Semon for the Novena to Our Lady of Perpertual Help

This evening I gave the sermon for the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help at the Church of Christ the King, Kulai, Johore.

Was happy to go there. I had the privilege to do my 1 month Pastoral at the Chapel of Christ the King in Selayang, Kuala Lumpur in the year 2005 and my Sunday pastoral at the Church of Christ the King, Ang Mo Kio, Singapore last year. In 2003 i visited the Church of Christ the King, Sg.Petani, Kedah and today in Kulai, Johore. Visiting churches dedicated to Christ the King always excites me. I have many icons of it, hope to own a statue too!! Not many people know that the Solemnity of Christ the King is my favorite feast. Hope to share about why i like this feast so much compare to the many great feast like Christmas, Easter, Corpus Christi, etc one day.

A statue in the Church.

This is a painting of Christ the King, Victim and Priest
Drawn by a Parishioner. It is on the wall, by the side of the Sanctuary in the Church.

A statue of Christ the King sitting on the throne.

Since the next Saturday (Sept. 8) is the Feast of the Nativity of Mary and the following Saturday (Sept. 15) is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, I preached on the life of Mary linking it with the two feasts as a preparation for the celebrations of the feasts.

Here are the points of my sermon:-

# We make preparations for everything. To get married we make tons of preparation, to go for a job interview we make preparations to ready ourselves and also to make sure our curriculum vitae and references are all set, even to gather here for prayer we prepare ourselves both physically and spiritually.

# God too made preparations. To send Jesus into the world he had to prepare his 'instrument'. From the very beginning of Mary's conception the Holy Spirit was operative within her thus preserving her free from the defect of original sin. That is the meaning of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception which we celebrate on Dec8.

# From the 1st moment of her life, Mary was a perfect temple of Holy Spirit. I am sure this is a familiar statement, in St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians we are reminded that we are the temple of God, and the Spirit dwells in us.

# The Holy Spirit could mold and transform Mary freely. That is why she was attentive to the voice of God and accepted God's plan of becoming the Mother of God.

# But even after the great encounter with the angel Gabriel (Lk.1:26), Mary's life did not change into a smooth, perfect, easy life.

# She endured the difficulties in Bethlehem, she had a frightening escape into Egypt, living a life of poverty at Nazareth, facing loneliness and rejection during the public life of Jesus and painful oblation on Calvary.

# Mary went through all the basic human conditions, just like what we are going through. She understands our situations. She is indeed the perfect example in our own lives.

# When difficulties arose in her life, she did not loose her trust and hope in God. In fact she keep hey eyes focus on the promise of God and always pondered the mysterious will of God in her heart (Lk.2:19 , 51). She is teaching us to do the same today.

# Be assured, Mary understands our self-will & hesitation, our doubts & fears, our lack of faith & trust in the Lord. Through her powerful intercession, Mary will be constantly at our side to comfort and encourage, to reassure and to assists us.