Christ’s Death and New Life

THE EASTER SEASON
Christ’s Death and New Life - Our Salvation

Starting from Palm Sunday, we experience the ups and downs, the highs and lows of our faith and in our own personal life. Were there times  ‘... when sorrow fills us to the brim, and courage grows dim ...’?  There were so many things to accomplish, deadlines to meet, frantic efforts to do  the best we can. Yet, Mother Church in Her wisdom prompts us to “... be still and know that I am God”, to slow down, to read sacred scripture and to sink into the Life, Passion and Death of Jesus - the last week of Lent and the most sacred time of the liturgical year.

During this time, we re-enact in the liturgy, the sufferings and death of Christ, taking part in them as much as possible, so that we can bear our sufferings and put aside our sins which are the cause of all suffering. What does the death of Jesus mean to me?  What does it mean to “Glory in the Cross?  When the ‘enemy’ faces you in the eye, who do you turn to? Shut your eyes and ears and shout ‘Ghostbusters’?  Or do you ...“Turn your eyes upon Jesus”?

Then comes the “Easter Triduum” of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil where we celebrate the heart of our Catholic Faith. The great events of these days, each with special services, leads up the climax of the Church year and of human history – the Salvation.

Celebration of the Triumphal Resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Easter is the Feast of feasts, the greatest, as we behold Jesus “born of a tomb” so that we may rise unto God’s Life.  Easter means – redemption obtained – sin destroyed, death overcome, and new life brought back to us. “Indeed, He is risen!”

“So let us run the race that is before us and never give up.... let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect”. (Hebrews 12: 1-2)

May you experience the joy of new life in your own way this Easter Season and may you carry on the Resurrection story to others. 

               HAVE A HOLY AND BLESSED EASTER!

Godparents

As Catholic parents you have an enormous responsibility in ensuring the faith life of your child. I am sure you want to give the best to your child. When it comes to choosing Godparents or Sponsors, the Church gives you the liberty to do so.

But, here at SJC and RCC we are concerned for you as to who you choose to become your child’s godparent. We want to ensure that the spiritual growth and faith life of our children are guided and formed according to the Sacred Magisterium of the Church.

Hence, we strongly urge that only practicing Catholic  couples  be appointed as godparents. If either one of them does not practice the faith by regularly attending or participating at Mass or is in an irregular marriage, this disqualifies the relevant persons from being godparents.

As enshrined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “godparents must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized on the road of Christian life” (CCC #1255). In infant baptism, the godparents together with parents, presents the child for baptism and helps the  baptised to live the Christian life, and to fulfill duties arising from baptism. Technically, godparents, you are representing the Catholic Church, the community of faith, into which the child is being baptised.

Finally, godparents play an invaluable role in the life of the newly baptised. I hope and pray that parents when choosing godparents will not only consider the blood relationship or friendship, but rather, most importantly, the faith and witness giving life of the godparents who are to undertake this faith journey in leading the child to salvation. Godparents should also be persons of deep faith and prayer. They are to strife to become a role model with the grace of God to help the baptised to be close to the heart of Jesus, who is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.

Pray for Those Whom the World has Forgotten

Masses for the dead can be found in the fifth century. St. Odilo, fourth abbot of Cluny, was responsible for the institution of the general commemoration of all the faithful departed. He instituted it and fixed its celebration on  November 2, the day after All Saints.

We continue to dedicate this month of November for the poor souls in purgatory. We shall offer Masses and prayers for the liberation of our deceased families, friends, priests and all forgotten souls as well.

What more we can do:

a) Do pious practices to help the Poor Souls by attending Weekend Masses and do remember the deceased members among your family and friends and make an extra sacrifice  for them; pray the rosary for the most forgotten souls in purgatory.

b) At home: Make a nice poster listing all the family and friends who have departed. Put this on your altar where the members of the family can be reminded to pray for the loved ones throughout November.

c) Do visit gravesites anytime throughout the year. You can make it a monthly affair or during the deceased’s birthday or anniversary. It can be done privately. Whenever you visit the gravesites, clean them, decorate them with flowers and add lamps or candles. Do pray for the faithful departed. You may recite the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Rosary. Visits to the cemetery should be uplifting, calm and peaceful, not a scary event.

d) On a personal level, do read about “The Doctrine of Holy Souls in Purgatory” and “The Mystery of God’s Justice and Mercy.

Can we help the departed who are in the condition of purgatory? (YouCat no. 160 or CCC nos. 1032 & 1414)

SJC's Grotto Turns 60

On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which fell on 8th September, 2014, almost 300 of our parishioners gathered together at the grotto of St Joseph’s Church to celebrate Our Lady’s birthday. This year marks the 60th year since the Grotto was first erected. The grotto is built in 1954 is the result of the untiring efforts of a former sacristan called Ponniah together with the help of the Legion of Mary. It was built during the time of

Rev Frs Ernest Belet, Pierre Decroocq and Anthony Michael, who were the parish priests during that time.

Our celebration this year started at 7.30 pm with the recital of the rosary in both Tamil and English, which was followed by the Eucharistic Celebration at 8.00 pm. The grotto was blessed with incense and holy water just before the Eucharistic celebration took place. Also taking place that evening was the blessing of the newly erected statue of our Lady of Lourdes (OLL) which replaced the old statue. The paint on the old statue of OLL had already faded and the pupils on the eyes of the statue had totally disappeared. The old statue of OLL is currently placed at the Church’s parish house.

The Eucharistic Celebration ended with a special   blessing for the children, and the cutting of the “Birthday Cake", whilst everyone sang, "Happy Birthday" to Our Lady. Immediately thereafter, a simple fellowship was held in the church courtyard I wish to thank each one of you for joining us in this celebration and for making Mother Mary’s birthday a special one.

For those who have yet to visit the grotto, I would like to inform you that the area surrounding the grotto has been cleaned up and railway sleepers (pieces of wood) placed along the walk path to the grotto. Since Sentul is historically known as a railway town complete with railway tracks and numerous railway workers working and living here in the early 1900s, I thought it would be appropriate to have some of the town’s history linked to our Church and that is why the railway sleepers have been placed along the path to the grotto. We will continue to beautify Our Lady’s grotto with further landscape works and also enhance the sanctuary thereat.

WITNESSING TO CHRIST : Through Service to Country

Come August 31, we will be celebrating our country’s Independence Day.   There is much to thank God for our beloved nation as we see how Malaysia has emerged in the last 58 years of her development. However the rakyat is experiencing an unprecedented troubling time. Many groups and individuals have expressed their sentiments and grievances towards the present ruling government being oppressive, corrupt and unfair.

Our country is blessed with a multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-cultural population and as Christians we need to take the lead in interacting more with people of other faiths, traditions and cultures. The Church always invites everyone to aspire towards “unity in diversity” through dialogue, mutual respect, tolerance and understanding in order to bring about unity and harmony.

Since 1976, the Church in Peninsula Malaysia has been promoting dialogue with people of other faiths as a continuation of the work of Christ. It is our commitment therefore to continue His labour of love in our land, in gratitude to God for the gift of faith and in gratitude to all missionaries, men and women, religious and priests who tirelessly build the kingdom of justice, peace and love.

When we bring the message of the Gospel to people in our communities, work places, etc. we establish personal relationships with them just as how Jesus was in relationship with the poor and the rich, the oppressed and marginalised, the ostracised and outcast. We are invited to identify ourselves with suffering humanity and live the reality of communion by being in solidarity with them. What is our individual response?  How can we serve in the fight against injustice and corruption, to inculcate moral values and to imbue in the present generation a strong patriotic spirit?

Let’s pursue with the Vision and Mission of our Parish by strengthening our own faith community in the way of confessing and witnessing Jesus in our nation today. The time has come for us to rediscover the richness of engaging with one another as we work together for justice and peace in our country.

Let us come together on August 29^th in a spirit of prayer and fasting for all forms of respect of humanity, integrity and transparency to be exercised. Let’s stand up for justice and truth, reconciliation and peace.

“May the Lady of All Nations, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our Advocate. Amen.”

                                                                                         

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF ALL NATIONS

LORD JESUS CHRIST, SON OF THE FATHER,

SEND NOW YOUR HOLY SPIRIT OVER THE EARTH.

LET THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVE IN THE HEARTS

OF ALL NATIONS, THAT THEY MAY BE PRESERVED

FROM DEGENERATION, DISASTER AND WAR.

MAY THE LADY OF ALL NATIONS,

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,

BE OUR ADVOCATE.  AMEN.