UNDERSTANDING OUR BAPTISMAL VOWS

We have been witnessing in the First, Third, Fourth and now the Fifth Sundays of Lent of the Scrutinies for the Elect. Scrutinies are meaningful rituals that are an important part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) who are looking forward to being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil through Baptism, Confirmation and receiving the Holy Eucharist. These Scrutiny Sundays also provide us a better understanding on what the season of Lent is all about. These Sundays have helped the rest of us for the preparation of renewing our baptismal promises at Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.

During these Scrutiny Sundays, the liturgy not only assists the Elect to understand the meaning of the Scrutinies but also helps all baptised Catholics to reflect on the gift of grace of Baptism and conversion. As we have entered into the Fifth Week of Lent, I invite you to take more effort these remaining days of Lent to reflect on how your Lenten penances and good works are going to help you to prepare for the renewal of your baptismal promises, true conversion on Easter and true witnesses as disciples of Christ.

On Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday, all of us will renew our baptismal promises and will be sprinkled with the Easter water to remind us of our baptism and commitment to our baptismal promises. When the priest invites you to renew the baptismal promises, many of you will be wondering what these baptismal promises are all about as most of us were baptised as infants.

Baptismal promises are a series of questions asked before baptism into the Catholic Church. Parents and Godparents answer the questions on behalf of a baby being offered into baptism. The first set of questions asks us to renounce Satan, his works and all of his worldly displays. The second set of questions asks about our beliefs in God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the resurrection of Christ and life everlasting. Here are the six questions of the baptismal promises, which we renew yearly on Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday:

a) Renunciation of Sin

Priest. Do you renounce Satan?

All. I do.

P. And all his works?

A. I do.

P. And all his empty promises?

A. I do.

b) Profession of Faith

P. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?

A. I do.

P. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father?

A. I do.

P. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?

A. I do.

P. And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit and bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins, keep us by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord, for eternal life.

A. Amen.

Renewing the baptismal promises is a way of showing our loyalty to Christ and the Catholic Church. Before we come closer to the baptismal font once again this year to renew our promises, let us check our baptism date first, and celebrate that day just like how we would celebrate our birthdays. With the greatest act of faith, let us make our total commitment this Easter.

FINDING A PIECE OF OUR CHURCH HISTORY

Last Thursday, 23rd March, I met Mr Alston Perianayagam and 2 of his friends after our 6.45am Mass. He and his friends are originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka and presently residing in Toronto, Canada for more than 20 years. During the war in Sri Lanka, Alston left to Toronto for studies and settled there. He came for few days visit to Malaysia in memory of his grandfather.

I had earlier, in 16^th March, received an email from Alston mentioning about his arrival to Malaysia to trace back his grandfather’s heritage in Bukit Mertajam and Kuala Lumpur. His grandfather is Mr Santhiappillai Soosaipillai and his grandmother Mrs Soosaipillai Mariapillai. Late Santhiapillai was a Malaya Railway Station Master in Bukit Mertajam and Kuala Lumpur. He was transferred before the World War II from Bukit Mertajam to Sentul. He commuted from Sentul to Kuala Lumpur Station every day then. He was the Station Master in Kuala Lumpur and residing in Sentul during the period of the Japanese occupation in 1944-1946. He was passed away during the bombing in 1946.

Ever since he was transferred to KL Railway Station he became actively involved in the Church activities and he was a very respectable person in our Church then. That was the reason probably that when he died, he was buried at the same place where the priests and nuns were buried (at the church backyard) and now presently where the school is located. The authorities had later exhumed all the deceased persons’ remains and reburied them all in one plot at the Christian Cemetery, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

After Santhiapillai’s passing, his wife Mariapillai, left to Sri Lanka with his children. One of the children was Soosaipillai Perianayagam who was born in Malaysia and passed away in Sri Lanka in 2013. His son is Alston and grandson of late Santhiapillai, who resides in Canada and made a visit to Malaysia lately.

After morning Mass on last Thursday, I had a chat with him and took him for a tour around the Church and school compounds. We met the Principal of SMK Convent, Sentul, Puan Debbie Yeong and fortunately, she gave permission to visit her school archives. There, we detected Alston’s aunty, Agnes Gomez, who started schooling on 8 January 1940 at Convent School. His aunty had visited our church and school in 1980s. With the photographs and other details which was brought by Alston we succeeded in locating his grandfather’s previous burial site, his aunt’s school registration date and her classroom. On our way returning to the parish office, we also met Puan Valarmathi, the Principal of St Joseph Tamil School.

After almost a two-hour tour around the church and school compound I contacted Bishop Emeritus Selvanayagam who is staying temporarily with Rev Fr Stanislaus at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Desa Jaya, Kepong. Alston came to know Bishop Selva through his aunty, Agnes Gomez. After meeting me he left to Desa Jaya to meet Bishop Selva and then to Christian Cemetery at Cheras to pay his last tribute to his late grandfather before leaving to Canada.

Mr Alston’s visit has enlightened me a bit about our own Church history. I shared about Alston’s grandparents with a few of our senior citizens and I am sharing this amazing history with you now. If you have more of this kind of information please do share with us - at least our coming generations may treasure our history and the growth of the Church in Sentul.

THE BLIND MAN RECEIVES SIGHT AND INSIGHT

Our Gospel (Jn 9:1-41) reading speaks about a man who has been physically blind from birth. He has not seen his parents. He is never seen a sunrise or a sunset all his life and the beauty of the universe. Most of his life he spent begging on the streets of Jerusalem.

Jesus heals the blind man. He is indeed the light of the world. Without Jesus we would all live in darkness.

These religious Pharisees were leading people into the darkness, not into the light. They were not able to recognise the power and goodness of Jesus.

Most of us have blind spots that we don’t even think about changing them. These blind spots have blocked off God, from others and ourselves as well. These have become our major obstacles in our spiritual journey.

Sin is a major cause of much of our spiritual blindness. Only conversion works to see people as God sees us. Our conversion opens to receiving new sight. Prayer is the first step towards this new sight.

What keep us blind to the needs of others and to knowing God?

GROWING IN OUR FAITH LIFE DURING LENT

How’s your Lent going? I believe you are making the most awesome Lent this year. These past three Saturdays about 200 of our parishioners have been attending Life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS). These parishioners of ours have chosen to participate in the LSS as a part of their spiritual preparation and renewal of their faith. Praying that all the LSS participants grow in your faith life through the presenters’ insights, sharing and testimonies.

The ultimate goal of Lent is to create pure hearts and steadfast spirit so that we can joyfully celebrate the resurrection of our Lord at Easter on 16 April. In my own spiritual journey in the past I have experienced a lot of transformation and renewal particularly during the season of Lent in terms of attitude and behavior. Like you I too often begin with the best of intentions, fasting and praying but as I journey through I do face my weakness and I lose all my plans, intentions and disciplines of Lent. When I fail in my Lenten aspirations, I grow discouraged and give up gradually. This is a victory for Satan. Somehow, I remind myself of the importance of prayers and good works in order to build myself up spiritually and mentally.

During Lent I usually practice the examination of conscience. Besides this, I do go and meet my spiritual director for spiritual guidance and also make a confession. During this Lenten season, all the parishes in the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese are having the Penitential Service. So, it is a great time for you to go and make a good confession before you celebrate Easter. I also use this time to constantly read good spiritual books and scripture readings.

Lent is a great time to discipline ourselves in our daily prayer that can guide us for the rest of our lives. We should focus our prayers on repentance and contrition for our sins. Lent is a very good time to refocus our efforts and renew our commitment as true disciples of Christ. We should also minimise our ‘sins’ by not criticising others and fast from making negative speeches.

During Lent do remember to be more charitable and merciful to others. Do see others especially the poor and those in need. Please do reach out to them and find a way to help them. Remember the promise of Jesus, “And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward,” (Mt 10: 42).

This Lent, do your best. Strive to root out sin and nurture holiness for that is the true heart of Lent. May you continuously have a good Lent by focusing and disciplining yourselves.

                                                                                                                              Fr George P

Novena and Feast day

We have exactly a month to begin our Novenas and Feast Day celebration of our Patron, St Joseph, the Worker, which will commence on 22nd April till 1st May. The committee members have already decided the themes and confirmed the celebrants of the day. In one or two weeks’ time, they will start distributing the flyers and posters. I personally invite all our parishioners to get involved and participate in the novena to our Patron Saint and our feast day celebration.