"Jesus is the Way..."

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

The world proclaims every day that there are many ways to an eternity. The world also tells us that there are many truths.

The Gospel (Jn 14:6) says that there is no other way than through Jesus. There is no other truth than Jesus. There is no real life other than the eternal life found in Jesus.

Jesus says that He is the Way. He is the only Way to the Father. He is the only way to heaven. He is the only Way to get to heaven. The place where we are going to spend all of eternity.


FOR US CHRISTIANS JESUS IS THE ONE and ONLY WAY TO GOD.

JOURNEYING WITH MARY AND JOSPEH IN THE MONTH OF MAY

In this month of May, we shall dedicate our prayers and intercessions with the rosary in honour of Our Blessed Virgin Mary and with the novena to our Patron, St Joseph. I strongly encourage all our parishioners to recite the Rosary and the Litany of St Joseph daily as individuals, families or among your BEC members. If everything goes well we shall conclude the devotions of Month May with the Eucharistic celebration on the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth, her cousin on 31 May (Wednesday) at 11.00 am.

We have wrapped up a successful and meaningful nine-day Novena and feast of St Joseph, the Worker with the thanksgiving Mass on 1 May 2017. The whole celebrations went very well without much hiccups. We, the parishioners together with the feast day committee members have worked hard to coordinate the celebrations well and to be more hospitable towards the devotees and guests who came to our Church. Every one of you has been an integral part of this effort and I am truly grateful to you for making our mission possible this year.

During the novena days, we had a somewhat inconvenient weather. Despite that I notice many of you regularly came and paid your homage to St Joseph without fail. On the day of procession (Sunday, 30 April) with the Blessed Sacrament on the float we had a very heavy rain. The rain stopped the moment we started the Mass and that made our procession possible outside of the Church for an hour with a distance of 1.5 kms. We are grateful to our Police Officers and RELA for assisting us to bring us back in Church safely. It was a prayerful and solemn procession.

We had very good preachers through out the Novenas and feast day celebrations. Their eloquence and encouraging homilies and the celebrations of the Eucharist have enlightened and inspired us very much spiritually. Today we can share their stories of how God has made a home within us and within our community and to seek the presence of God in one another.

During the Novenas I had great meetings with the invited guest priests and devotees to St Joseph from various parishes. Some of my fellow priests came without any invitation and I was touched with their presence throughout the novenas and feast day celebrations, which made the celebrations all the merrier. This year I realised there was a slight increase in the numbers of devotees especially on the day of procession and on the actual feast day, 1^st May. Gradually, I hope our devotees may take on the novena tradition to St Joseph every day in their lives and hope they may develop their trust, faith and hope in God.

Thanks to for your continued support and prayers during these past weeks to make the St Joseph’s feast day celebrations a special one for all of us. Do continue evangelising the marvelous of works of the Risen Lord, the good news of the Gospel and the virtues of Mary and Joseph’s life to all people especially in this Month of May – Month of Mary and Month of St Joseph.

May the journey of walking together with Mother Mary and our Patron, St. Joseph bring us peaceful blessings to individuals, our families and community. Praying and hoping that every one of you may have a blessed and spiritually fruitful.

JESUS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD

“I am the Good Shepherd,” (Jn 10:1-10). Jesus, the Good Shepherd came to give us eternal life, offer us forgiveness, set us free from guilt and sin, and give us a fuller, abundant, meaningful life here on earth.

The Good Shepherd whispers His love for us. He calls us into an ongoing relationship with Him. So, we all need wise shepherds (priests, teachers, leaders, etc.) to teach, nurture and encourage us to think and act like Jesus Christ.

Every one of us is called by God to one of these four specific vocations: single life, married life, consecrated life or ordained ministry. There is no fifth way – a way of doing whatever we feel like. 

Each vocation challenges us to live our faith more deeply and to follow Christ more closely. Each vocation, if it is lived generously and faithfully, will then give us lasting happiness and reward but also suffering and sacrifice. Each vocation is a commitment to love in a certain way.

MOVING FORWARD UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF ST JOSEPH

I understand we have put a lot of effort and hard work to make Lenten observance and Easter Triduum a meaningful and significant one for our families and us. Immediately after that we have begun with our Novenas to St Joseph, the Worker. The organising committee have planned and coordinated well the novenas these past days. The feast day celebration with the procession will be 30^th April 2017 (Sunday) and we shall end the feast of St Joseph with thanksgiving Mass on Monday, May 1st. These past three weekends starting from the Easter Triduum celebrations, Divine Mercy Sunday and Novenas we have really worked hard to put our best foot forward in hopes that our community to experience and encounter with the Risen Christ.

During these past days I have noticed the church comers for the novena Masses are fewer than previous year. Many of you could not attend the nine-day novenas. Probably, you are too busy and exhausted with so many things. Some of you have taken on a lot of responsibilities and working hard for your companies, offices, schools and families. Some others have to make many sacrifices of time and effort for your families to raise your children with dignity, hope and basic values. Besides these we too are trying to attend as many social events as possible. Nevertheless, all those who came for the novenas have experienced inner healing, obtaining special graces, renewal, transformation and growing in virtues and holiness.

We have come to the end of Novenas and feast of St Joseph. We have been focusing on our four commitments mainly on Prayers, Word of God, Sacraments and New Evangelisation. All our preachers of the days have specified some kind of direction for us to seek out how the mission may be carried out and how to make them come to a realisation in our families and our parish community. They have offered the words of encouragement, support and challenged every parishioner to become more convinced in your daily commitment as Catholics and strengthen the call to be more faithful community.

Today our parish community has been greatly enriched and nourished by faith since our Easter celebrations and novenas. We need to work together to reflect a concern for one another in our parish. Today, we are challenged to bring God’s love, justice, and peace to our families, BECs and society at large. Not everyone can do everything, but our parish should be a sign of unity in pursuing a consistent concern for all who come to our parish. I believe that some of you just realised your potential to know one another better in our parish community and an opportunity to serve in our parish and those in need, to work for justice, and to pursue peace. Let us not put many other things on our shoulders that don’t belong to us. Be patient! We need to trust in Jesus and we still need Him in everything that we do. We still need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to give us strength and courage in all matters. Do pray to Jesus and he will cast your anxieties and troubles. Let’s make a steady progress in our faith.

We offer our gratitude and admiration to all those priests who celebrated our Novenas to St Joseph. As we look back at our celebrations do take a deep breath and take the challenge with new commitment towards strengthening our faith community. 

St Joseph, Pray For Us!

REJOICE IN THE SPIRIT OF EASTER

Easter has begun on 16 April and it will end with Pentecost Sunday on 4 June. These 50 days of the Easter season between Easter Sunday and Pentecost is a time to rejoice and a time to experience what it means when we say Christ is Risen. He is very much alive in us, among us and through us. In these seven weeks, we are also called to celebrate and ponder the birth of the Church (Acts 2) and gifts of the Holy Spirit and how we are to live as faithful disciples of the Risen Christ.

This sacred period of fifty days makes it the longest liturgical season in the liturgical year, longer than both Christmas and Lent. It is a time to celebrate new life in Christ. Coming to Church throughout this time is very important. The Risen Christ will change us and transform us always. We need not be afraid of change. He gives us hope and encouragement through faith. Eastertide reminds us even as we fail, that God will never fail us and His love is always new and never fails.

As we celebrate new life in Christ and the gift of peace in this season of Easter, let us remember the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi to be “instruments of Christ’s peace”. Peace of Christ grows when we live as reconcilers and in harmony with all of God’s creatures. I am very much inspired with his prayers, which goes: “Where there is hatred let us bring Your love. Where there is injury, let us bring Your pardon. Where there is doubt, let us bring faith. Where there is despair, let us bring Your hope. Where there is darkness, let us bring Your light. Where there is sadness, let us bring Your joy.” It is a very fitting prayer for peace after the celebration of Easter Sunday.

Now, we are in the midst of celebrating our Novena to St Joseph, the Worker that starts on 22nd April and will end on 1st May with our feast-day celebration. We, as “Easter People”, shall carry the joys of Easter with us in every aspect of our lives especially during our Novena and feast of our Patron Saint. I pray that during this nine-day novena period, every parishioner and pilgrim to our Parish may obtain special graces for all your petitions. May our celebrations during these days bolster the faith of the individual and our community as well. I hope this Easter season, our novena period and feast day celebration will bring new life, new strength and freshness in your faith.

During the Easter Vigil, our parish community welcomed 10 new Catholics (6 from the Tamil-Speaking community and 4 from the English-Speaking community) through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). They have gone through a period of enquiry, searching and contemplating since June last year and also through a Lenten time of enlightenment and purification towards the Easter Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. They have just begun their life-long journey of a faith as Catholics. They have also come to the final period of the RCIA journey. It is called mystgogy, a Pentecost experience of mystery. It will last for 50 days until the Pentecost feast. It is a time for deepening your spiritual experiences in order to enter more fully in the life of the Church. Stand firm in your faith and be courageous!