Cusp of the New Year

Descending... (Photo credit: Annoysius)

She walked out by the Seminary's porch area, awaiting the transport which will take her to work. With a smile on her face, she said, "It is the eve. We are at the cusp of the New Year!"

Indeed we were.

We just finished about of spiritual direction (SD) and there were several matters we discussed which we set in place for her to get into the New Year on a better footing. Instead of just allowing the year 2014 to enter with a whimper, it would be better to make attempts to renew her position to greet it with a better perspective of life she would like to have as a person and a Christian that can make a difference in a world of today.

O dear...

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I looked at the calendar today and noted that it is the coundown towards Christmas and the appearance of the O Antiphons.

Today's being O Lord or O Adonai. In our Church's liturgical prayer of the Divine Office, the antiphons show themselves prior to and after the recitation of the Magnificat during the Evening Prayer (Vespers). But I wonder if the celebration of Christmas all this while really celebrates the Lordship of Christ as it really should....

I think the latest Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, can offer us a direction in this.

Eat Well!...

Happy and blessed Chinese New Year!

Kajang Advent

Image by Ryekatcher via Flickr

Greetings from Kajang!

I am back with my parents and siblings in the quiet town of Kajang just outside of KL. I have also to contend with my nephews and nieces who see me once a year and always make friends more with my iPad than with me..

So far, it has been peaceful and not as hectic when I am in Singapore, which of course has a different surrounding to it all. Here, everything else is slowed down by a factor of 50, at least. That's because I don't go anywhere else nor find myself rushing for anything.

We are also on the second last leg of Advent and Christmas will soon be upon us. Before anyone knows it, another new year will begin and the cycle wil begin again. Will be the same as previous years? Have we done anything to sufficiently make us truly a newer and better person in God's eyes? Are we any closer to fulfilling our responsibility being persons who are sensitive to the presence of God in all things, in events, and in the seeming coincidences that occur in our lives and in our worlds, coincidences that point to the activities of God in our lives and in our world?

Not easy questions to answer. Yet, important ones that will certainly determine the kind of person we will turn out as we come face-to-face with the new year.

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