Dear Family!

Immediately after the Solemnity of Pentecost, the following Sundays are filled with festive aura that we continue to celebrate three most beloved Solemnities (May 26th - The Most Holy Trinity, June 2nd - Corpus Christi and June 7th- The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, at the beginning of the Ordinary Season, Part 2 (Part 1 of the Ordinary Season usually runs from after the Baptism of Jesus to Ash Wednesday).

Dear Family!

We profess in the Creed, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit’. 1 Cor 12:3 states that “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” and Gal 4:6 states that “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba Father’” (our attempts to be united to the Father). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us “to be in touch with Christ, we must have been touched by the Holy Spirit.”

Dear Family!

This Sunday as we celebrate the Solemnity of The Ascension of Our Lord, we reflect on the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 660, “First, it is clear that this is spoken of as a real, historical event. Christ was really taken up at a particular time in human history and from a particular place (the time was forty days after his Resurrection, the place was most likely Mount Olives near Jerusalem).

Dear Family!

As we are getting closer to the end of the Easter Season, on the 6th Sunday of Easter we continue to hear Jesus echo his message from the 5th Sunday’s Gospel ‘To remain in him’. We won’t get to hear the 6th Sunday’s Gospel instead we will pray with the Gospel of the 7th Sunday of Easter as our rubrics explain: Where the Ascension is transferred to Sunday, 12th May, the second reading and Gospel of the Seventh Sunday of Easter may be read on the Sixth Sunday of Easter.

Dear Family!

One of the most powerful passages of Pope Francis recent apostolic exhortation on holiness was about this need to ‘remain in Jesus’: “So let me ask you: Are there moments when you place yourself quietly in the Lord’s presence, when you calmly spend time with him, when you bask in his gaze? Do you let his fire inflame your heart? Unless you let him warm you more and more with his love and tenderness, you will not catch fire. How will you then be able to set the hearts of others on fire by your words and witness?” (Gaudete et Exsultate §151)

Dear Family!

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as ‘The Good Shepherd Sunday’. All three years (A, B & C) we read from the same parable (John 10). The sacred writers of the Old Testament beautifully presented God as the Good Shepherd and the sacred writers of the New Testament presented Jesus as the Good Shepherd since they perfectly understood and believed that Jesus is the incarnation Word of God the Father, revealing to us His identity by what he does as the Good Shepherd. In the same way ‘the sheep’ or ‘the flock’ is the land and people of Israel in the Old Testament and ‘The Church’ in the New Testament.

Dear Family!

We are witnesses! This is the theme we reflect and pray about this third Sunday of Easter. Every age has seen its own witnessing spirit of Christians after the Resurrection of Jesus. The word ‘Martyr’ in Greek means one who bears witness (to Christ). We bear witness to Christ’s resurrection; we are also witness to Christ who by rising on the third day gave us the graces of repentance and forgiveness.

Dear Family!

It is not a bad idea to wish each other ‘Happy Easter’ all through the season of Easter as Christ’s Resurrection is the foundation of our faith. It was wonderful seeing all of you during the Holy Week services and Easter celebrations. Thank you for making the effort to attend all church services, especially the Triduum, though they were long but very meaningful. A big thanks to all our volunteers in cleaning the church; our decorating teams with flowers and lights; our lectors and Eucharistic ministers, our choir, servers, counters, clergy and staff.

Dear Family!

We are Easter People, who worship the Easter God, and Alleluia is our song. We have just been to a funeral and cried bitterly. The blood-filled cross and the occupied tomb though initially brought fear among the friends; they gave them hope that resurrection is imminent. I wish you all a very happy Easter! Dear friends who rarely come to church! We remember and pray for you today that you be strengthened by our community of the faithful. We struggle with you in faith that our opportunities to pray together may increase in the days to come! Let us build the church of Christ together…

Dear Family!

As we begin Holy Week 2024, let us be reminded that we strive to be holy in both word and deed as holiness is overwhelmingly internal. We see Jesus marching into Jerusalem and people welcoming Jesus with palms in their hands as palms stand for victory. They want Jesus to win a war! Little did they know what he is waging the war against! We may be preoccupied with palms that we may forget the presence and importance of the donkey.

Dear Family!

We are just one week away from Holy Week. Jeremiah 31 has some of the prized treasures of scripture in the whole Bible. The establishment of the New Covenant is one of the pivotal moment in our history of salvation. The Torah (Old Covenant or Testament) was supposed to have found its way into the human heart, but sin took hold of our hearts.

Dear Family!

‘Laetare’ (Rejoice) Sunday (In Advent we have ‘Gaudete’) is a mid-point of reference to look back at our Lenten Journey and thank God for those moments of purification and enlightenment and ask God’s grace to give us more opportunities to see the Light of Christ in the remaining weeks of Lent. As there are two kinds of blind people - physically and spiritually, there are two kinds of people who can see!

It is interesting to note both Laetare and Gaudete come from Latin root which are principally used to express joy. "The difference between the two is that Laetare reflects a joy that is manifest outwardly whereas Gaudete reflects a way of rejoicing internally” (The Mouth Piece). The Rose color of ‘Gaudete’ is a softening of violet; it is violet approaching white. It anticipates the pure white of the Resurrection of Jesus.

Dear Family!

God’s laws are the outward expression of the covenant. Most human laws have limitations and loopholes. There are and will be different ways of interpreting those human laws contrary to its original intent. There have been and continue to be many attempts to turn and twist the original intent of God’s law that have been handed down to us. That is the reason Prophet Jeremiah longed for a better way to communicate God’s Law: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts.”