St. Anne's Feast

Last Friday, the 19th of July marked the beginning of the 9 day Novena in Bukit Mertajam where I live, in honour of St.Anne, the maternal grandmother of Jesus. The theme permeating this year's celebration is: "Deepening our Discipleship through Spirituality of Communion".

It also marked the Diocesan level launching of the "Year of the Priest", the main celebrant being Bishop Anthony Selvanayagam together with a host of priests from the diocese. In his homily, Bishop Anthony touched on the reasons for the jubilee year for priests as espoused by Pope Benedict the VIV. The pope explains his reasons here.

The feast of St. Anne has always had a special significance for people - not only Catholics but also a large number of non-Christians from the region. The official website of St. Anne's Church sheds more light on its history. Tens of thousands make this annual pilgrimage from neighbouring countries as well as all over the country. Check the full schedule of the novena and feast. Click MyCen for a map and location of St. Anne's.

Read also the details of the times for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, mass offerings and other information.

From what I observed, the Church was packed to capacity during the first two days (Friday and Saturday). The number of pilgrims usually level off in the next few days before peaking on the night of the eve of the feast on the 25th and climaxing on Sunday the 26th.

My hope and prayer? That in a difficult time in Malaysia, where many have been hit by personal tragedies, health issues, economic uncertainty, family and marital problems, increasing religious insensitivity and intolerance, this year's theme which calls for a deepening of our discipleship through a spirituality of communion, will help all of us appreciate all the blessings we have been bestowed, and strive to grow that little bit more in faith, stature and wisdom.

Year of the Priests: 19 June 2009 - June 2010

Earlier this June, Pope Benedict XVI declared the next 12 months as the "Year of the Priests".

Looking back now - as an almost middle aged Catholic, I see how I have been blessed by the presence of so many priests - both those who have been there fleetingly and those whom I have had the opportunity to work with for some 15 years when I was a much younger adult.

I remember one time when I was about 11, came our French MEP priest to our house and asked my father to send me to join the altar servers group in the parish. That simple act started my own journey as an active Catholic, first as an altar boy, then later as youth group member and so on.....

I also have had the privilege to be a part of their lives, see them struggle with their vocation and calling, enjoy their successes and witness their pain to a certain extent, their dedication to their ministry and - learn from them. I owe much to these exceptional men. For these reasons and more, I thought I'd run a series of posts dedicated to them over the next 12 months, both from a personal experience and others gathered from the world wide web.

And so, as to begin this rather hopeful task, I start with the end - of one priest's life:

Brave Catholic Army chaplain dies from injuries suffered in Iraq

I wasn't aware of Fr. Tim Vakoc, parish priest turned army chaplain, or the injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb attack while returning from Mass in Mosul, Iraq in 2004 until I read about his death on Sunday, 21st June 2009 at age 49. He was just a year older than me. Sometimes, it seems that only during deaths and in obituaries, we come to learn of such ordinary lives lived rather extraordinarily.

May his story inspire us and others, whether we may be priests or ordinary laypersons - to go the distance, in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. May the words of Fr. Tim echo in our ears and hearts: “The safest place for me to be is in the center of God’s will, and if that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be.”

It would be good too, if we take time today to:

• Remember all priests who have died, especially those who have walked with us and through our lives and made it that little bit better.

• Visit Catholic Doors for more letters of appreciations of Catholic priests in action.

• Read why Pope Benedict XVI created the Year for Priests.

A Different Kind of Litany

From The Word Among Us, available at: www.wau.org

Jacqueline Vromans-McCoy writes in the June edition of TWAU, about "A Different Kind of Litany", - one which struck a chord deep inside me.

Briefly, Jacqueline tells about being "recruited" to a one hour adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in her parish. As she makes her first visit she finds herself being distracted, lost and unable to concentrate. But as she perseveres, she senses a shift. The real miracle happens when she begins to praise God for ALL things - both the blessings and the darkest moments in her life.

You can say it seems diabolical. But it does also makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure about others, but I too have been caught up by the "feel good" syndrome type of prayer - one that praises God for all good things, but not the bad or the ugly. Even though I'm not one to give up easily or lose hope quickly, and almost always one "looking on the bright side of things", and "the silver lining in the cloud", I can't ever remember praising God for all the mistakes I've made, the many times I've fallen down and remained stuck in the mud, and the so many "failures" I've encountered - both self made and otherwise.

For Jacqueline, what began as a reluctant visit slowly evolves into a profound experience of meeting God in a very personal way. And as she surrenders all her joys and sorrows to Him, she finds her life being blessed by"grace upon grace".

It's now 7 years since she started. In her own words, she invites us to try the same: "Is the Lord inviting you to meet him in a weekly hour of adoration? Or is there something else that he’s asking you to consider? Just try it! You’ll discover that God will reward your little efforts with a peace, joy, and fruitfulness that far exceed your expectations".

Like me, you too can start here.

Married On A Crucifix

Imagine a world without divorce, Imagine families without divorce, Imagine families without separation, Imagine no children or hearts torn apart.....

A little too incredible to believe? Well, not if you are in the town of Siroki-Brijeg in Herzegovina.

Michael Mullan, writes in the Catholic Net how those who marry in this town of 13,ooo inhabitants are literally "Married on A Crucifix".

Pope2You now on Facebook!

The Pope comes to Facebook today.

The news from www.zenit.org:

VATICAN CITY, MAY 20, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican is set to unveil its newest Web page this week. Called Pope2You.net, the site aims to bring the words and messages of Benedict XVI to the youth.

The reasons for the site? According to Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Vatican Council for Social Communications, it's chief aims are to:

• Get the youth to read the Pope's message addressed to them on the responsible use of new technologies, like Facebook, etc, etc.

• Allow young people to do many of the things they can do on other sites, but with a twist.

• Enable young people to send virtual cards to friends, cards with an attractive image of the Pope and a quote taken from one of his addresses.
  

• To take advantage of this means of communication so that the message of the Gospel is known by the youth of today's world.

Viva! to the new media!

Media Culture & Compromise Undermining Christian Life

Quite a few blogs have picked up this story:

7 May. CNA (Catholic News Agency) quotes Archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput as saying that "Catholics are losing the habits on which they have traditionally relied because of “vanity and compromise”.

The archbishop had mentioned this in a speech at the American Bible Society in New York the day before.

A few points that caught my eye:

• “The American news and entertainment media, which now so often overlap, are the largest catechetical syndicate in history,”.

• ..."the media has helped create a culture based on “immediacy, brevity, visual stimulation, celebrity and self-absorption,” he warned this has great implications for the Christian’s place in American society.

• “The more sensory, immediate and emotional our culture becomes, the farther it gets from the habits of serious thought that sustain its ideals.”

• As a remedy, he advised Catholics to give up computers, televisions, cell phones, and iPods for “just one night” a week.

• “One night a week spent reading, talking with each other, listening to each other and praying over Scripture. We can at least do that much. And if we do, we’ll discover that eventually we’re sober again and not drunk on technology and our own overheated appetites.”

Full text at CNA.

It may have been an American archbishop talking primarily about an American problem in an American city to an American crowd but, thanks to rapid globalization, this is a real concern in many places, including back home here in Malaysia.

Talking about vanity and compromise, the 1997 thriller/horror movie "The Devil's Advocate" starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino throws up an intriguing plot in which the Devil's character, John Milton, played by Pacino mentions: "Vanity...definitely my favorite sin".

Wikipedia defines "Vanity" as: "The excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. In many religions vanity is considered a form of self idolatry, in which one rejects God for the sake of one's own image, and thereby becomes divorced from the graces of God.

Whereas, in his seminal book "Jesus Today - A Spirituality of Radical Freedom", Dominican priest Fr. Albert Nolan analyzes contemporary culture and the challenges that face us in the new millennium. His unerring "reading" of the signs of our times today, leading to an in-depth exploration of Jesus' spirituality which calls for a personal transformation and culminating in being able to live radically free with God, ourselves, others and the Universe is a fitting explanation of all that's gone wrong with us and how things can be put right again.

After the first few pages, it had me hooked....all the jigsaw puzzles seem to fall into place, the questions that have been bothering me answered. You would have to read it to appreciate its sheer beauty.

Fr. Nolan's book is available at most Catholic bookstores and online, here.

Closer to home, I overheard this remark a few years ago: "At one time our Catholic homes had altars up on the walls, now they've come down to the display cabinet - in the shape of the TV and its sidekick - the satellite dish!" Couldn't be more true - just take a look around! Maybe it's time we gave Archbishop Chaput's urge to give up TV one day a week a real go.

Finally, I read this somewhere on the Internet:

A stranger knocks upon a parent's house and asks:

"Could I spend some time alone with your child?"

"No way", comes the immediate reply.

"Why not?" asks the man.

"Because I don't know you and wouldn't yet trust your intentions".

Well said.

We do that because we know what is right for the child. Yet curiously, we let another kind of stranger - the TV - with its unknown intentions, on a hundred channels, with all kinds of conflicting messages, to come into our homes everyday, every week, every year, year after year, and let it influence our childrens' lives without so much as batting an eye!

I hope Archbishop Chaput's message gets broadcast everywhere. It's a timely reminder for all of us.

Breaking News: The Conversion of Ali Agca

According to Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, moderator of the What Does The Prayer Really Say (WDTPRS) blog forum, Mehmet Ali Agca, the same one who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981, has converted to Catholicism.

Read the full story here.