Stacks of papers and documents are lying on my table seeking for my attention. Some of them can be trashed, a few unread and most pending my decisions that I have already made but not yet execute.
Yup, I am procrastinating!....
It has been rather tiresome with these details hanging in midair and you also have more coming in especially those concerning the upcoming baptism for the 46 elects in the St Cyril journey this Easter, a pep talk to the Catechists of whom I am looking after from this year on and tons of pastoral queries and dealings that come through my doors every time I sit in the office.
I was reminded, in all this, once again of the frailty of life when I did an installation of a niche in the church's columbarium for Estelle, the young girl who lost her life in the recent tsunami. Besides Estelle, whom I had baptised last year, there was one other person, a catechumen, whom I baptised (2003) under special condition due to her sickness - cancer. She eventually died a few weeks after the baptism. Her ashes was interred in our columbarium. Both her and Estelle were the ones whom I baptised and 'buried' within a year of their contact with me through baptism. When I did the niche installation for Estelle, I felt sad that such things can become occasions which I have to bear where I can do really nothing much at all. All I could ever do was to say a little pray for these two and to note how their short presence in my life affected my own mortality and not to take anything for granted.
The Lenten season is upon us and I wonder how many of us would really amend for the better? Or would the acts of fasting, almsgiving and prayer be just that - acts and nothing more?... Time will tell.
There also have been many occasions where the trust of people have been given to me and I carry the burden of ensuring that these are not betrayed or misused. This Lenten season, with the penitential services around the corner, would once again bring forth this responsibility acutely. While it is always consoling to see the relief in the eyes of the penitent after a confession, it is also saddening to see just how far we can go in rebelling against our true nature for God, through those sinful acts which we do upon ourselves and on others. And I am no different from them... which is why I am seeing my SD this coming week - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
Yup, I am procrastinating!....
It has been rather tiresome with these details hanging in midair and you also have more coming in especially those concerning the upcoming baptism for the 46 elects in the St Cyril journey this Easter, a pep talk to the Catechists of whom I am looking after from this year on and tons of pastoral queries and dealings that come through my doors every time I sit in the office.
I was reminded, in all this, once again of the frailty of life when I did an installation of a niche in the church's columbarium for Estelle, the young girl who lost her life in the recent tsunami. Besides Estelle, whom I had baptised last year, there was one other person, a catechumen, whom I baptised (2003) under special condition due to her sickness - cancer. She eventually died a few weeks after the baptism. Her ashes was interred in our columbarium. Both her and Estelle were the ones whom I baptised and 'buried' within a year of their contact with me through baptism. When I did the niche installation for Estelle, I felt sad that such things can become occasions which I have to bear where I can do really nothing much at all. All I could ever do was to say a little pray for these two and to note how their short presence in my life affected my own mortality and not to take anything for granted.
The Lenten season is upon us and I wonder how many of us would really amend for the better? Or would the acts of fasting, almsgiving and prayer be just that - acts and nothing more?... Time will tell.
There also have been many occasions where the trust of people have been given to me and I carry the burden of ensuring that these are not betrayed or misused. This Lenten season, with the penitential services around the corner, would once again bring forth this responsibility acutely. While it is always consoling to see the relief in the eyes of the penitent after a confession, it is also saddening to see just how far we can go in rebelling against our true nature for God, through those sinful acts which we do upon ourselves and on others. And I am no different from them... which is why I am seeing my SD this coming week - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
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"Great priests, saints like the Curé d'Ars, who have seen into the hidden depths of thousands of souls, have, nevertheless, remained men with few intimate friends. No one is more lonely than a priest who has a vast ministry. He is isolated in a terrible desert by the secrets of his fellow men."
- Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island
Who is that GIRL with 2 pony-tails??? The above comment. she looks sooooo CUTE & Innocent.Till now her hair still the same but maybe she can TIE 2 PONY-TAILS with ribbons (PINK COLOR WAN).
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