He Is Risen!

Happy Easter!

From Death To Life!

Incensing2 (Photo credit: Annoysius)

Happy Easter to one and all!

Forget the Easter bunny! Christ is risen, alleluia!

Sometimes we allow ourselves to be distracted too much by the lesser trappings of the Easter celebrations that we forget the real reason of this celebration. Our 40 days of the Lenten period is over, and now we rejoice and are filled with a lightness that speaks of a deep and profound happiness which pervades our being in knowing that Jesus Christ has conquered death! This implies that we, too, follow in his steps to conquering our death in our journey to God, our Father.

What can be more joyful and exhilirating than that?...

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The Weeks That Passed By...

Image via Wikipedia

I thought that being in the Seminary may help in bringing more opportunities to blog but since I am here, it has been much more difficult to put down my thoughts or experiences in a more frequent manner as I would like it to be.

So, I managed to let the Easter season to go by without even making a squeek and the same can be said regarding Mother's Day (happy belated Mother's Day, mummy and all moms out there!) ... That's not mentioning also some world events (Osama) and our nation's recent election which saw several ministers having to vacate their seats in parliment as well as their posts.

The past two weeks or so certainly had been full of excitement and exceptional activities that have captured and captivated many! I know for once that I had managed to allow myself to be engrossed by the elections and stayed up late till 3+am to get the final results and fate of the country's government that will lead us into the next 5 years.

That was went I was spending the weekend over at the Church of Divine Mercy (Pasir Ris) for my preaching there. Nice and quiet parish and the crowd is manageable with quite a few whom I know had come from other parishes like St Bernadette, IHM and Holy Family! I was just as surprised to see some of them there as much as they were surprised to see me celebrating/preaching the masses there that weekend. Looks like our parishioners are very mobile with the churchgoing. Of course, there are those who are there because over time they have shifted over to Pasir Ris and now more convenient to worship at Divine Mercy. There are others who have been living within the Pasir Ris area all this while but were going to other parishes in the East as Divine Mercy wasn't around then - until now. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant surprise to meet up with those familiar faces over at the the eastern far end of Singapore.

Meantime, as the dust settles after the election and the week ahead looms, life carries on and I still have my whole string of work and responsibilities to look into. I have a coaster that is on my desk that drums a sarcastic tune of "My job is safe, no one wants it"....

Indeed!

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Looking Ahead!

Image by Dean Ayres via FlickrHappy Easter everyone!

There is something about this day that can inspire anyone to make a fresh start in life or to just do something different from any other day.

Perhaps it is the result of having to undergo some soul searching during the forty days of Lent and the coming out of that sombreness to a celebratory mood. Last night's Easter Vigil over at IHM with Frs Stephen and Stanislaus, whom I have the pleasure of concelebrating with, was certainly filled with that mood of joy, peace and happiness, inclusive of the long readings, baptism, confirmation and, of course, the Eucharist.

It was encouraging to note that Fr Stephen, as acting parish priest, is making good connection with the parishioners whom he is currently pastoring and this will go a long way towards the healing and restoration of a community earlier divided by controversies and misunderstandings. Using the theme of death as a jumping-off point for his homily, while it may be perceived as somewhat odd, had its poignancy of leading the congregation, many of whom are parishioners of IHM, from the days of hurt and darkness towards the radiant grace of healing and forgiveness. It now falls upon the IHM community to pick up the pieces and to walk again and not look back but towards a new horizon of rebuilding and mending of hearts with greater confidence in the Lord that he will provide.

As for myself, well, let's just say I have done my part and for better or for worse, it is quite comforting to know that there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow and the fact that He has risen made all that difference.

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Our Song

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Alleluia! Christ is risen! We have engaged ourselves through the Easter triduum and now basking in the glow, mystery and glory of the resurrection.

So, how has Easter been for you thus far?

We are now in the Easter Octave celebrations, where Easter Sunday is stretched out over eight days of continued celebrations on the signs, symbols and gospel stories of the resurrection and Jesus' appearances to his followers. The Alleluia is used prominently and the Gloria is sung during this Octave at the weekday Masses. At the Easter Vigil on Saturday, we saw 37 adults who were baptised and confirmed in the Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For them it was a great moment of their lives where they literally felt a transformation that changed their perspective on life, relationships and God.

What about us who are already baptised and for many years too? Have we ever felt that transformative element or dimension which tells us that we are truly children of God? The sins and sufferings of the world and those that affect us notwithstanding, we are still being loved and sustained by our Maker, the God whom Jesus has revealed to us as Father (Abba). St Augustine mentioned this in another way, which to me is much more profound and beautiful: "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!"

What is your song during these days of the Easter season?...

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Wet, Wet, Wet!

Well, Easter has finally arrived and now we move towards the Octave season with all those 'Alleluias' that seem to ring on and on until you feel that enough is enough!...

The Easter celebration here was very much like a wet blanket because since Friday night, it has been plagued by rain and the drizzle which went on non-stop till today. It was cold, wet and utterly dreary that especially spoilt my Easter Sunday outing at the Vatican piazza. Having gotten tickets to attend the Mass, I had to leave an hour before it began because of the heavy downpour. Fr Nick and myself headed for the nearest church nearby and attended Mass there instead.

Plans for taking pictures and video of the Pope's Mass went down the gutter with the rain that continued to pour and made the day a total washout. Still, I managed to take a few shots while I could before the rains came. The rest of the day after that was spend lazing around and getting some forty winks before we headed down to our kitchenette to cook for ourselves dinner.

I hope you had a better Easter! To all my family, friends, you all know who you are, Happy Easter and may your week ahead be fruitful and blessed! ;-)

(Easter pics here!)

The Monday After...

Tired out today after all that Holy Week and Easter celebrations! :-P

Just moving along on cruise mode and hoping nothing else comes besides what are already on my plate today (see calendar). Tempted to automate the confessional later for evening mass but unfortunately the system and corresponding intentions that follow it do not allow.. ;-)

(cartoon by clive goddard)

The Week That Was

Happy Easter!

It has been a long and tiring Triduum that began on Maundy Thursday right through to the Easter Vigil. Overall, I managed to journey and experience all the feet washing, kneeling, standing, cross veneration, singing and baptising that came about with the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This year I got to wash some feet on Maundy Thursday for the first time since I came to Holy Family. I never had this opportunity before and it wasn't as if I was very hard up for it. Still, the experience was an enlightening affair for me. The need to lower myself to the ground and touch someone's sole of the feet to begin washing it with water was very strange. That this was done in front of the congregation in the church made it all the more surreal. An act usually done by slaves in Jesus' time, I can understand how small and lowly one can be!

Good Friday was manageable despite the kneeling, standing, prostrating and veneration. The passion delivery through the Gospel and preceeding readings were their usual sombre, sad and trying feeling. Through it all, I cannot help, but allow those images from Gibson's opus 'Passion of Christ' to invade my thoughts. Such was the power and force shown through that movie!

The Easter Vigil that Saturday was a treat on its own. Fr Christopher was the main celebrant and he had the unenviable task to lead the congregation through 4 parts of the celebration that includes those long readings and the baptism rite which I helped oversaw. A total of 24 adults were baptised and 2 were received into the Catholic Church. I sang the Exsultet - again...

Today, I am tired out after the Easter Sunday Masses.