Caring?

I have cleared a week of oral diarrhoe from all those confessions that, when put together, are enough to give anyone instant cancer and heart attack in one go! :-P

Despite those trying moments, it was a sort of sweet surrender savouring the very act of being able to be a conduit of God's forgiveness for all those penitents that came to receive that unconditional love which only He can give. It doesn't matter whether their disposition in receiving that love were perfect or not. It is just plain reassuring to know that SOMEONE cares even if no one here gives a damn...

And speaking of caring, the newspaper today was highlighting on the plight of maids who do not get enough to eat for their daily sustenance and end up going hungry for the rest of the day, daily! To think that in a civil and modern society like Singapore, we can have employers who treat domestic helpers like slaves and objects for abuse! What's even more in-the-face is this giant size poster just outside Katong Mall where a maid agency advertises for maids services and blatantly provides those that work for no leave at all, and all these for low pay! *sheesh* This one was previously mentioned by mrbrown.com before and till now the ad and the agency are still going strong with this service.

You'd think that after all that great strides in fair working standards and living for foreign workers and crackdowns on errant Singaporeans who mistreat their domestic workers (for whatever reasons they may have), we can have a conversion of hearts on how we treat other fellow human beings. The news recent news report and this sign outside the Mall remains a critical indictment on our lack of hospitality and service that point to a disturbing trend of an already consumerist and utilitarian society. Only this time persons are being made the object... *shake head*

Penance...

The week for the penitential services has begun and I had the 'honor' to hear the confessions of the first penitents from OLPS. We finished everything within one hour and that doesn't mean we just quickly dispensed them away with the absolution. Despite this form of confession/reconciliation, care was still taken to hear the penitents and gently guided them to amendments in their lives before the absolution was unconditionally bestowed.

If the sin(s) concerned are very grave, they may be addressed later in private with the confessor outside of this service. The same is expected at all our penitential services for the East District. We have, for today, two more services at OLPS, i.e. at 7pm and 9pm. It's going to be a long night! :-P

Ahead in my schedule is the coming Palm Sunday and Holy Week. It is going to be a very busy week ahead not to mention tiring too! I don't mind the work and activity involved but my pet peeve during this week are the phone calls from people inquiring about the services and mass times :-P And this is despite all the announcements given in our church bulletins the past weeks and in the Catholic News... *shake head*

Anyway, with regards the matter of the remote, I consider this case close. Just too silly and time-wasting talking about it...

Don't Care?

We begin our series of penitential services this week and into the middle of next week, as we edge closer towards Christmas.

Today's first opening session was at 10.30 am at Holy Family and we saw a relatively manageable crowd that joined in service which saw us till 11.30 am. One of the usual requests qhich we would remind the penitents before they come up to any priest for confession, is to get to the point and not to tell long 'grandmother stories'. However, there would still be those who would blissfully ignore this and carry on with their rambling with nary a care to others who are queuing up and those seated either waiting to come up for confession or are patiently waiting for the rest to finish as they pray for them. Makes you wonder if they understood what we said or do they just plain don't care?!....

Meanwhile, for those of you who have been patiently waiting for the radio interview or are searching for it over at rsi and could not find it, it is here.