Happy Birthday Dearest Mother!

We'll be having a Mass in the morning at Our Lady's Shrine.

CAVALLINI, Pietro (b. ca. 1250, Roma, d. 1330, Roma)
Nativity of the Virgin 1291
Mosaic
Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome

Pray for the kids

Do keep the kids from Standard 3 in your prayers as they begin their primary standard assessment exams (UPSR) today. My parish had a Mass which included a special blessing for the kids as they face this time of trial.

I remember the exams I took when I was younger. Even if you prepared well, it could still be rather terrifying. What more if you have no idea what you were doing.

Malaysian society, like many Asian societies, places great value on education and exams and their importance get blown all out of proportion. From personal experience, I can testify that a piece of paper can only get you so far. The rest is up to you. It's not that the paper is not important, but far more important is your attitude, your drive and your desire to learn, grow and improve.

The kids approached the Sanctuary and lighted their candles

The emphasis on education is a noble one, but oftentimes, it becomes a proxy war between parents who compare and contrast their kids with the Jones' or Lee's down the street. It thus becomes unhealthy for the children as learning, which is supposed to be fun, becomes a chore and people are put off by it, which is a real tragedy. And the poor students who are less academically inclined but have aptitudes in other fields. As the Singaporean movie "I not stupid' so poignantly portrayed, these kids are often lost in the woodwork as schools pursue academic excellence.

Something that sticks with me from my years in the Penang Free School is one of it's mottos coined by a bygone Headmaster, 'Academic brilliance is no substitute for poverty of character'.

Fr. Simon Labrooy, who said the Mass, blessed them with Holy Water after praying over them

But now, before I get too sidetracked, let us pray for the Standard 6 students who will start their exams tomorrow and the Form 3 students who will take their exams in the coming weeks. Our prayer is not that they will conjure up answers miraculously, especially those who paid no heed to anything their teachers have tried to teach them, but that the Lord may grant them wisdom, strength and serenity as they face this trial.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for them, ora pro eis!.

Celebrating 25 Years of God's Faithfulness

Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Selvarajoo

My former parish priest, Fr. Francis Xavier celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on the 31st of August of this year. However, since this was a Sunday, the grand Mass of Thanksgiving was held on Monday instead, which was a public holiday in Malaysia. The festivities took place at the Church of St. Anthony in Nibong Tebal of which Fr. Francis is the parish priest. He is also administrator of 2 other nearby parishes.

The Church was packed when we arrived. Fortunately, there were several seats reserved in the front for us outstation guests, thanks to the generosity of Fr. Francis and his parishioners who took the lesser seats and seats in under the canopies places outside the Church. The concelebrants and ministers made a grand entrance preceded by musicians playing the Indian trumpet and drums and bunga manggar bearers.



The Mass was said by His Lordship Antony Selvanayagam, the Bishop of Penang (below, left), His Grace Archbishop Emeritus Anthony Soter Fernandez of Kuala Lumpur (below, right), Fr. Francis Xavier, Msgr. William Sabang, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Kuching (above, centre) who was Fr. Francis' classmate in the seminary and many other priests including the Vicars General of Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca-Johore.






Msgr. James Gnanapragasam, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur delivered a magnificent homily, one of the best I've ever heard. It was one heck of a sermon, witty and scriptural. I was very impressed. We need priests like that in Penang. When he finished, spontaneous applause occurred, the first time I've ever seen a congregation clap for a sermon.



After the homily, Fr. Francis renewed his ordination vows before the Bishop.


Part of the seminarians and priests attending.


The presentation of the gifts, by Fr. Francis' relatives.


The nicely decorated altar. The rather good frontal is obscured by the beautiful floral arrangement.





As an exercise in inculturaturation, girls bearing incense, lighted candles and flowers paid homage to the Sacrament, reminiscent of the Hindu rites performed in a temple.







A closer look at the inculturation thingy during the Doxology.





After the Pater Noster, during the Sign of Peace, Fr. Francis exchanged the Sign of Peace with Archbishop Emeritus Soter Fernandez who ordained him to the Sacred Priesthood at the Church of Christ the King, Sungei Petani 25 years ago when he was Bishop of Penang, the last ordination he conferred before being elevated to the Archiepiscopal See of Kuala Lumpur.









After the Thanksgiving Prayer, some Indian dancers did a jig.





A song was dedicated to Fr. Francis by his parishioners and Fr. knelt as the congregation honoured and prayed for him in a gesture of humility.






The Grotto Fr. Francis built in Nibong Tebal soon after his transfer, all decked with flags for the Malaysian National Day celebrations.



A grand dinner was held in the hall of a Chinese school about 1Km down the road. The outstation guests, priests and Fr.'s family members were seated in places of honour. The locals graciously sat at the back of the hall.




The main table where the Bishop's and Vicars General were seated.


To cap off the celebrations, an anniversary cake was cut by Fr. Francis, Msgr. William Sabang and an unidentified person to commemorate this jubilee.

May God continue in His faithfulness to Fr. Francis Xavier and grant him continued guidance his ministry as a Teacher of the Word, Minister of the Sacraments and Leader of the Community. God has chosen Fr. Francis and he has said yes to God and offered the Lord the gift of self in obedience to His call. May Fr. Francis be granted many more years of service in the Lord's Vineyard and finally attain the rewards that God has promised after he has run the race.

Ad multos annos!

That's how one ought to receive a blessing

Betancourt tells Pope of "miracle" in the jungle

ROME (Reuters) - Freed French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt hugged Pope Benedict on Monday and told him how she was overcome with emotion when she heard him appeal for her freedom on a radio broadcast during her seven years of captivity in the jungle.

Betancourt, who was rescued by the Colombian military in July from the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was watery-eyed at a news conference where she described her private meeting with Benedict hours before.

"The audience with the pope was a dream for me, to meet a being of light, of humanity or a very high level of human understanding," said Betancourt, who spoke of her intimate one-on-one conversation with the Catholic Church head.

"I didn't follow protocol because as soon as I walked in I embraced the pope, and maybe you are not supposed to embrace the pope," she said of her meeting with him at his summer residence south of Rome.

The 46-year-old, seized by guerrillas while campaigning for Colombia's presidency, said Benedict became a direct source of hope when, after a typical day of forced marching through the jungle, she heard him speak on the radio.

"As soon as I switched the radio on, I heard the voice of the pope who was saying my name. You cannot imagine what this can mean to a person in my situation, a prisoner, to understand you have not been forgotten."

Pope Benedict made a number of appeals for her release and that of other hostages.
Although a Catholic, Betancourt said she had never read the Bible -- "a dusty old book" -- before her capture, but then had the time to read it "20,000 times" and now considered it a life guide. "There's an instruction manual for happiness and it's called the Bible," she said.


She told the pope how she had prayed for a miracle, asking God not to free her but to send her a sign of when she would be freed, something she felt was essential to save her from despair.

Soon after that, one of her captors told her some hostages may be released to a visiting group from an "international commission." Betancourt was among the hostages freed in an operation which was, in reality, conducted by the Colombian security forces.

"When I told the pope this, he replied: 'He heard you because you knew how to ask. You didn't ask for a miracle to be freed yourself, instead you asked to understand what was His will."'

When asked about her future plans, Betancourt did not rule out a return to politics in Colombia, but said her priority was to form a group of people to work for the liberation of other hostages there and around the world.
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Remembering Mother Teresa

From the Christian Post. Remembering Mother Teresa on the 98th anniversary of her birth (August 26th, 1910) and the upcoming anniversary of her death (Sept 5th, 1997).

Amid the increasing religious commotion in India’s Orissa state, Christians in the country commemorated the 98th birth anniversary of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa with prayers and petition for peace and harmony between the communities.

A special mass was held on Aug. 26 at the headquarters of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MC) in Kolkata, India, during which an appeal was made for prayers for suffering Christians in Orissa.

The Calcutta archdiocese's Father Michael Bhaju, who led the Mass, appealed to people to pray for peace in Orissa, where thousands have been forced to flee from their homes. He urged the nuns to keep their founder's memory alive by following her steps in love, reconciliation, truth and gentleness.

The occasion was attended by hundreds of people, many of them drawn from some of the city’s poorest communities, were the Roman Catholic nun had dedicated her life’s work.

A Catholic source noted that the chapel was filled with nuns, co-workers, volunteers, friends, reporters and television crews as usual, but elaborate decorations, gaiety and rejoicing were absent.

MC Sister Maria told the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News) that children from the nuns' Shishu Bhavan (home for children), who usually come all dressed in their best to sing and dance at Mother Teresa’s tomb, did not come this year because of "all the terrible trouble in Orissa."

Since the violence began late last month with the killing of a Hindu leader – which police blamed on Maoist rebels but Hindu activists blamed on Christian militants – at least 558 houses and 17 places of worship have been burned down, leaving nearly 40,000 people homeless as of Monday, according to the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.

At least one MC house was destroyed in the Orissa violence, a source at the headquarters confirmed.

Sister Nirmala Joshi, who heads the congregation, told UCA News on Aug. 26 that the congregation has "many sisters" in Orissa, but "so far they are all safe."

Mother Teresa, an Albanian Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship, was born on Aug. 26, 1910 and in 1950 founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, which today consists of over 450 brothers and 5,000 nuns and operates 600 missions, schools and shelters in over 120 countries.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work.

The Christian nun internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.”