DREAM, SERVICE AND FIDELITY

The 4th Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday or Vocation Sunday, and this year it falls on 25 April 2021. The Catholic Church dedicates prayer for an increase in vocations to the ordained ministries - priesthood and diaconate and religious life. The Holy Father Pope Francis, in his message for the 58th World Day of Prayer for Vocations has chosen the theme: “Saint Joseph - The Dream of Vocation” in line with the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of St Joseph as Patron Saint of the Universal Church. 

The Holy Father recognises that St Joseph is an extraordinary person who is “so close to our human experience”. Although he did not have any unique charisms nor any astounding or special status, he accomplished the service and mission entrusted to him by God the Father. In Saint Joseph, God “recognised the heart of a father, able to give and generate life in the midst of daily routines.” Every person’s vocation has an aim “of begetting and renewing the lives of others.” Therefore, the individual greatly needs to reflect on three key words in order to pursue their journey - “Dream, Service and Fidelity”.

Dream: Saint Joseph had four dreams (cf. Mt 1:20; 2:13,19 & 22) where God’s voice came to him through an angel, and in all the four dreams he obediently accepted “to change his plans and take a risk, sacrificing his own plans in order to follow the mysterious designs of God, whom he trusted completely.” Likewise in our own calling, we should not hesitate in responding to God’s call but “to take a first step, to give ourselves and to press forward.” God’s call never puts pressure on our freedom but “quietly speaks in the depths of our heart, drawing near to us and speaking to us through our thoughts and feelings.” He carries out His plans in us in a gentle way and He surprises us in our every “yes”.

Service: Any vocation requires service, sacrifice and the ability to love unconditionally. Saint Joseph gave his service entirely for others and sacrificed his life with a great love. He is a model for every vocation - whether to marriage, celibacy or virginity. Saint Joseph was ever-ready to face any circumstance without complaining. He was considered an “outstretched hand of our Heavenly Father, reaching out to His Son on Earth” where he gave willingly his service to protect Jesus. He “got up, took the child and his mother by night,” to Egypt (Mt 2:14), an unknow place, for the good of his family.

Fidelity: Saint Joseph knew that constant fidelity was the key to success in life. Vocation is nurtured and matures only through our daily faithfulness. Saint Joseph remained faithful to his promises and said “Yes” to God through his fidelity each day. Through our faithfulness to our vocation, we will experience joy in our ministry.

On this Vocation Sunday, we pray that our young people may discern God’s will and that the Holy Spirit inspires in them a desire to respond to His call to priesthood and consecrated life, and to serve our Church faithfully and truthfully.

Saint Joseph, protector of vocations - accompany us with a fatherly heart!

(An Extract of the message of the Holy Father for the World Day of Vocations 2021)

JESUS REKINDLES OUR SPIRIT

3^rd Sunday of Easter 2021

In today’s Gospel (Lk 24: 35-48), we see in the second part of the story of Road to Emmaus, where the disciples returned to their fellow disciples in Jerusalem and shared their testimony and witnesses of what they had experienced and how they had recognised Jesus in the breaking of bread.  It is a very humanly story and do read it the whole chapter of Luke 24 in full.

In our engagement, conversation and encounter with someone who is broken in their life, first we have to listen to his or her troubles.  As we continue journeying with the person we may able to penetrate into the person’s heart and gradually we console, comfort and give a hope in the life of the person.  Jesus always chooses to journey with us, to visit, stay and give us hope in our lives, so it eventually will be fulfilling.

 

When I go and bless a home, I always take on this particular Gospel reading - The Road to Emmaus (Lk 24). I will read partially from this chapter and highlight the point where the disciples pressed Jesus to stay with them, since it was nearly evening and the day was almost at an end (cf. Lk 24: 29).  This is what we need from Jesus, when we move to a new house.  We invite and welcome Jesus to stay with us, and because His presence means a lot to us.  Wherever we go, we want Jesus to walk with us and be our companion in both times of sorrow, broken, trouble and joy.  Again, I assure you that Jesus will always choose to journey with you, to visit you, to stay with you and to give you a fulfilling hope.

 

At any point of time, Jesus is walking with us.  Even St. Patrick claim upon the Lord, “Christ BESIDE me, Christ BEFORE me, Christ BEHIND me, Christ WITHIN me, Christ BENEATH me, Christ ABOVE me”. In whatever situations, either our road and destiny is rough or smooth sailing, He walks with us as how He walked with the troubled disciples who returned to their lived village - “Jesus Himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognising Him”.

 

We heard of a broken heart and broken dream of these two troubled disciples. The Risen Lord, only revealed to them when they were having meal with Him where He broke the bread and share it with them. Jesus, in His time, gradually reveals Himself to us – and this may appear physically in front of our eyes, though one should not depend on that as a sign, but for sure, He appears in your hearts. That’s where He dwells, right there – inside YOU!  When our hearts are alive with our faith in Christ, He will rekindle our spirit, faith, hope and peace.  So, keep the doors of our hearts, be always open to Him.

 

This Sunday, we shall serve the Lord and carry out our mission of the Church to witness Christ who has done wonders in us and make Him known to others who are in troubles and sorrows. Together we make our journey with Jesus, as we witnessing Him, and help others to repent from their sins as we help ourselves, and draw ourselves closer to Him.

THE PATH OF HOLINESS IN TIMES OF ADVERSITY

During this season of Easter, we experience what it means when we say “Christ Is Risen” and to rejoice and be glad as “Easter People” and eventually, live as faithful disciples of Christ as we grow and glow in the life of the Church. It is a wonderful season of extending the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and also a time of praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in that of our families as well as in the lives of the community. On each day of Eastertide, we pray for ourselves and discern our spiritual gifts, as we serve in the various ministries of the Church.

We continue to keep ourselves and our families going and growing with the Risen Lord as we connect with Him, and we strive for all our spiritual practices to lead us to the path of holiness. It is a season that we live for the Risen Lord and we yearn to be with Him forever. The closer we get to Jesus, the more we form ourselves as His disciples. Let His light penetrate and illumine our hearts and our homes. 

 

When we began this year 2021, we were anticipating going back to our normal way of life. Unfortunately, it looks like we are going to face the same fate as the previous year. By the way, it has been just over two weeks since Easter Sunday celebrations, and since then, several Parishes in Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur have reported positive COVID-19 cases. After the Second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, there were a few cases of COVID-19 in our Parish community, which has required me to self-quarantine, having come into contact with a positive case. It was very unexpected and rather unpleasant news.

 

It is alarming to know of the possibility that we may be facing a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases in our nation, and we strongly encourage all our Parishioners to take extra steps to safeguard themselves and their families against this deadly virus - especially the new variants of the virus. The Church urges us all to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 preventive measures at all times, and in every circumstance. Although we have been given some relaxation on the movement-controlled order, we are reminded to be vigilant, cautious and sensible. We still have a very long way to go from here in order to keep ourselves, our families and our community safe.

 

On 1 May 2021, we will celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph, the Worker. We will begin our Novenas to Saint Joseph a week prior to that, and we invite Parishioners to join us in celebrating this special Year of Saint Joseph, the Year of Plenary Indulgence. The program for the week, as well as the link for live streaming can be obtained from our Parish website: https://www.stjosephsentul.org

 

May this Easter season and the Year of Saint Joseph, the Year of Plenary Indulgence be a blessing for you and your family.

GOD’S MERCY AND LOVE HAVE NO END

2nd Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday 2021 

The Resurrection of Christ stands out forever so great that it is beyond all human understanding. It not only demands intellectual acceptance but most of all, it demands our faith and believe.

 

The Apostle Thomas demanded evidence: “Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his sides, I refuse to believe,” (John 20:25). This kind of faith first seeks an understanding and proof, in order to believe.  When this faith is understood, then the individual will belief and accept the truth, and more often he or she will go beyond the call of faith to spread the good news.  Thomas, after having understood and experienced the Risen Lord, he challenged the rest of the apostles not only to go with the Lord but also to die with Him.  This type of faith can be potentially very powerful, as Thomas eventually travelled to India to spread the good news and was martyred without a proper trial.  He established a Church that stands for nearly two thousand years, and is still flourishing and growing.

 

We are reminded to firmly hold on to our faith.  It was the Risen Lord who breathed unto the Apostles the Holy Spirit and empowered them to finish the race and to keep the faith alive. Let us nurture and build our faith through prayers, increase the knowledge of God and Church, sharing the word of God, fellowship, formation, and experiencing the Sacraments.

 

Today, we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday.  I know many of you are really devoted in praying the Chaplet of the Divine mercy at 3.00 pm either at home or at your office. It is considered a very new devotion among Catholics which was promoted by Saint John Paul II, initiated by St Faustina.  St John Paul II canonised Sr Faustina in the year 2000 and made her as a first saint of the new millennium. The chaplet focuses on the mercy of Christ.  

 

The message of God’s love and mercy are made known by all the Gospel writers. God mercy and love have no end.  God’s mercy and love come first to us, and from there, we can show His mercy and love to others. Once we have experienced God’s mercy and love on ourselves, we can ready to grant mercy on others.

 

We ask for the intercession of St. Faustina to obtain Christ's mercy, to trust in His mercy, and to show mercy and love towards our family members and others.

THE FOUNDATION OF OUR FAITH

After completing 40 days of Lent, Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum, we are now in the midst of the Easter season. This year Eastertide began on Easter Sunday, 4 April 2021 and it will last for fifty days, ending on the Solemnity of Pentecost, which falls on Sunday, 23 May 2021. Easter is a very crucial celebration in our liturgical calendar, commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of Christian faith – “If Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and so is your faith,” (1 Cor 15:14). Thus, His resurrection has confirmed and secured our Christian faith. 

It is already a week since Eastertide began and the festivities of the season are important for our Christian faith because:

i)               Jesus’ resurrection has ascertained that He is our true God. He keeps His word and His promise is unchangeable, true and alive.

ii)              Christ’s resurrection has ensured our salvation. He gives us the gift of salvation freely. We are saved by Him. By his death and resurrection, we have eternal life – “For the wage paid by sin is death; the gift freely given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Romans 6:23).

iii)         Jesus has conquered sin and death. By his resurrection, sin will no longer have any power over us. Instead, we live under the freedom of God’s grace, (cf. Rom 6:14).

iv)           Jesus assures us victory over sin, and we share in His glory and one day we will behold His glory in Heaven (cf. Jn 17: 24). In this present life and as we journey with Him, He gives us hope, strength and courage to live and share in his richness and glory.

v)           We love and serve a God who sacrificed His only Son, Jesus Christ, for our freedom and salvation. He is physically risen and alive in our midst as He promised.

vi)            The resurrection of Christ brings hope of eternal life. He stands as a sign of hope in all our trials, temptations, sufferings and even death. We can hold onto this hope until He returns.

We will commence our 9-day Novena to St Joseph, the Worker, on 23 April 2021. During this nine-day Novena, we will focus on the 7 virtues of St Joseph, which have been highlighted by the Holy Father Pope Francis in his apostolic letter on “Patris Corde” – (With the Father’s Heart). Last year we had our Novena and Masses online, but this year we invite you to be physically present in Church. We will be streaming the Novena and Mass live, so those at home may join us too.

We invite pilgrims - particularly those in the Klang Valley - to travel to our Parish, which is the Pilgrim Center Parish in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. Come and pay your homage to St Joseph and pray your thanksgiving prayers any time of the day. Ask for his continuous intercession for your personal needs, that of your family and your community.

“St Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families,” (Saint Pope John Paul II).

A NEW FACE LIFT TO OUR FAITH

EASTER SUNDAY 2021

These past years, I have been driving to Batu Caves using Jalan Sentul - Jalan Batu Muda passing by Maxim and Sentul Point condominiums. Only last week, I have discovered something fascinating – as normally, I don’t t prefer using this road as there are almost 7 traffic lights and a lot of constructions of buildings and road works are progressing. Furthermore, there isn’t anything attractive to drive through.

Photo by SIVAKUMAR
from DBKL's FACEBOOK

As I was driving through last week one early morning, I was really captured and amazed looking at the Tecoma trees on both sides of the road with beautiful colours of blossom of pink and white flowers. A friend of mine, sent some photos of the view Tecome trees at Jalan Batu Muda roused up my interest to find out more about Tecoma Trees on google this morning.  Only to find out that, there are actually 10,030 Tecoma Trees planted by DBKL all over Kuala Lumpur City itself according to a DBKL’s post on Facebook. I like their title of the article - “Tak Perlu Terbang Jauh Untuk Melihat Keindahan,” (You no need to fly far to admire the beauty), because this is absolutely true!

 

In fact it is true. The plants are marvellous. For once I felt as though I was in overseas, with the petals opened in full blossom and it was really like spring season, and it’s in Malaysia!  Since then, I purposely drive down this road, just to admire the beautiful flowers blooming along the way to Batu Caves and few others roads in KL City. These Tecoma trees have given a new face lift to our city.

 

As I was admiring these amazing blooms, it led to my mind floating to ending my Lent and welcoming Easter. The 6-week preparation of Lent has brought us to an inner renewal. It was a journey and an experience of dying the old life and finding new life, a better future existence and purposes. We have definitely faced a lot of temptations and trials more especially during this Lent, and we have been unfaithful to God, in our many individualistic ways.

 

Now, Easter has arrived. We can see that our hearts are waiting, just waiting to bloom like the Tecoma flowers, from the darkest of days to the brightest of hearts, seeing that Jesus has resurrected within our lives. Jesus has rolled away the big boulders of our hearts, from the grave of sins and He has resurrected in us. Today, our Easter celebration has brought us a new face lift to our faith, newness to our spirits in us.

 

One of the important rites of Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday is the renewal of our baptismal promises. Under the baptismal rites, firstly, the Church asks to “renounce” three times the works of Satan and all his empty promises. Secondly, we will be invited to “Profess” three times our faith in One God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and One, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church and her teachings. We give our total conviction to Our Jesus by finally saying “I do”.

Let us not give empty promises to the Risen Lord but answer honestly and convincingly “I do” from the bottom of our hearts. Yes! From today onwards, we are not going to entertain the works of Satan and all his tricks but we will stand firm and hold on to our faith in the Risen Lord, who is our Promising One.

 

Let our Easter Faith and a new life, a new beginnings will blossom from now on in our lives. Jesus is alive, our Church is alive and our faith is alive. Together we commit ourselves to reject sin and profess our faith. We pray for the grace and strength to carry our promises in our lives and keep them closer in our hearts.

TRANSFORMATION IN OUR FAITH LIFE

Over the past four weekends, we have been coming back to Church for Masses in-person, after following live-streamed Masses from our homes for a period of time. Although we still face the on-going pandemic for an indefinite period, we are thankful and privileged to be able to return to Church for worship. 

I would like to thank my Parish Response Team (PRT) and all volunteers for their efforts in preparing and making it possible for everyone to return and worship God in Church. Many Parishioners have taken the initiative to be physically present for Mass while others have chosen to stay home and participate virtually in spiritual communion. Whichever way you choose to worship, we want everyone to stay safe, stay healthy, stay fit and stay connected with God wherever you are during this current pandemic.

 

During the suspension of Masses, we were longing and yearning for our Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Over the past few weeks, we have been able to celebrate and participate in the Sacraments of the Church and we welcome the community to return once again to Eucharistic Celebrations, and to stay in touch and support one another spiritually and physically.

 

Our Parish has successfully proceeded with the Sacraments of First Holy Communion in February and Confirmation in March, for candidates who missed out on receiving these last year, due to the lockdown. We also conducted Infant Baptisms when needed. The homebound have been able to receive the Sacrament of Confession, the Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion in these past couple of weeks too.

 

We have come to the Easter season - “Jesus is Risen, He is truly Risen INDEED! Alleluia” and “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice (Ps 118: 24). It is a season for all of us to live as an Easter People, and our song is “Alleluia!” The Lent season and Sacred Easter Triduum celebrations have brought transformation in our spiritual and faith life.

 

Recently, we virtually witnessed the Priestly Ordinations from Klang and Bukit Mertajam. The Church has become alive once again, as the movement restriction orders have been relaxed. The Sacrament of Marriage has been slowly taking place in our Church, as many of these scheduled weddings have been put on hold since last year. God has answered our anguished calls and our yearning for the presence of Jesus in the Sacraments.

 

Gradually people are registering for their Covid-19 vaccination and there is hope that the pandemic will end with life getting back to normal. Till then, everyone has to adhere to the SOPs and guidelines set by the authorities. Jesus stays by our side during this time of uncertainty as a sign of hope and joy. This Easter, we choose to be in solidarity with our Parish community and respect the dignity of each member of our community. 

Be assured that St Joseph, our Patron of the Catholic Church, will take away all our fear and anxiety, and protect us from the deadly virus. 

 

WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ABUNDANT BLESSINGS OF PEACE, LOVE AND JOY THIS LOVELY EASTER!