirit will show us the way to carry out God’s plan in our lives and enable us to see all things in divine prospective, and to bring life to the fullest (cf. Jn 10: 10).

Two questions for your own reflection:

i)         How do we relate to God? On a functional or relational level? 
       Why is this important in our Christian life and in the Church?

ii)      When we read the Bible, we are entering into a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus.
       How can we make reading the Bible a living encounter with the person of Jesus? 

(An extract from the Bible Sunday Message 2020 – “Reading the Bible with the Heart”)