Christmas Mass

Christmas Mass with family & friends at St. Teresa's Church.

Catholic Prayer: Morning Cry Unto the Lord

Praise the mighty name of Jesus. Jesus, thank you for giving me another day to just bless your holy name. You are the creator of all things. As I carry on with my day’s activities today let me be reminded of your creation. The simple things in life that I have come to take for granted, be it the clouds in the sky or the trees that I walk pass everyday. May these simple things in life remind me of you.

Today, Jesus I come to you as I am a sinner, a truly weak person when I try to live life with my own strength. The lures of the world are too enticing for me. I am weak O Lord. I need you today more than ever and I come to you as I am.

I give you O Lord the truth of my heart. I am feeling rather tired today. I was woken up to six in the morning and I wonder why? I do not have any morning appointment today and I could have slept until a later time. As I sit in the balcony of my home and praise your holy Name, at a distance I notice an eagle soaring in the sky. It reminds me that the eagle continues to soar every day of its life whether it feels like it or not, in season and out of season. This teaches me Lord that I’ve got to continue to depend on you and that indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my life everyday.

Lord Jesus I surrender my entire life into your hands are once again this morning. Take my life O Lord and remove all negativity, all tiredness and everything that hinders me from drawing myself closer and closer to you. Only you know what is good for me. Only you can offer me eternal life. Cultivate my entire being, O Lord, so that I’ll be able to inherit the home in heaven that you have prepared for me.

Fill me with the Holy Spirit once again. I want to be saturated with you from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Make a difference in my life again Holy Spirit. Come on the spirit come. Take charge, take control of my life. Only you can make me a whole. Do your work in the right now. I want to live a life led by the Holy Spirit. Thank you Holy Spirit. Thank you for filling me up and refreshing me again this morning. Amen.

Making a Different in Bandung, Indonesia

One of the greatest gift that Jesus has given me during this Christmas season is the joy of reaching out to about 170 youth in Bandung, Indonesia. The love of God for all humanity was clearly evident during the five days program. The participants came on the first day weary and bogged down by the demands of life. On the last day they left as champions with hearts filled with love.

The participants recognized that we, created in the image and likeness of God, are filled with goodness as all goodness comes from God the Father of Goodness. They recognized that we were born to be winners and that we are to live the life that God has given us to the fullest. This is possible when we learn how to love ourselves just as God loves us.

 Besides loving ourselves, we also had to learn how to love others. Loving others is in a way of reflection of how we love ourselves. It is sometimes difficult to love others when we do not love ourselves. Loving others also requires the need to be true to others. This is often difficult as we do not want to hurt others or by any chance create a negative impact on the friendship. Nonetheless, true friendship is when we recognize that the friend is more important than the friendship. While many of us recognize this, it is not something that is easy to practice even with close friends. Hence, the environment was created for them to be true to each other and I’m glad that many of them took the opportunity to do so.

Loving others was brought another step forward when we recognized the importance of loving our parents. Many a time as we go through life especially during our teenage years, there is a tendency to take for granted all the sacrifices that our parents have done for us. We need to always be grateful for what they’ve done for us and what they will continue to do for us. I think one would never recognize the depth of the love of parents until we ourselves become a parent one day. That is what I experience in my life. Only when I became a father I recognized the love that a person would have for another. He was only then that I recognized that kind of sacrifices to one person will be willing to do for another. The participants realized the love that their parents have for them and how much they truly love them.

Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be part of this camp.

Christmas Joy

Heavenly father I praise you on this joyful day. At creation itself when Adam and Eve fell into sin you have already planned to save humanity by humbling yourself as a child in the human form, fragile and vulnerable. So great is your love that you do not even hesitate to redeem us from sin.

I rejoice with all the angels and saints who are rejoicing in heaven right now. Thinking about it the rejoicing probably goes on for eternity in heaven. Father, your love is everlasting. Help me comprehend some of its depth so that I’ll grow closer and closer in love with your son Jesus.

Jesus, thank you for willingly coming to earth as an infant child more than 2000 years ago. As a child you were totally helpless and dependant on the help of others. By the amazing act, you are teaching me how to be totally dependant on you. We are the children of our heavenly father. Just as joy captured my heart at the knowledge that my wife was pregnant nearly four years ago, I am flabbergasted at the thought of the joy that must have filled your eternal being when you had the plan of my birth for the longest time.  You love me so much that you even know the number of hairs on my body. Being a hairy Indian, wow, Father that is truly amazing. Hahahaha.

Because of the amazing love of the Father and the Son I’m able to come to you today as I am sinful and sorrowful. I am weak O Lord. It is impossible for me to walk the Christian walk on my own. I give you Lord the truth of my heart. Any negative emotions that I’m feeling I lay it at the foot of the cross. I surrender my life completely into your hands. Every part of me, I open it up totally to you. Take control of my life O Lord. I have been controlling it for a very long time and I’ve been doing a terrible job. By my own strength, I am weak. By your strength, I am complete.

Feel me again with your Holy Spirit. I need more and more of you. I need your love.  I need your joy. I need your peace. Transform me O Lord. Only you can make the transformation in me. Only you can truly change me completely. Thank you Jesus for the joy that you are feeling my heart with on this blessed Christmas Day. Amen.

Catholic Prayer: Rise & Shine

Good morning Jesus, I want to praise and bless your holy name. It is a joy to wake up and at the moment of awakening to think about you. Thank you for granting me the grace to recognize that you are the most important person in my life. Your love for me never ends and you even decided to die for me when I was your enemy. A man would be willing to give up his life for a good friend but to expect one to give up his life for an enemy is unthinkable. Yet you chose to do it for me. Hence, when you tell me to love my enemy, it is not something that you have not done. In fact, you have led by example.

Lord, sometimes I even find it difficult to love my friends let alone love my enemies. I am weak oh Lord, in my attempts to what this Christian life with my own strength. The more I try with my own strength, the more I end up in failure. I am weak oh Lord. I am unable to walk this Christian life by my own strength.

I come to you oh Lord just as I am because you love me abundantly. It is only by your love that I will be able to love others as you love me. Fill me one more time with your spirit of love. Fill me to overflowing. As you penetrate and radiate true my entire being I’m sure with your life in me I’m able to reflect your unfailing love. Thank you Jesus.

Training in Bandung, Indonesia

I'll be in Bandung (near Jakarta), Indonesia until 23rd December 2009. There are nearly 200 participants in the progam that I'm training in and there are two programs current concurrently. In other words, a total of 400 participants. I pray for God's blessings on all of them and for an infilling of the Holy Spirit to empower me during all the sessions.

Catholi Prayer: Rise & Shine

Lord Jesus Christ, good morning. I come into your presence today reminded once again of your glorious love. Thank you for your unfailing love. Thank you for your unconditional love. My human concept of love is so limited oh Lord that I draw strength from you to really comprehend what love actually is. In you there is fullness of love. I could only depend on you to understand the true meaning and depth of love. Nonetheless I come to you as I am because you love me and I look at you discover more and more of your love each and every day.

I give to you today the truth of my heart. All my limitations, all my shortcomings and all my sins I lay them all at the foot of you cross knowing that you love me just as I am. I see you embracing me right now with your loving arms and as you embrace me your love just radiates my entire being. It reminds me of the source of my life. It is you. It is you.

I surrender my entire life into your hands once again today. All my thoughts, emotions and feelings of every kind, I surrender them completely to you. Direct and control my life oh Lord, as a surrender it fully to you.

Fill me anew with your Holy Spirit. Yes Lord do it one more time. Come and feel me up to overflowing. Let your love just radiate my entire being. Lord I am only a branch, you are the vine. I trust in you completely for my growth. I hope to be able to echo the words of St. Paul that it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. Amen.

Scripture Studies: Phil 4:4-7

Phil 4:4-7

⁴ Always be joyful, then, in the Lord; I repeat, be joyful.

⁵ Let you good sense be obvious to everybody. The Lord is near.

⁶ Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude,

⁷ and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

At Mass, yesterday we heard the above Bible passage as the second reading. This is indeed an interesting writing of Paul to the Phillipians. Hence, I just wanted to take some time to reflect and expound on the passage.

I’m sure we all have come across this scripture passage a number of times as we journey in our Christian walk. While it might be tempting to just glance over it, I think it would do us a lot of good if we seriously apply this passage into our Christian walk.

In Phil 4:4 Paul tells us to be joyful and he went on to repeat it again, be joyful, as if it was a complex statement that he was making. Be joyful –what could be so difficult or complex about the statement that he had to repeat it again. Upon reflection I suppose he understood that this simple message of joy is not something that people would be easily ready to embrace.

How in the world can we be joyful? Come on let’s get serious. Look at all the challenges and problems that we face even on a daily basis.  If you’re working person, there are so many meetings to attend, datelines to meet. We are in a rush all the time. Time never seems to be enough.  We don’t even have enough time for our own.  Having time for our own is a luxury rather than a norm.

If you are a homemaker, how in the world can there be joy. Keeping the home clean and taking care of the children is so demanding. Wanting our children to have an early start via various enrichment courses so as to also ensure that they are not left behind creates a huge amount of stress. Imagine the stress that parents go through in order to get their children into a good school.  It is not unheard of that parents shift home so that their new place will be closer to the school of their choice and hence the probability of getting into the school would be higher.  What joy can there be in such a stressful life that we lead?

Let’s take a look at students.  Almost everyone would agree that the education system in Singapore is very stressful. Many parents pity their child because of the amount of homework that they have to do and in the process the high stress that they face from an early age.  Where can there be joy in all this?

Paul probably did not even have a small glimpse of the kind of lives that we will be leading in the future when he made that statement about 2000 years ago. He was unreasonable to expect us to be joyful at all times.  He was demanding for something that is practically impossible. Thanks Paul for your suggestion.  I suppose the intention of your heart is truly to be admired. Thanks but sorry your suggestion does not work in today’s context.

Wait!  Let us do some background check.  Where was Paul when he was writing this letter to the Phillipians? He was actually in prison.  He was in the dungeons. His hands and his legs were probably in chains. He was probably very smelly not having taken a shower for a few days.  His life was completely restricted and he was in so much discomfort. Yet in such an atrocious situation he is crying out to the Phillipians to be joyful. How can a man in so much distress be filled with joy so much so that he is able to spread the message of joy? Where did this joy come from?

If we take a look at that verse once again we realize that the joy comes from the Lord because he tells us to always be joyful in the Lord. In other words, when we are in the Lord there is fullness of joy. No situation, circumstances or demands of our lives could ever rob us from this joy that comes from the Lord as long as we are in the Lord. What does it mean to be ‘in the Lord’?

The scripture tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all else shall be added onto us. In other words to be in the Lord means to seek the Lord on a daily basis and to pray for the continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit alive in us, in season and out of season, day in and day out, we can claim that we are in the Lord.

The scripture tells us that those who are led by the Spirit, are the children of God. And to be led by the Spirit we need to be in the Lord by being in the Holy Spirit. This is possible by praying for the infilling of the Holy Spirit everyday. How do we know that we are in the spirit? Just look at the fruits. Are the fruits of the Holy Spirit being displayed abundantly in our lives? That would be the surest gauge of us being in the Lord is one of the fruit of the Spirit is joy.

.... to be continued

Catholic Prayer: Rise & Shine

Praise be the mighty name of Jesus for another glorious day he has created.  I come to you with joy this morning a joy that only you can give. I sing praises to your holy name and it is indeed a privilege to be called your son, heir of the kingdom. A sonship so undeserving and yet you so lovingly bestowed it on me a sinner.  Your love for me is everlasting even when I drove myself far away from you. You were there patiently and lovingly awaiting my return. So great is your love that even when I sin and fall while you hate my sin you continue to love me.

Would I in my earthly life ever comprehend the depth of your love? I think probably not. But Lord I pray that you grant me the grace to start to slowly but surely understand your infinite love. Reveal it to me oh Lord. Let me get to know you more and more. Let me get to understand at least some depth of your love. Jesus you are love. There will be no purpose nor meaning in life if I do not understand your love. Jesus you said draw close to me and I will draw close to you. Today Lord as I take another step closer to you, I know in my spirit that you are taking a thousand steps closer to me. Praise the mighty name of Jesus for his love endures forever.

Holy Spirit come and fill my heart again with your love. Oh come Holy Spirit and kindle in me the fire of your love. Fan the sparks in my heart into a big flame, a flame that is engulfed with the love of Jesus. Jesus you love me so much you filled me with the same spirit that dwelled in you. Thank you God for being in me right now. With God in me all things are possible. Praise the Lord Amen.

Catholic Families: Celebrating Aileen & Gilbert's 3rd Baby

Yesterday evening we had the joy of gathering at the home of Aileen & Gilbert. It was to celebrate their 3rd child. It was great to meet some of the people who were involved in youth ministry together. Now we are all with family and kids. Wow, you should have seen the number of kids running around.

Aileen & Gilbert shared with us the initial scare they had when they found out from the doctor that the child might not be growing properly in the womb and there is the possibility of some complications. They started seeking the Lord Jesus Christ earnestly and at a prayer meeting they attended, they received a prophetic message that Jesus would take care of the child. Praise God for his faithfulness. They received a healthy child from Jesus.

 

Catholic Prayer: Rise & Shine

Good morning Jesus, thank you for this brand new day. Your glory shines on this day you have created. I think of your love. I think of your goodness. A great morning indeed you have created. What joy it is to come into your presence and to be your presence every moment of the day. What greater joy is there in life than to dwell with you all the days of my life. Praise you and glorify you and magnify you. All glory and honour and power belongs to you for even and ever. Lord, I dedicate this day into your hands. Mold and refine me so that I would walk closer and closer to you.

Catholic Prayer: Rise & Shine

Good morning Jesus, I run to you today knowing that the fullness of love comes from you. What joy it is to be in your presence and to know that you truly love me. I praise and worship your holy Name, the Name above all other Names, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I sing glory to holy Name and honour to your holy Name. I love to be in your presence and sing joyfully of of glorious Name. You are the lily of the valley, the bright morning star.

I run into your presence and I come with the knowledge that you love for me is everlasting. Where can I hide from the love? Or rather why should I ever hide from your love? You have a plan for me and I thank you especially for preparing for me a glorious home in heaven.

I give to you oh Lord the truth of my heart. All the negative emotions I’m experiencing or will experience today I lay it at the foot of your cross. Why should I even want to carry all this negativity when you’ve clearly told me to cast all my burdens unto you for you careth for me.

I surrender myself totally into your unfailing love. Not only parts of my life but my entire being. Let your light shining in the dark areas of my life and remove everything that is not of you.

Fill me with your spirit Lord, and let me live in the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Feel my heart with love, peace and joy. Let me continue to experience the fruits of your Holy Spirit all the days of my life.

Thank you Lord for loving me a sinner.

Catholic Charismatic Meeting

Went down to Lady of Lourdes Church today for the prayer meeting. My wife, Sandra, has been going there regularly as she enjoys the praise and worship there. Today was the last prayer meeting of the year and it was praise cum food.

Towards the end, they got the children to go up and sing. I heard from Sandra it's a very kids friendly place. God Bless.

Sorry for the blurrrr photo.

Catholic Prayer: Rise & Shine

Thank you Jesus for this glorious day. I seek you as I rise up this morning knowing that all creation came into being because of you. As the sun never ceases to shine every morning, you love for me is also statefast from generation to generation. Even before creation I was already in your plan. Hence, Lord, I come to you as I am knowing that you love for me is everlasting. I lift up to you the truth of my heart, all my sins and all my shortcomings knowing that only you can forgive me and set me free. You take my sins and cast it away as far as that east is from the west, never remembering them ever again. Remove oh Lord all have guilt feelings from my heart as I know when the Son sets me free, I am free indeed.

Lord I surrender my entire life into your hands. Let your light shine into the areas of darkness in my life. So that I could boldly proclaim like St. Paul that it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. Fill me anew with your Holy Spirit Lord. May he search my heart and mold me every day into your image and likeness. Continue oh Lord to guide me closer are closer to you.

Catholic Reflection: Christmas Love

It is just two weeks to Christmas and I’m sitting down and asking myself what is Christmas really to me? Just going down Orchard road it seems that all of Singapore is celebrating Christmas. Yes, Christmas has become a commercial time. Even non Christians are soaking in the atmosphere of the festive season. And it just seems like one of any other celebrations in Singapore. During Hari Raya Puasa, Geylang Serai glitters with light. During Depavali, little India is glittering and during Chinese New Year Chinatown becomes alive. It seems like different parts of Singapore a set aside to mark a festive season. Orchard road being the major shopping belt in Singapore gets a lot of attention throughout the year and the decorative lights of Christmas probably makes it even more exciting.

It is easy to get caught up with the hustle and bustle of the season. Buying gifts for loved ones seems to take the top priority as everyone rushes around to ensure they get a pleasing gift. Next, we’ll be all the parties that either we host or we get invited to. Amid all the rush, I wonder whether I’ve missed out on the true meaning of Christmas. To be honest, there were times that I missed out on the true joy of Christmas.

Jesus is the reason for the season. Without Jesus any Christmas gathering is just a social event without any true purpose. At this Christmas, I now reflect on God the Father’s great love for each and every one of us individually. We were trapped in sin and there was no way out. It was in the divine plan of god, from the beginning of time to set us completely free from this bondage to sin. His ultimate plan of love is that he should humble himself and come in to the world as one of his created being. Imagine The King of Kings the Lord of Lords, the creator of the entire universe who created it out of nothingness should humble himself and come as a child fragile and totally dependant on others.

The depth of his love we were never fully understood. Imagine a King allowing his only son to be borned among the poorest of the poor and even that illustration would be a very weak comparison to how much God humbled himself for us. I suppose I will never be fully able to comprehend the depth of his love. Are we missing out on the true meaning of Christmas? I think I have been missing out on it.

God grant me the grace to understand some depth of your love as I wait expectantly for the coming of Jesus into my heart this Christmas.

Catholic Evangelization: Bring Your Friends Back

I’m sure you have come across people who have stopped going to church.  What is interesting is that there are different categories of people if I may categorize them. There is probably the extreme group that has renounced their faith all together.  They stop believing that God exists.  There is another group that continues to believe that God exists.  At the same time they have chosen to stop going to church.  Let’s focus on the second group. 

Today, I meet an interesting friend. All along I knew she was a catholic and I just assumed she was a practicing catholic. While we were having a chat this afternoon she revealed to me that she does not go to church anymore.  It is not that she does not believe in Jesus but rather she didn’t see the need of going to church.  She told me that Jesus is a friend to her and she speaks to him yet strangely she has chosen to stop going to church.  I discovered that although the entire family is catholic only her mother still goes to church. She told me she is very close to her mother and her mother has actually express concerns that she stopped going to church.  Well, I wonder whether she’s inspired to return to church or not.  I later found out that he was not even planning to go to church for Christmas.

I suppose that this incident that I encountered this afternoon is not something uncommon.  I’m sure you have probably come across people in the same situation.  And sadly some of these people when they go back to church once in awhile they are among the first in the queue to receive holy communion not knowing that they are in the state of mortal sin.  What is truly disappointing is their unformed conscience.  All the years of catechism probably did not help much.  They have learned about Jesus just like nonbelievers who also know about Jesus yet they choose not to fully embrace him.

This is the reason why it is important to re-evangelize the church. If we leave the situation as it is do not be too shocked that a hundred years from now, the church in Asia would be a reflection of the church in other parts of the world where only a few elderly people attend Mass.

Hence, it is our responsibility as given by Jesus to go out there and make a difference in the lives of people around us. Reflect Jesus to them by the way we lead our lives. Speak to them about Jesus and guide them the way home. We can truly make a difference through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless.

Catholic Family: The Joy of having a Child

Thank you Lord for the joy of a Catholic family.

Catholic Prayer: Rise & Shine

Good morning Jesus and thank you for this glorious day.  As the sun rises every morning I am reminded of your love.  It reminds me of your creation, where you created something out of nothing.  And on the sixth day, you create that man and you thought it was very good.  Indeed it was very good until we allowed sin to enter our world. 

But so great is your love that you wanted to set us free from sin and that was only possible by sending your Son to pay the ultimate price for us. Oh what amazing love, what amazing love.  You allowed your only beloved son to die for us all on the cross.  A brutal death he had to face.  Not a death due to his own wrongdoings but rather a death for my sins. Thank you God my father for loving me so much that you are willing to send your son to pay the ultimate price for me. You are indeed love as scripture tells us God is love. 

Making A Comeback

Well, I think it is time to make a comeback. I started this blog a number of years back but as you can see the number of entries has dwindled tremendously. I could cite a variety of reasons for it such as not having enough time, not knowing what to write, and I suppose many others. It is easy to find an excuse when we need one. So I’m not going to dwell on all the possible reasons why I have not been updating my blog. I’m gonna have another go at this and I know the main challenge will be being consistent.

I am inspired to restart blogging hoping that it will be able to reach out to as many people out there s possible. I still have fond memories of friends tell me how much they appreciated some of my entries. I hope and I pray and I suppose we all are going to see how far this building is going to go. HA HA HA HA HA.

I hope you pray for me so that this site will be able to inspire others in their journey here on earth before they reach the heavenly glory that God the almighty has prepared for all of us.

I was thinking of categorizing my entries into areas such as catholic reflection, Bible study, catholic renewal and others. I’ve not finalized it at the moment but rather than looking at how to make this a possibility by touching on different aspects of our Christian journey.

Oh Holy Spirit come and fill me know. Be my inspiration. Be my source of strength. If this is a tool that you want me to use on a regular basis inspire me with your thoughts and guide me to blog about it on a regular basis. Amen.

Amplify at St Peter & Paul

Hi all,

Get yourself ready for an amazing session on 'Family - Where is the love'. Be ready to be empowered.

Praise God I'm able to make it to deliver the session.

He has set the doors wide apart... open ... for you to come in.

I've been in the Charismatic Renewal for the longest time dealing with the youth but have have hardly heard a taly on the family. Time to make the change.

- St Peter & Paul.
- 7.30 pm

See you there.


Freddy