RENEW OUR FIDELITY TO PRAYER

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 Dec 2020), the Holy Father, Pope Francis, released his Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” (With a Father’s Heart) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church in 1870. This year, the Holy Father has declared “The Year of Saint Joseph” commencing from 8 December 2020 until 8 December 2021, as a year of Plenary Indulgence.

The Holy Father has always had a special admiration for St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. On 1 May 2013, under his Supreme Pontiff, he included the name of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Eucharistic Prayer II, III and IV. In 1962, Pope John XXIII had already included St Joseph’s name in the Eucharistic Prayer I. Pope Francis has popularised the devotion to the Sleeping St Joseph, and he has placed a statue of the same on his desk for decades.

 

The Holy Father issued a decree on granting special indulgences to those suffering from COVID-19, health care workers, family members and many others “with prayer and good works, to obtain, with the help of St Joseph,” during the year of St Joseph. Since our Parish is dedicated to St Joseph, I would like to invite our Parishioners to make plenary indulgences with a spirit of detachment from sin, as well as participation in all events, activities and formations in our Parish. St Joseph has always been our Patron and a prominent figure for us. He stands as a great model of humility, kindness and simple virtues of life to exemplify the Christian faith. We should do our best to observe plenary indulgences throughout the Year of St Joseph by doing an act of charity, for example, by following the spirit of the Good Samaritan through spiritual and corporal works of mercy within our community, as well as society at large. We should encourage one another to discover and rediscover the values of St Joseph – namely, as a “beloved, tender and obedient father, a dignified, respectful and joyful worker” in our lives.

 

After faithfully and successfully completing our three-year Parish Vision - “Committing Ourselves to New Evangelisation” (2018-2020), I was thinking about what, the next vision and mission for the year 2021 could possibly be? The announcement of the Holy Father about the Year of St Joseph and the Plenary Indulgence, has inspired me and given me hope and direction in my Parish ministry for the year 2020/2021.

 

During this year of plenary indulgence, we, as the Parish community of St Joseph, should strive to be more hospitable in welcoming pilgrims, including people of other faiths to our Parish. As we walk passionately with St Joseph throughout the year, surely, we will “rediscover our filial relationship with the Father, to renew fidelity to prayer, to listen and correspond with profound discernment to God’s will.” 

 

The plenary indulgence is also granted to us when we commit ourselves to be more devoted to “love and prayer” just as it was in the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). We read the Holy Scripture, recite the Holy Rosary and various devotional prayers daily to St Joseph - for protection from all dangers, in all our sufferings, illness, rejection and distress. In the midst of the on-going Covid-19 crisis, the plenary indulgence is also granted to the sick, elderly, migrants, refugees, the dying, the homeless, and health care workers, as we seek the intercession of St Joseph, offering them to Jesus Christ. To start with, I encourage all Parishioners to read and discuss the document “Patris Corde” with your family or BECs.

 

As Parishioners, let us commit ourselves to praying faithfully - seeking the intercession of St Joseph - that he may obtain God’s blessings upon us and our families, as we make our journey together during the Year of St Joseph.

 

Enclose here is another prayer to St Joseph, added by the Holy Father at the conclusion of his Apostolic Letter, encouraging us to pray together:

 

Hail, 

Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.

 

Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.

Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen.

MAKE A SINCERE CONVERSION

Second Sunday of Advent (B) 2020 - Homily

The Gospel of Saint Mark (MK 1: 1-8) explains to us that Saint John the Baptist, who was the last prophet sent by God, preached on a conversion and a radical change of life. John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, warned that he has come to “Prepare a way for the Lord, making his paths straight.” How did he perform? He fulfilled that mission with his integrity.

St. Mark tells us that “John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” We being in the second Sunday of Advent, invites us for repentance and conversion. The Lord wants us to acknowledge and repent from our sins in preparation for the arrival of the Saviour into our lives this Christmas once again. It is a great time for us to make the genuine conversion and create a room and space for the good Lord to come in, by taking the example of John the Baptist. We can make this Advent season as a way for a true repentance.

 

We have 2 more weekends to celebrate Christmas with our families and communities. It is a right time to make our ways and paths straight from all the crooked ways. Let us not lose our sense of direction, a journey towards the nativity of the Lord. We need to let go whatever sins that are holding us and preventing us from coming closer to Jesus’ heart. 

 

We allow the Spirit of Lord to penetrate into our hearts and it’s also be our desire to empty ourselves from sins that is holding us back, disallowing Jesus to truly embrace us with His love. Let the love of Jesus alone live in the depths of our hearts.

 

During this COVID-19 pandemic, the global faces lots of challenges and trials; and people do get emotionally disturbed and physically exhausted, while waiting for the world to be healed from this deadly virus. We are really in the difficult time. We do not know whether we will be coming back to Church like the usual, and how we will miss the Christmas and New Year Masses, like the good ole days!!! We just hope and stay at peace till 20 December 2020, until the uplifting from CMCO to RMCO so that we are able to come back for the Christmas celebration in the Church once again.

 

Till then, let us make a sincere conversion and repentance as a preparation to come back to Church to celebrate Jesus in Eucharist, as communities this Christmas. Let us examine ourselves as we prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus back into our lives.

 

“LORD, let us see Your kindness and grant us Your salvation.” (Ps 85).

STAY COMMITTED BY REMAINING IN PRAYER

The Holy Father’s intention for the month of December is prayer. Through a life of prayer, “we change reality, we change our hearts.” He insists on us entering into dialogue with the Father through prayer because Jesus Himself never neglected his intimate dialogue with the Father. Prayer not only leads us closer to God the Father but through prayer we listen to Jesus, contemplate Jesus, we speak to Him as a friend and He transforms us. 

Pope Francis also stated that prayer and mission of the Church are “indissolubly united.”  Prayer not only nurtures our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but it also leads us on the mission of the Church. He summed up that “the mission of the Church is at the service of the challenges of the world, and it is not possible without prayer.” Our hearts change when we pray, and we can do many things when we are constantly in prayer. Prayer is essential for mission, it is the heart which opens us to love. When we are in the depths of prayer, it yields “thirty, sixty, and even a hundred-fold” (MK 4:20). In this season of Advent, we should constantly develop our personal relationship with Jesus, and by our life of prayer, we carry out our mission of the Church “to live a life of love,” (2 Jn: 6). 

 

We observe the season of Advent as a time of expectant waiting and a preparation for the celebration of the Incarnation - “the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:14). Through Advent prayers we connect with God’s love and seek his assistance to make our hearts ready to receive the gift of His Son once again this Christmas. Prayer helps us to clear the path in our hearts from all kinds of distractions that hinder us from experiencing the presence of Jesus in our lives. Very often we give up our prayer life when we face destruction. When we don’t pray during difficult times, we become hardened and insensitive and it diminishes our spiritual life.

 

Many priests and spiritual directors have asked me about my prayer life. I don’t always give my best in cultivating my prayer habits especially with the Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary). Since early priesthood, I always spend time praying in my room. Initially, I prayed in my parish office, but often I got distracted either with my works or pastoral duties. I realised whenever I carried out my prayer sessions in my office, somehow this would be abruptly stopped or interrupted with other commitments. I know I always give priority to my pastoral duties rather than spiritual aspects. I always choose to work which is easier for me rather than to pray. That is the reality that I observe in my priestly life. However, the Holy Father has reminded me through his intention, that I need to change this reality of my prayer life being overshowed by my pastoral duties. I pray that I will have a change of heart - to be able to pay more attention to my prayer life, rather than being constantly engaged with pastoral commitments.

 

During this Advent season, a season of prayer, I hope everyone of us pays more attention to prayer - as a gift of God - as we prepare to welcome the coming of His Son Jesus once again into our hearts and homes. Our faith and belief tell us that God wants to be with us (MT 28:20) and stay with us always (LK 24: 29). Although prayer is a struggle for everyone, we must make a conscious effort especially during this time of year. Despite all that is weighing us down, stay committed by remaining in prayer, as we open wide our hearts to welcome Him into our lives.

OUR ADVENT JOURNEY BEGINS

We begin the season of Advent on 29 November 2020 with four themes, one for each week, leading up to Christmas – Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The 1^st Sunday of Advent will mark the beginning of the new liturgical year for 2020/2021.

The moment we enter these beautiful and exciting seasons – Advent and Christmas, we hear the most spiritually uplifting hymns and carols. These are the hymns and carols we hear once a year. During Advent, at almost every mass, we sing the hymn “O, Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, which has lyrics that are so soothing, peaceful and heartening. When we pay attention to the lyrics, it creates an atmosphere of worship and joy. This COVID-19 pandemic may dampen our atmosphere of worship and joy for the upcoming celebration and fellowship of Christmas. Due to the unprecedented, uncertainty of this global crisis, we may have a quieter celebration, just among our immediate family members at home.

 

Advent is the season of expectant waiting before Christmas. Advent is not a penitential season, unlike Lent – a period of self-denial, fasting and penance. It is not Christmas yet but we need to pay attention to the Advent - a period of penitential practices – a time to repent. When we now reflect on our journey during previous seasons of Advent, we realize that we placed a lot of importance on the commercial aspects of Christmas. We view this season as a season of preparation for feasting, shopping, parties, holidays, decorating the Christmas tree and putting together the nativity set for the celebration on 25 December.

 

I invite everyone to fully focus on the themes of Advent which already exist in the readings for Advent. It is a crucial time to reflect on our relationship with God, a time to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus. As we pay attention to the hymns, lyrics, readings, let us keep in mind the poor and needy, those less fortunate than us, and how we can make a difference and make room for them in our Christmas celebration. Let’s make a promise to do better to amend our sinful life as we await with great expectation the coming of the Lord.

 

No matter what is happening around us during this global crisis, we make room for the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Jesus once again in our hearts and our homes. I encourage you to take every opportunity to focus on the readings and meditate upon them daily. It will also be good just to list down the hymns for this Advent and Christmas seasons and use them during your individual or family prayers. We too can light candles on the wreath at home until Christmas to proclaim the Child Jesus born of Mary is the Son of God, (LK 2: 9). As we make spiritual progress throughout the season of Advent, do cultivate your spiritual journal writing each day which will orientate you to stay focused on the mystery of the Incarnation - “the Word became flesh, and lived among us,” (Jn 1:14).

 

In these challenging times, whether we face loneliness, financial or job stress, grief, illness, etc., just be extra thankful to God this Advent and He will give us courage, faith and hope to carry us through the toughest of times. Let’s prepare ourselves well, both in heart and mind, for Christmas.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST

1^st Sunday of Advent - Homily 

The Gospel on this first Sunday of Advent invites us to “Stay Awake!”

 

During my seminary days, we began our morning prayer at 6am, followed by meditation for 30-minute and then we proceeded to the celebration of the Eucharistic. Each time when I enter into meditation I would always doze off, quite often. I tried to keep a discipline of staying awake, but failed many times. It took few years for me to learn the art of meditation. I cannot say that I am already a master at it but to date, I still struggle to stay awake. Each of these times, I would be feeling guilty for still not being responsible and serious with my prayer life and mediation. Frequently I had reminded myself to stay awake and not to fall into sleep during mediation.

 

It is indeed very in sync with today’s Gospel (MK 13: 33-37), “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” Jesus reminds us to stay and be active in our faith. He wants us to be ready and awake by building on a living our relationship with Him.

 

As we begin our journey in this season Advent - a time of new beginning for each of us - the Lord reminds us that we need a new beginning, by staying awake in our faith and to make our faith active and very much alive. We realise that our faith can be diminishing from time to time, and during those time, you needed to try to remind yourself to “wake up from our sleep”, be active and alive in our faith, and increase and improve the quality of our prayers/conversation with God. 

 

We don’t know when our Master will come. In case, He comes suddenly, He might find us asleep and not on guard for Him. Jesus warns us not to be sleeping. Therefore, stay awake and the Lord has a plan, a fitting and best plan, coming our ways. We must trust Him on that.

 

The season of Advent is a season of awaiting that prepares us to welcome the Mystery of the Word became Flesh (Jn 1: 14). Soon, we will be celebration the birth of Jesus, yet again. In the midst of all the distractions and indifference that run daily in our lives, our hearts and minds must be constantly be inspired in preparation for the birth of Jesus. Let us not sleep on guard, letting our daily busy lives distract us from our focus on the Lord, but continue to keep praying and converse with Jesus, reeling back our faith, so that our eyes will continuously be opened and be on guard. Jesus will come back, and He will come back at the most unexpected time. Stay Awake!