It's 10 Now!

It was 10 years ago when I said yes to my life as a priest after the heart of Christ.

Looking back at all that have transpired so far and the journey that led me to where I am now, I can only remain utterly grateful for this vocation that continues to allow me to unfold my potential as God's instrument to give his presence in the world today.

Certainly, there have been many hits and misses and I continue to learn from my mistakes and mishaps, where I continue onwards to carry out my mission as a minister of God, especially as pastor and mediator. Life as priest in the present times has been very challenging and theer will be no end to what I can already feel, which many times can be between a rock and a hard place. It can always come down to a situation that one can just give up and walk away from it all.

Nine

Retreat6 (Photo credit: Annoysius)

On this feast day of Ss Peter and Paul, the two great apostles of the Gospel to the world, I am happy to announce that I have reached 9 years of serving in the priestly ministry as a Roman Catholic priest.

Compared to many other senior priests, I know nine years is rather a paltry amount as compared to 25 years or more. Still, I am just glad to have survived another year and to do this in the Seminary where I am currently posted.

I had a session with an aspirant yesterday evening and was encouraging him to be more clear and honest with his discernment to joining the Seminary and I mentioned that these days, the motivation for becoming a priest is very much different from the time of our father's or grandfather's time. Then, life was simpler and the decision to join the priesthood may be based on duty and responsibility or simply for a so-called 'better life'. Joining the seminary based on those motivations may have also been easier to base on those reasons as acceptable entry.

Today, however, is different. The ministry of the priesthood is fraught with many challenges that can overwhelm a priest if he is not well equipped to face up to the challenges and signs of the times. Hence, a more thorough screening and longer discernment period is conducted before any decision is made by the Seminary to accept the candidate.

As for myself, nine years in this ministry is more than enough to be informed of these challenges and the scars of the battle are the reminders that while I am only human, I am also facing a world that is increasingly, if not, already allergic to God, or the Christian faith is found difficult to hold on to, precisely because it is always counter cultural.

I don't know what will fare for myself over the years ahead, but I will continue to bear that cross which this blog speaks of too and finish that race to the end.

In A Semester Break

It's our semester break now and all the seminarians are away for their pastoral posting in the parishes except for the two seminarians in the Philosophy cycle who are attached to Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's Home).

Chapel's New Crucifix

It is quite and peacful now with not much noise and the bustle of term life that I wonder if the environment here is like a 'cemetery'. Apart from the Fathers who are staying here, including myself, there are still the staff members who upkeep and maintain this place as life in the seminary continues, though at a slower pace.

Our chapel had gone through a small renovation that saw an addition of a crucifix just above the sanctuary. For the past 25+ years, the seminary chapel never had any big crucifix to call its own to adorn the sanctuary area. It had to use a standing or processional cross that was placed on a stand by the altar side. Now that we have a proper big crucifix, the chapel's sacred interior and environment is finally complete!

I wonder if we could get better with more vocation intake from now on?...

Meantime, there will be two milestones coming up for myself. One would be my years as a Catholic priest and the other would be as formator in this seminary. June 29 and October 1 would be those dates respectively. When I left this seminary after completing my studies and formation here some 9 years ago, I didn't figure to be back here again, least of all as a formator. Now I am coming full circle and I really don;t know if this gets any better or worse. But, as Christians and to be an authentic one at that - we walk by faith and not by sight (last weekend's 11th Sunday of Ordinary Times readings)!

Seven Years

Image via Wikipedia

I am back after a two week break in Kajang and the land of my birthplace. The well-needed respite from the parish was certainly welcomed.

In the meantime, with the solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul in the Church's liturgical calendar today, marks my 7th year in the priesthood and I continue to shake my head, as always, for having survived all these years in this ministry. It has its ups and downs and offers many opportunities to stretch my limits and even my sanity that this ministry can certainly qualify as one of the challenging 'jobs' in the universe (just my humble opinion)!

Seven years is nothing compared to my peers who have been at this half their lives and still have their heads firmly fixed on their shoulders, weathering the storms over their own years of serving, especially now in a world that has seen decline in priestly vocations and a general aversion to things religion.

It is a great challenge to be in this situation as a priest of today. Seven years is certainly not enough of experience to seriously or adequately handle the many issues of the faith that, in view of the current happenngs in the world, is seeing itself questioned and even mocked. Today, knowledge is power and all things tend to gravitate around this scheme that there is a great scramble to acquire such position. The Church of today finds itself in a very challenging role to account reasonably for its existence and, more importantly, to account for her mission to the Gospel of Christ which the apostles Peter and Paul had started on admirably during the pioneering life of the early Church years.

With my seven years in the priesthood, I have reached another milestone, after finishing my 2-year tour of duty in Rome and now grappling with the intricacies of life here in the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If there is any knowledge which I have acquired over the years, it is the knowledge that I still am an amateur in this ministry and the only constant is still change and taxes.

If only life could be simpler....

Sunday's View...

It's a quiet and warm Sunday here....

Not to mention peaceful and a lazy one too! It's usually nothing much to do these past weeks as I have finished all the studies and work for the past academic year. The weather also makes one want to do nothing but laze around and watching the seconds go by. :-P

It is also the period where the new student-priests start entering the college as they prepare themselves to start their language course from 1st July. There are already quite a bunch of them coming in from all over, more so from the African countries. They are here and looking a little lost and trying to settle down to a new environment and getting use to the food here. They are what I was experiencing, same time last year. :-) Now that I am a little more experienced and mature with the ways and things around Rome and looking at the new batch of students, I can't help but sympathise with them.

Then there was the news that Archbishop Emeritus Gregory Yong had passed away peacefully on Saturday, 28 June at 2.40 p.m. (S'pore time). His body is now lying at St. Joseph’s Home till 29 June 2008, and will be at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd on 30 June 2008. May his soul rest in peace.

Besides that, today, the 29th June signals my 5th sacerdotal anniversary! That's five fascinating years in the priesthood with no letting up of a big rollercoaster ride that would always bring about challenges and surprises. There were, without doubt, some tranquil moments of slow cruising but the curve ball that life usually throws at me, provides this need to be attentive and discerning all the time...

By next week, after Tuesday, I should be blogging from a new place where I am putting up, i.e at the Convitto in Angelicum. My packing is almost all done up. It's just the moving on Tuesday that should wrap up the shifting process and begin a holiday outlook from the place that is dedicated to the angelic doctor, St Thomas of Aquinas.