THE CROWNING OF MARY AS A QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 2020 (HOMILY)

Many Catholic parishioners have shared with me that protestant church members have questioned us about Mother Mary and even about her Assumption into Heaven.  Jesus’ Ascension into heaven is clearly stated in the Bible whereas it nothing was mentioned about Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. We are thought as just creating this doctrine without any biblical foundation, leading that the Universal Church allegedly embarks on wrong teachings.  

 

The Protestant churches believe only in “Sola Scriptura”, also known as Scripture alone, being their highest teaching and inspiration. We, Catholics, learn our teaching and get our inspiration which come both traditions and scriptures, as both of them are inseparable. If you look at everything that the churches teach about Mary and her role, you will find that references to her all showed us how to grow and be closer to her Son, Jesus Christ. This inevitably guide us to develop a greater and deeper understanding of our faith, in the life of the Catholic Church and the destiny of our lives.

Therefore, this Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven is, of course not stated in the Holy Scripture. Absolutely inspired, Pope Pius XII declared that this Feast was to be given its honour and respect, so much so that it became a doctrine of the Catholic Church on November 1^st, 1950. He announced, “The Immaculate Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

 

Today,  we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption. Today, again, marks Mary’s life here on earth and her going to heaven to be with her Son, in the presence of God. Her body and soul assumed into heaven means there are no bones and no tomb of our Lady to venerate or respect. It said that she did not die like other human beings but God has taken her into heaven directly in a unique way. Of course, there is no biblical basis for this teaching. It is purely taught by Roman Catholic Church. She was “uniquely graced, protected from sin, so that she might co-operate and with her Son’s saving mission.” 

 

During her earthly life, Mary chose to lead the plans God had for Her. She obediently obeyed to the will of God as she said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done unto me according to your word.” She realised that doing God’s will was (and still is) utmost importance, and greater than her own wills.

 

This we must learn from Her. We need to discern and know God’s will for us, and trust on His plans for the salvation of human kind, whom He loves dearly. She graced Her life with humility and simplicity, especially when She responded to the announcement Angel Gabriel had for Her. “Let it be done to me according to your words.” (Luke 1:38).

 

It is not easy at this present age to be faithful Catholics, let alone be truly practising Christian. We need to be firm in our believes, and we should listen and do what pleases our God.  Doing His will sets us apart (also) as the disciple of Christ and God takes delight in us.  When we take courage to do His will, we will find hope in our lives. On this earthly life, let our lives be assumed into the same holiness of Mother Mary, as we reflect on Her  characteristic in fulfilling the will of God through her humility.

 

The Assumption reminds us that our true homeland is in Heaven. We are just passing through this life, almost like a tunnel. This is the hope this feast offers to us. Where she has gone, we hope that we too be in heaven one day in communion with Jesus, Her and all the other Saints in Heaven. That will be a forever heavenly party. This is the hope that we must look forward to. Through the Mary’s assistance, our body and soul will be in communion with God in heaven, in the most glorious manner.

 

Let us pray for the grace to grow in holiness as we disciplining our mind, body, soul and spirit.

 

And so we say to her:

Hail, holy Queen! Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then O most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!Amen!

 

Have a great day and enjoy this Solemnity Feast of the Assumption of Mary to the fullest!

 

https://www.stjosephsentul.org/caring-for-those-most-vulnerable-3/

CARING FOR THOSE MOST VULNERABLE

The Church has always been supportive of, concerned about and caring towards the elderly, the sick, the suffering and the dying. Priests pray over them, anoint them with the Sacrament of Holy Anointing, hear their confession and give them Holy Communion, and they rejoice with the gifts of healing and reconciliation (cf. James 5: 13-15).

 

When the Movement Control Order (MCO) restrictions were eased in May 2020, I started reaching out to those who were hospitalised, in the old folks homes and the homebound, upon request and also in urgent cases. Towards the end of June 2020, with the reopening of churches, there was a kind of demand from the elderly, the sick and the homebound for the Sacraments as they were unable to be present for the Eucharistic celebration in Church, due to the strict guidelines imposed. They were considered a high risk category, and therefore the Extra Ordinary Communion Ministers (EOCM) and I couldn’t visit them and were unable to move forward in bringing Holy Communion to the elderly and the sick.

 

Many of our Parishioners have forwarded their requests, suggestions and comments pertaining to the homebound and the elderly who are above 70 years old, and thus unable to attend Weekend Masses. However, the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur Task Force is still in the midst of assessing, reviewing and studying the arising issues of homebound visits. We want to remain vigilant, safe and protected from this dangerous virus, and not further contribute to the spread of this pandemic.

 

During the RMCO, I visited patients in hospital. It was not an easy task to do during the COVID-19 outbreak, as there were many safety and precautionary procedures that needed to be adhered to before gaining access into the respective wards. Even family members of patients had to face similar difficulties. Once, after completing and adhering to all the necessary procedures pertaining to the hospital safety measures, just as I was about to enter the ward, a doctor asked me “Why are you taking such a risk to meet a patient?” His cautionary remark alerted me to the fact that, should I inadvertently contract the virus, I would then unknowingly risk infecting many others too. So since then, I have cut down my hospital visits, unless it involves an urgent case.

 

Looking at the current situation, every one of us should seriously take necessary precautions to care for ourselves and cooperate fully with the front liners - medical professionals, doctors, nurses, healthcare-givers, security officers, etc. We should be mindful to minimise visiting the sick and the dying at the hospital, as these areas are considered high risk. We should also minimise our movement in public places and always remain vigilant and safe by wearing a mask and practising good hygiene at all times.

 

The same goes for visiting the sick and the elderly who are homebound. Although they are safer being at home, we still need to be extra careful and mindful of their situation. However, due to the many requests from our Parishioners and families over the last two weeks, I have slowly started to resume my homebound visits. I hope to be able to complete this task within the next two weeks. There are a few of elderly and the sick who meet me personally for the Holy Anointing and Holy Communion in my office.

 

From September 2020 onwards, our Parish will most likely begin to allow the Extra Ordinary Communion Ministers (EOCM) to bring Holy Communion to the homebound. We must always care for and remain hospitable to those most vulnerable in our community. By providing an opportunity to meet their spiritual needs, we can bring comfort and consolation to them. Our presence will bring blessing and hope, and we pray that with our assistance they will be restored to better health.

STAY FOCUSED ON JESUS

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)

I was in Beijing for a vacation 3 years ago. Among the many historical places I visited, I would never forget two sites – The Imperial Palace which is also known as The Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China.

There was a huge crowd present at both sites and I felt lost in the Forbidden City, jostled and sandwiched by the crowd. After going through so much anxiety and hassle for about an hour, I finally met up with my tour group. We then made our way to the Great Wall of China. I went up alone to the top of the Great Wall of China but on my way down, I ended up in different exit. It took me almost 5 hours to get back with my group, once again.

My tourist guide told me that I was not focused and that I didn’t have a sense of direction. In other words, I didn’t pay attention and I was not focused on my tour guide’s instructions. That was why I had lost my direction twice. In these two tourist spots, I was so afraid and frightened when I lost my direction. I didn’t pay attention to the instructions given by my tour guide. I failed to remain focused and alert.

In our Gospel today (Matt 14: 22-33), Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, but as soon as he felt the strong wind, he took fright and began to sink. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus at all times. Our focus should be on Him always. Focus is very important in many aspects of our lives. What happened to Peter and me when we failed to keep our focus on the instructions? Peter lost his focus when he noticed the strong wind and he began to sink. And Jesus, saved him.

 

What happened to Peter, happened to me. Just like Peter, I was not paying attention to my guide, and I lost the way twice in Beijing. When, we don’t keep our eyes focused, we lose our directions, and our goal. It is same thing when we drive a car; if we don’t stay focused, we may ended up in a wrong place, or even worse, it may lead us to a dangerous situation.

This is the lesson that Jesus teaches both His disciples and us. Without focus we may lose our faith and our trust. If Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus, he could walk on water. If I had only focused my attention on my tour guide’s instructions, I would not have got lost in the crowd.

We tend to have these anxieties, feelings of uncertainty, and a fear of everything. We may be afraid of exams, tension amongst our peer groups, family problems, physical illness, emotional issues, or financial problems. Whatever it is that we may go through, believe that Jesus is in control of our lives. Just stay focused on Him.

 

During the storms of life, we may tend to feel afraid and frightened, but, we need to stay focused on Jesus and fix our eyes on Him. We need to be aware of the Power of the Holy Spirit at work within us. He will save us from all things. He will make us grow in faith. He will keep our faith alive. 

 

My dear young people and catechism students, today we specially invited you, together with your parents and teachers, to be present in this morning Mass. You may have many friends whom you communicate with through social media – phones, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Today, Jesus reminds you that when we stay focused on Jesus and when we walk towards Him, we have nothing to be afraid of. He will come to “our boat” of life – He will come to us and all our worries and troubles will experience a sense of calm – just like in the moment “the wind dropped.”

 

In the first reading, Elijah heard / felt God’s presence; not in a strong wind, nor in shattered rocks, nor in an earthquake, nor in the fire, but instead, in a gentle silence God whispered to him. God is always whispering to us in times of difficulties and in times of instability in our lives. We should not be overtaken by the fears, difficulties or storms of our lives BUT INSTEAD we must learn to cope with our fears, anxieties and struggles. He is always present in all our trials. We don’t need to worry about anything. As St Paul says, we should not cut off our lives from Christ but we should keep our prayer lives growing and glowing. 

 

In all the storms and trials of our lives, God gives us a gentle and calm spirit to save us whenever we begin to sink or drown. Let’s not lose our focus on Jesus BUT instead, we should be courageous as we grow in faith in Jesus as we overcome our trials and storms of life.

 

Fr George PackiaSamy (FrGPS)

Church of St Joseph, KL

 

9 August 2020

CELEBRATING THE EUCHARIST IN PERSON

On 28 June 2020, we reopened our Parish for Public Masses. Since the reopening, we have been extending our invitation to all the 34 Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) within our Parish jurisdiction. Many of our BEC leaders have been taking the initiative to register their respective BEC members for the Weekend Mases according to the schedule laid down. We started off with only one mass on Sunday at 9am.

However, from the beginning of August, we have been celebrating two Masses every weekend (Saturday Sunset Mass at 6pm and Sunday Mass at 9am). This included a Tamil Mass on Sunday (2 August) at 9am. We will continue to celebrate Mass in Tamil on the first Sunday of each month so that the Tamil-speaking Parishioners will be able to participate. The first Tamil Mass saw a total of 190 Parishioners in attendance out of the 216 who registered. 

The Parish Response Team (PRT) will introduce another category for our Weekend Mass participation apart from the BECs and Tamil-speaking Parishioners. This new category of Parishioners will include all Catechism teachers and their high school students, RCIA facilitators and the candidates, as well as the youth. They will be invited to join Sunday Mass at least once a month. These Parishioners have always been involved in the various activities of our Church before the Movement Control Order (MCO) and quite a number of them have been unable to attend Mass in person since the start of the restrictions. By including them as a group for Mass once a month, this will create an opportunity for them to be in the presence of the Eucharist in-person, instead of just watching the live-stream mass.

Ever since the suspension of catechism classes, the teachers have taken the initiative to reach out to their students by conducting online classes, while parents are encouraged to assist, connect and cultivate faith education at home, since parents are the primary faith-educators of their children. Taking into consideration the need to connect and integrate our children with their faith in the Catholic Church, the PRT has taken the initiative to gather them for Mass this Sunday, 9 August 2020. The targeted groups or ministries include:

i)            Catechetical Ministry – Catechism teachers and their students who are 13-years old and above.

ii)      Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) – The facilitators and candidates of year 2019/2020. These candidates are waiting to receive their Sacraments of Initiation – Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist which will take place by the end of August 2020.

iii)      EduCare Ministry – There are several teachers who volunteer themselves helping out students from underprivileged families to cope with their school subjects. 

iv)              Youth ministry – Young adults from colleges and universities and working single adults.

The Catholic Bishops of Peninsular Malaysia have suspended all religious or faith education, all meetings, gatherings, formations, RCIA sessions, activities and events in the Church due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Even though schools have reopened in our country, the Church in Peninsular Malaysia has decided not to restart sessions/classes for these most vulnerable group of students, for the time being. We simply do not want to put “at risk placing further pressure on our heavily strained health services,” (Pastoral Letter from Catholic Bishops of Peninsular Malaysia, 12 March 2020).

“Parents have the first responsibility for education of their children,” (CCC #2223) and parents also have responsibility in educating their children in religious sentiments in line with the Church by guiding them in the light of the Church. “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6).

Photo: 2018

Photo: February, 2020

HAVING THE HEART OF COMPASSION

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020 (HOMILY)

Ever since, I was assigned to the Church of St Joseph, one of the ministries that I am always fascinated by is the Parish Integral of Human Development (PIHD). Under this PIHD umbrella, we have few sub-ministries and one of them is Ministry of the Poor. In these six years, we have reached out to the needs of poor families, especially to assist them meet the basic provision like groceries, twice in a month, household items and other necessities. Besides that, we have meaningfully and successfully carried out various projects and events, celebrating as a parish family with the poor. Most of these families reside around our vicinity, and what did we do? We distributed many things like school uniform and celebrated the World Day of the Poor and Parish Family Day.

 

The successful-ness of the work is because we have a group of effective, efficient, highly motivated and inspired leaders and parishioners in their outreaches to these families. They have taken the great task fully in their hands and stepped forward in their outreach. The key word here is “having the heart of compassion”.  I strongly believe that they have this heart from none other than – our Lord, Jesus Christ! This heart of compassion must have moved our team to get closer and to meet the need of the poor families, eye to eye.

 

In today’s Gospel (Matt 13: 14-21), Jesus fed the five thousand people. Jesus was moved with compassion once He saw the hungry crowd. His humble heart led Him to perform the miracle of multiplication of the five loaves and two fish.

 

Compassion refers to the “inner part” of our body that arises to a strong inner feeling or desire, to reach out to someone who is suffering with the goal to relieve that suffering. When we feel compassionate towards someone, then we tend to enter into the person’s life empathetically, and with all we can – help that person out.

 

Here, Jesus heard and listened to the need of the huge crowd and He responded to their needs as how we as leaders and parishioners, have reached out to the needy with compassionate heart through our outreach to the poor. Jesus realised the needs are so great for the poor. We ourselves have seen and heard of the hunger of the poor, and hopefully – we have brought some hope into their lives. We shall continue to carry out our mission of hope to the poor.

 

God is asking us to be a part of His plan by being compassionate towards the poor.  We need to cultivate this spirit of compassion in reaching out or giving something in order to meet the physical or spiritual needs of our neighbours, as well. When we take this challenge as individuals or communities by bringing forward what we have, it doesn’t matter how small it would be, we can bring happiness in the life of others. As we take the opportunity to love and serve our neighbours, we are fulfilling the Commandments, “You shall love neighbour as yourself.”

 

By being kind, compassion and love towards the need of others or doing something for others is to bring the love of Christ and to make the difference in the life of our brothers and sister. God of providence provides our need and in return we need to take care of others. As leaders and as Christians we should act with kindness and care deeply for the needs of others and in return God will take care of our needs. In the Second reading, St Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us, “with God on our side, who can be against us?” With God is on side, nothing can separate us, or take away or lessen His love as we show our love for those who are in need.

Photo: 2014