Handing Over

Well, the announcement finally came about. This was what all in the archdiocese was waiting to hear.

As of 6 pm, Singapore time, on 18th May 2013, we have a new archbishop taking office in the person of His Grace Archbishop William Goh. It was almost 3 months ago that we witnessed his ordination and installation to the episcopate at the Singapore Expo.

Pentecost

St. Peter Preaching at Pentecost by Benjamin West (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This Sunday will be our Solemnity of Pentecost and I will be preaching at the parish of Divine Mercy (Pasir Ris).

While doing up the homily piece and looking at the ideas and insights gotten from surfing the Internet on Pentecost, here's one thought that caught my attention which formed the foundation of what I wanted to share.

It's this.

Saint of Anonymity

English: Saint Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot as apostle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After finishing the monumental task of rehauling to a new Blogger template, I am now ready to tackle a thought that has been on my mind since yesterday.

It is about St Matthias, whose feast we celebrated yesterday. He was the one that was chosen by lot, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to be one of the 12 apostles replacing Judas (Iscariot) who defected.

What was inspiring about this saint was because he was, firstly, uninspiring!

Consider this...

Rearrangements...

English: Google+ wordmark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am sprucing up the blog presentation for the posts you see here, linking them to the Google+ account that comes with this Blogger account.

Mums Are Stars....

English: jkklglh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It has been a little over a month since my last entry....

Since today is Mother's Day, perhaps this is a good time as any to restart some writing and to wish all mothers, especially mine, A Happy Mother's Day!

Meantime, life here in the Seminary is slowly winding down towards our coming semester break where we close for two months, as the seminarians go for their 1-month pastoral followed by their other month for holiday.

He Is Risen!

Happy Easter!

The Pope Who 'Jokes'

Isaiah 43: 19....

The Lenten period continues as we cross the halfway mark with Laetare Sunday last week.

With the months that went by as we make our way towards the great feast of Easter, we were given experiences that spoke of the work of God that would want to instil in us a proper sense of the dynamics of God's activity - He is still actively working in our world, as I write, and continues in His unique and mysterious manner that always circumvents all human machinations and motives.

The recent ordination of His Grace Archbishop Coadjutor William Goh at the Max Pavilion of the Singapore Expo, offers the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore (clergy, religious and lay faithful) an opportunity to move into the year ahead with renewed vision to face the challenges ahead, with the values of His Grace that spoke of passion and compassion. This stems from his motto of his coat of arms, "Ut Vivant", i.e. "that they may live..." (Jn 10: 10 - 11). Our archdiocese need to sorely return to basics and know how to care for the flock like how the father in the prodigal son parable of 4th Sunday of Lent gospel reading did, when he dealt very magnanimously and with love as well.

How Are The Ashes After Wednesday?...

We are 3 days into the Lenten season and many more weeks to go before we get to celebrate that great solemnity of Easter.

In the meantime, what we to do with that great call that comes out during this period that urges us into prayer, fasting and almsgiving? What can we do for our spiritual preparation the midst of the Pope's sudden declaration of his resignation and of the coming episcopal ordination of the Archbishop-Coadjutor?

If we follow the series of readings that began the Lenten season, starting with Ash Wednesday and moving to today's, we can draw out several important themes which we can meditate on: