Myself Xplore 3 - Photos

Praise God! The event for the youths; Myself Xplore 3 was a successful event. 37 youths from the parishes of Christ the Light & Christ the King participated.
Here are some pictures of it.

December 2007 Holidays

I am back home for the holidays. Today is the second day. There are a few things planned. My niece's baptism tomorrow, then to the City (Kuala Lumpur) for the Youth Programme (Myself Xplored 3) which I am conducting with Timmy and the Youths of CTL & CTK. Meeting with the Archbishop. I have also planned to go to the northern states (Perak & Penang) to visit friends, pastoral parishes and brother seminarians of College General. And of course Christmas!!

I will try to update my blog, if i don't...you know why!!!.

X'mas at Orchard 2007

Dec 02 was my last night at Singapore, before I leave for home for my holidays. During the day I brought Kannan (Jospeh) to ViVo City and showed him Sentosa and after that we went for Mass at Christ the King. During the night we had dinner and walked around Orchard Road with Joshua and Sylvester (youths of CTK).

This year the Christmas decorations were not as grand as previous years. I remember walking around Orchard during Christmas time when i was a small boy, and the decorations was superb! Even the buildings were all lit and decorated, and when you walk around the place you will feel as though you were in Europe! But nowadays it is just so plain. But the best is always Tangs Department Store, Singapore. They always bring out the true meaning of Christmas through the decorations.

Yes, we are loosing the real sense of Christmas. Christmas is Jesus!! How can we talk about Christmas without Jesus Christ? How can we celebrate Christmas without Jesus? Come Lord Jesus, be born in us!

(L to R) Sylvester, Kannan, Me & Joshua

Myself Xplore 3

Hi guys,

Together with the Youths from Christ the Light and Christ the King, Kuala Lumpur, we are organizing a youth programme from Dec7-9 called MYSELF XPLORE 3. This is the 3rd time we are organizing such an event.

Pls pray for us the organisers, the participants, and the event itself.

If you know any youths age 16-39, pls encourage them to participate. Below is the poster with the details. You are most welcome to register too.

Thank you.

SVDP Pastoral

Yesterday was the last day for my pastoral at the Parish of Saint Vincent De Paul, Singapore. I was posted to serve in the RCIY (Rite of Christian Initiation for Youths) since August this year. It was a great and beautiful experience. I learned a lot while conducting the sessions for the Catechumenates. The Parishioners are very friendly too. I take this opportunity to thank Fr. Michael Sitaram for accepting me to do my pastoral in the parish.

with the catechumens & the co-ordinators

After Mass at SVDP, I had lunch with the 'angels' of CTK! Yeah, I called them angels because they sing like 'angels'. They are the members of the Christus Dominus Choir from the Church of Christ the King, Singapore. Always enjoyed their company and especially their singing at Mass when I was there last year for my pastoral. Happy Feast Day friends!

with some of the 'angels'

Introduction to Vespers - Memoria of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (November 21).

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; that dedication of herself, reminds us of the ‘YES’ Mary made to God. Her ‘Yes’ at the Annunciation entailed many other ‘Yes-es’, sometimes in obscurity, sometimes in situations totally unexpected and reached its climax at the foot of the cross.

Prayer is saying ‘Yes’. When we pray and keep on praying, our ‘Yes’ moves in the direction of Jesus’ ‘Yes’. Saying ‘Yes’ means committing ourselves to all that Jesus stood for: love, truth, justice, life, human dignity.

With the ‘Yes’ we are sure to face challenges, we realize that only through our ‘Yes’ can God continue His saving work in our world; in repeating our ‘Yes’ and living it, we joyfully experience how his power triumphs in our weakness.

Under Mary’s inspiration, let us renew our ‘Yes’ and thus help to build the Kingdom of God.

Introduction to Lauds - Memoria of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (November 21).

The memoria of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was originally a feast of the dedication of a church of Our Lady in Jerusalem. The Apocryphal writings relate that St. Joachim and St. Anne brought their 3-year-old daughter Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem in fulfillment of their vow, so that she might be educated there together with other girls, consecrated to God’s service. 

 
Our Lady herself once confided to St. Bridget that it was the virtues of humility, charity and obedience which she practiced in the temple that granted her grace and with great effort on her part i.e. constant prayers, ardent longing, tears and mortification.  

St. Augustine’s sermon taken from the Office of Reading, gives us a good reflection. He says, Mary was ‘by Christ created that Christ in her might be created…She did the Father’s will…and it is a greater thing for her that she was Christ’s disciple than that she was His mother.’

We pray that we may imitate Mary by becoming detached from all earthly things and present ourselves today without reserve thus being a disciple who does the will of God the Father.   

So as sisters and brothers of Jesus wanting to do the will of the Father in heaven, we pray.

Introduction to Vespers - Week 1, Tuesday.

Introduction to Vespers based on Psalms 19(20) and 20(21).

The 2 psalm this evening is a call for each one of us to Trust in the Lord. We are encouraged to imitate the king in the psalm, who has put his trust in the Lord.

Storms may threaten, obstacles may come and if there are shadows all around, do not fear! We ask the Lord to take charge; all we need to do is place our trust in Him. For only faith and trust in the Lord can keep us going, no matter what may come.

We pray for an increase in faith and that we may always fix our eyes on the Lord in the midst of any storm.

"May the Lord answer in time of trial;
may the name of Jacob’s God protect you.
May he send you help from his shrine

and give you support from Zion.
May he remember all your offerings
and receive your sacrifice with favour.
May he give you your heart’s desire
and fulfill every one of your plans." [Psalm 19(20) vs.2-5]

Introduction to Lauds - Week 1, Tuesday.

Introduction to Lauds based on psalm 23(24).
Nearly everyone would stop their work just to look at a procession, be it a religious one, a national parade, a strike or street demonstration march or even a funeral. In Malaysia, most of our parishes have some kind of procession during some major feast day or the parish feast day. The people just love the experience of it. Somehow they feel they can be close to God in all the excitements during the celebrations and they feel so proud to express their devotion to all the people who watches the procession. Even in our liturgy we have processions i.e. the Entrance, Presentation of Gifts and the Recessional Processions.

This morning we are invited to join in a triumphant procession. Psalm 24 describes the procession of the Lord approaching the temple in triumph.

The psalm invites all of us to commit ourselves anew to the Creator-Lord as we take part in the procession. We are a pilgrim church, a people on a journey; we affirm our commitment as we start our procession this morning to reach the high point of the day i.e. to the table of the Eucharist through praying the Morning Prayer (Lauds).

“Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things,
who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbor.” [Psalm 23(24) vs.3-4]

SALT's 4th Birthday!

Today is the Anniversary of the youth group I was attach with for my pastoral year in 2005.
Click here for their webpage.

Happy 4th Anniversary my friends.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men". (Matthew 5:13)

Have you wondered how salt can become tasteless? As i was reflecting this, i was thinking maybe when it is impure or has been mixed with other substances or maybe due to some extraction method. But even this might not be possible. I guess Jesus is simply just telling us not to be in such situation that you loose your identity. Our identity is that; we are God's children, His disciples (follower). More so being a Catholic Youth Group.

Today as we celebrate our anniversary, we are challenged again to continue to be the SALT of the earth. Salt is an important substance in the world, we the youths are important in our church, in society. Let us not loose our flavour, our identity and our influence in society.

with love,
Br. Adrian Mathews

Today's THORN is tomorrow's FLOWER

I remember reading this story long ago, but this time after receiving it again from a friend I thought of sharing it with all of you.

I can only SIGHHHH!

Confused, fear, uncertainty, alone, angry,
hypocrisy, wrongly accused, wrongly judged, unjust.... argh!!! And my response....a SIGH!!

It is not in my hands, for i place everything in God's hands. I can only trust in Him, yes i trust in Him. Truth will prevail.

If i am to picture myself in the situation that i am in right now, it would be; a storm all around me, rough seas, high waves hitting around me, everywhere is chaos, like a child in fear i cling on tightly onto the Lord. For only in Him i trust.

Praying the psalter has been a great help for me, especially the psalter during the day which becomes so real for me. I can identify myself, what i am going through and also the outcome of my 'foes'. (Other than the lauds (morning prayer) and the vespers (evening prayer), seminarians, religious and priests pray the psalter during the day and the office of readings).

The Gospel reading for today (Luke 17:1-6) is very inspiring; For Jesus says that obstacles are sure to come...and he ends by affirming that only faith can move the obstacles.

Thank you for praying for me. For it is because of your prayer that I am able to cling onto the Lord, that my faith has not fail. Do continue to pray for me and for many who are facing the same, that God's Will Be Done.

Farewell Lunch for Bao Khanh and Andrew Kooi

The Malaysian seminarians had a farewell lunch for Br. Andrew Kooi (Final Year seminarian from my archdiocese) and Br. Bao Khanh (My classmate for the past 3 years) on October 31st. Br. Andrew has finish his studies and Br. Bao Khanh was asked to continue his priestly studies in Vietnam.

(sitting frm L to R) Brs. Cyril, Clement, Andrew K, & Bao Khanh.
(standing from L to R) Brs. Moses, Myself, Martin, Surain & Andrew S.

With Br. Andrew Kooi

My Class (3rd Year Theology - 2007)

Introduction to Vespers - Week 3, Wednesday.

Introduction based on Psalm 126 (127)
There is a famous saying that goes this way; 'Behind every successful man is a woman'. I am sure this statement has been proven by many people. I do not deny this statement but for us people of faith, i think it goes more than that. For us it should be; 'Behind every successful man or woman is God'. For success depends on the Lord's blessings. We can see this element in Psalm 126 (127).

So let us look back and see 'what marvels the Lord has worked for us' [Ps.125 (126)] and as we pray we thank God for always being with us and blessing us.

Introduction to Vespers - Saturday, Evening Prayer 1 (sun).

Vespers Introduction based on the Canticle: Phil 2:6-11.

2 men were walking on a rough road on a hill. They were walking for so long and were tired and desperate for a ride. They finally saw a rickshaw in a distance. But as it pulls closer they notice a very old bare-bodied man with noticeable bones of his rib cage managing it. "There is no way I'm going to ride this" one walker exclaim feeling very sorry for the man. "Don't be a ninny" shouts back the other companion. As they both argue over it, the old man impatiently shoves both of them into the rickshaw. He cares less. This is his vocation. This is what he is called to do.

The canticle this evening; Jesus taking the form of a servant, reminds me of the story above. And while reading the story, I see a picture of Jesus kneeling with a basin of water, towel draped over his shoulders and washing the feet of his disciples. This is the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the Son of God! And yet He humbled Himself and saw a servant's role befitting Him, so long as it accomplished the purpose He was sent for.

I remember during my 1st retreat as a seminarian, i was taught on the Doulos Leadership. A new leadership based on that of the servant / "doulos" Jesus. I quote from the notes given by Fr. Jojo; "Feet-washing of the Other in terms of a self-emptying of one's importance and taking on the person of the slave and render selfless service to the lowly and unloved ones of society is our way of life because 'the greatest among you must be the least'. And we are no 'greater than the master' who has shown us that greatest lies in lowliness.

So with conviction we pray that we may be directed towards selfless service to others. That's having "A Servant Heart"

Educational Outing 2007

Yesterday (Oct 24), the seminary community went to the Singapore Science Centre for our Educational Outing.

Would like to share with you some of my pictures taken during the trip:-

Singapore Science Centre...here we come!!

the 'Organizer' and the 'Cashier' at the ticket counter

Adrian the Baptist

'kaa..boom' an experiment shown to us!
No, it was not the 'big bang theory'

the 'jing-bang' again!!

Introduction to Vespers - Week 1, Wednesday.

(Introduction based on Psalm 26 (27).
Last year when I visited my uncle who was old and sick, I used to bring him Holy Communion. He will usually ask about my parents and how the other relatives back home in Seremban. He will always tell me that he wants to come and visit them. Then when his situation became worst and he couldn’t eat anything, just being fed with fluid through the tube, I did not bring him Holy Communion. He called me close to him and whispered to me. I thought he was going to ask the same questions whenever I visited him; how are my parents and those in Seremban.

But to my surprise he asked me for the Eucharist. I was speechless. My cousin heard what he was asking and she consoled him by telling him that once he gets better and the tubes are removed he can receive Holy Communion.

In his request to me, my uncle actually repeated the same sentiments found in psalm 26(27); “There is one thing I ask of the Lord, for this I long, to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to savour the sweetness of the Lord, to behold His temple".

All he wanted was to live with God and to savour the sweetness of the lord. He never received Holy Communion before he died but he did receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the sick and I believe with his faith during his dying days he is now enjoying God’s presence and savouring the sweetness of the Lord.

Dear friends, how privileged are we, for everyday we have the opportunity to savour the sweetness of the Lord through the Eucharist and sit in his presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us pray that we will not take God’s gift and graces for granted but come to appreciate and long for it.
 
We also thank God for calling us and we pray too, that we will be worthy ministers of His sacraments.