7 PRACTICAL WAYS TO HAVE A GOOD LENT

Lent is a season of penance and spiritual warfare. The goal is pure hearts so that we can joyfully celebrate the resurrection of our Lord at Easter, the greatest feast of the liturgical year.

7 PRACTICAL WAYS TO HAVE A GOOD LENT.

1. HAVE A PLAN: 

All our good intentions which we set right from the beginning of Lent begin to vanish because we don’t have plans. For an example, “I’m going to pray more” but this just remains as an intention. My advice, once you have determined what you are going to do, stick to it every single day. Often, we are overly ambitious and when we fail in our Lenten goals, we become discouraged and give up completely. This is a victory for the devil. Make your commitments practical, and your Lent will be the better for it.

2. READ A GOOD BOOK: 

Do read good spiritual books, and there is no better time to begin this practice than during Lent. Reading Scripture or the writings of the saints is a great place to start.

3.EXAMINE YOURSELF:

Lent is an excellent time to take an inventory of the state of your soul. What are your predominant faults? What is keeping you from following the will of God with all your heart? Thorough examination of conscience helps you assess your spiritual health. Remember, Lent is not ultimately about giving up sweets or other things we enjoy. It is first and foremost about repentance, which means giving up sin and returning to God.

4.CONFESS YOUR SINS:

Lent is a great time to go for confession. Do remember the five    requirements for a good confession:

1  Examination of conscience 

2  True contrition for having offended God 

3  Firm resolution to sin no more 

4  Clear confession (don’t hold any sins back) 

5  Penance for the sins you have committed

5.PRAY: 

During this season we should especially focus our daily prayer on repentance and contrition for our sins that can guide us for rest of the year. Some suggestions for Lenten prayer –The Seven Penitential Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143, the Stations of the Cross, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary.

6.FAST: 

During Lent, we especially remember the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. This is the greatest act of generosity in history, for Jesus who died for all. The generosity of God in Christ should impel us to be generous and merciful to others, especially those poor and in need.

This Lent, do your best. Strive to root out sin and cultivate holiness. “For though the upright falls seven times, he gets up again; the wicked are the ones who stumble in adversity,” (Prov. 24:16).

7 Tips on How to Confess Well

Lent is a season of penance and spiritual warfare. The goal is pure hearts so that we can joyfully celebrate the resurrection of our Lord at Easter, the greatest feast of the liturgical year.

7 PRACTICAL WAYS TO HAVE A GOOD LENT.

1. HAVE A PLAN: 

All our good intentions which we set right from the beginning of Lent begin to vanish because we don’t have plans. For an example, “I’m going to pray more” but this just remains as an intention. My advice, once you have determined what you are going to do, stick to it every single day. Often, we are overly ambitious and when we fail in our Lenten goals, we become discouraged and give up completely. This is a victory for the devil. Make your commitments practical, and your Lent will be the better for it.

2. READ A GOOD BOOK: 

Do read good spiritual books, and there is no better time to begin this practice than during Lent. Reading Scripture or the writings of the saints is a great place to start.

3.EXAMINE YOURSELF:

Lent is an excellent time to take an inventory of the state of your soul. What are your predominant faults? What is keeping you from following the will of God with all your heart? Thorough examination of conscience helps you assess your spiritual health. Remember, Lent is not ultimately about giving up sweets or other things we enjoy. It is first and foremost about repentance, which means giving up sin and returning to God.

4.CONFESS YOUR SINS:

Lent is a great time to go for confession. Do remember the five    requirements for a good confession:

1  Examination of conscience 

2  True contrition for having offended God 

3  Firm resolution to sin no more 

4  Clear confession (don’t hold any sins back) 

5  Penance for the sins you have committed

5.PRAY: 

During this season we should especially focus our daily prayer on repentance and contrition for our sins that can guide us for rest of the year. Some suggestions for Lenten prayer –The Seven Penitential Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143, the Stations of the Cross, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary.

6.FAST: 

During Lent, we especially remember the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. This is the greatest act of generosity in history, for Jesus who died for all. The generosity of God in Christ should impel us to be generous and merciful to others, especially those poor and in need.

This Lent, do your best. Strive to root out sin and cultivate holiness. “For though the upright falls seven times, he gets up again; the wicked are the ones who stumble in adversity,” (Prov. 24:16).

Jogathon and Gala Dinner

What a joy it is for me to see the unfolding and culmination of the recent Jogathon and Easter Gala Dinner - two major fund-raising events   organized this year towards the refurbishment of the St Joseph Community Centre. First of all in a special way, I would like to say a big Thank You to my beloved fund raising committee who worked around the clock to make both events truly memorable ones.

On 11th April, they successfully organised the Jogathon event which saw approximately 400 participants including Archbishop Julian Leow and myself.On 18th April, we witnessed once again the hard work and efforts of the committee which saw through the Easter Gala Dinner – a fine 8-course Chinese dinner with class entertainment and lucky draw prizes. They were determined and succeeded in reaching their target of 100% ticket sales!A special ‘Thank You’ to Joe Fernando (chairman), Leonard Paiva, Charles Francis & Michelle, Gabriel, June Wong, Alex, Gloria, Nelson, Arulnathan, Margaret, Joseph Jambu, Stanley, Shaun, Sharon and Amanda and the many others, young and old who have worked behind the scenes. Syabas to our beloved Fund   Raising Committee!I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to you, my own St Joseph Parishioners for  making every effort to ensure  the success of these two events  and making these memorable  for all of us.

As many of you are aware, the St Joseph Community Centre was built in 1987 by Rev Fr Anthony Thomas. After all these years of wear and tear, the time has come for some renovation and refurbishment works to be undertaken to ensure that our    community hall, formation and meeting rooms are in excellent    condition for years to come.  The construction of a brand new Funeral Parlour and Adoration Room is also in the pipeline.

Once again, and on behalf of the Fund Raising Committee and the various ministries involved, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all Parishioners, friends and guests for your moral support and encouragement in aid of this restoration project.

May Jesus, Heart of our Families bless you and your families always!

Patience is the Companion of Wisdom

We need to grow in patience. Our impatience tends to cross over into our relationships with others. We often expect others to follow or “kow-tow” to our standards, our prejudices and to our schedules. There are even times when impatience can surface in our relationship with God: “When will this Mass be over?” “How long does God expect me to put up with this?” “Why isn’t the Lord answering my prayer?”

We are called to be patient with other people, but that’s not always easy. In terms of our relationships with others, we shouldn’t allow someone else’s faults to cause us to sin through impatience. The people who get on our nerves are in fact the ones to whom we need to show acceptance and understanding. They may not “deserve” to be treated as such, but we must try to extend these attributes of patience and understanding to them if we wish to please God. God is infinitely patient with each one of us, so it’s not too much for Him to ask that we try to show a little patience toward others.

St. Sylvester said, “Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto

Ever since I started my ministry in your parish I  noticed that not many of you really look or stop by the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes which is facing the Convent and Tamil schools. However I have seen many Hindu  devotees who pass the grotto, taking the trouble to stop and pray to Our Lady. Some of them even come closer to the grotto and light  candles and place garlands around the fence. That is why I have asked the liturgical coordinating team to coordinate a Rosary  recitation on Sundays at the 7am and 9 am Masses. Every  Saturday at 7.00 am about 10 men and women  come together to pray the Rosary at the grotto.

Just to let you know, that with the help of Karijo and Protus ( our  general workers) the grotto area has been cleaned up and Railway sleepers (pieces of wood) placed as a walk path from the bell tower to the grotto. The reason I chose the railway sleepers is basically  because Sentul is known historically as a railway town complete with railway tracks and railway workers in the early 1900s. We also have plans to do some works within the sanctuary of the grotto and some landscaping around grotto.

I would like to encourage everyone to take this opportunity to frequently visit our Lady at our very own SJC grotto. You may light candles at the  appropriate place allocated for this and say a little prayer asking our Blessed Mother to intercede and pray for you. If you happen to be at the grotto just look at our Lady and you will notice her smiling face. If you don’t   believe me, just take a closer look at her. I have seen her  smiling face and I am sure you will see what I have seen.

Parishioners of the Church of the Risen Christ, please note that the statue of Our Lady at your grotto has been sent for  repainting and will be returned soon.

This coming Monday, 8th September, 2014, we shall be celebrating our Lady’s birthday at our SJC grotto. We shall have the recitation of the Rosary and Mass at the grotto. Do join us and we shall make Mother Mary’s birthday a special one.