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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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

Image via Wikipedia

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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The Rain...

Image via Wikipedia

We have started Holy Week.

As I write this, it is raining heavily outside. It is a relief for the rains as the recent days have been hot and humid. It usually is like this for as long as I have been ordained that during this period in time as we make our way through the Triduum days, the weather can be seen as being heating up to a point that a downpour is also imminent by Good Friday.

Meanwhile, I struggle through my own 'Stations' as I continue to deal with my responsibilites in the parish as well as the Seminary. The past week has been very taxing with a series of penitential services in the schools (7) and the Serangoon district parishes (5). Hearing confessions from all kinds of people and of all walks of life can be quite an experience that can take a priest through all sorts of extremes. No wonder, I usually feel exhausted and a little numb after numerous bouts of confessions.

It is in this stage of Holy Week, when we have some days to recuperate or take a deep breath before the Triduum that I would hope to distance a little from the noises and distractions around in order to recover my senses. However, that is not always possible and I have to scrounge around for any bits and pieces of time that I can find in the midst of the goings on in and around the parish. It's ironic that on one hand I am running away from noise, while on the other hand, we have the Arts Festival which, for its theme this year, playfully asks, "What Noise Do You Wanna Make?"

Our city is always on the go, switched on literally 24 hours, 7 days a week and can't seem to be still. Much of that attitude is also seeping into and compromising our faith lives. For example, we have this strong tendency to multiply stations of the cross on Good Friday when they are not meant to be done during that day in the first place. The Stations have their proper time and place to be done, but to insist that it be placed together in same priority with the Good Friday services is to miss the whole picture of what posture and reflection Good Friday can offer on its own standing, which by the way, is an important part of the Easter Triduum celebration (while the Stations is not).

The rains have stopped and I have to also. Have a blessed Holy Week ahead and may your preparations for the Triduum and Easter be a fruitful and transforming one!

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The Passivity of Christ

We always seem to have this great need to want to be in total control, don't we? It is a distinctively human preoccupation. There is no greater need for this than during this period in time, when things and events are running out of control and people and world leaders running all over the place to seek answers and solution to the current world's ills. The more control and tighter rules, the better. To some extent, that may be needed, especially to curb our excessiveness and arrogance.

But what about control within the day-to-day living, namely the active state where we are generally in control of our normal lives and busy doing and going about our 'busyness' looking after our families and work or engaging in any other responsibilities within our scope of capabilities? What happens when that control is suddenly taken away from us and we no longer 'call the shots'?

I once had a conversation over lunch with another priest friend about my concern on how the Church is being harassed, 'persecuted' and not given its due respect these days and how the general concensus of what the Pope says concerning certain difficult matters on morals as been slighted, ignored or misunderstood. My friend then said something that struck me like a thunderbolt: "You are not thinking like God does".

Sure, the Church and her members are facing some of the harshest attacks the world has mounted in recent years, but that doesn't mean we are left beaten and lost and the end of the story for all of us. It is in this situation, that the Passion of Christ becomes a significant 'template', as it were, to use in approaching on the direction we should all move. Our God is not a silent God who leaves us on our own. He is in control and He will certainly have the final word. Meanwhile, as we do our part to make the world a better place for all, we must also respect the area of God's work where He will do His Part. Jesus, the Son of God, knew his Father explicitly that he faced his eventual death with a passiveness that made the soldier by the cross later to utter, "Surely, this is the Son of God!" (Mt 27: 54, Lk 23: 47, Mk 15: 38)

For all the activity that we can or should do, we must also allow, for an eventual point in time where we cannot do anything anymore. At that time, God takes over.

It may be about the Church or it may just be someting simple as with our own lives when we begin to lose our faculties and face the eventual end. To understand the Passion through the passivity of Jesus as given in the celebration of Good Friday today would bring us a long way to our understanding of letting go when the time comes. For all that is worth, I believe our Holy Father understands all this and continues on his way to be the sign of contradiction, that Jesus himself was, in the world today.

(update: the people of L'Aquila buried their dead today. We pray for those who have died and that God in his own mysterious ways will enfold and bring them into his kingdom of light and love)

Second Holy Thursday in Rome

We are starting our Easter triduum already and I did my part by attending this morning's Chrism Mass at the Vatican with the Holy Father, Benedict XVI presiding. I brought along my digicam to take some video recordings of the event but I was seated together with my brother priests from the Collegio, a little to far from the altar and the view was mostly obstructed. The Mass was its usual 2+ hour long celebration, with the mandatory renewal of promise by all priests and the blessing of the Oils. If you look here, you'd probably get the similar idea of what happened at the Basilica of St Peter this morning for the Mass. The only difference is Frs Nick and Paul are not there and homily was on another topic...

Later, I also concelebrated with Fr Julian to celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper for our sisters at their chapel this evening at 5.00 p.m. We were wondering if there would be any 'washing of the feet' and how we are to proceed with it, seeing there were only sisters in the congregation. The problem was solved since they (sisters) said that there won't be any washing. :-D

After dinner, Fr Julian and myself took a little walk and journeyed to three neighbouring churches near the Collegio: Chiesa di Santa Maria del Riposo, Chiesa San Pio V and Chiesa San Leone Magno. What was striking in our visits to these churches there as they opened for adoration, were the crowds - mostly elderly and middle aged. Nonetheless, the place was generally filled with people and when there were any prayers going on by a group, it was done in a more quiet, meditative manner that was soothing and serene. It was a far cry from what I would be more accustomed to back in Singapore, where the silence is usually filled by some highly charged activities or singing/praying that reverberated through the church walls. Then again, all churches in Singapore get their usual crowds that would easily beat those churches which I went to earlier, so the increased noise factor isn't too surprising.

That's my round of activity for Holy Thursday and I shall put in a little reflection for Good Friday concerning being passive for the right reason. Have a blessed Triduum!

[picture: Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), Cappella Scrovegni a Padova, Life of Christ, Washing of Feet]

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.

The Calm Before the Storm...

In case you haven't notice, I have decided, after much procrastination, to upgrade my template using the new template layout system Blogger provided. It has streamlined and simplify the process very much and I get to be able to put some interesting widgets, like that news feeder you see in display now!

Apart from that, it has been a quiet week so far with that silent anticipation of the coming Easter Triduum celebrations which will begin tomorrow evening with the celebration of the Lord's Supper. My work for the Chrism Mass activity for the Priests' Penitential service has been completed and only awaits the participation of the Presbyterium tomorrow morning when we begin at 9.30 a.m. The powerpoint presentation/slides have been put through its paces this morning at the Function Room and found to be fine. I hope... :-)

Meanwhile, it is warm and sunny outside and the weather promises to get hotter later. Clouds are making their presence felt and perhaps too much especially at night when I could do with less cloud cover. :-P Still haven't had chance to get Venus onto my scope's sight despite its enticing bright sparkle in the skies the past month. I usually ended up gazing wistfully at it as I went about to some meeting or appointment... *sigh*