A Message of Repentance A Need to Repair and a need to Prepare I will be honest here. Every time I read this Gospel text, it reminds me of witnessing Catechumen getting baptised at Easter Vigil and I always wondered the Jesus experience would be like to be submerged in water and rise up into a new life with Christ. [...]
The Advent Wreath is a domestic Christian tradition that is practised in the homes of the Faithful during the season and time of Advent. This is not a liturgical norm and should not be placed in the sanctuary of the Church, but is a custom that belongs to the home. The wreath’s candles are not considered “cultus” – the Latin [...]
The Old City of Jerusalem was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981 (BBC.com, n.d.). A walk around the city, leads the pilgrim to the Western Wall, a vestigial artefact of the time when the Second Temple was still intact. The First Temple, built by King Solomon was razed down and destroyed around the time of 587 B.C. [...]
"Be Watchful! Stay awake!". What should we look out for during this season of Advent and in our pilgrimage? The easy answer is that we should wait and watch for the birth of Christ on Christmas Day. However, we have forgotten that He was already born over two thousand years ago. This question is important for it helps us focus [...]
We do not live in a vacuum, but as created beings, the matter that we are made of and the ensuing consequences of any undertaken action are in a constant interaction with the invisible and spiritual world around us. To live a sacramental life means that while we are in the world, we have been set apart from it. The [...]
As the liturgical year comes to its apex on the Solemnity of Christ the King. We are invited to ponder on the truth that is the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Solemnity of Christ the King was first instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas. The aftermath of World War I, amidst other [...]
This year has been to many of us a year of reaching new thresholds in resilience, hope and faith to keep moving forward despite the turbulence and confusions caused by the pandemic. For us, the story of our faith journey is to respond to our Father’s call to repent and follow him wherever he leads us as labourers in his [...]
In the chapters of 1 Samuel 4 to 7, we read that while the Philistines were frightened of the loud outroar of the Israelites, the Israelites were fighting a lost battle, because the Lord God was not with them. Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s wayward sons, had conducted themselves dishonourably before the Lord God. In 1 Samuel 2: 12 -14, we [...]
Step into the Peranakan Mass Sambot Kepala Taon Baru celebrated at Midnight of Lunar New Year and one may feel like a misplaced poinsettia pot amidst the gaily embroidered peonies of the Nonya sarong kebayas, and the festively intricate phoenixes on the Baba baju lok chuan. However, the resplendent cultural outfits are not the only markers of cultural identity that [...]
In the first reading, we are reminded what great joy it is to receive God's abundant love and his faithful promises to us! If we are faithful to him in the Covenant, we never need to worry about hunger nor thirst or ever will our jars go empty, nor would our jugs run dry. The interesting point of note is [...]