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!

STAY FOCUSED ON JESUS’ LAST JOURNEY

(PALM SUNDAY HOMILY)

We have entered into Holy Week. It is a fresh week inviting us to meditate on the events that happened in the last week of Jesus’s life on earth, who came and fulfilled the will of God and accomplished it. It is a time to evaluate how we have been followers of Jesus all this while. Last year, I still remember suggesting to some of families what to do on Palm Sunday. Many of you decorated beautifully your doorposts and altars, with palm leaves.

This year, we are privileged to raise the palms in our hands and sing hosanna, in the highest and celebrating Palm Sunday in our Church. As we do that, let’s look at Jesus, the Perfecter of our faith who is entering triumphantly into Jerusalem, soon He will be hanging on the cross, and will be crucified and will die on the cross, and we will see Him buried in the tomb and He will victor over death – with the celebration of an empty tomb. 

In the past one year, we have experienced many celebrations that were suspended in our Church, and hopefully, with our prayers together and with hearts full of hope, by God’s will, we are able to celebrate the Holy Week in the Church without much issues imposed due to COVID19 crisis. Let’s pray that we can celebrate His Resurrection on Easter Sunday in our Church.

Most of us are going through a pretty tough time in our lives. There are so many losses, sadness, disappointments and many forms of difficulties, and yet we cannot see an end time for such challenges. We cry out in anguish hoping that the Lord will answer to our pleas and save us.  Our faith is again challenged over and over again, as we see and felt the Lord is just riding along silently not hearing and responding to our cries. The life challenge is still looking back at us, our hearts are tired and sore, thinking and finding ways to go through those challenges. 

On this Palm Sunday, we are reminded of the journey of our Saviour for the redemption of each and every one of us. You just need to believe Him. Jesus wants us to take us from where we are to where we need to be. Let’s stay focused on Jesus during this Holy Week, committed ourselves to others. We pray that we will follow the way of Jesus - “act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with the Lord,” (Micah 6: 8), as we meet the needs of others and serve others.

A NEW CHANGE AND NEW PHASE OF LIFE

(5^th Sunday of Lent 2021 - Homily)

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit,” (John 12: 24).

 

On the ordination to the priesthood day, there is one part of the rite of the ordination, where the ordinand needs to be in a prostrate gesture (lying face on the ground) on the sanctuary of the Church just before the Bishop lays hands on him to be ordained. The prostration is signifying as a symbol of death - a death to self and to give a rebirth to priestly service.

 

I will never forget myself lying on the ground in 2003 on the Church sanctuary on my own priestly ordination. As for me, after 18 years in the priesthood, I am still germinating or growing, in another word to say that I am still experiencing God’s love and his life in me and it is coming to alive in me as I keep sprouting. The more I am involved in my ministry and expose myself in various areas and people, the more I am like a seed that fall on the ground and produces fruits. Jesus wrote this word on my heart - “To Live a Life of Love - when I prostrate on the ground of the sanctuary and I feel this word or seed is nurturing in my priestly life.

 

“Anyone who loves his life, loses it; and anyone who hates his life in this world keep it for eternal life,”(John 12: 25). Jesus goes on to say that only those die or lose his life through humiliation, suffering, and death to ourselves will experience new life, and life eternal. And only those who let change and transformation come into their lives especially during this Lent, will ultimately experience a new meaning in life which opens a new opportunity for growth and maturity in faith.

 

It is now already 5 weeks into this season of Lent. We may still experience our spiritual life dry and empty. We may attempt to sprout ourselves a few times from this barrenness and dryness in our faith life. There are no changes in our behaviours and attitudes. They remain unpleasant behaviours which they have become hinderances and stumbling blocks for our personal growth to be more like Jesus. We need to challenge ourselves to go through these difficult times of our lives in order to see the new life, new change and new phase of life to emerge in our spiritual life.

DISCOVER THE FULLNESS OF FAITH

We begin our Holy Week celebrations from 28 March – 4 April 2021. Holy Week is the most sacred week of the year in the Church’s liturgical calendar. It is observed in the Catholic Church as a time of commemorating the Paschal Mystery – the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church invites us to enter Holy Week with solemnly, and make a simple retreat within ourselves to discover our faith and the richness, fullness and the significance of our Liturgy. 

Last year we participated in the Holy Week liturgical celebrations online, from the confines of our homes. This year we have a chance to attend the celebrations in-person in Church, but there will be some alterations made, such as omitting a few rites and rituals in order to comply with certain guidelines to safeguard the safety and health of the faithful, amid the current pandemic. We would like to assure everyone that the Church will provide a fruitful and meaningful Holy Week celebration, even as we adhere to the guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set by the authorities.

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, or alternatively known as Passion Sunday. It is a time when we journey in Jesus’ footsteps on His final days on Earth. On Palm Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We will take a shorter form of liturgy as the priest enters into the Church while blessing the palms with Holy Water. The congregation will remain seated inside the Church or hall.

 

The Sacred Triduum celebrations begin from Holy Thursday until Easter Vigil. On Holy Thursday (also called Maundy Thursday), Catholics commemorate the institution of the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Priesthood, during the Last Supper. This year however, we will not have the ceremony of washing of the feet as Jesus did to his disciples. At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, we encourage our Parishioners to spend some time in silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (in a ciborium) with your family.

 

We observe Good Friday or Holy Friday, as the day Jesus was arrested, crucified, died, and was buried. It is a day of obligation for penance, fast and abstinence. It is the only day of the year that the Church doesn’t celebrate the Eucharist, but the consecrated host (reserved from Holy Thursday) will be distributed to the faithful instead. This year, during the Veneration of the Holy Cross, parishioners are only encouraged to kneel or bow in the direction of the cross to affirm their faith, but not kiss the Cross. 

 

Holy Saturday is a day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday - the day Jesus laid in the tomb. It is traditionally a day of joy and sadness, as we contemplate the darkness of a world with a future hope of Christ’s resurrection. Then, in the late evening we will have the Easter Vigil Mass - “it marks a transition from dark into light, despair to hope, spiritual emptiness to spiritual newness.”On Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday, the faithful will be invited to renew their baptismal promises. This year we will not light an Easter fire, but everyone will remain seated inside the church instead. We will take three readings from the Old Testament and two readings from the New Testament, during the Easter Vigil Mass.

 

Last year we missed celebrating Holy Week in the Church, but this year we have an opportunity to celebrate, albeit with limited numbers. We pray, that as the number of COVID-19 infections seem to be on the rise once again, the Holy Spirit will bring us closer to the Risen Lord this Holy Week. 

 

My best wishes to you and your family as you prepare yourselves 

for this spiritual journey of Holy Week.