FAITH LEADS US TO DEVOTION AND PRAYER

Our Parish Feast Day is over, and we are grateful for the many blessings! I would like to thank the Feast Day committee members for their hard work and dedication in making our 9-days Novena Masses to St Thomas, as well as the thanksgiving celebration, a successful and meaningful experience for everyone. I know the workload was heavy for a small community, but together we made it possible! I truly admire and appreciate your dedication and contributions throughout the celebrations.

On Sunday, 3 July 2022, just before we began our 8.30 am Mass, we unveiled and blessed the image of the Divine Mercy near the sanctuary. Many people pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet since its inauguration in the year 2000 by Saint John Paul II, who then announced that the Second Sunday of Easter would also be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. It is an appropriate dedication, as the Gospel reading during that week speaks about St Thomas’ encounter with the Risen Lord eight days after the first apparition (cf. John 20:26ff). We are grateful to Miss Amie Tan Ai Mei who painted this Divine Mercy image.

Miss Amie has also painted and completed portraits of our parish priests, who have previously served and ministered at St Thomas Church, Kuantan since the 1950s, as well as a portrait of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. These portraits are displayed in the canteen recreation area so that we, the Parishioners, as well as visitors, can remember them with gratitude and prayer.

It is common to see the statues of Mother Mary and St Joseph on the left and right wings respectively, of the sanctuary in many churches. There is no hard and fast rule about this, and therefore we recently decided to relocate the carved wooden statues of Our Lady and St Joseph the Worker, by placing them side-by-side. It is to remind us that they are models of married life. We seek their intercessions for all young married couples to take each other as life-long partners by following the example of Mary and Joseph and be faithful and truthful in their marriages.

Traditionally, churches place the statue of their respective Parish’s patron saint either above the tabernacle or within the sanctuary. We have also seen that some churches have removed statues of their patron saint from the main sanctuary to replace it in favour of a crucifix in the center. At our Parish, we have relocated the carved wooden statue of our patron saint - St Thomas, the Apostle - from the main entrance to a more prominent place on the right corner of the Church. This corner of our Parish is now known as St Thomas Shrine. At this shrine, we have also displayed another image of St Thomas’ encounter with the Risen Lord, as well as the newly composed litany to St Thomas, the Apostle.

The significance, beauty and dignity of images and statues of our faith leads us to devotion and prayer. Together, let us keep the traditional practices of our Catholic Church alive!

CONNECTED THROUGH MUTUAL LOVE AND RESPECT

The Pope’s prayer intention for the month of July 2022 focuses on the elderly. He invites us all to pray for them - “We pray for the elderly, who represent the roots and memory of a people; may their experience and wisdom help young people to look towards the future with hope and responsibility.” 

Elderly people can be anyone from our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, to our friends, neighbours and teachers. They have experienced a lot - hardship, pain, sorrow and joy - and their wisdom cannot be watered down or wiped away from our memory. Instead, we need to treasure them. The younger generation must care and be concerned about the well-being of the elderly, especially those within their family. They must not ignore or neglect them, despite their busy schedules and hectic lives.

 

Do youngsters give respect, honour and dignity to the elderly? Do they make it a point to sit with the elderly and pray with them or for them? Do they listen to their stories and enjoy their company? Or are the old people in our community neglected and lonely? We need to teach young people - especially our children - to respect and honour the elderly people in our family and community. We must show them love and support in every way, even with little things such as calling, visiting, helping with chores or assisting them in their pastoral needs.

 

During his General Audience (Wednesday, 23 February 2022) the Holy Father, Pope Francis reminded us that the elderly are not “throwaway material” but “they are a blessing for society.” We realise that there is a lack of encouragement and a lack of education amongst younger people to learn or to discern the meaning and value of old age. The younger generation should take every opportunity to learn from their elders, who have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with them.

UNLOCK OUR HEARTS AND REFRESH OUR FAITH

We are in the midst of a 9-days celebration of novenas in conjunction with the feast of St Thomas, the Apostle. Day One celebration commenced on Friday, 24 June 2022 with the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Throughout this 9-days celebration, we have selected several aspects which focus on faith, the Word of God, the Eucharist, married life, community living and evangelisation. On the last three days, we will contemplate the life of St Thomas and how he was a servant of the Word of God, his loyalty to Christ Jesus and being a saint for our times.

For the past two years, our novenas and feast day celebrations were put on hold, but now we are privileged and happy to be able to gather and celebrate our faith. The feast of our Parish’s patron saint is an opportunity for us to deepen our devotion to St Thomas. It is a time for us to look beyond the here and now, and place God at the centre of our hearts in everything that we do.

The Universal Church commemorates various solemnities, feasts and memorials in the liturgical celebrations. This year, the Feast of St Thomas falls on Sunday, 3 July 2022 and as such, the Parish will celebrate the feast on Saturday, 2 July 2022 as Sunday remains a day of obligation, thus taking on the order of precedence in the liturgy.

Every saint has a unique life story, and each of these stories inspire our own personal faith, taking it to greater heights and giving it a deeper meaning. As we participate and celebrate our Parish’s feast day this year, let the celebrations create a path for us to experience the joy of the Risen Lord within our community. We hope that the celebrations will inspire and kindle in our hearts a greater devotion towards St Thomas. Through his intercessions, may we cultivate our relationship with God. May this feast also unlock our hearts and renew our faith - to grow in better understanding of the virtues of life and enable us to face the challenges of our time.

I was surfing the internet for the Litany of St Thomas, the Apostle, but I was unable to find one. Therefore, for the celebrations this year, we have composed a very special Litany to St Thomas of our own. He is our friend in heaven, and his faith in the Risen Lord has become a witness to the reality of the resurrection. He sacrificed his life for the love of Jesus and led the unbelievers to Christ. He spread the light of Christ in their hearts.

We will pray the Litany throughout the novenas, and we shall add it into our daily prayer as well. The final three days of our Parish feast day celebrations will be live streamed on social media, and we hope that those who are unable to attend the celebrations in person, will join us online. For this and all other information pertaining to our Parish, please log on to our website: https://www.stthomaskuantan.org

We honour God the Father through St Thomas, who has a special place in our hearts. May St Thomas, who humbly confessed, “My Lord and My God” inspire our faith, protect us from all distress and intercede for all our needs, always. St Thomas, pray for us!

AN EXAMPLE OF FAITH AND LOVE

In conjunction with Father’s Day (19 June 2022), I would like to dedicate this article to my friend, Rev Fr Christopher James Lee, who passed away suddenly on 14 June 2022 during the Clergy Monthly Recollection at the Majodi Centre, Plentong, Johor.

Fr Christopher and I met way back in 1992, when we both attended vocation camps at the Church of St Francis Assisi in Cheras and at the College General in Penang. After a period of discernment, we both applied to join the seminary in 1993 and 1994 respectively but unfortunately, his application was rejected and mine was accepted in 1995. It took almost 10 years for Fr Christopher to be accepted into the seminary. He was sent to Beda College in Rome to study Theology by Bishop Paul Tan (Melaka-Johor Diocese). He was ordained as a priest in 2009. He never lost his zeal to fulfill God’s wish for him to become a priest.

When I was ministering at Church of the Visitation in Seremban, I would meet up with Fr Christopher, who often visited his mother who resided in Seremban. He would drop by the Parish office whenever he was in town and would accompany his mother to morning Mass during the weekdays. Occasionally, we would celebrate Mass together. When my tenure in Seremban was over, Fr Christopher and I would meet during our annual retreats and catch up on old times. Several years later, he furthered his studies in Canon Law at St Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada, together with Rev Fr William Michael.

Fr Christopher was a very soft-spoken, cool and cheerful priest. Like most of us, he went through struggles, obstacles and disappointments in his initial stage of discernment to the Priesthood, but he was a man of perseverance and determination - with deep faith and a strong spirit. His life and light have touched many people especially his Parishioners, and he is in our prayers today and always!

This Father’s Day, we also honour all fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers and spiritual Fathers who have great influence on our families and community. Often fathers are perceived as strong but silent, and many of us will surely have memorable stories of our fathers! I pray that each father here is a living example of prayerfulness and kindness, humbleness and gentleness, as they live their lives with integrity by placing God in the centre of their hearts and homes.

Some fathers may be stern and strict, but that doesn’t mean that they are bad fathers. It could merely be their way of educating and instilling a foundation of discipline and respect - to listen and obey with love. Whatever the case may be, all earthly fathers should strive to be like our heavenly Father, who is full of compassion and kindness towards all his children.

May the Lord bless all fathers, as they care for their families - give them strength, tenderness, patience and guidance to raise happy and joyful children. “Start children off on the way they should go and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.”(Proverbs 22:6).

 

TO ALL FATHERS ─ THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND LOVING CARE, 

ALL THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES. WISHING YOU A VERY BLESSED FATHER’S DAY!

TEACH US TO GAIN WISDOM OF HEART

We have just completed two essential seasons of the Roman Liturgical calendar – Lent and Easter. It was indeed a journey of spiritual awakening for many of us, as we made every effort to deepen our faith. Along the way, many may have felt exhausted and wanted to give up their journey. However, God has empowered us with His strength and grace to continue this journey. Despite all the challenges, He has made us realise that “it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2: 20) and has given us the spirit of perseverance and courage.

Now we are in the liturgical calendar of Week in Ordinary Time. We began with the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This feast was established in the liturgical calendar by Pope Francis in 2018, to be celebrated every year on the Monday following Pentecost. This season of Ordinary Time is the longest of the Church’s liturgical season and it will continue until Advent begins, on the last Sunday of November 2022. Everything will eventually go back to normal after our Parish novena and Feast Day of St Thomas, the Apostle on 3 July 2022. So, how can we do something extraordinary during this Ordinary Time?

On Wednesday, 11 May 2022 Pope Francis’ general audience highlighted the “Catechesis on Old Age” and how to live more significantly and fruitfully during retirement by leaving “a legacy of good, rather than just goods.” Although he was primarily addressing retirees, it is also a reminder to all the young people, to serve the Lord in holiness all the days of our lives. As we carry out the mission of the Lord, it is “a time to leave a good legacy of wisdom, tenderness and gifts for the family and community,”  in which we serve.

 

Every one of us often “thinks of goods, and not of goodness”, even though goodness is essentially the best legacy that we can leave behind for our future generation. The Holy Father has highlighted a biblical example of Judith, who lived for more than 100 years. He encouraged us to look at the Book of Judith and get to know this courageous woman who lived her life “with tenderness and generosity. She was a worthy woman who showed heroism through her faith. In her retirement, she continued to dedicate her time to her family and community through her charitable works”.

 

It is good for all of us to spend our time wisely and prudently. As we carry out our daily commitments, we strive to grow in wisdom, knowledge and understanding and pray that God may “teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart” (cf. Psalm 90: 12).

 

During the Wednesday audience, Pope Francis was unable to stand to pray the Our Father. He also apologised to the public for not being able to stand to greet the pilgrims while giving his traditional blessings, due to chronic pain in his knee. We pray for the Holy Father - who is now 85-years-old - for his good health and continued guidance of our Most Holy Church.