Unam Sanctam

Be the kind of man

2011-11-29T11:02:00.001+08:00

Be the kind of man that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the Devil says "Oh crap, he's up".

Schola cantorum IC Penang's latest threads

2011-11-03T10:03:00.000+08:00

This one is taken by me. The other pic, with me actually in it, is blur. =.=

Schola cantorum in action. Singing O Sanctissima in 4 part harmony.

Our newly renovated Church

2011-11-02T10:03:00.005+08:00

General view of the Sanctuary. Big six candlesticks, stained glass windows of the Assumption in the center, and from the left, St. Peter, St. Francis Xavier, St. John the Baptist and St. Paul. In front of the main altar is the Lamb of God seated on a scroll with 7 seals.

Details from the Gothic arches above the doors and the statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Joseph on the walls. The opposite walls have the statues of St. Therese and St. Anthony.

General view of the nave. The pews are really ugly, a remnant of the Spirit of Vatican II.

The statue of Mary inside the Church flanked by stained glass windows of the Annunciation and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple.

The stained glass window of the Nativity. The memorial above commemorates the Catholic dead from World War II with an inscription that reads "Their tomorrow for our today"

For those of you who don't remember, here's what the Church used to look like. It was renovated in 1970's so it was chock full of the Spirit of Vatican II.

The High Altar was really really high, as if modelled upon the Confessio of St. Peter's only there's nothing below it, just the sacristy. Note the ugly holes in the walls which was pretty trendy in the 70s. Yucks.

The sanctuary was also weirdly shaped and took up a lot of space. The entire crossing was taken up by the sanctuary. Now, pews fill the nave up to the half the crossing.

The trendy hall-like nave.

Note the tiny crosses in the walls above the doors which collected dust and would spread it around when the wind blew through it. What the heck were they thinking? Were they thinking? Old photos show stained glass above the doors.

A new star in the blogosky

2011-10-14T16:51:00.002+08:00

Dear Takamasa Ishihara (no, not the famous Miyavi, he's more of a Myvi) recounts the first part of his conversion experience. Do go and say hi.

http://taka4jc.blogspot.com/

(NOT Miyavi)

Myvi

Priest of the future

2011-10-14T16:13:00.000+08:00

They really are

2011-10-13T14:36:00.000+08:00

Without and within

2011-10-12T11:49:00.011+08:00

While He (Jesus) was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him to dine with Him; so He went in and sat at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that He did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But give for alms those things which are within; and behold everything is clean for you." -Luke 11:37-41 I was serving Mass yesterday evening, and I was tired after a day at work and sleepy and it was very warm, especially under the layers of cassock, surplice and street clothes. When the Gospel reading began, I thought it was the familiar white-washed tombs reading. But a closer listen showed something different.

How much more ashamed would my Lord be if called upon to claim me as one of His own before His Father, me a sinner. And I was ashamed to claim to be a follower of My Lord and God? How stupid can I be? I now make the sign of the Cross, not to show off, but to own up to being a Christian, a follower of the Crucified one. It was not easy. It was a process that took time. I was still very reticent about drawing attention to myself and it took great effort of mind and will to do it, consistently. But in doing so, it forced be to guard by behaviour and my manners, to be worthy of that great sign of our salvation. It's the same reason I wear a crucifix. I kneel down to pray, not to show off, but that's the way I was taught to pray. We kneel when approaching our Maker and Creator. Despite what others might think or what others might be doing and even if no one does it. Not to feel superior, but because it's the way our conscience dictates that God should be approached and while our bodies can still do so, let us kneel!. If it becomes something that's too easy, something done without thought, then stop. If it's done to glorify yourself, then stop. But if it's difficult, if it's not something that you really want to do cos it draws attention, it makes you guard your tongue and your behaviour, then consider doing the externals.
The Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner and Jesus did not perform the ritual ablution but dived straight in. I guess the poor Pharisee let his astonishment show for he was in for a very stern rebuke. On the surface, the message, now familiar, should be pretty clear. It's a message that those who tend to neglect the outward elements of the faith, be it attending Mass, praying, fasting, wearing a crucifix or even dressing decently often fling in the face of those of us who either do those things or try to promote them. It's what's inside that's important, it's the heart (or thought) that counts. Cut all the externals and focus on the internals and stop being so legalistic and Pharisaical and all will be fine. A closer reading firstly reveals that the message cuts both ways! "You fools! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?" So, the dish should be cleaned on the outside AND inside. For God not only made the heart, but the body as well and what is in our heart should be manifested outwardly, not in a showy, self-serving and self-promoting way like the Pharisee who prayed loudly on the steps of the Temple extolling his own righteousness in contrast to the tax-collector, but in al way that should come naturally.
What's inside will come through and will shine through. In a non-Christian country like Malaysia, wearing the external symbols of the faith, such as a crucifix brings no benefit to the wearer but instead serves as a proclamation and a visible sign of the Christian faith. When the authorities are so afraid of letting crosses be erected on the tops of Churches, this tangible presence of Christianity and Christ and the sacred in the public square is something that should be promoted. Similarly, making the sign of the Cross in public, especially when we pass by a Church. It reminds ourselves and others of the Presence that dwells within those walls. It's not an easy thing to do. It draws attention. And for many of us, the last thing we want to do is to draw attention to ourselves. Especially when you're an adolescent. I can relate to that. When I was a kid, I was taught to make the sign of the Cross when passing by a Church. When I grew older, the gestures became smaller and faster until it was no more than a small sign made by my fingers over my heart (when no one was looking). However, one day, when I was taking the bus, I noticed a lady making a prominent sign of the Cross as we passed a Church, and everyone was looking. I remembered feeling very very ashamed, for being ashamed. I was ashamed of the sign of the Cross, ashamed of what others might think and in so doing, forgot how my Lord must have felt to see me 'deny' Him in public.

The Gospel reading reminded me that yes, although what's inside is important, what we do externally is important as well. It's doubly hard to be a Christian inside and out, to be clean inside and out. But we are psycho-somatic beings, we are not disembodied spirits, but beings of both body and soul. That unity should always be manifested in all we do, for the greater glory of God.

The original Egyptians

2011-10-10T13:47:00.004+08:00

I was moved by this photo on Facebook of the Coptic Christians, the original inhabitants of Egypt, who were killed in the latest round of violence against Christians. Some were crushed by police and army vehicles.

O Holy God, how long?

The Hound of Heaven

2011-10-08T10:49:00.000+08:00

Father John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders.

It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long.

I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day. I was unprepared and my emotions flipped.

I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course.

He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?"

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically.

"Why not," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then I called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever.

Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer.

Before I could search him out, he came to see me.

When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.

"Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you are sick," I blurted out.

"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?

"Well, it could be worse.

"Like what?”

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies in life.”

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

"But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!' which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.’ I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My clever line. He thought about that a lot!) "But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God.And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.

But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success?

You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.

"Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said:

'The essential sadness is to go through life without loving..’

But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.

"So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him.

"Dad."

"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.

"Dad, I would like to talk with you."

"Well, talk.”

"I mean. It's really important."

The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"

"Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.

"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning."

“It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."

"It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years."

"I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long."

"Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to..

"Then, one day I turned around and God was there.

"He didn't come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you three days, three weeks."

Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour.

"But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love..

You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.

"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell it..”

"Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class."

"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call."

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me.

So we scheduled a date.

However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class.

Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed.

He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time.

"I'm not going to make it to your class," he said.

"I know, Tom."

"Will you tell them for me? Will you...tell the whole world for me?"

I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, Tommy, as best I could.

If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two.

It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.

With thanks, Rev. John Powell, Professor,

Loyola University, Chicago

Full disclosure: Fr. Powell was sued for molesting a young lady in the late 60's and admitted to it and paid compensation. He is a Jesuit.

Anathema sit!

2011-10-07T16:22:00.003+08:00

If I were starting a blog about dogs, I'd call it Anathema sit. If a seminary were looking to name their dog, Anathema would be fantastic.

Furry will not be amused

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are

2011-10-05T16:53:00.008+08:00

Maybe you're a young Catholic who has come to realize, perhaps through personal study, perhaps using the latest technologies to browse through the various blogs or read the numerous articles that lament the current state of the Catholic Church in your country and in your parish or perhaps you just used your logic and your eyes (and ears) and woke up and smelled the lack of incense.

On the blogosphere at large you hear talk of a Benedictine Marshall Plan. Some of you who did not live through the 2nd World War and the recovery of Europe through the help of the American General George C Marshall (pic), who became the post-War Secretary of State to President Truman and the Europe Recovery Program, nicknamed the Marshall Plan, may have no idea what it's all about. Well, Europe was in a state of almost total devastation, especially areas of Germany and France where the war took it's heavy toll. So General Marshall came up with a plan to get Europe back on it's feet again and in it's basic essence, that's what the Marshall Plan is, to assist those countries who were down and out and give them the tools (in Europe's case, cash and credit) to get back to a certain level of stability, and then prosperity.

The Marshall Plan for the Catholic Church of our day stems from the realization that the Church, especially in areas of Europe and in other First World countries most severely and almost everywhere else as well, is pretty much a devastated landscape after the post-Conciliar period. In my own country, Malaysia in the years prior to the Council, numerous Churches were being built and immediately packed to the brim with converts and young Catholics from large families. The Church ran schools and hospitals and was a presence and a force in society. However, since the immediate post-Conciliar buildings of Holy Spirit Church in Green Lane and Risen Christ Church in Air Itam were constructed in 1969, a 40 year period elapsed before the Church of the Divine Mercy was consecrated last year. The old seminaries which were bursting at the seams and the host of nuns and brothers from the religious orders have all dissipated in the years after the Council when the hope of a New Springtime spiralled into not only a demographic winter, but more rather the clutches of a new Ice Age.

These pictures of the German city of Dresden before and after the bombing can be an analogy of what has occurred in he Church in the period after the Council.

A general view of the City, once known as the Florence of the North, before (above) and after (below) the bombing

The corridor within the Stalhof, before (above) and after (below) the bombing

When people think of the Church, in it's pre and post-conciliar forms, the images below, of a Papal Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite celebrated by the optimistic Blessed Pope John XXIII and a clown Mass in the Novus Ordo are often what comes to mind.

Papal Mass celebrated by Blessed John XXIII

Various modern 'interpretations' of the Mass of Paul VI

You know this, you're not stupid. What then can you, a mere layperson do? That's a good question and one that I asked myself, many many moon ago when I was less old. In this series of posts, I hope to provide some concrete ideas of what you (who we shall call a Papal Ninja because you're quick, fast, agile and effective, working in secret behind the scenes) can do. We shall stick to the doable, in the here and the now.

The image below, of Pope Benedict XVI celebrating the Papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica is the goal of the Benedictine Marshall Plan, a restored, vibrant and growing and most importantly, faithful Church.

Let our plan be a smart plan. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. We are not Pope, or Cardinal Prefect or Archbishop or Bishop. We are not in Holy Orders and neither do we walk the Corridors of Power as movers as shakers. But besides offering up our prayers and sufferings in a spirit of reparation and asking the Lord to help us (which is indeed essential! and of the utmost importance and must never be forgotten or set aside no matter how 'busy' we think we are) let us take the words of Our Lord to heart when the told His Apostles: "You give them something to eat yourselves".

Let us be one among the many in this slow, brick by brick effort to recover our Catholic identity. Let us begin with ourselves. We shall see how in the coming posts. Lamenting (ranting) can only do so much good. After a while, we should let the whining stop, pick ourselves up and do something about it.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Theodore Roosevelt 26th president of US (1858 - 1919) quoting Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley

Hope for the future: Dresden today.

The rebuilt and restored Stalhof and a general view of the City of Dresden today.

Eucharistic miracle in Poland

2011-10-05T15:16:00.006+08:00

Whenever there are Eucharistic miracles, such as the one in Lanciano, it has been in response to some doubt or lack of faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

This is also a lesson for all priests and those handling the Host to be most attentive and careful of the precious treasure they are holding in their consecrated hands!

Are we guilty, in our actions and in the way we behave before the Blessed Sacrament or in the manner we receive? Let us be more attentive to this greatest of the treasures of the Church, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ and approach Him with all reverence and adoration.

Polish Catholics see miracle in communion wafer
By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press
Roman Catholics in Poland gathered Sunday for a special Mass celebrating what they see as a miracle: the appearance on a communion wafer of a dark spot that they are convinced is part of the heart of Jesus.

The communion wafer in question developed a brown spot in 2008 after falling on the floor during a Mass in the eastern Polish town of Sokolka. Two medical doctors determined that the spot was heart muscle tissue, church officials have said.

Bialystok Archbishop Edward Ozorowski said during the Mass that in history, the "substance of Christ's body or blood has become available to the human senses, and this also happened in Sokolka."

"For God, nothing is impossible," Ozorowski said.

The dark-spotted wafer was carried aloft in a reliquary by a golden-robed priest in a procession and was put on display in the town's church of St. Anthony as about 1,000 faithful looked on, according to a report and footage carried by the TV station TVN.

Catholics believe that the bread and wine that priests use during the sacrament of communion - or the Eucharist - are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The nun's discovery sparked huge interest among the faithful in this deeply Roman Catholic country, sparking large numbers to flock to Sokolka. Though some believers consider the object miraculous, the Vatican is still examining the matter and has not yet officially decided whether to declare it a miracle, church spokesman Andrzej Debski said.

A group of rationalists complained about the matter in 2008, and called on authorities to investigate if a murder or other crime was involved if human flesh was indeed found on the wafer. Police say they have no evidence of any crime.

Fascinating

2011-10-05T10:37:00.004+08:00

I was looking at the Clustrmap on this blog and was fascinated by where the visitors originate from. The stats are pretty nifty and there's people from all over the world. Interesting indeed.

There's even 4 visits from computers registered in the Holy See! I really hope inquisitors from the Holy Office don't come knocking on my door.

Are you in the list?

	United States (US)	14,709
	Malaysia (MY)	2,059
	United Kingdom (GB)	1,723
	Philippines (PH)	1,647
	Canada (CA)	1,450
	Australia (AU)	999
	India (IN)	829
	Italy (IT)	629
	Singapore (SG)	585
	Germany (DE)	518
	Ireland (IE)	446
	Brazil (BR)	443
	France (FR)	433
	Poland (PL)	381
	Thailand (TH)	341
	Netherlands (NL)	309
	Spain (ES)	275
	Portugal (PT)	275
	Indonesia (ID)	255
	Mexico (MX)	214
	Taiwan (TW)	204
	Romania (RO)	181
	Belgium (BE)	179
	Hungary (HU)	176
	Greece (GR)	155
	Croatia (HR)	155
	South Africa (ZA)	147
	Slovakia (SK)	140
	Sweden (SE)	133
	Switzerland (CH)	127
	Hong Kong (HK)	121
	Czech Republic (CZ)	118
	Turkey (TR)	117
	New Zealand (NZ)	116
	United Arab Emirates (AE)	115
	Japan (JP)	105
	Argentina (AR)	104
	Austria (AT)	104
	Malta (MT)	103
	Korea, Republic of (KR)	102
	Vietnam (VN)	102
	Russian Federation (RU)	90
	Norway (NO)	80
	Asia/Pacific Region (AP)	79
	Serbia (RS)	76
	Denmark (DK)	74
	Colombia (CO)	73
	Sri Lanka (LK)	72
	Egypt (EG)	70
	Israel (IL)	66
	Pakistan (PK)	65
	Bulgaria (BG)	63
	Ukraine (UA)	59
	Nigeria (NG)	56
	Chile (CL)	53
	Finland (FI)	52
	Lithuania (LT)	49
	Slovenia (SI)	46
	Jamaica (JM)	45
	Qatar (QA)	42
	Trinidad and Tobago (TT)	38
	Saudi Arabia (SA)	38
	Lebanon (LB)	34
	Georgia (GE)	33
	Puerto Rico (PR)	31
	Albania (AL)	30
	Kuwait (KW)	29
	Venezuela (VE)	29
	Brunei Darussalam (BN)	28
	Kenya (KE)	27
	Latvia (LV)	27
	Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA)	27
	Peru (PE)	25
	Iceland (IS)	25
	Cote D'Ivoire (CI)	21
	Guatemala (GT)	21
	Macedonia (MK)	20
	Ecuador (EC)	20
	Ghana (GH)	16
	Panama (PA)	15
	Estonia (EE)	14
	Moldova, Republic of (MD)	13
	Cyprus (CY)	13
	Costa Rica (CR)	13
	Guam (GU)	13
	Uganda (UG)	12
	Luxembourg (LU)	12
	Jordan (JO)	10
	Bangladesh (BD)	9
	Oman (OM)	9
	El Salvador (SV)	9
	Sudan (SD)	8
	Grenada (GD)	8
	Palestinian Territory (PS)	8
	Azerbaijan (AZ)	8
	Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)	8
	Paraguay (PY)	8
	Bahamas (BS)	8
	Uruguay (UY)	7
	Morocco (MA)	7
	Mauritius (MU)	7
	Bahrain (BH)	7
	Dominican Republic (DO)	7
	Tanzania, United Republic of (TZ)	6
	Syrian Arab Republic (SY)	6
	Macau (MO)	6
	Dominica (DM)	6
	Mongolia (MN)	6
	Zimbabwe (ZW)	6
	Fiji (FJ)	6
	Belarus (BY)	6
	Holy See (Vatican City State) (VA)	4
	Honduras (HN)	4
	Algeria (DZ)	4
	Saint Lucia (LC)	4
	Tunisia (TN)	4
	Iraq (IQ)	4
	Virgin Islands, U.S. (VI)	4
	China (CN)	4
	Maldives (MV)	4
	Montenegro (ME)	4
	Armenia (AM)	4
	Netherlands Antilles (AN)	3
	Jersey (JE)	3
	Zambia (ZM)	3
	Bolivia (BO)	3
	Aruba (AW)	3
	Nicaragua (NI)	3
	Belize (BZ)	3
	Haiti (HT)	3
	Nepal (NP)	3
	Barbados (BB)	3
	Malawi (MW)	2
	Liechtenstein (LI)	2
	Afghanistan (AF)	2
	Bermuda (BM)	2
	Cayman Islands (KY)	2
	Reunion (RE)	2
	Seychelles (SC)	2
	Faroe Islands (FO)	2
	Samoa (WS)	2
	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY)	2
	Gibraltar (GI)	2
	Lao People's Democratic Republic (LA)	2
	Micronesia, Federated States of (FM)	2
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VC)	2
	Cambodia (KH)	2
	Madagascar (MG)	1
	Saint Kitts and Nevis (KN)	1
	Isle of Man (IM)	1
	Yemen (YE)	1
	Burkina Faso (BF)	1
	Greenland (GL)	1
	Mozambique (MZ)	1
	Namibia (NA)	1
	Vanuatu (VU)	1
	Virgin Islands, British (VG)	1
	Guadeloupe (GP)	1
	Timor-Leste (TL)	1
	Solomon Islands (SB)	1
	Togo (TG)	1
	Northern Mariana Islands (MP)	1
	Rwanda (RW)	1
	Cameroon (CM)	1
	Uzbekistan (UZ)	1
	Kazakstan (KZ)	1
	American Samoa (AS)	1
	French Guiana (GF)	1
	Guernsey (GG)	1
	Guinea (GN)	1
	Ethiopia (ET)	1
	Antigua and Barbuda (AG)	1

Brilliant quote from Blessed Pope John Paul the Great

2011-10-04T14:38:00.002+08:00

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.
-Pope John Paul II : Homily in Orioles Park at Camden Yards - 8 October 1995

This I swear

2011-10-03T10:16:00.005+08:00

I've signed the Oath Against Modernism. Have you?

THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM
Given by His Holiness St. Pius X September 1, 1910.

To be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries.
I Andrew Khoo, firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day. And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (see Rom. 1:90), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated:

Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time.

Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time.

Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.

Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical' misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely.

Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and lord.

Furthermore, with due reverence, I submit and adhere with my whole heart to the condemnations, declarations, and all the prescripts contained in the encyclical Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili, especially those concerning what is known as the history of dogmas. I also reject the error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion. I also condemn and reject the opinion of those who say that a well-educated Christian assumes a dual personality-that of a believer and at the same time of a historian, as if it were permissible for a historian to hold things that contradict the faith of the believer, or to establish premises which, provided there be no direct denial of dogmas, would lead to the conclusion that dogmas are either false or doubtful.

Likewise, I reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See, embraces the misrepresentations of the rationalists and with no prudence or restraint adopts textual criticism as the one and supreme norm. Furthermore, I reject the opinion of those who hold that a professor lecturing or writing on a historico-theological subject should first put aside any preconceived opinion about the supernatural origin of Catholic tradition or about the divine promise of help to preserve all revealed truth forever; and that they should then interpret the writings of each of the Fathers solely by scientific principles, excluding all sacred authority, and with the same liberty of judgment that is common in the investigation of all ordinary historical documents.

Finally, I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say that there is, but in a pantheistic sense, with the result that there would remain nothing but this plain simple fact-one to be put on a par with the ordinary facts of history-the fact, namely, that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles.

I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way.

I promise that I shall keep all these articles faithfully, entirely, and sincerely, and guard them inviolate, in no way deviating from them in teaching or in any way in word or in writing. Thus I promise, this I swear, so help me God.

I think many bishops, priests and professors who took this oath have perjured themselves in the revolution that occurred after Vatican II and may God be their judge, for the damage their collective action, and inaction, their abdication of their duty and their sacred trust have caused God's Holy Catholic Church.

No, really... LOL

2011-09-29T10:54:00.002+08:00

Pass the aspirin please

2011-09-27T14:31:00.013+08:00

Pondering stuff makes my head hurt, but sometimes, I do try to brave the pain and ponder anyway. It's sadistic, I know, buy hey...

I'm a catechist. I teach students the Catholic Faith as I promised to do, in a public profession of faith during Mass one fine day some time ago. Unfortunately, I take my vows to God seriously. So I try my best. I do enjoy teaching the Catholic faith, sharing it's great beauty and power, it's awesomeness in the fullest sense of the word. For many, it's the first time they have heard the faith articulated and presented without the caveats, the watering downs to cater to their level. It's one thing to have Divine Condescension but its another to constantly think of our young people as such blooming idiots with such sensitive minds that any objective truth claims such as the existence of God, the last Judgement and reality and permanence of Heaven and Hell and clear presentations of Catholic morality will drive them all away.

This should be the textbook we use (It's a really good book)

Ok, no more rants. It alleviates the pain in my head somewhat, but let's try to look at the situation objectively.

Kids these days are subjected to harrowing experiences in school. School is only bearable to them because of their friends. Most teachers don't take their job seriously and the haphazard and ill prepared classes bore the kids into the ground. That they're striving so hard to be Barney-like and preach not Christ Crucified but Buddy-Christ doesn't help either. (Nothing puts kids off so much as teachers trying their best to be groovy)

What the teacher wants to be

How the teacher sees himself (Groovy baby!)

How the class sees the teacher

The Jesus that is preached

Five days a week of mind-numbingly boring lessons, homework, tuition and even more homework, and come Sunday, they go into class rooms, sit in chairs in front of a teacher and a blackboard and the teacher starts to speak. Deja vu. Their eyes glaze over. Half the battle is lost. The Faith has become one more subject is a sea of others which the kids haven't the slightest interest in. That's the setting.

Now lets talk about the subject matter. I've always referred to catechism classes as a kind of inoculation. To innoculate someone against a disease, you vaccinate them by injecting a weak strain into their system and the body builds up anti-bodies and presto, when the real thing comes along, the body is immune and is able to fight off the disease. The weak strain of Catholicism, the watered down, milky and syrupy sweet pleasantries that are forced down their throats quickly immunize our young against true authentic and meaty Catholicism so that even when the real thing is taught, not only do we have to overcome the problem of the setting, we have to over power years of immunization and the internal resistance that has been built up and reinforced.

The substance of our teaching - watery gruel

On a good day, the gruel may be chunky (yummmm how appetizing), but it's still gruel

The meat of the Gospel

Is there any wonder then that our children are (for the most part, hopefully) theoretical theists but practical atheists? More on that some other time. I intend to muse some more on practical atheism, our duty as evangelists (it's GOOD NEWS!) and the failures and dangers of being a catechist. But, more on that later. I gotta go get some aspirin now. The pain of pondering is making me black out.

A patronal meme

2011-08-15T10:06:00.002+08:00

Dear Fr Daren from Servant and Steward has kindly tagged me in a meme and since I've not blogged in a while, this is a great excuse to get started. Here's the meme, asking, if I should be canonized, of what would I be patron:

Assuming you are a saint, and your cause has been executed, your miracles confirmed, your date on the calendar established, all that is required is to select that of which Holy Mother Church will name you Patron(ess) of.

For this meme, you must name your patronage and then tag 5 other people who would like to play along.

Linking your answer to your nominator's post would make it easier to get

your answers.

This is a very interesting question. Not that I've spent huge amounts of time pondering my ~~eventual~~ canonization (*wink wink) but after having given it some (all of 5 seconds of) thought, I do believe that I've managed to decently scrape together a few things that I'd like to be patron of.

Penang, Malaysia (and probably Singapore too since they're not likely to have a saint anytime soon unless the Papal Ninja's can pull something out of the hat)
Tanjung Bunga, in Penang (hopefully the seedbed of many many more saints to come)
Masters of Ceremonies (which I have to share with Fr. Daren);
Marching bands
Conductors (the music kind, not the bus or electrical kind)

I'd also like to be patron of the upcoming Crusades and the Reconquista (I'd have to cede the New Evangelization to John Paul the Great, but perhaps be Patron of the Old Evangelization? [the kind that worked?] and maybe be surnamed Matamoros and the Hammer of Heretics but let's not get too carried away.

PS

Does Facebook and Gmail have a patron saint? I'm (gonna be, anyway) open you know.

Staying sane in a mad mad world

2011-03-07T16:20:00.003+08:00

Very often, in the course of our lives and especially in doing work within a Church context, we encounter people who are infuriating and appear to us as just plain dumb. The things that they do and say and the manner in which they seem to set themselves up as your personal opposition, to create stumbling blocks and carefully planting them in your path makes you wonder if they are the Devil's minions, seeking to frustrate the work of God which you're doing. You wonder to yourself, are they just plain stupid, blind, or just plain evil. Why can't they see the good that you are doing, why can't they, if they're not helping you, just leave you be, why can't they see that stupid things that they are doing and the stupid, outdated ways which they are doing it, why can't they see the wisdom our your way (aka the RIGHT WAY)? It's all just so frustrating you just want pop a blood vessel and die.

And this is where some of the best advice I'm been given helps me. I have to ask myself, are they doing what they do out of malice, or perhaps misinformation or even jealousy. Are they doing the best they can in the best way that they can see how to? Putting ourselves in another's shoes is a very important and very difficult virtue to practice. Sometimes, we just need to stop and to see things from the perspective of the other. And to refrain from attributing all opposition to malice and malfeasance. In short, we should not be too quick to judge. It's a tough lesson to learn and an even tougher virtue to practice (especially when the blighters continue their #$%^^@ ways day after day and week after week with no relief in sight barring the parousia.

But to survive with any measure of sanity or good humour in the world of voluntary work, especially in a Church environment, it's absolutely essential that this lesson be learnt and an attempt made to try to just step back and look at the bigger picture.

The perversion of intent: A cautionary tale

2010-04-29T15:27:00.007+08:00

The movie 300 (as opposed to the actual battle as narrated by Herodotus) depicts the Battle of Thermopylae where the Spartans, led by their heroic King Leonidas defends the pass between the Trachinian Cliffs and the Thracian Gulf against an overwhelmingly superior force of Persians led by Xerxes. Now, the Spartans were approached by Ephialtes, who's portrayed in the movie as a severely deformed creature, the child of a former Spartan soldier.

He comes up to Leonidas and asks for entry into his army so that he might serve and do his part against the Persians. This was a noble intention and Ephialtes was certainly brave to volunteer to embark on such a suicidal mission. Unfortunately, because of his deformity he was not able to hold his shield properly and therefore fit into the Spartan phalanx formation which was their main source of strength against the numerically overwhelmingly superior Persians. And thus, despite his unquestioned bravery and the nobility of his intention, Ephialtes had to be rejected in order that the Spartans and their phalanx formation could be used.

Here's where something bad happened. What started out as a noble intention to serve was warped and twisted by Ephialtes' ego and the spirit of service and self-sacrifice which initially motivated Ephialtes was deformed to match his grotesque body. His previous nobility turned into bitterness and the bravery now turned into vengefulness. His ego was bruised and his pride was hurt, to have his offer to serve rejected. He did not understand, nor did he care that what was done was for the greater good. He did not have a true spirit of service, through which one serves where needed most, and not where one wants to serve which is a projection of the ego. He wanted what he wanted, he wanted to do what he wanted, to serve where he wanted, in the capacity that he wanted, no matter what the cost, regardless of whether of whether what he wanted served the common good. He was the center now.

His heart and spirit now matching his misshapen body, his desire for revenge overcoming his sanity, his self-control lost in a lust for vengeance, the formerly noble Ephialtes betrayed the Spartans to the Persians by revealing a path where the Spartans may be flanked and thus destroyed. In the movie, he is seduced by Xerxes' offer and exclaims "Yes! I want it all! Women, wealth, and one more thing... I want a uniform".

He wants a uniform. He. His ego and desire to fit in and his sense of rejection have warped his motivations to conform to his body and now, he wants a uniform. Besides the women and the sex and the wealth. A uniform.

Later, clad in the uniform of the elite Immortals of the Persian army (I wonder what the Immortals thought of this treacherous creature soiling the elite uniform an Immortal), and looking utterly ridiculous in comparison to the true Immortals who look regal and dignified, he betrays the location of the path and this dooms the Spartans.

The uniform does not make the man. It's the man who merits the vesture and not the other way round as the government, putting weak students into good schools hoping to turn coal into gold have found out.

Scripture warns us: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (1 Pet 5:8-9) The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, always on the hunt, always waiting to strike and to devour. When we give in to our vengefulness and our lust for revenge, when our motivations and our reasons for wanting to serve are contorted by our ego and what we want dominates and takes center stage and the good of the whole is subjugated to the desires of the one, then we are easy prey for this roaring lion.

Let's look at our motivations and not let the green eyed monster possess us. Let our grapes be sweet and not otherwise so that the libation we offer be not rejected. Let our intention to serve be motivated by the greater good and not for the puffing up of our egos and, for Heaven's sake, not for a uniform!

It's been a while, yeah, I know. I've been busy. This is in response to a comment received the other day on my Fb =)

Happy Chinese New Year!

2010-02-17T09:55:00.002+08:00

To all readers who are celebrating the Lunar New Year,

HAPPY
CHINESE
NEW YEAR!

May the new year bring you prosperity and good health and an abundance of God's choicest blessings!

For those of you who do not know, the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, which is also known as the Spring Festival, lasts for fifteen days and is the most important of all the Chinese festivals. It is celebrated in China, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and wherever the Chinese can be found in the vast Chinese diaspora. This year is the year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac. To celebrate the Year of the Tiger, Chinese ppl all over the world strive to eat tiger parts =)

One of the most important aspects of this festival is the reunion dinner on the eve of the new year. All the members of the family, regardless of whether they are overseas or in the neighbouring towns, will make the long trek to the eldest member's usually the parents, grandparents or great-grandparents home for the reunion dinner. But, due to the affluence of Chinese society, the reunion dinner is frequently held in restaurants and hotels these days.

The rush back for the reunion dinner has sparked a mass migration of hundreds of millions in China. Liberal amounts or liquor will be consumed as family members catch up on the latest news and gamble the night away.

In the morning of the first day on the new year, the eldest and most senior married couple will distribute red packets filled with money to all the unmarried members of the family who will form a line and greet them. This is the part that the kids look forward most to. All married couples are expected to give out the red packets and all unmarried people, including yours truly, are eligible. Red is the traditional colour of good luck and is worn by all Chinese on this day.

The kids will also go from house to house bearing new year wishes and collecting the 'ang pows' or red packets. Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time where families will pay a visit to the oldest and most senior member of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.

Some families may invite a Lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises. These troupes come with drums and cymbals and will let off fire crackers which the Chinese believe will frighten away the evil spirits.

I have fond memories of those joyful days when I was a kid. The extended family, including my grandparents, a huge numbers of aunts and uncles and cousins thrice removed would gather at a great grand aunt's place for the reunion dinner. The table would then be cleared and out would come the cards. Black jack and poker would continue into the wee hours of the morning. Before fireworks were banned, we kids would go into the field and let off loads of firecrackers and play with sparklers.
Then, just before midnight, we would get into a car and go down town where the banking district was. The banks would vie and compete with each other to see which bank could let off the most firecrackers. The long red firecrackers would be let down the side of the banks headquarters and at the stroke of midnight, a mighty roar would gather and grow as the firecrackers were were simultaneously lit and the crowd would anxiously wait to see which bank would last the longest.

The gambling would then continue and I would renew my friendships with my cousins. it was so easy making friends when you're a kid. You could see each other only for a day and a year later, you can still pick up where you left off and go bounding off together looking for mischief. =) Those were fun times. When the gambling finally ends, I would get all the spare coins. That was fun!

My grandfather died many years back and the family began to move away and some have migrated overseas. For us the reunion dinner has ceased as there's just no one left.

Anyway, this was a little snippet into Chinese culture. Hope you've enjoyed it!

Pray for Haiti and her people

2010-01-14T10:15:00.004+08:00

A map locating the epicentre of a 7.0-magnitude quake that hit Haiti. Rescuers dug with bare hands to reach victims trapped in the ruins of the Haitian capital on Wednesday with tens of thousands feared dead, injured and missing after a devastating quake.
(AFP/Graphic)

Among the dead was the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Archbishop Joseph Serge Mio, RIP.

In this undated photo released by the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI meets Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot in his private library at the Vatican. Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63, was found dead in the ruins of his office in Pourt-Au Prince, Haiti, said the Rev. Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in Landivisiau, France. A powerful earthquake crushed Tuesday thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters.

(AP Photo/ Osservatore Romano, Ho)

Injured people rest outside Port-au-Prince's cathedral after an earthquake January 13, 2010.

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

The sun sets behind the crumpled National Palace Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. The powerful earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

People look at bodies along the road in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. More than 100,000 people were feared dead Wednesday after a cataclysmic earthquake struck Haiti, filling the streets with corpses and burying thousands under razed schools, hotels and hospitals.

(AFP/Thony Belizaire)

Survivors camp gather outside Haiti's National Palace, which was damaged by an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the country on Tuesday.

(AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

The body of a little girl lies in rubble in Port au Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010.

(AP Photo/Patrick Farrell, The Miami Herald) NO SALES, NO MAGAZINES, NO TV

Protests on the use of Allah in Malaysia

2010-01-11T17:52:00.003+08:00

This is a photopost, on the protests in Malaysia regarding the ban on the longstanding use of the Arabic word for God, Allah, by Christians in Malaysia who worship using the Malay language.

Muslim demonstrators hold banners during a protest against a court decision that allows a Catholic newspaper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God in its Malay language editions, after Friday prayers outside the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur January 8, 2010. The white banner (front) reads: "It is not only our heads that they are stepping, but they are making fun of Allah too!!! Holy War! Holy War! Allah Is Great! Allah Is Great! Allah Is Great!." REUTERS/Syamsul Bahri Muhammad

(MALAYSIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY RELIGION)

Christian devotees pray at a church in Petaling Jaya [Andrew: It's the Church of St. Francis Xavier with the newly installed reredos whcih can be seen in the back], near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Jan. 8, 2010. Three churches in Malaysia were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged Friday to prevent Christians from using the word 'Allah,' escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country.

(AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

Police cars patrol near St. Anthony Church during mass in Kuala Lumpur January 10, 2010. Arsonists in Malaysia struck at a convent school and a fifth church on Sunday amid rising tensions between majority Muslims and Christians over the use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God. The row, over a court ruling that allowed a Catholic newspaper to use Allah in its Malay-language editions, prompted Muslims to protest at mosques on Friday and sparked arson attacks on churches.

REUTERS/Syamsul Bahri Muhammad (MALAYSIA - Tags: SOCIETY RELIGION)

Muslim demonstrator holds a placard during a protest against a court decision that allows a Catholic newspaper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God in its Malay language editions, after Friday prayers outside a mosque in Kuala Lumpur January 8, 2010. The placard says "Don't Challenge Islam, Please Respect Islam.

" REUTERS/Bazuki Muhamma

Muslim demonstrators hold banners during a protest against a court decision that allows a Catholic newspaper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God in its Malay language editions, after Friday prayers outside the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur January 8, 2010. The white banner (C) reads: "It is not only our heads that they are stepping, but they are making fun of Allah too!!! Holy War! Holy War! Allah Is Great! Allah Is Great! Allah Is Great!." REUTERS/Syamsul Bahri Muhammad

(MALAYSIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY RELIGION)

A Muslim demonstrator displays a placard to members of the media during a protest against a court decision that allows a Catholic newspaper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God in its Malay language editions, after Friday prayers outside a mosque in Kuala Lumpur January 8, 2010. The placard says "Allah is One, Not Two, Not Three, Not Four. Allah Is One And Only.

" REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad (MALAYSIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY RELIGION)

In a totally unrelated development, here are some images of the procession of the Black Nazarene in the Philippines, which ended in Quaipo Church.

Devotees wave pieces of cloth as they welcome the statue of the Black Nazarene inside Quiapo Church during a procession in Manila January 9, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of barefoot devotees thronged the streets of Manila on Saturday as a centuries old black statue of Jesus Christ, believed to have healing powers, was paraded through the old city. The wooden, life-sized Black Nazarene, carved in Mexico and brought to the Philippines in the early 17th century, is taken out of the Quiapo Church on Jan. 9 each year for the largest parade in the predominately Roman Catholic country.

REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo (PHILIPPINES - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY ANNIVERSARY)

Update for Jan 11: 8 Churches attacked so far

2010-01-11T17:33:00.006+08:00

From TheStar:

Photos are from the fire damaged Metro Tabernacle Church, which was targeted by arsonists.

Arson attempt on

eighth church

SEREMBAN: The Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church at Lake View Square, Seremban 2, Negri Sembilan became the eighth church attacked when scorch marks were found on its main entrance door.

The attack, the first in Negri Sembilan and discovered this morning, however did not affect the church interior and was believed to have occurred early this morning.
Negeri Sembilan deputy police chief Datuk Abd Manan Mhd Hassan said police were informed of the incident by a man who found the main door of the church with burn marks at about 8.30am.

"A team of police officers, together with the forensic unit and the Fire and Rescue Department went to inspect the incident and found the front entrance door damaged.
"We believe assailants used petrol to set fire to the door but, fortunately, the fire did not spread," he told reporters at the scene of the incident.
He said police believe the incident took place between 1.30am and 8.30am because a police unit had patrolled the area at 1.30am and found everything in order.
He added that he had directed all police patrol cars and all police officers on duty to monitor places of worship, especially mosques and churches, to ensure their safety.
"I urge the people to stop such activities. Do not do anything that can disrupt peace and harmony of the country. We will take stern action against those found responsible," he said.
Meanwhile, the priest of the church, Eddy Marson Yasir, 33, said he was the last one to leave the church after a meeting at 11.30pm last night.
"I was shocked when a church member informed me of the fire this morning. The church has been in existence in Seremban for the past 10 years," he said.
A church member V. Jashua, 49, said he was having breakfast in the area when he noticed a man standing in front of the church.
"When I went to investigate, the man told me that the front door of the church was burnt," he said.
Four churches in the Klang Valley were hit by petrol bombs on Friday while one was hit Sunday in Taiping.
A Malacca church reported it was splashed with black paint.
On Sunday, a convent school in Taiping was also the target of an attempt with petrol bombs found near its guardhouse overnight while a stone was thrown at a church in Miri.
The church attacks followed a High Court ruling on Dec 31, that Catholic weekly Herald had the constitutional rights to use the word 'Allah' to describe the Christian God in their Bahasa Malaysia section. - Bernama

And more:

New cases of attempted arson and vandalism

being probed

Reports by LOURDES CHARLES, IZATUN SHARI, RASLAN BAHAROM and MARTIN CAVARLHO

Police inspect the damage on the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Petaling Jaya outside Kuala Lumpur January 9, 2010. Arsonists in Malaysia struck another church on Saturday, bringing the attacks on churches to four in two days as a row escalates over the use of the word Allah to refer to the Christian God. REUTERS/Stringer

TAIPING: Two cases of attempted arson were reported involving the All-Saints’ Church at Jalan Taming Sari and SMK Convent along Jalan Convent here, while in Malacca, black paint was splashed on the outer wall of the Malacca Baptist Church in Durian Daun.
The staircase leading to the 122-year-old All-Saints’ Church – the oldest Anglican church in the country – was slightly burned while the Molotov cocktail thrown into the school failed to explode.
Meanwhile, in Miri, police were probing the minor vandalism of a church near Lutong after work ers found two broken windows yesterday.
Miri police chief ACP Jamaluddin Ibrahim said he believed this was not linked to the arson attacks against several churches in the peninsula.
In Bukit Mertajam, a car belonging to a 40-year-old pastor in Bukit Tengah was splashed with red paint by vandals. State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said the incident was isolated and not related to the arson attacks.
All-Saints’ Church pastor Rev Joshua Ong told reporters he saw burn marks at the church entrance and side porch when he was opening the premises at 7am in preparation for its service yesterday.

Police officers inspect damage at the All Saints Church in Taiping of Perak state, Malaysia, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Firebombs were thrown at two more churches in Malaysia early Sunday, the latest in a series of assaults on Christian houses of worship following a court decision that allows non-Muslims to use 'Allah' to refer to God.
(AP Photo)
Two broken bottles, believed to be home-made Molotov cocktails, were seen near the spots.
At the school, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at about 3am into the guardhouse, located at the school compound adjacent to the Taiping Catholic Church.
Perak CPO Deputy Comm Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah said police had beefed up security at places of worship in the state and urged the people to remain calm.
In Malacca, police were investigating the black paint incident following a report lodged at the Melaka Tengah district police station.

Black paint is seen on the wall of Malacca Baptist Church as police investigators inspect in Malacca, south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Firebombs were thrown at two more churches in Malaysia early Sunday, while another church was splashed with black paint in the latest in a series of assaults on Christian houses of worship following a court decision allowing non-Muslims to use 'Allah' to refer to God.
(AP Photo)
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the two arson attacks and vandalism were being investigated thoroughly.
“I assure the public that we have increased our presence at churches and mosques as well as other places of worship and will do everything within our means to bring to book those responsible.”
Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar who visited the Assumption Church in Jalan Templer, Petaling Jaya, urged the public not to aggravate the situation by listening to rumours.
Assumption Church parish priest Father Philip Muthu appealed to all Malaysians not to politicise the attack and refrain from attending a candle light vigil planned on Wednesda

The Allah question in brief and the situation now

2010-01-08T11:26:00.004+08:00

Some of you might have heard in the news about the happenings in Malaysia. In short, the native language of a large number of indigenous Christians is Malay which, as a majority of the Malays of the Muslim faith, has a lot of Arabic words. In the Bibles of the Malay language used by these native Christians (as early as the 1800's), the title Lord God is rendered as Tuhan Allah. And Allah is frequently used to refer to God the Father.

Allah as you all know is the name of the god of the Muslims. And my position on the equivalence of the Muslim and Christian God is pretty clear. There is none and though the words are the same, when a Christian uses Allah, and a Muslim uses Allah, they refer to different entities. Please refer to my post, "There is only one God and Jesus is His Son" for more details.

Anyway, this longstanding use of Allah was recently forbidden in the Catholic Herald, a weekly publication which also appears in the Malay language. Non adherence was threatened with a revocation of the publication permit. So the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, as the publisher of the Herald, challenged this decision in court and, the legal and historical facts being presented, won the case.

Ignorant of these facts, the majority of Muslims think that the Christians are only now beginning to use Allah to refer to God and think this will confuse Muslims and are madly and irrationally angry, as Muslims often get. And so, things like the burning of Churches occur. May protest marches are also being planned. But the majority of the people have no clue of what is actually going on or what the issue is.

D0 pray for us in Malaysia and may the Lord Jesus return soon. Maranatha.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/48906-pj-catholic-church-attacked

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Fire attack fails in PJ church

By Debra Chong

PETALING JAYA, Jan 8 — A Catholic church next to the Assunta Hospital here came under attack early this morning, just hours after another church in nearby Kuala Lumpur was torched.

Roman Catholic church officials said some homemade explosives were lobbed into the Church of the Assumption in Jalan Templar at about 4am.

“It did not explode,” said Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of Catholic paper Herald.

Lawrence was himself informed of the incident through a text message sent out by Assumption parish priest Father Phillips Muthu.

“Someone threw homemade kerosene explosives into Assumption Church, Jalan Templar, Petaling Jaya at 4am. Am going to Police later. Earlier the Metro Tabernacle was burned in Desa Melawati, media has filed story,” said the message forwarded toThe Malaysian Insider.

This is the second such reported attack on a church in the last 12 hours.

A Protestant church, Metro Tabernacle in leafy Desa Melawati, was torched at around midnight.

The fire took out the church's administrative office, which is housed on the ground floor of its three-storey premises.

Eyewitnesses recounted seeing several people on motorcycles stopping in front of the church and smashing the glass windows to pour flammable liquid and igniting the blaze.

Church officials have reported the attack to the police.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Mohamad Sabtu Osman said it was too early to link the attack on the church to Muslim protests over a High Court ruling allowing the weekly Herald to publish the word “Allah” to refer to God in the Christian context.

“'We are still investigating,”' he is reported to have said.

Mohamad Sabtu also warned Muslims not to take part in planned protests at several mosques in the Klang Valley after Friday prayers.

The mercury is expected to rise and all fire stations have been put on the alert.

The police have also tightened their nightly patrols around churches in the past week following the High Court ruling on Dec 31.

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/48874-kl-church-torched-

KL church torched

Policemen at the scene after the fire. - Picture courtesy of Metro Tabernacle

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 — A city church in the leafy Desa Melawati suburb was set on fire at midnight as police warned angry Muslim groups not to protest a controversial ruling allowing Catholic weekly Herald to use “Allah” in its national language section.

The attack on the Metro Tabernacle A/G, an Assemblies of God church in Jalan 4/4C Desa Melawati, completely gutted its administrative office on the ground floor. There were no reported injuries in the midnight attack.

Police have yet to identify the attackers and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack which could be related to anger over the Dec 31 court ruling. The judgment has been suspended pending government appeal.

According to an eyewitness who had just finished a drink at a coffeeshop located directly across the church, three or four persons on two motorcycles stopped in front of the church.

"They proceeded to break the glass panels on the ground floor before pouring some flammable liquid and setting off a fire," said a statement issued by the church.

The church is housed in a three-storey shoplot with the office on the ground floor. Church officials have lodged a police report over the incident.

Earlier in the night, the judiciary website was defaced and later taken offline.

The Metro Tabernacle is not affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church which had challenged a 2007 order to stop using “Allah” to describe the Christian God in the Herald's Bahasa Malaysia section.

The Herald is tightly circulated among the mainly Muslim country's estimated 850,000 Catholics who worship in English, Mandarin, Tamil and Bahasa Malaysia.

The Roman Catholic Church had agreed not to object to suspend the judgment out of "national interests" as Muslim groups objected to the ruling and threatened to protest.

The groups have organised protests after Friday prayers at two mosques in Kuala Lumpur today despite police orders not to proceed.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his cousin Home Minister Datuk Hishamuddin Hussein have backed the right to protest within mosque grounds to the chagrin of many who have been previously detained at opposition gatherings.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur police chief Mohamad Sabtu Osman said it was premature to link the attack on the church to the protests over the Allah ban.

''We are still investigating,'' he told the Associated Press. He also urged Muslims not to participate in the planned protests, adding that police would be stationed at mosques to monitor the situation.

Police limit gatherings in public to five people and usually take tough action, including using tear gas and chemically-laced water from water cannons, to disperse protests.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010 to all

2009-12-31T16:59:00.001+08:00

Requiem aeternam

2009-11-10T11:17:00.001+08:00

In your charity, please pray for the soul of my mother, Marie Tan, who passed away just now after a battle with cancer. Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine on her. May her soul rest in peace, Amen.

Our God is an awesome God!

2009-10-29T17:14:00.002+08:00

I had been feeling rather down and frustrated, sad and disappointed, hurt and betrayed. And to add to the frustration, it began to rain just as I was leaving the office. Not good, if you're riding a bike and trying to avoid hastening The End. As I was wallowing, suddenly I hear sirens and then came a police escort clearing the way through heavy traffic for a convoy of superbikes. And I promptly joined in =) It was nice, the heavy traffic parting for you and you kinda just cruise. LOL. Fun.

Almost 7 years I've been riding my bike on the long journey to and from work, but this is the first time God has given me the VIP treatment and in a moment when I most needed it, needed to feel His embrace and his Presence to confirm me in the decisions I've taken. Truly our God is a humorous and loving Father, who reaches out to His servants in their moment of need, showing His care and unfailing love. And oh, the rain stopped too after a while and I wasn't even wet.

Our God is an awesome God and greatly to be praised!

Thanks Lord for Your sign. I know what I must do, though it saddens me greatly to do it, I know when to call it quits and to surrender what you've given me and put into my charge back to You who are Father of us all. Thy will be done always, now and forever more.

The Miracle of the Sun

2009-10-13T16:49:00.000+08:00

As promised, the 2nd part of the post on the apparitions at Fatima. This post concerns the eye witness accounts and descriptions of the Miracle of the Sun which was predicted by the visionaries after the Blessed Virgin revealed it to them and witnessed by a crowd of thousands.

Modified from Wikipedia.

The Miracle of the Sun is a miraculous event that was witnessed by as many as 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal^[1].

According to many witness statements, after a downfall of rain, the clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky^[2]. It was said to be significantly less bright than normal, and cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds^[2]. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern^[2], frightening some of those present who thought it meant the end of the world^[3]. Witnesses reported that the ground and their previously wet clothes became completely dry^[4].

Estimates of the number of witnesses range from "thirty to forty thousand" by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século^[5], to one hundred thousand, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University^[6], both of whom were present that day^[7].

The miracle was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fatima, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children in 1917, as having been predicted in advance by the three children on 13 July ^[8], 19 August ^[9], and 13 September ^[10] 1917. The children reported that the Lady had promised them that at mid-day on 13 October in the Cova da Iria the Lady would reveal her identity to the children^[11] and provide a miracle "so that all may believe."^[12]

According to witness reports, the miracle of the sun lasted approximately ten minutes^[13]. The three shepherd children, in addition to reporting seeing the actions of the sun that day^[14], also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people^[15].

The most widely-cited descriptions of the events reported at Fatima are taken from the writings of John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher. De Marchi spent seven years in Fatima, from 1943 to 1950, conducting original research and interviewing the principals at undisturbed length^[16]. In The Immaculate Heart, published in 1952, De Marchi reports that, "[t]heir ranks (those present on 13 October) included believers and non-believers, pious old ladies and scoffing young men. Hundreds, from these mixed categories, have given formal testimony. Reports do vary; impressions are in minor details confused, but none to our knowledge has directly denied the visible prodigy of the sun."^[17]

A photostatic copy of a page from Ilustracao Portugueza, October 29, 1917, showing the crowd looking at the Miracle of the Sun during the Fatima apparitions.

Some of the witness statements follow below. They are taken from John De Marchi's several books on the matter.

"Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws — the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people." ― Avelino de Almeida^[18], writing for O Século (Portugal's most widely-circulated^[19] and influential newspaper, which was pro-government and anti-clerical at the time^[18] Almeida's previous articles had been to satirize the previously reported events at Fatima)^[20]. However, Almeida had not abandoned the Catholic faith^[21].

"The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat." ― Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem^[22].

"…The silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy grey light, was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds… The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands… people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they." ― Reporter for the Lisbon newspaper O Dia^[23].

"The sun's disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl, when suddenly a clamor was heard from all the people. The sun, whirling, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible." ― Dr. Almeida Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University^[24].

"As if like a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched apart, and the sun at its zenith appeared in all its splendor. It began to revolve vertiginously on its axis, like the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multi-colored flashes of light, producing the most astounding effect. This sublime and incomparable spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times, lasted for about ten minutes. The immense multitude, overcome by the evidence of such a tremendous prodigy, threw themselves on their knees." ― Dr. Formigão, a professor at the seminary at Santarem, and a priest^[24].

"I feel incapable of describing what I saw. I looked fixedly at the sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt my eyes. Looking like a ball of snow, revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zig-zag, menacing the earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself among the people, who were weeping and expecting the end of the world at any moment." ― Rev. Joaquim Lourenco, describing his boyhood experience in Alburitel, eighteen kilometers from Fatima^[25].

"On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the predictions of the children, I was enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it from this veranda…” ― Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira^[26].

While De Marchi's states that "Reports do vary; impressions are in minor details confused", Kevin McClure states that he had never seen such a collection of contradictory accounts of a case in any of the research he had done in the previous ten years^[27].

No scientific accounts exist of any unusual solar or astronomic activity during the time the sun was reported to have "danced", and there are no witness reports of any unusual solar phenomenon further than forty miles out from Cova da Iria^[28].

It has been alleged that the fact that an unspecified "miracle" had been predicted in advance, the abrupt beginning and end of the alleged miracle of the sun, the varied nature of the observers as including both skeptics and believers alike, the sheer numbers of people present, and the lack of any causative factor, all reasonably preclude the theory of a mass hallucination^[29]. That the activity of the sun was reported as visible by those up to 18 kilometers away, also precludes the theory of a collective hallucination or mass hysteria^[29].

Visionaries claimed that the apparition now known as Our Lady of Fatima had promised in July, August, and September, that a miracle would occur on 13 October 1917 "so that all may believe". Pio Scatizzi, S.J. describes events of Fatima and concludes

The ... solar phenomena were not observed in any observatory. Impossible that they should escape notice of so many astronomers and indeed the other inhabitants of the hemisphere… there is no question of an astronomical or meteorological event phenomenon …Either all the observers in Fatima were collectively deceived and erred in their testimony, or we must suppose an extra-natural intervention^[30].

This miraculous even was not confined in time and space as Pope Pius XII himself witnessed the miracle of the sun from the Vatican gardens in a heavenly confirmation of the momentous decision he had made in proclaiming a dogma ex cathedra.^[41].

Here's what Time magazine has to say:

Millions of Roman Catholics revere a spot near Fátima, in Portugal, as the scene of a miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary. In Fátima last week stood Federico Cardinal Tedeschini, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. To gathered pilgrims he brought momentous news.

On three successive days, Oct. 30, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 1950, said the Cardinal, the miraculous vision of Fátima was repeated for Pope Pius XII: "The Holy Father turned his gaze from the Vatican gardens toward the sun, and there was renewed for his eyes the miracle of this valley." Nov. 1 was the day the Pope proclaimed the dogma of the bodily ascension of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.

The Apparition of Our Lady in Fatima

2009-10-13T15:04:00.000+08:00

The Fatima Visionaries, Jacinta and Franciso Marto and Lucia Santos

The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima is around the corner and this year marks the 90th anniversary of the final apparition on the 13th of October 1917. My parish will be celebrating with rosary before Mass and procession and Benediction after.

To honour the event, here's the first part of an article on the Marian apparition at Fatima from the 13th of May through to the final apparition on the 13th of October which also witnessed the Miracle of the Sun, seen by crowds estimated from between 40,000 to 100,000 people comprising believers, skeptics, atheists, communists and the like. The article is written in an easy and readable style. For a more scholarly description, please click here.

The 2nd part, recounting the Miracle of the Sun will be posted tomorrow.

THE STORY OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA

Brother Ernest, C.S.C.

Imprimatur
Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D.
Bishop of Fort Wayne
1957

On a hot May day in 1917, three little shepherds were watching their sheep in a hollow in the mountains of Portugal called Cova da Iria. The sky above them was a clear blue. Not the smallest cloud could be seen anywhere. The sun beat straight down, for it was noon. Then a familiar sound was heard. The bell in the village church was ringing for the Angelus.

Location of Fatima

Lucia Santos (age 10, pictured in the middle) and her two cousins: Francisco (age 9) and Jacinta Marto (age 7) holding their rosaries. Fatima, Portugal 1917 A.D.

The three children: Jacinta, a girl of seven; Francisco, her brother, a lad of nine; and Lucia, a girl of ten, at once knelt and began to say the rosary together.

But this was such a beautiful day, and the children did not want to take the time to say the rosary as they should. So they simply said: “Our Father, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Glory be.” Then they were ready for the first decade. It took them just about two minutes to finish the whole rosary in this new style!

Suddenly, there was a great flash of light, brighter than lightning. The children looked up and all around them.

“Might be a big storm coming. Let’s get the sheep together and go home,” said Francisco. The girls agreed, and soon they and the sheep were scampering down the slope towards home. When they reached the foot of the hill they saw a second great flash. It was brighter than the first. They stopped; very much afraid.

“Look!” said Lucia, pointing toward a little oak tree.

There they saw a beautiful young lady. She was dressed in a white gown, gathered together at the neck by a gold cord. Over her head draped a fine white veil. The children were about to run when they heard a sweet voice say: “Be not afraid! I am not going to hurt you.”

Then the shepherds drew near. They noticed the lovely lady had her hands joined as in prayer, and a pearl rosary fell from her fingers.

“Where did you come from?” Asked Lucia.

“I came from heaven.”

Our Lady of Fatima, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary

“And why did you come here?”

“I came to ask you to come here for six successive months, on the thirteenth of each month, at this same time. In October I shall tell you who I am and what it is I wish.”

Lucia then asked the lady if they would go to heaven. They were happy when she told them they would.

“Children, always say the rosary with devotion.” said the lady, and then she left them.

“We must not tell anyone about the lady. No one will believe us.” Said Lucia.

To this the others agreed. Then they got their sheep together and went home, even though it was much too early.

Our Lady's words to Jacinta Marto shortly before the little seer died:

"More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason."

and

"Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Divine Lord very much."

But Jacinta thought her mother would punish her for coming home, so she told about the lady!

“You are lying to me!” Shouted the mother.

Mrs. Marto, Jacinta’s mother, ran at once to Lucia’s home and reported all the children had told her. Lucia had not said a word to her mother, who seemed stunned at the story.

“Tell me, Lucia, are my children lying?”

“No, they are not. It’s all true!”

“Don’t you say another word about this, Lucia,” said her mother as she ran out the door.

Lucia’s mother, Maria, hurried to the pastor and told him the story. He tried to calm her, but the woman insisted her daughter was lying to her. She then hurried home and gave Lucia a sound thrashing. But that did not change Lucia’s mind.

The Three Children made Heroic Sacrifices and
Penances to Help Save Poor Souls from going to Hell.

June 13 was a fair day, but the children did not care about that. It was the day the lady promised to come to see them again, and so they went to the appointed spot. There were about sixty other people waiting.

The children knelt down and began to say the rosary. When it was finished, they stood and brushed the dust from their clothes.”The lady is coming!” cried Lucia and ran down the hill to the little oak. The others followed.

Yes, it was the lady. She was dressed just the same, and she seemed pleased to see them.

“What do you want me to do?” begged Lucia.

Lucia Santos became a Carmelite nun and devoted her entire life to spreading Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as Our Lady of Fatima requested.

“I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month; to recite the rosary every day.” Then she added something the children had never heard before. “After the Gloria Patri of each decade, you will say, ‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins! Deliver us from the fires of hell! Have pity on the souls in purgatory, especially the most abandoned’.”

“I want to ask you to take us to heaven,” said Lucia pleadingly.

“Francisco and Jacinta I will soon take. You must remain. Jesus wants you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”

Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco at the Cova da Iria

On July 13, the children were again waiting for the lady. This time there were about five thousand others waiting too. The lady told the children that she would work a great miracle in October so that all would believe she had appeared there. She also showed them a vision of hell, and it was so terrible that the children said they would have died of fear if the lady had not told them they were to go to heaven.

The Terrifying Vision of Hell

Our Lady told the Children, "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: `O Jesus, it is for Thy love, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Lucia Santos then narrates what happened next:

“She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear."

Our Lady then gravely spoke these words:

"You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace... But if they do not stop offending God... He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."

Our Lady of Fatima showed the Children a Horrific Vision of the Souls of the Damned in Hell being Tormented by Frightful Demons

Picture of the three children of Fatima,
immediately after seeing the vision of Hell.

Our Lady [right after the vision] said to the Children:

"... if [people] do not stop offending God... He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."

Sister Lucia tells Fr. Fuentes in an 1957
interview, that we are in the last times:

Sister Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 1957:

"... she [The Blessed Virgin] told me that the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility."

“If people do what I tell you, many will be saved, and peace will come. I promise to help at the hour of death with the graces for their salvation, those who on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess and receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on one or more mysteries of the rosary with the intention of making reparation to me,” said the beautiful lady as she began to glide away toward the east.

Now the administrator of the town began to turn against the children. He was not a good man. He had no use for religion or the Church. He made the parents of Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco bring them to court. There he tried his best to make them tell him a secret the lady had told each of them when she appeared to them in July.

When they would not tell him, he got very angry and sent them away!

But on the morning of August 13, Arturo, the Administrator, came to the Marto cottage in a fine carriage.

“I want you to ride with me to the miracle,” Arturo said, trying to be pleasant.

“We can very easily walk,” Lucia told him.

Francisco Marto 1908-1919 (pictured in the middle) said: "How beautiful God is, how beautiful!

But He is sad because of the sins of men. I want to console Him, I want to suffer for love of Him."

“You must stop at the priest’s house first, and you will be late for the lady unless you ride with me,” Arturo insisted.

The children finally accepted the ride, and they all set out for the priest’s house.

When they were finished there and were back in the carriage, the Administrator drove off with them to his home instead of to the Cova!

Once the ugly man had the children in his own house he told them he would have them boiled in a vat of oil. He called the jailer to take Jacinta first. And after a few minutes he came back and asked who would be next. It was then Francisco’s turn. That left Lucia alone.

“I’ll never tell you,” said Lucia.

“Away with her!” shouted Arturo.

Lucia was shoved into an empty room. But there, kneeling in prayer, were little Jacinta and Francisco! They had not been boiled as the jailer said they had!

On August 15, the children were back home, safe and sound. They had been kept away over the thirteenth so they could not see the lady on that day. But they still believed in her. After Mass on the Sunday following, Lucia, Francisco and his brother John took the sheep out to the pasture. Suddenly Lucia felt the lady was coming. She sent John in haste to get Jacinta. Scarcely had she arrived then the lady appeared.

“Go to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of next month. Pray very hard. Make many sacrifices for sinners.” Then the lady was gone.

On September 13, 1917 A.D. 30,000 people came to the Cova to see what would occur. One month later,
on October 13th, more than twice as many (70,000) would assemble to view a promised miracle.

On September 13, more than 30,000 people were crowded into the Cova to see what would happen. Suddenly a white globe was seen moving through the sky toward them. Then a thin white vapor began to form above the little oak, and white flowers began to fall from the clear blue sky. The lady appeared to the children. All saw Lucia’s lips move, but no one heard a word she said!

Tomorrow, the story continues with the miracle of the Sun, witnessed by an estimated crowd of 40,000 to 100,000 people. Stay tuned.

Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the Visionaries of Fatima

2009-10-13T14:42:00.000+08:00

In the Jubilee year, the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco, the two little shepherds of Fatima, Portugal, was a landmark event. These two children, aged 10 and 11, are the youngest non-martyrs ever to be beatified in the history of the Catholic Church, proving that no matter how young you are, you can still become a saint.

Francisco Marto was born in Fatima, Portugal, on June 11, 1908, and his sister Jacinta was born on March 11th, 1910. The brother and sister were not much alike; Francisco had a calm personality and loved nature and music, while Jacinta was more active and playful.

The house of Francisco and Jacinta Marto

Beginning at a young age, the two children accompanied their cousin Lucia Santo to the fields each day to watch the families' sheep. One day in 1916, they saw an Angel, who told them he was the angel of peace and the guardian angel of Portugal. The angel taught the amazed children a prayer to say in reparation for sins: "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!" The angel appeared to the children three times in all, reminding them to pray and make sacrifices. During the third visit, the angel appeared holding a chalice and a host, and taught them another prayer: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners." He gave Lucia, who was the only one who had made her first Communion, the host, and gave Jacinta and Francisco the blood in the chalice to drink. These apparitions filled the children with a sense of peace and the presence of God, preparing them for the apparitions of Mary which were soon to take place.

The first apparition of Our Lady took place on May 13, 1817, an event which would change their lives forever. In this first of the several apparitions at Fatima, Our Lady asked the children to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices, offering them for the conversion of sinners.

Seven-year-old Jacinta especially took this request very seriously, even though it had earlier been her idea to save time in reciting the Rosary by only saying the first two words of every prayer! She was particularly struck by the Blessed Virgin's request to pray for sinners, especially after seeing the vision of Hell which Mary showed to the three children.

Francisco was affected by the vision in a different way; he saw how sad Jesus and Mary were, and how much they were offended by sins, and his great desire was to console them. The children began to make sacrifices for sinners, and in reparation for the sins which wounded the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sometimes they gave their lunch to beggars, going without food themselves; they refrained from drinking water on hot days; they offered up their daily crosses; they wore little ropes around their waist until Our Lady told them not to; they prayed often, alone, or together.

In October of 1918, Francisco and Jacinta became seriously ill with the Spanish flu. Our Lady appeared to the two children and told them she was coming soon to take them to Heaven: Francisco first, and then Jacinta later.

Francisco, who had longed for Heaven, was thrilled at the thought of being able to see Jesus and Mary forever. In his last illness, he continually made the sacrifice of taking any medicine or food which was given him, no matter whether he liked it or not, without complaining. As his illness progressed, he could no longer say his prayers out loud, but he continued to pray "with his heart." At Francisco's request, the parish priest came to give him his first Communion, which he had not yet received. It would be his last Communion - Francisco died peacefully the next day, April 14, 1919.The room where Francisco Marto died.

Poor little Jacinta, who was still extremely ill, missed her brother greatly. At the same time, she was suffering from an abcess on her chest. Despite her sufferings, she continued to make sacrifices and offer her pain to God for her dearest intention - the conversion of sinners. She was ready to suffer anything to save souls from Hell. Eventually Jacinta was transferred to a hospital in Lisbon, but her condition did not improve, despite a painful operation. Our Lady continued to console Jacinta with her presence, and on February 20, 1920, the little girl died in the hospital, attended only by a nurse.

Jacinta's bedroom

The lives of Jacinta and Francisco teach us that even young children can become saints. In 1999, the Vatican accepted a miracle for the beatification of the two children. They were beatified on May 13th, 2000, the 83rd anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima.

The tombs of Francisco (above) and Jacinta (below) in the Basilica at Fatima.

Blessed Jacinta and Francisco, PRAY FOR US!
Source.

Lucia de Jesus dos Santos was born in Aljustrel, a village in the parish of Fátima, Portugal, on March 22, 1907, and baptized a few days later on March 30. Her parents were Antonio and Maria Rosa dos Santos. She was the youngest of seven children, six girls and a boy. At age 6 she received her First Holy Communion. By 8 she was occupied with the tending of the family's sheep, accompanied by other boys and girls of the village.

The home of Lucia

It was while in the company of her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marti, that the first heavenly apparition occurred, that of the Angel of Portugal come to prepare the young trio for their mission and for an even greater visitor.

Lucia was 10 years old when on May 13, 1917, while tending the sheep in the Cova de Iria, a woman, who later identified herself as the Blessed Virgin Mary, appeared to the children. The apparition would continue monthly on the 13th of the month until October 1917 (save August, when imprisonment by the anti-clerical authorities prevented it). During each month's apparition, the Virgin encouraged prayer, especially the rosary, and sacrifice. She also communicated certain prophecies of the future (the end of World War I, the rise of error in Russia (communism) and its propagation throughout the world, the annihilation of nations, another war preceded by a heavenly sign if men did not convert, and the suffering and persecution of the good, especially the Holy Father).

On Oct. 13, 1930, the bishop of Leiria-Fátima, José Alves Correia da Silva, declared the apparitions of Fátima worthy of credibility and allowed public devotion to the Virgin under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima.

After the prophesied death of Jacinta and Francisco, during the flu pandemic of 1919, Lucia alone remained to carry on the mission assigned by the "woman from heaven." At 14 she was admitted as a boarder to the school of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Vilar, near Oporto in the north of Portugal. On Oct. 24, 1925, she entered the Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothy as a postulant in the convent in Tuy, Spain, not far from the Portuguese border. During these years she would continue to receive private revelations explanatory of the message of Fátima. She made her first vows on Oct. 3, 1928, and her perpetual vows on Oct. 3, 1934, receiving the name Sister Mary of the Sorrowful Mother.

In 1946, seeking a more contemplative life, Lucia entered the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra, where she made her profession as a Discalced Carmelite on May 31, 1949. She took the name Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.

In 1967, Sister Lucia traveled to Fatima to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the apparitions, presided over by Pope Paul VI. She went again in 1982, when Paul John Paul II came to the Shrine on 13 May to give thanks for the saving of his life during the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, and again when the Pope came there in 1991, and finally in 2000, to beatify Jacinta and Francisco.

Over the years Sr. Lucia would write two books, Memoirs, recounting the events of Fatima in her own words, and Calls from the Message of Fatima, giving answers to the many questions about living the message of Fátima, which she has been asked over the years.

In the second apparition, that of June 13, Lucia asked the Lady, "Will you take us to heaven?" The Virgin responded,

Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart.
Sr. Lucia with Pope John Paul II
That mission came to an end on February 13, 2005, when after weeks of weakness Sr. Maria Lucia succumbed to the infirmities of old age. Her funeral Mass at the cathedral of Coimbra was presided over by the city's bishop, Most Reverend Antonio Cleto. She will lie in rest at the convent where she spent so many years, until a place is prepared for her body at the Basilica in Fátima, where Francisco and Jacinta are entombed.
Source.

The Basilica of Fatima

2009-10-13T09:07:00.000+08:00

In this last post in the series commemorating the apparition of Our Lady in Fatima, I'm presenting some images of the Basilica and the surroundings of the Cova in Fatima.

An aerial view of the Basilica. The sward of green directly opposite the basilica no longer exists, being replaced by a squat, roundish new building which seats 9000 people.

The exterior of the Basilica. Pilgrims often walk the last few hundred metres on their knees in a sign of reparation for their sins.

Trendy folks and priests are not above showing a little humility either.

The interior of the Basilica. It does not look that large, from the inside.

The apse and the high altar, with a mosaic depicting the apparition.

The relief in the half dome of the apse shows the coronation of Our Lady in Heaven.

The sanctuary crucifix.

There's some nice stained glass too. I like the kids, the look so rustic and peasanty, so very authentic.

The tombs of Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto also lie inside the Basilica.

The Chapel of the Apparition is build directly over the spot of Our Lady's apparition to the children. Her statue on a raised pedestal marks the location of her appearance. The structure is the first one build at the site.

And finally, an image of a candle light procession in front of the Basilica.

Pray for the victims of the Earthquake in Indonesia

2009-10-07T16:52:00.001+08:00

A man prays in front of a statue of Mary in a Catholic church which was affected by the earthquake on Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 in Padang, Indonesia. With no outside help in sight, villagers used their bare hands Sunday to dig out rotting corpses, four days after landslides triggered by a huge earthquake obliterated four hamlets in western Indonesia. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Pig in a dress

2009-10-05T15:20:00.003+08:00

A pig in a dress is still a pig in a dress. A heap of snow covered dung is still a heap of snow covered dung. Sometimes and maybe even oftentimes, we will not realize that it's a heap of dung. Many unsuspecting passers by pass unknowingly. We might be fooled into thinking that it's all snow, white and pure. But underneath, it's a mass of rotting corruption, a cesspool of filth just waiting to break forth, revealing it's true nature to the world. Though the snow may cover it, may mask it's sight and smell, may hide the rot, it's all still there, just beneath the surface. That's the true nature of shit.

And that's the true nature of some people as well. They may wear masks that allow them to fool others, and sometimes, fool even themselves. But it's just a mask and they just pretending to be something they are not. One cannot wear a mask forever, nor fool everyone all the time. Some people some of the time? Maybe. But not everyone all the time. Because ultimately, water tends to find it's own level and their true colours will show. Sometimes, I wonder which is the mask, and which is the true nature of a person, the snow of the dung? Which lies at the heart? I've thought that the whiffs malodorous pong emanating from the heap originated from further upwind. Maybe someone has defecated on the snow? But in fact, it's a deep and vast pond of sewage, frozen over, for a season, in winter, which is soon to pass.

One day, the snow will melt away, revealing the shit beneath. Once seen and experienced, the memory of what truly lies beneath will remain, the sight and the smell, will forever remain etched in memory, so that no fresh cover of snow may again fool the mind. For underneath, the pristine pure whiteness, lies a pile of smelly shit. A pig in a dress is still a pig in a dress, no matter how beautiful the dress.

Still a pig.

Not fooling anyone.

The joy of the Lord is my strength

2009-10-01T15:34:00.003+08:00

Psalm 86:4
Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

It seems that the Pope has such a joy and radiance when he comes and prays before the Lord. Such a blessing. May we all take delight and and radiate such joy when we come before the Lord our God in prayer.

Philippians 2:29
Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him.

Psalm 19:8
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

Feast of St. Jacques Chastan and the Korean Martyrs

2009-09-24T17:33:00.003+08:00

Last Sunday, September 20th, was the Feast of the Korean Martyrs, among whom the Church numbers St. Jacques Chastan and St. Laurent Imbert. My parish of the Immaculate Conception has the privilege of having had St. Jacques Chastan as a parish priest.

The altar, decorated with an image of St. Chastan

Even though it was a Sunday, our parish decided to put up St. Chastan's picture at the altar for the people to venerate. We had intended to bring out his relics as well, which are kept in a side chapel, but they were bolted down. Anyway, here are images from the Mass as well as a write up on St. Chastan and his martyrdom. It's very inspiring, a priest who really laid down his life for his sheep. A fitting message as we celebrate the Year for Priests.

A follow up post on the new Shrine to St. Chastan will be coming soon.

"Bonus pastor ponit animam suam pro ovibus suis" -- The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep.

Censing the relics of St. Chastan at the beginning of Mass

A Brief History of the life St. Jacques Chastan and his martyrdom

The Vicariate Apostolic of Korea was formally established as of September 9, 1831, and the Paris Foreign Mission Society (M.E.P.) was asked to be in charge of spreading the faith in Korea. The first Vicar Apostolic of Korea was Bishop Barthélemy Bruguière. He unsuccessfully tried to enter Korea, and died in Mongolia on October 20, 1835. In 1836, Bishop Laurent Marie Joseph Imbert was named the second Vicar Apostolic of Korea. Bishop Imbert successfully crossed the Yalu River to enter this country on December 31, 1837, six years after the establishment of the Vicariate Apostolic of Korea in 1831. By 1838, Korea had a bishop, two priests and more than nine thousand Catholics.

Censing the image of St. Chastan at the altar

In 1839, however, those who didn’t like the Catholics came to power again. The fact that the French missionaries were in the country became known to the government, and a new persecution started throughout the country. Due to the severe persecution, the Catholic Church in Korea lost the bishop, the priests and many leading lay Catholics. The survivors again were forced to escape to the mountains. The three French missionaries including St. Jacques Chastan and St. Laurent Imbert, were beheaded in Saenamt’o on September 21, 1839, after severe tortures.

St. Jacques Honoré Chastan, M.E.P. - Pastor bonus, the good shepherd: a life lived for Christ and His Catholic Church
(Martyred Sept. 21, 1839)

Extracts of two letters.

1) " (...) In spite of the danger of death, the number of Christians multiplies daily. The harvest has not been less abundant this year than last year. I had about 1100 baptisms, my confrere 1400. I have received many consolation in this second pastoral visit: it has been for me and those poor spiritual children a great joy to meet once more. I found them better instructed in religion, more fervent in the service of the Lord, having kept quite faithfully the grace of the sacraments... I have to travel about 1500 km, mostly through places covered with snow, with ice, over the mountains. All this is little when we think of what Our Lord endured for our souls. How sweet it is to be able to suffer something in gratitude to His infinite love..."
(To his parents, October 3, 1838)
2) On August 23, 1839, the 2 French Missionaries received this note from their now-captured bishop, (Saint) Mgr. Imbert: "Bonus pastor ponit animam suam pro ovibus suis. Si nondum estis profecti per cymbam, venite cum misso Son Kie Tsong -- The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. If you haven’t yet left by boat, come with the envoy Son Kie Tsong."

The Shrine of St. Chastan inside the Church, with his reliquary

The bishop who, at first, was resolved to protect his two missionaries, finally gave in. Plunged in the frightening heart of Korean prisons, tortured, daily exposed to the sight the tortures endured by his three main catechists, this man so hard on himself had not been able to resist the spectacle of the tortures of his flock. At the end, this very rigorous apostolic Vicar of Korea took a decision which is exceptional in the history of the Church: to ask his 2 priests (all his clergy) to hand themselves over...

Soon after receiving this note, St Jacques wrote his last letter to his parents:

"My dearest parents, may the peace of Our dear Lord be with you...
In the last 15 years, this dear mission enjoyed a real tranquility rarely disturbed. The Christians who had been dispersed in the last persecution had been able to get together, since the arrival of the missionaries, there were jubilant, and the presence of His Excellency had fulfilled our desires. This joy did not remain long undisturbed since about 100 Christians were caught, their fortune taken, their bodies beaten, and worse, their souls having become the enemies of God by apostasy.

This year the devil has doubled his rage. The persecution much more cruel has in fact become much more glorious by the constancy of martyrs of all age, of both sexes, of all conditions. In the space of two months, 25 people got beheaded after undergoing long and awful torments. 5 others actually died in these torments of as a result of them. More than 150 persons, now in prison, await the same fate. A single word of apostasy could free them from these horrible prisons where they suffer a long martyrdom, but the grace of the Lord strengthens them so well that they accept with joy all these torments. How happy will they be if they persevere until the end.
For 4 months we have hidden ourselves thanks to some Christians, and we would have done it longer if a higher order had not obliged us to reveal ourselves. His Excellency, our bishop, judges that in our present circumstances, it is the duty of a good shepherd to give his life to save his sheep; he has himself given the example by delivering himself... A single victim will not suffice to the rage of the persecutors, they will have three. The order to hide has kept us in hiding, the order to manifest ourselves is as welcome as the first. In all things, the will of God, the fulfilment of his good pleasure. I have always loved you, always cherished you while on earth, be assured that I will never forget you if God grants me to enter Heaven through the door of martyrdom...

The statue of St. Chastan at his Shrine, garlanded with flowers
My dearest father, mother, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, as it is most probably the last time I have the honour to write you, deign accept my last farewell... I have to go, I can’t write any longer...
While waiting to see each other again in Heaven where I am going to prepare for you a place, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, love also the dear neighbor as yourselves and you will infallibly receive the happiness to find yourselves at our "rendezvous" in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary.
I have the honour to be in the tenderest bonds and in the most affectuous charity that a son can have for his father, mother, brothers, sisters, your most humble and devoted son.

Jacques
August 31, 1839.

Sources: "Mourir pour la Corée", Paris, 1996, pp. 230-1, 258-262

The relics of St. Chastan

Our Lady of Sorrows

2009-09-15T16:30:00.004+08:00

1. The Prophecy of Simeon, during the Presentation in the Temple, when Simeon foretold that a sword of sorrow would pierce Mary’s heart (Luke 2:22-37).

2. The Flight into Egypt, when Mary and Joseph took the new-born Jesus to the safety of Egypt to escape the massacre of the children in Bethlehem (Matthew 3:16-18).

3. The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days. When Jesus was 12 years old, he accompanied his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. After being missing for three days, his distraught parents found Jesus in the Temple discussing with the teachers of the Law (Luke 2:41-52)

4. Meeting Jesus on the Way to Calvary. A traditional scene, familiar from the Stations of the Cross, where Jesus meets his mother as he carries his Cross on the way to his crucifixion on Calvary. (Not mentioned in Scripture)

5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus. As the gospel of John tells us, the Mother of Jesus was present at the foot of the Cross and kept vigil with her Son as he died (John 19:25-27).

6. Jesus taken down from the Cross. Again, a traditional scene from the 13th Station of the Cross and also represented in art by the Pieta.

7. Jesus laid in the Tomb. This is recorded in all four gospels. The burial took place close to the place of Crucifixion because of the coming Sabbath day. It must have been a painfully sad moment for the Mother who must have believed this would be the very last time she would lay eyes on her Son (Matt 28:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-50)

Facebooked

2009-09-09T17:24:00.002+08:00

Apparently, I've been Facebooked. It seems that I have forgotten that I signed up years ago and did not activate my account. Got an email yesterday and when I clicked on the profile of someone I knew, I activated my account. All very sneaky, this. But anyway, I've been Facebooked, so if you'd like to add me, I can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=593855722&ref=mf

A Young Hero

2009-09-08T11:17:00.001+08:00

From theStar.

Boy risks life to save drowning girls
By STEPHEN THEN

BELAGA: The angelic smiles on the faces of half sisters Emai Joseph, five, and Catherine Ubong Ding, four, belie their recent near-death experience.
The two girls, who live at the Lepo Badeng settlement in the Kapit division, about 50km from Bakun, have their fellow villager 12-year-old Berine Sua Linggi to thank for their second chance at life after they fell into the Belaga River while playing on the bank on Aug 16.

Berine, who was walking along the riverbank with his friends, saw something floating in the water.

Miracle kids: Father Ding playing with Emai (second from right) while Catherine and Berine look on at the Lepo Badeng settlement in Sarawak.

“When I went closer, I realised there were two children in the river. I could see the back of their heads as they were being tossed around in the water.

“They were several metres from the river bank, floating about in a whirlpool of current.

“I shouted to my friends and jumped into the river, swimming as fast as I could. I then grabbed the two girls and pulled them to the shore,” he said, adding that he and his friends then ran back to the village for help.

Longhouse elder Francis Merang said when he found the two girls on the riverbank, they were not breathing and their bodies were cold.

“We rushed them in a car to the Sungai Asap clinic about 10 minutes away. An attendant at the clinic, Idin, then gave them emergency treatment.

“He turned their bodies around and pressed their bodies a few times before water rushed out from their mouths. The girls then started coughing,” said Merang.

He said when villagers tried to thank Idin, he said he was merely doing his job.

The Lepo Badeng settlement has a population of more than 1,000 Orang Ulus, mostly from the Kayan ethnic group.

Visting Catholic priest Reverend Father Sylvester Ding described the two girls as “miracle kids”, pointing out that Berine deserved a hero’s status for risking his life.

Emai is now back studying in her Kemas kindergarten class not far from Sungai Asap, while Berine has gone back to his school SK Long Gang Belaga, where he is in Primary Six.

Updates

2009-08-24T10:44:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Some happenings have kept me busy. My grandma has lost mobility and is bedridden, so it's been trying, as I'm working and the office is rather far away. Thank God for Good Samaritans who've been dropping by and giving a hand. Grandma has lost control of her bowels and her ability to walk due to repeated falls which have compressed the nerves in her spine. Do keep praying for her recovery.

My mother has been diagnosed with Stage III leukemia but her heart condition has prevented the chemo from starting. Do pray for her as well.

Pope falls and fractures wrist

2009-07-18T00:29:00.005+08:00

The Holy Father has had a fall in the bath and fractured his wrist which had to be operated on and put in a cast for a month. Do pray for the Vicar of Christ in his moment of infirmity. It must be very trying and uncomfortable, at his advanced age. May Our Blessed Mother, Health of the Sick, prayer for him and cover him under her mantle.

Police officers patrol outside the hospital in Aosta in northern Italy where Pope Benedict is being treated for a wrist fracture July 17, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

And in your charity, do keep my grandma in prayer as well. She also had a fall and broke her wrist on her birthday and had to be admitted. Birthdays are not good times for our family. I lost my wallet on my birthday and I'm still trying to get my documents and ATM cards in order. Anyway, her arm was in a cast for a month and half and it was a very trying time for her and for those who cared for her. She recently had 2 falls at home and is in pain from the lower back. Do keep her in your prayers.

Some photos of the Holy Father enjoying his vacation before his fall.

This recent picture released by the Vatican shows Pope Benedict XVI during his vacation at Les Combes, in the mountain resort of Val D'aosta. (Osservatore Romano)

Do keep the Holy Father, his caregivers, his doctors and the hospital staff in prayer too.

The Holy Father and Msgr. Gänswein

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI greets hospital staff as he leaves the Regional Hospital after a surgery on his right wrist, seen in a cast, in Aosta, northern Italy, Friday, July 17, 2009. Doctors said his right arm would be in a cast for a month. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

Doctor Amedeo Mancini, center, answers media questions after he operated on Pope Benedict XVI's right wrist, at the Regional Hospital in Aosta, Italy, Friday, July 17, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo (ITALY RELIGION HEALTH)

From the Vatican Information Service:

POPE SUCCESSFULLY OPERATED FOR WRIST FRACTURE

VATICAN CITY, 17 JUL 2009 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI underwent surgery at the Umberto Parini hospital in the Italian town of Aosta for a fracture to his right wrist. He had suffered a fall last night in his chalet at Les Combes in Valle d'Aosta where he is spending a brief holiday.

The Holy Father arrived at the hospital at 9:45 a.m. this morning. "Even so", declared Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi, "he celebrated Mass and had breakfast early this morning".

Later the Pope "underwent an operation to realign the fractured fragments and fasten them through osteosynthesis, using a local anaesthetic then applying a cast. The Holy Father's general condition is good" added the Pope's doctor Patrizio Polisca, specifying that "the Pope will return shortly to his residence".
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he leaves the Regional Hospital in Aosta, Italy, Friday, July 17, 2009, after surgery on his right wrist. The pope broke his right wrist during a late-night fall in his Alpine vacation chalet and will have to have his arm in a cast for a month while recovering from surgery, doctors said Friday.(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
The right arm of Pope Benedict is seen as he leaves the hospital in Aosta after being treated for a wrist fracture July 17, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo (ITALY RELIGION HEALTH)

The Pope begins his summer holidays

2009-07-14T22:19:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine just went to Rome a couple of days ago and attended the Sunday Angelus after hearing Mass (In Italian) at St. Peter's. But the Pope left soon after, trying to escape my friend, it seems.

Adam somewhere in the crowd?

From the Vatican Information Service:

HOLY FATHER BEGINS A BRIEF HOLIDAY IN VALLE D'AOSTA

VATICAN CITY, 13 JUL 2009 (VIS) - At 10.30 a.m. today, Benedict XVI left Rome by plane and, following an hour-long flight, arrived at Caselle airport in the northern Italian city of Turin. From there he travelled by helicopter to the residence of Les Combes in the region of Valle d'Aosta where he will spend a sixteen-day vacation.

As he did in 2005 and 2006, the Pope will stay in a chalet belonging to the Salesian Order, the same as that in which John Paul II often used to spend his holidays. The building, made of wood and stone, has two floors and is surrounded by a large garden. It stands at an altitude of 1200 meters and has views over Mont Blanc and other mountains on the French-Italian frontier as well as over the Italian-Swiss Alps.

The only two public ceremonies scheduled for the Pope's vacation are on Sunday 19 July and Sunday 26 July. On 19 July he will pray the Angelus at Piazza Ruggia in front of the parish church of Sts. Peter and Solutor at Romano Canavese in the diocese of Ivrea. On 26 July he will pray the Angelus in the residence of Les Combes.

Benedict XVI will stay at Les Combes - located some 20 kilometres from the city of Aosta within the municipality of Introd - until 29 July.

Following his vacation in Valle d'Aosta, the Pope will move to his summer residence of Castelgandolfo, 30 kilometres south of Rome, where he will remain until the end of September.

The Pope's next apostolic trip, the thirteenth since the start of his pontificate, will take him to the Czech Republic from 26 to 28 September.

Promining News? Reporters who entered church face charges of causing disharmony

2009-07-14T17:17:00.001+08:00

I'm not sure what will come of this, as I personally don't have much confidence in our police force in religious matters, but at least they are investigating. From the Star:

KUALA LUMPUR: Two local magazine reporters who wrote an article claiming they had entered a church that was converting Muslims into Christians can be jailed up to five years if found guilty of causing disharmony.

It is learnt that police have classified the case under Section 298A (1) of the Penal Code for causing disharmony, disunity or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will, or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity, on grounds of religion.

If convicted, the duo, both non-Christians who worked for Al-Islam which published the article in its May edition, could be jailed between two and five years.

Investigations commenced after a police report was lodged against the two men.

Federal Criminal Investigations Department director Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said police have so far recorded statements from at least four people, including church authorities, in connection with the article.

Police are expected to haul up the reporters soon.

Complainant Joachim Francis Xavier, 33, who lodged a report at the Patani Road police station, said the duo’s action in entering the premises with the intention to spy had angered many Catholics.

“The writers admitted in an article published in the May issue that the allegation turned out to be untrue. But we are deeply concerned that they had violated our privacy to worship freely,” he said.