Today's Catholic Vol.28 No.8 November 2016

CATHOLIC today’s

A monthly publication of the Archdiocese of Kuching, Sarawak

Permit No PPK 148/01/2013(031378)

Vol 28 No 8 November 2016

Inside...

Children gather to pray

First Malaysian Cardinal

P3

P7

“Jesus said: ‘By your perseverance you will secure your lives.’”

Lk 21:19

今日教友 第十六至二十二頁

The first ever celebration of wedding anniversaries

RENEWAL OF WEDDING VOWS ... (Clockwise) Couples holding hands while renewing their wedding vows; Bishop Simon Poh and some couples cutting the anniversary cake during dinner KUCHING — The Family Life episodes: the Wedding Feast at Cana However, there is room for improvement. Judy Ak Dawad, married for 33 years) Committee of St Joseph’s Cathedral (Jn 2:1-11) and Jesus giving his mother All the couples who took part in the event “We felt joyful being blessed by recently organised a communal event and beloved disciple to each other as thanked St Joseph’s Cathedral Parish for Bishop Simon and listening to the for couples to celebrate their wedding mother and son at Calvary (Jn 19:25- organising such a joyous celebration and beautiful talk by Archbishop John. We anniversaries especially for those 27). Then Michael Junim and his wife, wish for more to come. thank God for our 50th anniversary, for reaching the special milestones of 10, Catherine Jerimit shared on fatherhood Four couples endorsed the sentiment his blessing and good health.” (Thomas 25, 30, 40 and 50 years and beyond. It and motherhood. felt in these individual messages: Ginos & Catherine Hong, married for was held on Saturday 22 October.

In the evening, all the couples attended “We wish to put on record our sincere 50 years) Couples whose anniversaries do the Sunset Mass at St Joseph’s Cathedral thanks and deep appreciation for such Michael Junim, the secretary of not fall within those milestones also during which they renewed their wedding an enriching experience which will be Family Life Committee, explained that participated. This was the first time vows. This was followed by a simple treasured by us for a long time.” (Edmund this celebration was a response to Pope the parish embarked on the communal buffet dinner.

Daging & Noria Lang, married for 35 Francis’ call, through his Apostolic celebration. Among the 31 couples who During the dinner there was the years ) Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (Joy of took part in the event, one leading couple cutting of a communal wedding cake, “We find the recent wedding Love), to build holy, dedicated and celebrated 57 years of their marriage. karaoke singing and games. On top of anniversary good and interesting. It committed families in the service of The celebration of the anniversaries that, spouses exchanged gifts which they brings back happy memories of our time God and men. ranged from 10 years to 50 years. had brought along. Auxiliary Bishop together and our commitment to each Michael said the celebration also The event started with a talk given Simon Poh also presented certificates of other.” (A couple married for 50 years) served as a platform for the church to

by Archbishop John Ha. He led a attendance to the participants.

“It benefited and motivated both of show her appreciation for couples who reflection on marriage and the family Despite the fact that event was held for us. We learned something new, and will have been steadfast and committed entitled “Here Is Your Son; Here Is the first time, the feedback the organising continue to improve ourselves as how despite the many ups and downs they Your Mother” using two inter-related committee received was encouraging. God wants us to be.” (Henry Awan & Jane experienced in the family life.

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NEWS

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EDITORIAL

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

No more mercy?

The Feast of Christ the King on November 20 is the end of the liturgical year which signals the official closing of the Holy Door on the year of Mercy. The natural rhythm of life, beginnings and endings.

Coincidentally early November directs our minds to our departed loved ones, those who have ended their earthly journeys and also All Saints, those who are enjoying eternal beginnings.

The ceremonial closing of the Holy Door for the Year of Mercy does not signify the end of God’s mercy as some may imagine. It simply marks the end

of a time of special focus on a particular aspect of God’s face to us. Simultaneously it is the beginning of our personal continuing openness to the mercies we have received throughout this year.

Stella Chin

CATHOLIC today’s THE TEAM PUBLISHER The Archbishop of Kuching ADVISOR Fr Felix Au EDITOR Stella Chin ASSOCIATE EDITOR (Chinese) Magdalene Yeo EDITORIAL TEAM Freddy Bohari (BM) Martha Ngui (English) Victoria J Lim

(English Children’s Section) James Lo (Chinese) Margaret Bong

(Chinese Children’s Section) STAFF Audrey Yu

The construction of new chapel begins

CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ... (Left) Archbishop John Ha officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony, while Fr Vincent Chin watches on; (Right) Artist’s impression of the new Our Lady Star of the Sea Chapel.

BINTAWA — 31 October marked the beginning of construction of the new Our Lady Star of the Sea Chapel, Bintawa. Archbishop John Ha officiated at the earthbreaking ceremony. About 80 parishioners, Parish Councillors, representatives from the various parties

involved and well-wishers attended the occasion.

Archbishop John Ha in his welcoming speech said that the Catholic community in Bintawa has grown, an indication that the Church is growing. He thanked Fr Vincent Chin, rector of St Peter’s Church, Padungan for taking on the task to build the

new Chapel.

The Archbishop also thanked all the consultants, contractors and sponsors for their support and hoped that the Lord will bring the construction to a successful completion and keep the workers safe from injury.

The small, old Chapel was built by the late Fr Peter Aichner

MHM, the first parish priest of St Peter’s Church. With a seating capacity of less than 80 people, it served the Catholic community in Bintawa for many years. It will give way to the new one, which will be built on a 1.33 acres of land adjacent to the existing Chapel. The land was given by the State Government

of Sarawak. Costing about RM4 million, the new Chapel with a seating capacity of 450 people is expected to be completed by February 2018.

Auxilliary Bishop Simon Poh and Fr Leonard Yap also attended the ceremony.

St Peter’s Parish Council

What it takes to be a good teacher KUCHING — The Sarawak Catholic Teachers’ Guild organised a seminar on the topic “Be An Intentional Influencer: Influence the Influencers of the Future – Everyone’s life should be touched by a good teacher” on 1 October at St Joseph’s Private School. About fifty teachers from Kuching and its surrounding area attended.

Eileen Leong, a trainer with EQUIP (Equipping Qualities Underdeveloped In People), Malaysia, gave timeless and universal biblical leadership principles connected with education to the participants.

It is an undeniable fact

that teachers as educators have tremendous influence over people’s lives. Teaching creates all other professions. Eileen challenged the participants to see themselves as ministering in their schools for a reason.

She asked the question, “Do you believe you therefore must have the experience and talent to do so? After all, teachers are educators who are born to make a difference!”

The three main topics that Eileen covered are: 1. If God is the author of life, there must be a script. What is yours? Discover your purpose and pursue it with passion!

2. The Heart of the Problem

is the Problem of the Heart.

How leaders/teachers develop the qualities that set them apart from others. There are steps to prepare our heart to serve. The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.

3. A Difference Maker, Born to Make a Difference! In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. The influence of a teacher can never be erased and no one can tell where the influence stops.

The participants were touched and inspired by Eileen’s motivational seminar on education. It is hoped that more

BE AN INTENTIONAL INFLUENCER ... Eileen Leong (inset) encouraging teachers to make a difference teachers can join in the many activities organised by the Guild

in the future.

Fr Francis Lim, SJ

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

NEWS

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Children gather to pray for the Church and the world

PRAY FOR US, MOTHER MARY ... (Left) Children praying during adoration; (Right) Parishioners participating in the procession KUCHING — Blessed Sacrament Church, BDC once again hosted the 14th World Children’s Eucharistic Holy Hour. More than 600 parishioners consisting of parents, children participated.

The event was celebrated worldwide on 7 October, which was also the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.

The Holy Hour began

with a procession from the grotto to the church led by the Unity Candle bearer, the Choir, Sunday School students and parents with lighted candles while singing the hymns in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

As the procession entered the church, the statue of our Lady of Fatima was brought in and placed next to the altar. The holy hour proceeded with the

placement of the petition basket, followed by the crowning of the statue of our Lady of Fatima, accompanied by the singing of the theme song, “We are the Children of the World”.

The apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three children was reenacted. The World Mission Rosary was subsequently recited in English and Mandarin and continued with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Love and accept the homosexuals, Catholics told

KUCHING — The Family Life Committee of St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching organised a series of talks on ‘Same Sex Attraction’ and ‘Pornography’ on 20-21 September. Tryphena Law, a pastor from Kuala Lumpur who heads Pursuing Liberty Under Christ (PLUC), a ministry among former homosexuals and those struggling with their sexuality, was the speaker.

Having been through samesex attraction and pornography addiction, she shared from her own experiences and highlighted the importance of a stable family life. She shared that research has not shown conclusively that some people are “born gay”. Factors that caused a person to embrace homosexuality as a choice include peer pressure and influence from the media.

Labelling by family members and friends is equally destructive especially with sensitive children. Being insecure over one’s gender identity, the person explores sexuality in unhealthy ways.

Speaking to parents and educators on the evening of 20 September on how to respond to homosexuals under their care, she said that the most important thing is to first love

UNDERSTANDING HOMOSEXUALITY ... Tryphena (inset) speaking to students of St Teresa’s School at Archdiocesan Curia and Cathedral Pastoral Centre and accept the person in this spent time speaking to all the students of St Teresa’s School – situation.

The pastor alerted the upper secondary students in the audience that there are “gay morning and lower secondary churches” that cater to Christian students in the afternoon. She gays. She said many Christian spoke to the youth including gays are struggling with shame, young working adults, campus guilt and condemnation and students, and school leavers in they do not know where to turn the evening.

Tryphena also ministers to to. She challenged the audience, “Can they find love and those who need her help on a personal basis in Kuching as acceptance in your church?”

Tryphena attended to and when required. A Catholic the students of St Joseph’s priest who attended the session Secondary School in the in the evening of 20 September, that although afternoon of 20 September. In remarked the evening of the same day, Tryphena is not Catholic, what she gave a session of the same she said was very much in line to parents, educators, caregivers with the Catholic teaching.

Chan Lek Lim and others. The next day she

In his address, Fr Lawrence Chua, the parish priest, emphasized on the importance of the Rosary and encouraged the children to recite the rosary as part of their daily prayers.

The Children’s Holy Hour concluded with the hymn, “Praise her with a Flower”, in honour of the Blessed Mother Mary.

The Blessed Sacrament Parish has contentedly made

this celebration a yearly event since 2010. This event was to commemorate the appearance of Our Lady to the three shepherd children of Fatima in 1917. Based on the message of Fatima, the programme aims to help children, young people and adults to rededicate themselves to a life of pray, penance and sacrifice.

Jerome Charles

ST JUDE’S FEAST DAY CELEBRATION ... On 30 October, Archbishop John Ha and Auxilliary Bishop Simon Poh celebrated the Thanksgiving Mass at St Jude’s Church, Bunan Gega in conjunction with the feast of St Jude, the parish’s patron saint. During the Mass, the Archbishop confirmed 54 candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation. He also blessed the newly renovated Father’s House. After Mass, everyone joined in the fellowship meal.

MONTH OF THE ROSARY ... Chapel of Mother Mary, Stutong marked the month of October Rosary Devotion on 2 October with a Holy Mass presided over by the Rector, Msgr William Sabang. It was followed by a procession of the Statue of our Lady and Rosary Prayers at the Grotto.

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NEWS

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Bread of Life covenant community celebrates 25 years The Holy Door at St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching will be closed on 20 November (Sunday) during the 5.30 pm Evening Mass to mark the closing of the Year of Mercy. All Catholics are encouraged to be present to give thanks to God for his blessing and mercy throughout the special Year.

ONE BIG FAMILY ... Bread of Life community members at a photo session with Fr Augustine Jepy (seated, 5th left), Archbishp John Ha (seated 6th left) and Fr Sylvester Ding (seated, 1st right) KUCHING — The Bread “anniversary is an occasion followed. During the dinner, of Life Catholic Charismatic to thank God and reflect on the retired Presiding Elder, covenant Community our response”. It was “very Ir Peter Wong recalled the (BoL) celebrated their 25th providential that the first reading blessing and grace bestowed anniversary on 10 September of the day talked about the Body upon the community. He with a Thanksgiving Mass at and Blood of Christ”, “which is especially thanked Archbishop Carmelite Chapel. The Mass was communion” and “the name of Emeritus Peter Chung, concelebrated by Archbishop the community”. He taught on Archbishop John Ha, the then John Ha, BoL Spiritual Director, the three levels of communion: parish priest of St Joseph and Fr Augustine Jepy, Fr Colin Tan at the personal, community and spiritual director, Fr Jepy who from Singapore and Fr Sylvester parish or archdiocesan levels were instrumental in giving Ding from Miri. or an intimate relationship with birth to BoL 25 years ago.

During the concelebrated Christ, in communion with In addition to the Mass, three new Elders, Kosmas other disciples and communion dignitaries who made time for Seek, Simon Remek and Michael with other communities the community, all member Lee were installed together with respectively. No community of covenant communities of two new members, Martina Christ’s disciples could stand the Catholic Fraternity in Soon and Barry Stephen, who alone or stand above others. He Malaysia, comprising Light were seen taking their covenant said the Gospel “also gives an of Jesus Christ Kota Kinabalu, to become members. elaboration on communion at all Servants of Yahweh Kuala While congratulating the three levels,” which is, to bear Lumpur, and Holy Trinity, members for their faithful love good fruit and doing God’s will Sibu came to share the joy. for God and for one another, as a strong foundation.

The distinguished guests and the Archbishop in his homily A simple dinner at family members filled up 35 reminded those present that Ecumenical worship Centre tables. ­— Contributed

20th Asian Liturgy Forum highlights Confession, formation of the young

BALI, Indonesia — Delegates from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Timor-Leste gathered at Puja Mandala, Nusa Dua, Bali to attend the 20th Asian Liturgy Forum on 10-14 October. Malaysia was represented by 11 delegates.

This time round, the delegates shared their reflections and pastoral experiences related to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Below are conclusion from their discussions: 1. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation we “touch the grandeur of God’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17).

During this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, we heed the call of the Holy Father to put the Sacrament at its central role: a) by embracing true

THE MALAYSIAN DELEGATION ... Eleven delegates representing Malaysia at the Asian Liturgy Forum contrition where sorrow for sins the path of genuine conversion is made complete by a desire aided by the elements of the for conversion; b) by an honest Sacrament of Reconciliation, examination of the self that we are freed from the burden leads to a genuine confession of sin and are led to the joy of sins; c) by implementing acts of God’s healing forgiveness of penance that truly remedy towards an ever closer likeness sin and renew life; and d) by to Christ (cf. Rite of Penance, understanding and reflecting on Introduction, 6). the formula of absolution. Set on Continued on p7

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

CLASSIFIED

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Pope Francis’ Prayer intentions for November

NOVEMBER is a month dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, whose feast we celebrated on 2 November.

UNIVERSAL Countries receiving refugees

That the countries which take in a great number of displaced persons and refugees may find support for their efforts which show solidarity.

EVANGELISATION Collaboration of Priests and Laity

With Compliments

That within parishes, priests and lay people may collaborate in service to the community without giving in to the temptation of discouragement.

PALM-SPIRIT SDN BHD

B.PGK.KCH(JM)677/2016/03

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Yoshi Square, Blk A, Unit A4-3F, No 4, Jalan Pelabuhan, Pending, 93450 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia Tel: +6 082 484789 Fax: +6 082 483789 Email: jklrufus@yahoo.co.uk

25TH ANNIVERSARY

3RD ANNIVERSARY

In loving memory of

7TH ANNIVERSARY

Tomb Maker Simon Sim See Huat 15 Nanas Road 93150 Kuching, Sarawak Tel: 082-617616 / 0138117616 Fax: 082-627616 Specialise in: Construction & Cleaning of Grave Monuments Manufacturing Gravestones imported from China, Italy

7TH ANNIVERSARY In loving memory of

In memory of

JOSEPH LIM Born: 19 March 1924 Died: 29 November 2009

Another year has gone since you left us. All those precious times with you are special memories we keep deep within our hearts.

With the faith in Christ that we’ve inherited from you, we look forward to being united again someday where the Lord promises eternal life.

SIMON CHAI MUI KON

Departed: 13 November 1991

18TH ANNIVERSARY In loving memory of Mom, I thought of you today But that is nothing now I thought about you yesterday And days before that too....

I think of you in silence I often speak your name All I have are memories And your picture in a frame Your memory is a keepsake Mom which I’ll never part.

God has you in his arm I have you in my heart.

Lovingly missed by wife, Agnes, children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

In loving memory of

Departed: 3 June 2013

Deeply missed by children and all loved ones.

May your soul rest in peace. Amen.

19TH & 12TH ANNIVERSARY

MARIA THEN SIAN NYONG

WINIEFRED LO DOMINIC ATONG

Departed: 27 October 1998

Deeply missed and forever cherished by all loved ones.

12TH ANNIVERSARY In loving memory of JOSEPH NOBUO IWANAGA who was called to eternal rest on 5 November 2009

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord & let the perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace.

Deeply missed and always remembered by loving daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, foster daughters, foster son, foster daughter-in-law, foster granddaughters and all loved ones

DOMITILA JACOB JENALAM DOMINIC ATONG SEGUMAL

Departed: 2 October 1997

LOUISA BANUN LAI

Departed: 12 November 2004

Eternal rest unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace, Amen.

Deeply and lovingly remembered by all loved ones.

Departed: 29 October 2004

Memories are like leaves of gold, They never turnish or grow old, Locked in our hearts you will always be, Loved and remembered for all eternity

Deeply missed and forever cherished by all loved ones.

NEWS

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COME and EXPERIENCE the GOOD NEWS of JESUS’ LOVE & POWER

Br Stephen Bong from the Holy Cross Ministry of Deliverance & Healing will be giving the second teaching for this year on “Jesus’ Love and Power”. The teaching will be followed by a deliverance and healing session.

Date: Friday, 25th November, 2016 Time: 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm Place: Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre,

Lot 2500, Block 10, Jalan Stampin,

KCLD, Kuching Entry is free. All are welcome.

For more information please contact: The Holy Cross Centre No. 681, Lorong 1, Jalan Bayor Bukit, Tabuan Jaya, 93350 Kuching.

Tel: 082-363945 / Fax: 082-364923 Email: holycross.deliverance@gmail.com Web Site: www.holycross-ministry.org Note: For non-Muslims only

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Vatican: Cremated bodies may not be scattered VATICAN CITY — The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released an instruction Tuesday regarding burial and cremation, reiterating the Church’s teaching that cremation, while strongly discouraged, can be permissible under certain restrictions – and that scattering the ashes is forbidden.

Ad resurgendum cum Christo, or “To rise with Christ”, published on 25 October, states that while cremation “is not prohibited” the Church “continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased.”

The document explains that after “legitimate motives” for cremation have been ascertained, the “ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place,” such as in a cemetery or church. It goes on to state that is not permitted to keep the ashes in a home or to scatter them “in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of jewelry or other objects.”

“The burial, the last liturgy for us, is an expression of our hope for the resurrection,”

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the congregation wrote, “and therefore the Church continues to teach that the normal burial of the body is the normal form.”

As the document explains, “by burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity.”

“She cannot, therefore, condone attitudes or permit rites that involve erroneous ideas about death, such as considering death as the definitive annihilation of the person, or the moment of fusion with Mother Nature or the universe.”

Rather, burial in a cemetery or another sacred place “adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit and in which ‘as instruments and vessels the Spirit has carried out so many good works.’”

The Vatican originally answered the question of whether or not cremation was allowed in 1963, but with the increase in both its popularity and in practices such as scattering the ashes or keeping them in the home, it found it necessary to provide a new set of norms as guidance for bishops.– CNA/EWTN News

Opening Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem uncovers the original form of the Holy Sepulchre

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J E R U S A L E M — Preservation experts have opened for the first time in more than two centuries what Christians believe is Jesus’ tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

A marble slab covering the burial place, among the holiest in Christianity, was pulled back for three days as part of both archaeological and restoration work.

For Father Samuel Aghoyan, the church’s Armenian superior, this is something exceptional.

This is the first time the marble has been removed since at least 1810. Before that, the slab was removed only once, in 1555.

Researchers, archaeologists and experts have waited for decades for this historic event.

Studying the aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre and the bedrock makes it possible to rediscover the tomb’s original form and feel the “identity” of what is considered “the most sacred site of Christendom.”

“The marble covering of the tomb has been pulled back, and we were surprised by the amount of fill material beneath it,” said Fredrik Hiebert, archaeologist-

Photo: timesofisrael.com

in-residence at the National Geographic Society.

“It will be a long scientific analysis, but we will finally be able to see the original rock surface on which, according to tradition, the body of Christ was laid”.

The restoration project is expected to be completed

by March 2017, in time for Easter, and the site will remain open to visitors for nearly the entire time, although the ornate aedicule has been surrounded by scaffolding. A hulking iron cage built around the latter was shown to be enough.

The project required the agreement of three Christian denominations (Greek

Orthodox, Latin, and Armenian), and is funded by public and private contributions.

Roman Emperor Constantine had the Holy Sepulchre built in 325 AD after his mother Helena found the site. Over the centuries the complex was partially destroyed and rebuilt and is one of the most visited and venerated pilgrimage locations in the Holy Land.

It contains the site where Jesus’s remains were placed after his death on the cross.

The restoration work is being carried out by a team of Greek specialists.

AsiaNews/Agencies

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

NEWS

PAGE 7

Malaysia gets its first cardinal KUALA LUMPUR — History was made in the Malaysian Church when Pope Francis named Most Rev Anthony Soter Fernandez, Archbishop Emeritus of Kuala Lumpur as Cardinal.

The announcement was made by the Holy Father on 9 October during his weekly Sunday address.

Cardinal-elect Fernandez is among the 17 Roman Catholic prelates from around the world who has been promoted to the high rank of cardinal in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Known as “princes of the Church”, cardinals are the most senior members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy after the Pope and serve as his principal advisers around the world and in the Vatican.

Cardinal-elect Fernandez, who retired from his position as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur in May 2003, is one of the four new cardinals over 80, who are being honoured for their long service to the Church.

In living out his Episcopal motto of ‘Justice and Peace’, the 84 year old Archbishop emeritus is known for his courage and tireless fight for justice. His elevation to the status of cardinal as described in a foreign media is also in acknowledgement of his role

THE FRIENDLY CARDINAL-TO-BE ... Cardinal-elect Anthony Soter Fernandez (left) posing for photo with a friend in promoting dialogue.

During his tenure as archbishop, Cardinal-elect Fernandez created a significant road-map for the Peninsular Malaysia Church through his clear vision in understanding and identifying the needs of the Church in Malaysia. He led the community in the process of understanding the importance of being Church and promoted the growth of the Basic Ecclesial Communities.

This was aptly described

by St Pope John Paul II in a personal letter to Cardinalelect Fernandez in conjunction with the latter’s 25th Episcopal ordination in February 2003.

“Your ardent commitment to duty not only benefitted the flock entrusted to you but was manifestly clear to all in Asia … your role with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia-SingaporeBrunei shines forth as well in your strenuous efforts to give direction and purpose to the Church in West Malaysia,” said the Pope in his letter.

Similarly, Cardinal-elect Fernandez in reflecting on his 25 years of episcopacy said in an interview back then, “I am not looking for success. We only sow the seeds. We do God’s will and try to be faithful to him.

We must also be in the world

and respond to the needs of the people. We need to listen to the people.”

These resounding words are certainly being rewarded, as described in a recent commentary … ‘A glance at the biographies of the new cardinals reveals that Pope Francis has clearly chosen pastors who are humble men, not aspiring to be princes; men of dialogue, not culture warriors; men who know how to show mercy in their ministry’.

Cardinal-elect Fernandez who celebrates his 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination this year, was born on 22 April 1932 and ordained a priest on 10 December 1966.

He was ordained as Bishop for the Diocese of Penang on 17 February 1978 and later installed as the second Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur on 10 November 1983. He helmed the archdiocese for 20 years before stepping down at age 71 due to health reasons.

Following his retirement, he continued to serve the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and was later assigned as Spiritual Father to College General Major Seminary, Penang. Upon completing his term at the seminary, he returned to the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and continues to serve as Chaplain at the St Francis

Xavier Home for the Elderly, Cheras.

Archbishop Julian Leow of the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese expressed joy on the recognition given by Pope Francis to the Malaysian Church in the appointment of Archbishop Emeritus Fernandez as Cardinal.

Explaining that cardinals were generally chosen from countries which had a large Catholic population, Archbishop Leow said that of late, the Holy Father has chosen cardinals from countries that had a minority Catholic population.

The archbishop who is also the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia described the timing of the appointment as perfect as the recently concluded Peninsular Malaysia Pastoral Convention IV had decided that the church needed to be a greater ‘voice’ for the people.

He added that this appointment would mean that the Catholic Church in Malaysia would ostensibly have a greater say in Rome.

Cardinal-elect Fernandez is expected to travel to Rome for the consistory on 19 November, where he will be officially installed as a cardinal.

Herald Malaysia

20th Asian Liturgy Forum highlights Confession, formation of the young Continued from p5 2. We encourage the use of the reformed Rite of Penance of 1974 both for catechesis and actual celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. There is a need to promote the second form of the rite which underlines the communal dimension of sin and reconciliation.

3. Confessors are ministers of God’s mercy.

Those who approach them should experience that “they are sought after, loved, and forgiven by God” (Prayer for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy). Reflecting on their own sinful condition, priests should have a profound insight into both the working of God’s mercy in the hearts of people and the disorder of souls. By serious study, discernment, and fervent prayer they should acquire the knowledge and prudence necessary for this ministry (cf.

RP, 10; Misericordiae Vultus, 17; Pope Francis’ address to the Clergy of Cuba).

4. On account of the special needs of the youth a continuing programme

of formation is necessary to sustain what they first received during their formative years in primary education. They need to be reminded about the love and presence of God, of the reality of sin, and of the everactive presence of temptation.

A continuing catechesis on the sacrament and a more creative way of celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation are in order to stimulate their desire to approach the Sacrament frequently so as to open their hearts more to Christ who invites them to develop their inherent goodness as images, sons and daughters of God and to counter the harmful influence of digital media, peer pressure, and their misconception of the Sacrament.

5. Through edifying experiences of celebration and untiring catechesis that explains the rites and prayers of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the light of theology, history, and pastoral care the faithful need to be helped to recognise their being recipients of God’s mercy and bearers of it to others.

They are to be led to a renewed sense of sin in the face of the

onslaught of secularisation, materialism, individualism, and relativism. Mindful of Pope Francis’ urgent call to care for “our common home” there is a need to pursue the path of ecological conversion, deeply aware that the sin against Mother Earth is sin against the Creator, the rest of creation, and the future generations (cf.

Laudato Si’, 8).

6. Catechesis on the Sacrament of Reconciliation should emphasize God’s mercy that calls the sinner to repentance, the nature of sin as a reality that offends God and wounds the Church, of repentance as acknowledgement of the goodness of God and of having offended him, the role of the whole Christian community for the conversion of sinners, and the paternal and pastoral role of the minister. Catechists need to be given formation that will enable them to explain the Sacrament of Reconciliation encompassing these elements in a way that can be easily grasped by the faithful.

7. It is in the family that mercy should first be experienced and cultivated.

The family is a community of wounded members but is also the place where members experience healing. The family has a crucial role in bringing the faithful to appreciate and approach the Sacrament. Family events like baptisms, weddings, death, and other celebrations can be occasions for the family to seek reconciliation among themselves and approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

We humbly raise all families to the healing grace of the God who “loves us, seeks us out, thinks of us, knows us, touches our hearts and waits for us” (cf.

Message of Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Synod on the Family), knowing that he takes delight in our return.

8. God’s mercy is revealed to us most wondrously

in the incarnation of his Son. Jesus through his incarnation embraced a particular culture with its values, expressions, and patterns.

Assumed by the Paschal Mystery of Christ, culture becomes an expression and vehicle of God’s redeeming mercy.

Various cultures are imbued with noble linguistic and ritual expressions that can help us more concretely experience, receive, and proclaim God’s mercy.

Such expressions should be incorporated in our liturgical celebration of and catechesis on God’s mercy to imbue our task of evangelisation with force and effectiveness (cf. Bl Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 63; Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 11).

“The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel.”

(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium #114)

NEWS

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TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Make unity a priority, Pope Francis says at Reformation anniversary LUND, Sweden — While in Sweden to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Pope Francis heard moving testimonies from both Lutherans and Catholics working to better society, giving thanks for their witness and praying for greater unity.

“We remember this anniversary with a renewed spirit and in the recognition that Christian unity is a priority, because we realize that much more unites us than separates us,” the Pope said at an ecumenical event in Malmo, Sweden on 31 October. He explained that the journey toward unity taken so far is in itself “a great gift” from God. The path of dialogue has helped the two Churches to grow in mutual understanding and has fostered greater trust between Catholics and Lutherans as they strive toward

full communion, Francis said.

He pointed to common areas of cooperation as a concrete example of the steps taken.

In addition to the 1999 joint declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Holy See and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Catholic charity organisation Caritas Internationalis and the Lutheran World Federation World Service also signed a joint on 31 October “Declaration of Intent” aimed at “developing and strengthening a spirit of cooperation for the promotion of human dignity and social justice.”

Pope Francis was on an official 31 October – 1 November visit to Sweden for a joint-commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. His visit marks the first time a Pope has travelled to Scandinavia since St John Paul II’s 1989 visit.

After landing at the International Airport of Malmö,

(Left to right) Bishop Munib Younan, Pope Francis and Rev Martin Junge (Photo: CNS) the Pope paid a courtesy visit to be here today, bearing witness the Royal Family before joining to the work of the Holy Spirit an ecumenical moment of prayer sowing unity among the at Lund’s Lutheran cathedral. followers of Jesus.”

Following the prayer, Francis The historic gathering, he then headed to the Malmö Arena said, sends a message to the for the primary ecumenical entire world that strongly-held event, during which he was religious convictions “can lead greeted by Bishop Dr Munib A toward peaceful reconciliation Younan, President of the LWF. rather than always contributing In his speech, Younan said more conflict to our already “it brings me immense joy to troubled world.”

Former Manchester United footballer to be a Dominican priest LONDON, England — You might have heard of Phil Mulryne, a Manchester United footballer who’s shared the field with David Beckham and brought fame to Ireland with 27 caps – international appearances – in his athletic career.

But now, Mulryne is setting aside his jersey to pursue the vocation of a Catholic Dominican priest.

“This for me was one of the major reasons that attracted me to the religious life,” Mulryne said in a video interview posted by the Daily Mail.

“To give oneself completely to God through the profession of the evangelical councils, to take him as our example and despite our weakness and our defects, trust in him that he will transform us by his grace, and thus being transformed, communicate the joy in knowing him to everyone we meet – this for me is the ideal of Dominican life and one of the major reasons of what attracted me to the order.”

Mulryne, a 38-year old Irishman, began his career in football as a kid in 1994 when he attended the Manchester United youth academy, and eventually joined the Norwich league in 1999.

His teammates were among the many of his

Photo: mirror.co.uk

surprised acquaintances to find out that he gave up his global fame and £500,000 in career earnings to pursue the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a Catholic priest.

“It was a complete shock that he felt this was his calling,” fellow footballer Paul McVeigh said, according to the Daily News.

After a series of major injuries at the end of his career in 2008, Mulryne was faced with the future: how would he spend his post-footballing days?

According to McVeigh, Mulryne began turning “his life around and was doing a lot of charitable work and helping the homeless on a weekly basis.” The Catholic Herald reported that Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor became an influential figure

during Mulryne’s conversion, eventually inviting him to enter the seminary.

“I know for a fact that this is not something he took lightly as the training to be ordained as a Catholic priest consists of a two-year philosophy degree, followed by a four-year theology degree and only after that will he finally be qualified as a priest,” McVeigh said.

In 2009, the Irish native entered the Irish Pontifical College in Rome, where he has been pursuing the priesthood through studies in philosophy and theology.

On 30 October, he was ordained a deacon in Belfast by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, and is set for priestly ordination in 2017.

CNA/EWTN News

“When religious people work for unity and reconciliation, religion can promote the flourishing of all human communities,” Younan said.

“As we meet here, Catholic and Lutheran, with many other ecumenical guests, we are challenged to move forward in the Holy Spirit, he concluded, adding that this meeting “is not the end of our dialogue, but a new beginning.”

“I am confident that our common purpose will be found not just in theological dialogue, but in the practical witness, the ‘martyria,’ of prophetic ‘diakonia.’”

Before their speeches, the Pope and Younan also listened to four testimonies from both Catholics and Lutherans working for the common good and the advancement of various sectors of society.

CNA/EWTN News

Pope offers new beatitudes for saints of a new age

MALMO, Sweden — The saints are blessed because they were faithful and meek and cared for others, Pope Francis said.

At the end of an ecumenical trip to Sweden, Pope Francis celebrated the feast of All Saints on 1 November with a Catholic Mass in a Malmo stadium.

He highlighted the lives of the Swedish saints, Elizabeth Hesselblad and Bridget of Vadstena, who “prayed and worked to create bonds of unity and fellowship between Christians”.

The best description of the saints – in fact, their “identity card” – the Pope said, is found in the beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which begins, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”.

And, he said, as Christian saints have done throughout the ages, Christ’s followers today are called “to confront the troubles and anxieties of our age with the spirit and love of Jesus”.

New situations require new energy and a new commitment, he said, and then he offered a new list of beatitudes for modern Christians: – “Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.

– “Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalised and show them their closeness.

– “Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover him.

– “Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.

– “Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.

– “Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.”

“All these are messengers of God’s mercy and tenderness,” Pope Francis said.

“Surely they will receive from him their merited reward”.

Registered Catholics in Sweden number about 115,000 - just over 1 percent of the population. But with recent waves of immigration, especially from Chaldean Catholic communities in Iraq, local church officials believe the number of Catholics is double the reported figure.

Reflecting the multicultural makeup of the Catholic Church in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, the prayer intentions at Mass were read in Spanish, Arabic, English, German and Polish, as well as in Swedish. — CNS

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

FOCUS

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ON APOLOGETICS

Do Christians worship three Gods?

by Deacon Dr Sherman Kuek, OFS

I devoted my previous article to explaining how our Muslim friends understand God within their framework of a monotheism that cannot accept him as consisting of three distinct Persons. We now turn to the question of why Christians continue to believe that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is explained through a series of faith claims that follow in this article and several more articles to come.

THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF THE TRINITY 1. The Bible affirms that there is one God. Christian Scripture does not affirm the legitimacy of many sovereign gods. It speaks of only one sovereign God right from the dawn of creation.

This is true of the Old Testament and is reflected in the following passages, among others: “This he showed you, so that you might know that Yahweh is the true God and that there is no other.” (Deuteronomy 4:35, New Jerusalem Bible) “Yahweh is the true God, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other.”

(Deuteronomy 4:39, New Jerusalem Bible) “Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, New Jerusalem Bible) The word “one” (Heb; isechad) refers to one not in the absolute sense but one in the collective sense.

“Yahweh alone is his guide; no alien god for him!”

(Deuteronomy 32:12, New Jerusalem Bible) “…so that all the peoples of the earth may come to know that Yahweh is God indeed and that there is no other.” (1 Kings 8:60, New Jerusalem Bible) “…let all the kingdoms of the world know that you alone are God, Yahweh.”

(2 Kings 19:19, New Jerusalem Bible) “Yahweh, there is no one like you, no God but you alone…”

(1 Chronicles 17:20, New Jerusalem Bible) “You, Yahweh, are the one, only Yahweh, you have created the heavens…”

(Nehemiah 9:6, New Jerusalem Bible) “For you are great and do marvellous deeds, you, God, and none other.”

(Psalm 86:10, New Jerusalem Bible) “I am Yahweh, that is my name! I shall not yield my glory to another, nor my honour to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8, New Jerusalem Bible) “No god was formed before me, nor will be after me.”

(Isaiah 43:10, New Jerusalem Bible) “I am Yahweh, and there is no other, there is no other God except me.”

(Isaiah 45:5, New Jerusalem Bible) “I am the first and I am the last; there is no God except me.”

(Isaiah 44:6, New Jerusalem Bible) “Remember the things that happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isaiah 46:9, New Jerusalem Bible) “Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us?” (Malachi 2:10) In these passages above, exclusive claims for God are all accompanied by the same declaration that He stands alone in sovereignty and that there is no other divine competition equal to Him in status. In other words, there is only one God. However, there is a common concern that the Hebrew word Elohim is found 2,602 times in the Old Testament, since it seems to refer to God in the plural form. What many people have not understood is that the Bible’s handling of this reference to God

(Part II)

is quite contrary to the rules of Hebrew grammar. Since Elohim is a plural masculine noun, the form of the verb that follows should correspond. But Old Testament Hebrew does not seem to have honoured this rule in the sense that the verb that follows is not necessarily in the plural form. Hence, whether Elohim refers to the One God or to a plurality of gods is to be observed by the verb that follows.

For example, in Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth” (New Jerusalem Bible), the Hebrew word used for God is Elohim, which indicates plurality. But yet, it is interesting to note that the Hebrew word used for the verb “created” (Hebrew, bara) is in the singular form, therefore indicating that even though the preceding address for God (i.e. Elohim) is in the plural form, the author is using it as a plural of majesty (the way the kings of old referred to themselves as “we” instead of “I” in the first person) rather than a true plural.

Similarly, Genesis 1:26 (“God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves…’”) refers to God in a seemingly plural way and yet uses the singular form of “said”. The same applies for Genesis 3:22, “Then Yahweh God said, ‘Now that the man has become like one of us in knowing good from evil.”

The claim to the Oneness of God is also true of the New Testament, and it is reflected in the following passages, among others: “…we are well aware that none of the false gods exists in reality and that there is no God other than the One.” (1 Corinthians 8:4, New Jerusalem Bible) “‘…The Lord your God is the one to whom you must do homage, him alone you must serve.’” (Matthew 4:10, New Jerusalem Bible) “This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord…”

(Mark 12:29, New Jerusalem Bible) “‘…that he is one and there is no other.’” (Mark 12:32, New Jerusalem Bible) “How can you believe, since you look to each other for glory and are not concerned with the glory that comes from the one God?” (John 5:44, New Jerusalem Bible) “And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3, New Jerusalem Bible) “…Since there is one God; he will justify the circumcised by their faith, and he will justify the uncircumcised through their faith.” (Romans 3:30, New Jerusalem Bible) “Now there can be an intermediary only between two parties, yet God is one.”

(Galatians 3:20, New Jerusalem Bible) “…and one God and Father of all, over all, through all and within all.”

(Ephesians 4:6, New Jerusalem Bible) “To the eternal King, the undying, invisible and only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17, New Jerusalem Bible) “For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus…”

(1 Timothy 2:5, New Jerusalem Bible) “You believe in the one God - that is creditable enough…”

(James 2:19, New Jerusalem Bible) Given these passages from the Bible, it is strange that the Christians would be accused of worshipping three gods instead of just the one God. But of course, there is more to the Christian understanding of God than just the fact of His being One. We will explore this issue more in the coming article.

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TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Make the most of weekends

by Erick Rommel There’s an ancient song from the 1980s with the lyric, “Everybody’s working for the weekend.” If there ever were a better example of truth in art, I can’t think of it.

Whether you work Monday to Friday; or Wednesday to Monday; or a random schedule where you often forget whether it’s day or night, the one truth that binds us all is the desire to look ahead to moments when we won’t be working.

Unfortunately, for many of us, the weekend comes and goes, and we look back and wonder what happened to the plans we had to fill that time. In many cases, those visions of fun and idyllic splendour are replaced with a reality that’s nothing more than a bleak emptiness of could’ve and should’ve.

In reality, weekends and weekdays have a symbiotic relationship. Your success during one directly impacts your success during the other.

In many ways, weekdays are easier.

You’re successful if you go to work on time, work hard and earn money in order to afford your life. By the time the weekend arrives, all you want to do is sleep in, do nothing and spend money to have fun.

If you do that, your weekend will always overwhelm your weekdays and you’ll return to work more tired than when you left, nothing more than an

empty shell always looking ahead to a weekend that’s never more than five days away.

How do you break that cycle? How do you have fun, productive weekends that motivate and inspire you to reach increasing levels of success during the week?

As a starting point, learn lessons from your weekday schedule and apply them to the weekend.

No matter the job or the salary, successful people go to work with a plan.

If you’re a successful business person, that plan may include constantly reevaluating what you need to do to reach

your goals. For a factory worker, the plan may include a desire to find efficiencies to improve production.

In both cases, having a plan is more important than the plan itself.

So, what should your weekend plan include? Begin with a promise: You’ll sleep more than on a weekday, but not so much that the entire weekend disappears behind your eyes.

Sleep in. But then, get up and get moving.

Include your family in your plans in ways that you can’t include them during the week. When you’re working late on Thursday evening, text messages of love

and support may be appropriate. On the weekend, they’re unacceptable.

Take time to discover that spending time with your family doesn’t have to mean spending money on your family.

Go out and do something, or stay in and do something. Just do something.

No one’s favourite memory is that time they saw a special text for the first time.

In everything you do, weekday or weekend, enjoy yourself. At work, joy comes when you feel accomplished in your job and ready to move on to the next challenge. During the weekend, joy comes when you can escape thoughts of work to create the memories necessary to fill your fuel tank of inspiration, becoming ready to move on to the next week.

Finally, the most important of your weekend plans: Find time for yourself where you don’t have to do anything.

When you accomplish all that and the weekend is over, you’ll be tired, but it will be a good tired. In that moment when you’re recharged, use the energy found through your new, unforgettable memories to motivate and inspire yourself to an increasing level of success. Take time to prepare your plan for the week ahead.

After all, a weekend is never more than five days away. — CNS

Rethinking Thanksgiving after the Year of Mercy

by Effie Caldarola

This year, Thanksgiving week starts right after the formal conclusion of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy. How do we incorporate what we have gained from the prayers, talks, readings and reflections that most of us took part in during the year to shape the way we think about and celebrate Thanksgiving?

So much of our Thanksgiving pivots around what fills us with satisfaction and a sense of sufficiency. Like most people, my gratitude is tightly wrapped around all the good things or blessings in my life.

Elements of this long litany would include my loving husband and sons, the good health of my immediate family, success in our various engagements, fun and loyal friends and stability that insulates us from the economic travails that many others face. It is only natural and appropriate to give thanks for all the things that go well in our lives, may these be work, health, finance or relationships.

Yet the Year of Mercy called us also to be mindful of those things that don’t go so well in our lives. We all, in different ways and to different degrees, wander away from the kingdom like the prodigal son who departed to the far country, straying from the family of God, misspending our endowments, abandoning virtuous habits and indulging in empty pleasures.

The Year of Mercy shone a light

The Year of Mercy called us also to be mindful of those things that don’t go so well in our lives

Photo: CNS

on God’s love that far exceeds our flaws and wilfulness: He is as persistent as the shepherd searching for his lost sheep and the woman searching for her lost coin and, like the father of the prodigal son, always on the lookout for our return.

Yet what brings us to the doorstep of God and the threshold of mercy?

Everything that causes us to question our self-sufficiency, control and unexamined satisfaction with the way we handle relationships or form judgment. It is everything that humbles us, turns our hearts to God with an apology and makes clear our dependence on God. It is exactly this dependence that

helps us recognise the gift we are receiving. It is unlikely for those who have never experienced the excruciating pain of plantar fasciitis to appreciate the benefits of orthotics, or those who have 20/20 vision to plant reading glasses everywhere.

In a much bigger way, if we are not in touch with our own flaws, limitations and mistakes, we cannot really grasp the magnitude of God’s love and what a treasure it is. God’s generosity is more than what we can ever expect or think we deserve: God raises us to be heirs when we, like the prodigal son, would settle for being servants.

For me, one change this Thanksgiving will lie in what I give thanks for. Of course, we should thank God for our good fortunes, overflowing bounty, successes and “A’s.” But these pale in comparison to other gifts, such as second and unlimited chances, tenderness in judgment and grace that heals souls.

I am not proud of my impatience, harsh words, snap judgements, vanity, stinginess, inattention to what is deserving of attention and holding back on God. But I am unspeakably grateful when these faults turn me to God who assures all who are sincerely repentant that being “kinder, more loving, more generous” are definitely possible in all of our futures.

For Catholics, perhaps an additional practice to the celebration of Thanksgiving, in the context of mercy, would be a trip to the confessional.

Let us give thanks to God not just for things and fortune, but for mercy and grace. — CNS What is Thanksgiving Day? In the United States of America, Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday. This year, it is celebrated on 24 November. It was originally celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year, very similar to the Harvest Festival in Sarawak and Sabah.

FEATURE “The Lord is my Shepherd”

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TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

I was born and bred in London, a town boy with almost no experience of rural life and so looking back, it surprises me how easily I took to rural life, when I arrived here, in Sarawak, 45 years ago. This does not mean that I did not have to learn the ways of the river and forest – I did – but I had many helpful people around me, who handled the boats and taught me how to walk through the forest and so for the first two years I managed, but without fully realising just how much I depended on my companions. Then, one day, a priest friend of mine, from a neighbouring parish, asked me to say Mass in one of his longhouses, while he was away on leave. I readily agreed, for although I had never said Mass in his area, I knew where the place was. As the time neared for me to fulfil my promise, I pondered whether I should, as usual, call down my catechist to travel with me, but that would mean a day’s journey down river from his longhouse to where I stayed and then a further day’s journey to get to the longhouse I was due to say Mass in.

As I considered doing this, pride reared its head and I thought – “I can manage by myself!”

I set out on my journey by longboat, alone; I went through the canal that connected the river on which the mission station stood with the main river and then on to the longhouse, about two hour’s journey further on.

I was enjoying the journey and the sense of achievement when the engine suddenly sputtered and died. I tried to start it, but without success, so I used the knowledge I had gained from an old moped I once owned and checked the petrol line, cleaned the spark plugs and blew through the carburettor, but it still would not go. By that time my arm was getting tired from pulling the starting cord, so I stood up in the boat and started to pull again, but to no avail.

I, then, remembered someone telling me that if you put the engine into gear, it sometimes started; so I put it into gear and standing pulled the cord once more.

It worked! But, because it was in gear, the boat jumped forward, as the engine

Q&A

Q A

started, and I fell backwards – out of the boat and into the river. As I came to the surface, I saw the longboat turning in ever tighter circles, until it disappeared under the water!

Fortunately, longboats do not sink when they capsize. They turn upside down and although the engine pulls one end down into the water, there is enough buoyancy to lift the prow of the boat up out of the water by about a foot and so I swam over and sat on the prow, which supported me, but it must have seemed from a distance as though I were sitting in the water. Now, the river Igan, where I capsized, is a big river – a very, very big river – and in the place where I capsized there were only few people living, so as I sat there and looked all round me, I saw only the banks of the river, forest and padi fields, but no people. So, there I sat, gently floating upriver on the incoming tide with a bag, I had rescued, in my hand and a deep hole in my tummy. I looked all around and saw no one; I gave a great sigh and said to myself, “Oh dear!”

Fortunately, although I had not seen them, some children had been playing on the far bank of the river and had seen me capsize. They ran to tell their parents, who were working on their farms and the next things I knew, there were several small boats, in the far distance, being paddled towards me, with great jovial cheers and laughter as the people came to my assistance. However, when they got to about fifteen metres from me, they stopped! For what they saw was a white man, wet all over, and with a big dark beard and seemingly sitting up in the water, and I heard them saying to one another in Iban, “Go back, go back, it’s an “Antu”, (a devil)” Fortunately, they did not turn back, but instead one man stood up in his boat and called out in English, “Yes, Sir, what has happened?”

On hearing this, I thought to myself, “Hmmph! Isn’t it obvious what has happened?” But I answered, in Iban, “I have capsized” He then asked, “Oh! Are you the priest?”, for they were from the longhouse towards which I had been heading and, on hearing that I was, they all began paddling towards me and with

cries of “Ah, pity him!”, they lifted me and my boat up out of the water, rescued whatever luggage they could and took me to their longhouse to dry out and rest.

However, I was not able to say Mass for them that evening, as planned, for my Mass kit was in a metal box and had gone to the bottom of the river and the Igan is so deep that it will never be recovered, and with it went a lovely silver travelling chalice I had borrowed from my priest companion at the Mission. So, because of my pride in thinking I could manage by myself, the people went without Mass and I was left in the humiliating position of having to admit what had happened to my priest companion and to tell him that his beautiful silver travelling chalice was now lost forever at the bottom of the river Igan.

It would be nice, if I were able to tell you that from that day onwards, I never allowed myself to be led by pride again – but that would be untrue. That was but one of many disasters that have happened in my life and all because I thought I knew best and could manage alone. This is not only true of my relations with other people, but, in a special way, of my relations with God. I profess that “the Lord is my Shepherd – my Guide”, but my prayers have usually been attempts to persuade him to approve the path I have decided on, rather than to ask him to lead me along his paths. However, as St Paul says that the Lord turns everything to the good for those who love him and so by honestly looking at those disasters – and not trying to blame others for them – I am allowing grace to work in me and learning to distrust my judgements – which is merely common sense, because there are so many aspects of the world that I do not know and cannot know. So now, each morning, when I awake, I throw my legs over the side of the bed, but before I stand up, I make my morning offering.

The words may vary from day to day, but the meaning is the same – “Lord, take my hand and lead me where you want us to be, for I cannot know what is right and good without your guidance.” I must confess that I am sometimes tempted to take back control again, but I know that if I do then

PADI SEEDS

Fr Terry Burke is a Mill Hill Missionary, who has served in Sarawak, Indonesia, India and England.

Currently, he is a resident lecturer at St Peter’s College and also assigned to do formation work in the Archdiocese.

Today’s Catholic thanks him for sharing his rich pastoral reflections in his column ‘Padi Seeds’.

He sends out a blog each week.

If you would like to receive it, please email him at terrylburke@gmail.com. things will come crashing down, so I try to stop and think before rushing in to solve a problem, because I know that if I ask him, the Lord will show me what part is mine and what part is best left to him. He gives me those tasks which best suit my gifts and talents, while he himself manages the deeper parts that I am not even aware of.

So, the memory of my swim in the Igan river, even though I still sometimes cringe at the thought of it, stands me in good stead, for as long as I keep remembering it, it will bring to mind that it was pride that caused me to capsize and even though, I believe, that, on that day, the Lord probably prevented worse consequences than actually happened, it would have been better if it had never happened at all. If I had asked the Lord to be my Shepherd on that day and not tried to do things my way, then those people in the Igan, would have had Mass and my priest friend would still have his beautiful silver chalice.

Fr Terry Burke

Man and wife in heaven?

by Fr Kenneth Doyle

My wife passed away three years ago, and I miss her very much. We were married for 63 years. What are the church’s thoughts on the hereafter?

Will we still be man and wife?

Your question is one frequently asked by those who are mourning deeply the death of a spouse. The response should bring you some comfort.

In one Gospel story (Mk 12:18-27), a question is posed to Jesus by the Sadducees, who did not believe in an afterlife; they wanted to know about a woman who had had seven spouses successively, and which man would be her husband in heaven. Jesus explained that “when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven” (Mk 12:25).

Some have interpreted these words – erroneously – to mean that there will be no continuing and special relationship in heaven between earthly spouses. Instead, what Christ simply meant was that the institution of marriage, as we have known it on earth, will be unnecessary in heaven. There will be no need for procreation because no one will ever die; human companionship will not be required to satisfy

The church believes that the relationships we have enjoyed on earth will be transformed and enhanced as they continue in heaven. our loneliness because the desire for intimacy will be fulfilled by knowing the Lord personally.

Still, though, the church does believe that the relationships we have enjoyed on earth will be transformed and enhanced as they continue in heaven. A prayer frequently used at the end of funeral Masses has the priest saying, “Before we go our separate ways, let us take leave of our brother/sister. May our farewell express our affection for him / her; may it ease our sadness and strengthen our hope. One day we shall joyfully greet him / her again when the love of Christ, which conquers all things, destroys even death itself.” — CNS

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TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

90th Mission Sunday: Why giving for Mission Sunday is so important

by Fr VA Michael

M

ission Sunday is a day set aside for the Catholic Church throughout the world to publicly renew its commitment to the missionary movement.

Throughout the world the faithful will reflect on the universal call to Mission of all the baptised. They will be invited to contribute what they can to support the development and growth of young churches internationally. In October and especially on Mission Sunday Catholics are invited to be specifically conscious of the Church’s missionary activity abroad (ad gentes) through prayer, sacrifice and financial contributions.

The funds collected in all Churches throughout the world on Mission Sunday, is coordinated by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, founded by Pauline Jaricot under the umbrella of Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS), 190 years ago. The funds are used to assist Churches who need financial support and directed towards communities in need, both spiritually and materially. Contributions will be used to build simple mission churches, to educate seminarians as well as female religious novices. Your support also assists in the formation of catechists and lay leaders. The Mission Sunday gift may also be used for building health facilities for children and adults as well as for providing emergency aid in times of war or natural disaster or to assist missionaries in their efforts to care for refugees.

Our Holy Father in his message for World Mission Sunday 2016 said, “The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which the Church is celebrating, casts a distinct light on World Mission Sunday 2016: it invites us to consider the missio ad gentes as a great, immense work of mercy, both spiritual and material. On this World Mission Sunday, all of us are invited to “go out” as missionary disciples, each generously offering their talents, creativity, wisdom and experience in order to bring the message of God’s tenderness and compassion to the entire human family. By virtue of the missionary mandate, the Church cares for those who do not know the Gospel, because she wants everyone to be saved and to experience the Lord’s love. She “is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel” (Misericordiae Vultus, 12) and to proclaim mercy in every corner of the world, reaching every person, young or old.”

During Mission Sunday last year, a total of RM2,038,383.01 was collected from the parishes in our conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. 15% of the amount was allocated for the PMS office use whereas the remaining of RM1,858,322.68 (USD437,252.40) which includes unspent money from 2014, was distributed to the following countries as advised by the General Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Rome to be used to promote missionary movement: (i) (ii) (iii)

Apostolic Nunciature in Singapore = Apostolic Nunciature in Indonesia = Apostolic Nunciature in Malaysia = (for East Malaysia & Brunei)

USD 31,000.00 USD149,542.40 USD256,710.00

Another society that is under the umbrella of PMS is the Society of the Holy Childhood, founded by Bishop Charles de Forbin Jansen. Its purpose is to encourage all children to be aware of the needs of children living in mission diocese through the world. Bishop de Forbin Jansen always had a keen interest in the missions. He was a great preacher and travelled throughout France preaching the Gospel. He received letters from missionaries in China requesting his financial help to save starving and abandoned babies there. He did not know how to begin to raise these funds so he met with Pauline Jaricot who had already began her work to raise funds for mission dioceses. She advised him that no one could understand the needs of children better than children. She gave him the idea to start a children’s charity.

In 1843 he called upon the children of France to help save the children of China.

He asked them to become Missionary Children, helping to spread the Good News.

He asked them to say a Hail Mary every day and give a small coin every month to help feed the Chinese children.

Their motto was “children helping children”. The French children took up this great work and from then on the work of missionary children has spread across the world. Today it is in 110 countries and helps make Jesus known to children all over the world. Under its banner “children helping children”, monies raised through

Love Offering boxes prepared by the Pontifical Society of Holy Childhood, distributed to all children on Mission Sunday

schools are directed towards self-help programmes involving the building of schools, the provision of health and nutrition programmes and medications, school fees, and teaching and learning resources.

Children in communities, orphanages, homes for the disabled, refuges, and those living on the streets are assisted by the generosity of children who wish to make the love of Jesus know everywhere.

In our conference, our children too have contributed in their ways. Last year our children collected a total of RM160, 366.95. 15% of the amount was allocated to print Bibles and Prayer Booklets for children and also for the PMS office expenses.

The remaining of RM157,880.72 (USD37,148.40) which includes unspent money from 2014, was distributed to the following countries as advised by the General Secretary of the Society of the Holy Childhood, Rome to be used to help poor children, building of schools, funding teachers, education, providing healthcare and etc: (i) Apostolic Nunciature in Kenya = USD29,148.40 (ii) Diocese of Sandakan = USD 8,000.00 The PMS National Director of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Fr VA Michael (pictured left) would like to personally thank all the PMS Arch/Diocesan Directors, Parish Priests, Catechetical Teachers, Parishioners and especially our beloved Children for spreading the news on the importance of being a missionary and for all the contributions. On Mission Sunday, in a special way, let’s celebrate the work of all missionaries throughout the world. We thank God for them, for all who support them and during mission month we unite ourselves in prayer with them and with the communities with whom they work.

As conclusion, let’s reflect on Pope Francis’ message: “All peoples and cultures have the right to receive the message of salvation which is God’s gift to every person.”

May St Francis Xavier and St Teresa of the Child Jesus, patron saints of mission, pray for us.

This year, World Mission Sunday was celebrated on 23 October. Love offering boxes were distributed by the Pontifical Society of Holy Childhood in the parishes to enable children to help other children in need. Parents are urged to inculcate the spirit of giving and encourage your children to participate in the Mission of the Church. Please return these boxes to your respective parish offices by Saturday, 31 December.

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

CHILDREN

PAGE 13

Signs of the end of the age

Hi Kids!

In the month of November, we pray for the souls of all the people who have passed on before us.

Let us pray that God will have mercy on all of them and receive them into his heavenly kingdom.

Aunty Jo

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he has also become my salvation.

Isaiah 12:2 Read Luke 19:1-10.

Find the words of the passage in the wordsearch puzzle below.

Zacchaeus meets Jesus

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately.

I must stay at your house today.”

So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

Luke 19:5-6 Read Luke 19:1-10.

Complete this crossword puzzle.

ACROSS 2. To move upward, especially by using the hands and feet 5. A person who disobeys God’s laws; one who does wrong 6. Not tall 7. To set free from sin; to rescue 8. A large plant with a trunk, branches and leaves DOWN 1. To be unable to find your way 2. To get something for yourself in a dishonest way 3. A building in which people, usually a family, live 4. To have very little money 6. To search for something or someone poor short

save sinner

lost house

climb cheat

tree seek

Jesus and the Sadducees

disciples watch stones wars heaven time relatives

kingdom famine frightened signs worry life parents

temple friends brothers gifts

Christ the King

And they can no longer die; for they are like angels.

They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.

Luke 20:36 Read Luke 20:27-38.

Enter the correct words in the boxes based on the shape of the letters. angels wife marry children

hear revolutions prison earthquakes near beautiful nation

alive dead brother resurrection

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him.

They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Luke 23:35-38

Read Luke 3:33-43.

Colour the picture below.

PAGE 14

YOUTH

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

MCYMC on a mission to improve ministry’s needs RANAU, Sabah — The Malaysian Catholic Youth Ministers’ Committee (MCYMC) held their annual meeting from 26-29 September at Bundu Tuhan Retreat Centre. The meeting was a gathering of youth ministers who are working on a full-time basis under the Malaysian arch/ dioceses. This year all nine arch/ dioceses, represented by 30 fulltime youth ministers, were present at the meeting.

Prior to this meeting, the group had their meeting with the Catholic campus leaders for three days in Pace Bene.

The Bundu Tuhan meeting started with a recollection on the first day under the guidance of Fr Joshua Liew. He brought the ministers to reflect on their past relationships and events that led them to a full-time ministerial work. The session was further strengthened with adoration and sharing. The recollection ended with an evening Mass presided over by Archbishop John Wong, which was attended by St Pius X youth and parishioners.

For the next two days, each diocese shared on the progress of their youth ministry as well as

its future direction. They also took the opportunity to discuss present issues threatening youth and further needs of the Youth Commission in Malaysia. These issues and needs were presented to Archbishop Julian Leow on the final day, for the attnetion and action at the next Bishops Conference.

The issues that were of concern included proselytizing, youth migration, lack of proper documentation among youth leading to fear of being involved or to serve, and lack of patriotic zeal.

Meanwhile, MCYMC suggested that each youth minister to undergo appropriate formation, especially skills-building, in order to effectively face these issues.

At this meeting, MCYMC also improved its census system for migrating students / workers / youths by preparing online forms on their website at beliakl. catholicyouth.my. Those who are migrating will be directly connected to the arch/diocesan Youth Ministry office in the destination country.

Therefore the committee calls on all migrating parishioners all over Malaysia, regardless of age, to fill

in the form and make full use of this support.

The following were slated for future co-operation between the youth offices: Malaysian Catholic Campus Student Day (MCCSD) in Penang in June 2017, translation of reading materials which would be headed by Melaka-Johor Diocese, Malaysian contingent to Asian Youth Day in Indonesia, and World Youth Day 2019 in Panama.

Meanwhile, co-operation and building up of youth ministry offices within Malaysia will continue, with the Archdiocese of Kuching as its ‘Coordinating Office’ for 2017, replacing the Diocese of Sandakan.

The host for MCYMC 2017 is the Diocese of Sibu.

(A screenshot of beliakl.catholicyouth.my) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asayo.kl

Imelda Soidi, KK AYPT / Catholic Sabah

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

We have just celebrated The Days of the Dead. But do you really know what they are?

Everyone knows the secular holiday of Halloween, which happens this year on Monday night, 31 October. Americans dress up in costumes, decorate their homes and welcome trick-or-treaters to their doors by handing out candy.

Not everybody knows Halloween derives from a holy day, All Saints’ Day on 1 November, which is followed by All Souls’ day on 2 November.

Halloween: Eve of All Hallows The root word of Halloween is “hallow”, which means “holy”.

The suffix “een” is an abbreviation of “evening”. Halloween refers to the Eve of All Hallows, the night before All Saints’ Day, the Christian holy day that honours saintly people of the past.

All Souls’ Day is a day to pray for all souls. Among Catholics, prayers are offered for those in purgatory, waiting to get into heaven. On All Souls’ Day, Catholic churches have a Book of the Dead, in which parishioners have an opportunity to write the names of relatives to be remembered.

Most Episcopal churches will observe All Saints’ Day on Sunday. Churches often read the names of those who have

YOUTH

died in the last year.

More than a thousand years ago in Ireland and Britain, a common custom of Christians was to come together on the eve of the feast of All Hallows Day to ask for God’s blessing and protection from evil in the world. Often, they would dress in costumes of saints or evil spirits and act out the battle between good and evil around bonfires. That’s the source of the modern observance of Halloween.

great reverence for the dead and ancestor worship was culturally important.

That tradition blended into the Catholic holy days of the dead.

The “Dia de los Muertos”, or “day of the dead”, in Latin countries keeps alive some of the tradition of honouring souls of the dead.

Building on rituals All Saints’ Day emanates from early Christian celebrations of martyrs in the Eastern Church, dating to the fourth century. The church observance was in turn built upon pagan customs of honouring the dead.

The Christian concept of the importance of the individual soul underlies All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, which are observed worldwide primarily in the Catholic and Anglican traditions.

In Europe, Samhain was a Gaelic festival of the dead marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of the darkest time of year, a time when the spirit was more closely aligned to the physical world.

In the Americas, church ritual mixed with native celebration of ancestors. Mayans, Incans and other Native Americans had

Dia de los Muertos In many countries (especially in Mexico), 2 November is a national holiday – the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, the climax of the Days of the Dead. It’s the climax of three days of celebration: All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. People often dress as skeletons as a way of remembering the dead and celebrating their ancestors (see photo on top right corner).

A holy feast day In the Catholic Church, 1 November is normally a holy day of obligation, when all Catholics are expected to attend Mass.

In Catholic churches Wednesday, 2 November, for All Souls’ Day, one of the readings during the Mass is from the Book of Wisdom, which is biblical for Catholics

PAGE 15

and Eastern Orthodox, but not for Protestants, who don’t include it in their Bible: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them,” the Book of Wisdom says. “They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.”

Greg Garrison

PAGE 22

FOKUS

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

MENGENAI APOLOGETIK

Adakah Orang Kristian menyembah tiga tuhan?

Oleh Diakon Dr Sherman Kuek, OFS

(Bahagian II)

Saya secara khusus menulis artikel saya yang lalu untuk menjelaskan bagaimana rakan-rakan kita yang beragama Islam memahami Allah dalam rangka monoteisme mereka yang tidak dapat menerima bahawa Dia terdiri daripada tiga Peribadi yang berbeza.

Marilah kita beralih kepada persoalan tentang mengapa orang Kristian percaya bahawa Allah adalah Bapa, Putera dan Roh Kudus. Hal ini dijelaskan melalui satu siri tuntutan iman seperti berikut di dalam artikel ini dan beberapa artikel akan datang.

PANDANGAN KRISTIAN MENGENAI TRINITAS 1. Al-Kitab mengesahkan bahawa Tuhan hanya Satu (Esa).

Kitab Suci orang Kristian tidak mengesahkan kesahihan begitu banyak tuhan (dewa) yang agung. Ia hanya bercakap tentang satu Tuhan yang Maha Agung sejak wujudnya penciptaan.

Ini adalah kebenaran di dalam Perjanjian Lama dan diperlihatkan di dalam petikan-petikan berikut, antara lain: “Tuhan telah melakukan semua perkara itu supaya kamu tahu bahawa Dia satu-satunya Allah, dan tidak ada yang lain.” (Ulangan 4:35) “Oleh itu ingatlah hari ini dan jangan lupa bahawa Allah satu-satunya Tuhan di langit dan di bumi; tidak ada yang lain.” (Ulangan 4:39) “Dengarkanlah, hai Israel! Allah, Tuhan kita adalah yang satu-satunya – hanya Dialah Allah kita.” (Ulangan 6:4) Perkataan “satu” (Ibrani; isechad) merujuk kepada satu namun dalam erti kata yang tidak mutlak tetapi satu secara kolektif.

“Tuhan sendiri yang memimpin umat-Nya, tanpa dibantu oleh tuhan-tuhan lain!” (Ulangan 32:12) “Dengan demikian semua bangsa di bumi akan tahu bahawa Tuhan sahaja Allah, dan tiada yang lain.” (1 Raja-raja 8:60) “…supaya semua bangsa di dunia tahu bahawa Engkau, Tuhan satu-satunya Allah.” (2 Raja-raja 19:19) “Ya Tuhan, tidak ada yang sama dengan Engkau; sejak dahulu, kami telah mengetahui bahawa Engkau satu-satunya Allah.” (1Tawarikh 17:20) “Ya Allah, Engkaulah satu-satunya Tuhan; Engkau menciptakan bintang dan seluruh angkasa …” (Nehemia 9:6) “Engkau berkuasa dan melakukan perkara yang ajaib; hanya Engkaulah Allah.” (Mazmur 86:10) “Akulah Tuhan, itulah nama-Ku! Aku tidak akan memberikan kemuliaan-Ku kepada sesiapa, atau pujian-Ku kepada mana-mana berhala.” (Yesaya 42:8) “…Selain Aku, tidak ada tuhan-tuhan lain; baik pada masa dahulu, mahupun pada masa akan datang.” ( Yesaya 43:10) “Akulah Tuhan; selain Aku tiada yang lain.” (Yesaya 45:5) “Akulah yang pertama dan yang terakhir, Allah satu-satunya; selain Aku, tiada yang lain.” (Yesaya 44:6) “Ingatlah hal yang berlaku dahulu kala, akuilah bahawa Aku satu-satunya Allah, dan tiada sesiapa pun sama seperti Aku.” (Yesaya 46:9) “Bukankah kita semua mempunyai bapa yang sama? Bukankah kita semua diciptakan oleh Allah yang sama?” (Maleakhi 2:10) Di dalam petikan-petikan di atas, tuntutan keeksklusifan untuk Tuhan semuanya disertai deklarasi yang sama bahawa Dia berdiri sendirian dalam keagungan dan tidak ada tuhan lain yang layak menandingi-Nya dari segi status. Dalam kata lain, hanya ada satu Tuhan.

Namun demikian, terdapat persoalan yang biasa kepada perkataan Ibrani Elohim yang dijumpai sebanyak 2,602 kali di dalam Perjanjian Lama, memandangkan ia seolah-olah merujuk kepada Tuhan dalam kata majmuk. Apa yang kebanyakan orang belum memahami cara Al-Kitab mengendalikan rujukannya terhadap Allah adalah ia agak bertentangan bagi hukum tatabahasa Ibrani.

Memandang Elohim adalah kata majmuk yang maskulin, bentuk kata kerja yang berikutnya perlulah bersesuaian. Tetapi Kitab Perjanjian Lama Ibrani nampaknya tidak menghormati hukum ini dengan menggunakan kata kerja berikutnya yang tidak semestinya kata majmuk. Oleh itu, sama ada Elohim merujuk kepada Tuhan yang Satu atau kesemua tuhan, ini perlu dipatuhi oleh kata kerja yang berikutnya.

Sebagai contoh, di dalam Kitab Kejadian 1:1, yang menyatakan, “Pada mulanya, ketika Allah mula menciptakan alam semesta”, perkataan Ibrani yang digunakan untuk Allah adalah Elohim, yang menunjukkan ia dalam jumlah banyak. Namun begitu, ia agak menakjubkan untuk menyedari bahawa bahasa Ibrani yang digunakan untuk kata kerja “menciptakan” (Ibrani, bara) adalah dalam bentuk tunggal, oleh demikian ini menunjukkan walaupun panggilan yang dimulakan untuk Allah (iaitu Elohim) adalah dalam bentuk kata majmuk, penulis menggunakannya sama seperti kata majmuk untuk agong (cara raja-raja lama merujuk diri mereka sendiri sebagai “kami” dan bukannya “beta” pada orang pertama) bukannya kata majmuk yang sebenar.

Seumpama dengan itu, Kejadian 1:26 (“Kemudian Allah berfirman, ‘Sekarang Kita akan mencipta manusia yang akan menjadi seperti Kita dan menyerupai Kita…’”) merujuk kepada Tuhan yang kelihatan seolah-olah lebih dari satu tetapi

Ikon Trinitas yang dilukis oleh Andrei Rublev masih menggunakan kata “berfirman” dalam bentuk tunggal. Perkara sama diaplikasikan pada Kejadian 3:22, “Tuhan Allah berfirman, ‘Sekarang manusia telah menjadi seperti Kita dan mempunyai pengetahuan tentang apa yang baik dan apa yang jahat’.”

Dakwaan ke-Esa-an Allah juga adalah benar dalam Perjanjian Baru, dan ia dapat dilihat dalam petikan-petikan berikut, antara lain: “…Kita tahu bahawa berhala menggambarkan sesuatu yang tidak wujud. Kita juga tahu bahawa Allah hanya satu; tidak ada yang lain.”

(1 Korintus 8:40) “…Sembahlah Tuhan Allahmu dan abdikan diri kepada Dia sahaja!”

(Matius 4:10) “Inilah perintah yang paling utama: Dengarlah, hai bangsa Israel! Tuhan Allah kita, Dialah Tuhan Yang Esa.” (Markus 12:29) “‘…Tuhanlah Allah Yang Esa dan tidak ada yang lain.’” (Markus 12:32) “Bagaimanakah kamu boleh percaya kepada-Ku, jika kamu mencari kemuliaan daripada sesama kamu sendiri? Kamu tidak berusaha untuk mencari kemuliaan daripada Allah yang Esa.” (Yohanes 5:44) “Jika orang mengenal Engkau, satu-satunya Allah yang benar, dan mengenal Yesus Kristus yang sudah Engkau utus, maka mereka mendapat hidup sejati dan kekal.” ( Yohanes 17:3) “Allah hanya satu. Dia memungkinkan orang Yahudi berbaik semula dengan Allah, kerana mereka percaya kepada Yesus Kristus. Dia juga yang memungkinkan orang bukan Yahudi berbaik semula dengan Allah, kerana mereka percaya kepada Yesus Kristus.” (Roma 3:30) “Seorang perantara diperlukan apabila ada dua pihak. Tetapi Allah tidak memerlukan perantara, kerana Dia sendiri bertindak.” (Galatia 3:20) “…dan satu Allah, Bapa semua orang. Dialah Tuhan semua orang, yang bekerja melalui semua orang, dan tinggal di dalam semua orang.”

(Efesus 4:6) “Hendaklah Allah, Raja yang kekal, yang hidup selama-lamanya, yang tidak kelihatan, dan yang esa, dihormati serta dimuliakan selama-lamanya! Amin.”

(1 Timotius 1:17) “…kerana hanya ada satu Allah dan hanya ada satu yang dapat memimpin manusia kepada Allah, iaitu Kristus Yesus yang datang ke bumi sebagai manusia.” (1 Timotius 2:5) “Kamu percaya bahawa Allah hanya satu. Bagus! ...” (Yakobus 2:19) Dengan adanya petikan-petikan ini dari Al-Kitab, adalah sangat menghairankan jika orang Kristian masih lagi dituduh sebagai menyembah tiga tuhan dan bukan satu Tuhan.

Namun sudah tentu, terdapat banyak lagi perlu difahami orang Kristian tentang Tuhan daripada hanya berfaktakan bahwa Dia adalah Satu. Kita akan merungkai isu ini selebihnya di dalam artikel akan datang.

Diakon Dr Sherman Kuek OFS adalah seorang Diakon Tetap yang ditugaskan ke Keuskupan Melaka-Johor, Malaysia. Beliau juga seorang Fransiskan Sekular dan ahli teologi. Beliau akan menulis untuk Today’s Catholic tentang Gereja, ajaranajarannya dan pelbagai topik yang berkaitan dengan iman.

Anda ada soalan untuk beliau? Sila hantarkan soalan anda ke todaycat@gmail.com.

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

IMAN DAN HIDUP

PAGE 23

Memikirkan semula tentang Kesyukuran selepas Tahun Kerahiman Pada tahun ini, minggu Kesyukuran (24 November di Amerika Syarikat) bermula sejurus selepas penutupan rasmi Tahun Kerahiman Luar Biasa.

Bagaimanakah kita memasukkan apa yang kita sudah capai daripada doa, ceramah, bacaan dan renungan yang kebanyakan kita sertai sepanjang tahun untuk membentuk cara kita memikirkan dan merayakan Kesyukuran?

Kebanyakan Kesyukuran kita berkisar sekitar apa yang memenuhi kita dengan kepuasan dan rasa cukup.

Seperti kebanyakan orang, kesyukuran saya begitu berkait rapat dengan semua perkara baik atau berkat dalam hidup saya.

Elemen-elemen dalam litani yang panjang ini termasuk anak-anak dan suami saya yang penyayang, kesihatan anggota keluarga saya yang terdekat, kejayaan dalam pelbagai kegiatan kita, rakan-rakan yang setia dan menyeronokkan serta kestabilan yang melindungi kita daripada masalah ekonomi yang dihadapi ramai orang lain. Ia hanya semula jadi dan wajar untuk rasa bersyukur di atas segalanya yang berjalan lancar dalam hidup kita, sama ada dalam pekerjaan, kesihatan, kewangan atau perhubungan.

Namun Tahun Kerahiman juga menuntut kita untuk mengingati perkara-perkara yang tidak berjalan dengan begitu lancar dalam kehidupan kita.

Oleh Carolyn Woo

Apakah yang membawa kita ke pintu Tuhan dan gerbang kerahiman?

Semua kita, dalam pelbagai cara dan pada pelbagai tahap, tersasar dari kerajaan seperti si anak yang sesat dan pergi ke negara jauh, menjauhkan diri dari keluarga Tuhan, membelanjakan wang kita dengan boros, meninggalkan tabiat-tabiat yang murni dan bergelumang dalam keseronokan yang kosong.

Tahun Kerahiman memberi tumpuan kepada kasih Tuhan yang jauh mengatasi kecelaan dan kesukaan kita menggunakan cara sendiri: Dia tidak pernah putus-putus berusaha seperti gembala yang mencari dombanya yang hilang serta wanita yang mencari duit syilingnya yang hilang, dan seperti bapa anak yang sesat itu, sentiasa menunggu kepulangan kita.

Tetapi apakah yang membawa kita ke pintu Tuhan dan gerbang kerahiman?

Segalanya yang membuatkan kita mempersoalkan kecukupan diri, kawalan dan kepuasan yang tidak diteliti dengan cara kita menangani perhubungan atau membentuk penilaian. Ia adalah segalanya yang merendahkan hati

Hati ke hati...

dari pena penulis jemputan,

Fr Lazarus Swinie

Berkongsi pendapat atau pengelaman dan sakramen pengakuan dosa adalah dua perkara yang berbeza. Apa yang ingin saya kongsikan di sini adalah tentang pendapat seorang sahabat lama saya yang sudah beberapa tahun tidak bersembahyang di gereja.

Alasannya ialah Tuhan tidak adil. Dia telah mengambil nenek kesayangannya.

Kematian neneknya telah mengubah pandangannya terhadap Tuhan.

Marta juga pernah mengadu kepada Yesus tentang perkara yang serupa. Katanya, “Tuhan, jika Tuhan di sini pada masa itu, tentu saudaraku masih hidup” (Yoh. 11:32). Marta yang selalu dibayangi oleh perkara-perkara duniawi gagal

untuk melihat belas kasih dan kehadiran Tuhan dalam segala hal termasuklah kematian.

Kehadiran Yesus secara fisikal menjadi sandaran iman Marta.

Ini berbeza dengan saudaranya iaitu Maria. Ada tertulis di dalam Injil di mana semasa Yesus mengunjungi mereka Maria telahpun menghabiskan masanya untuk mendengar ajaran Yesus sedangkan Marta sangat bimbang dengan persiapan makannya bersama Yesus (Lk. 10: 38-42).

Ketekunan Maria mendengar ajaran Yesus membuatkannya lebih tenang menerima kematian saudaranya berbanding dengan Marta.

Yesus sendiri juga menerima nasib yang serupa. Dia juga mati dan kematiannya lebih

kiita, mengalih hati kita kepada Tuhan dengan memohon maaf dan menjelaskan kebergantungan kita kepada Tuhan.

Kebergantungan inilah yang membantu kita mengenali anugerah yang kita terima. Tidak mungkin orang yang tidak pernah mengalami kesakitan ‘plantar fasciitis’ yang begitu mendalam dapat menghargai manfaat ortotik, atau mereka yang ada visi 20/20 untuk meletakkan kacamata bacaan di merata tempat.

Dalam cara yang jauh lebih besar, jika kita tidak menyedari kecelaan, keterbatasan dan kesilapan kita, kita tidak dapat benar-benar memahami kebesaran kasih Tuhan yang merupakan satu khazanah tidak ternilai. Kemurahan hati Tuhan adalah lebih daripada apa yang kita dapat jangkakan atau fikir adalah wajar bagi kita: Tuhan mengangkat kita untuk menjadi pewaris tetapi kita, seperti si anak sesat, memilih untuk menjadi hamba.

Bagi saya, satu perubahan pada

dashyat daripada orang lain.

Kematian-Nya membawa kepada kebangkitan yang mulia.

Kebangkitan-Nya yang mulia membuahkan harapan. Harapan adalah kunci kepada iman kita.

Kata rasul Paulus, “Jika Kristus tidak dibangkitkan daripada kematian, maka kepercayaan kamu itu khayalan belaka” (1 Kor. 15:17). Kebangkitan Kristus yang mulia adalah asas iman dan kepercayaan kita. Melalui kewafatan dan kebangkitan Kristus kuasa kematian telahpun dikalahkan; sinar kehidupan dinyalakan.

Kita percaya bahawa kehidupan kita di dunia ini adalah satu pengembaraan.

Pengembaraan kita akan berakhir apabila kematian menimpa. Kematian adalah suatu yang tidak dapat dielakkan. Punca kematian berbeza namun tujuannya sama. Walaupun demikian, sebagai seorang Kristian, kita patut percaya bahawa kematian bukanlah bermaksud kehidupan dilenyapkan tetapi cumalah diubah menjadi kehidupan abadi yang lebih sempurna.

Kata Yesus, “Akulah yang membangkitkan orang mati dan yang memberikan hidup.

Sesiapa yang percaya kepada-Ku akan hidup, meskipun dia sudah mati” (Yoh. 11:25). Percaya

Kesyukuran ini bergantung dengan apa yang membuatkan saya rasa bersyukur. Sudah tentulah, kita harus mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Tuhan di atas nasib kita yang baik, kekayaan yang melimpah, kejayaan dan keputusan ‘A’. Namun ini kecil sekali jika dibandingkan dengan pemberian lain, seperti peluang kedua dan tanpa batas, kelembutan dalam penilaian serta rahmat yang memulihkan jiwa.

Saya tidak bangga dengan ketidaksabaran saya, kata-kata saya yang kasar, penilaian tanpa usul periksa, kesia-siaan, kelokekan saya, tidak memberi perhatian kepada perkara yang wajar diberi perhatian, dan menahan diri daripada Tuhan.

Namun saya amat bersyukur apabila kelemahan ini membawa saya kepada Tuhan yang memberi jaminan kepada semua yang ikhlas bertaubat bahawa menjadi “lebih baik hati, lebih penyayang, lebih bermurah hati” ternyata tidak mustahil dalam semua masa depan kita.

Bagi orang Katolik, mungkin satu amalan tambahan kepada perayaan Kesyukuran, dalam konteks kerahiman, adalah kunjungan ke bilik pengakuan dosa.

Marilah kita memanjatkan kesyukuran kepada Tuhan bukan sahaja bagi barang dan kekayaan, tetapi juga bagi belaskasihan dan rahmat.

CNS (Terjemahan)

kepada-Nya adalah kunci kepada kehidupan abadi. Maria berbanding dengan Marta pasrah dengan kematian saudaranya Lazarus.

Kepercayaannya terhadap Kristus yang boleh membangkitkan orang mati mengalahkan kesedihan yang ditanggungnya.

Sebagai manusia, seringkali kita takut untuk membayangkan saat kematian. Kita bersedih apabila orang yang kita sayangi telah meninggal dunia. Kita berkabung dan meratapi pemergian mereka. Ada yang tidak mahu menerima hakikat bahawa orang yang tersayang telahpun tiada. Ada yang menjadikan orang tertentu sebagai sasaran kononya kematian berlaku disebabkan olehnya. Tidak kurang juga yang menyalahkan Tuhan yang kononnya tidak berlaku adil.

Tetapi apa yang pasti ialah kematian tidak boleh dielakkan.

Suatu masa nanti ianya akan berlaku juga. Kematian tidak mengira umur, pangkat, fahaman politik ataupun agama.

Teknologi yang terbaik pun tidak dapat mengelakkan kita dari kematian. Betapa rapuhnya kehidupan duniawi kita. Oleh itu, “Jika fikiran kamu dikuasai oleh tabiat manusia, hal itu akan mengakibatkan kematian.

Tetapi jika fikiran kamu dikuasai

oleh Roh Allah, Allah akan mengurniakan kamu hidup dan kedamaian” (Roma 8:6).

Kepada mereka yang berkabung akibat dari kematian orang yang tersayang, rasul Paulus mengingatkan, janganlah “kamu bersedih hati seperti orang yang tidak mempunyai harapan” (1 Kor. 4:13). Kebangkitan Kristus adalah lambang dan sandaran harapan kita.

Pada setiap tahun, 2 November adalah hari untuk memperingati arwah. Melawat makam orang tersayang tidak mencukupi. Kita harus mendoakan roh mereka pada setiap ibadat Hari Minggu dan Misa Kudus. Sesungguhnya 2 November bukannya ‘sembahyang kubur’ tetapi hari untuk memperingati arwah. Memperingati arwah tidaklah terhad pada hari tersebut sahaja namun pada bila-bila masa mengikut kehendak diri kita.

Doa yang dilafazkan semasa peti jenazah dimasukkan ke dalam makam, “manusia diciptakan dari tanah, dan ia kembali ke tanah” patutlah menjadi iktibar bahawa kehidupan duniawi adalah sangat rapuh dan tidak kekal.

Fr Lazarus Swinie

BERITA

PAGE 24

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Seminar Transformasi Iman ke-4 mengajak umat KUBM ke arah pembaharuan iman

SHAH ALAM — Pada tarikh 12 September bertempat di Gereja Divine Mercy (CDM), buat kali ke-4 Seminar Transformasi Iman telah diadakan dengan penglibatan sebanyak 18 buah paroki di bawah Keuskupan Agung Kuala Lumpur. Seminar di bawah anjuran Badan Tim Pelayanan Keuskupan KL (AST KL) ini juga telah menyaksikan kehadiran seramai 120 orang pelajar dari UPSI Perak di bawah Gereja Holy Redeemer Tanjung Malim Perak dan kira-kira 40 orang peserta Orang Asal dari Kpg Tekir Negeri Sembilan.

Sebagai rekod, penyertaan tahun ini menunjukkan peningkatan kepada 980 peserta berbanding 2015 (950 peserta), 2013 (700 peserta) dan 2012 (550 peserta). Seperti tahun lalu, sesi khas yang berasingan (seperti sekolah minggu) juga telah dijalankan untuk anak-anak berumur 3-12 tahun.

Dua orang penceramah telah dijemput untuk menyampaikan ceramah untuk seminar kali ini, iaitu Saudara Jerome Jolly dan Saudara Jika

IMAN DIKUATKAN ... (Kiri) Para peserta mengikuti sesi puji dan sembah; (Kanan) Penceramah Jika George dan Jerome Jolly (bercermin mata) George dari Tim Pelayanan perpisahan sengaja dengan pengampunan, kesabaran dan Keuskupan Keningau, Sabah. Allah, konflik dengan akal budi harapan di mana ia menerangkan Setiap sesi telah dimulakan dan kebimbangan dalam iman. tentang anak yang hilang kini dengan sesi puji dan sembah Krisis-krisis iman ini boleh kembali (Luk 15:11-32) juga yang sangat bertenaga yang telah diperbaiki dengan meneladani seperti kita. Walaupun kita dibawakan oleh Tim pelayanan tokoh iman yang paling murni berdosa, Bapa di syurga akan dari paroki CDM Shah Alam iaitu Bonda Maria sendiri, yang sentiasa mengampuni dosa selaku tuan rumah, SAC Pudu tidak melepaskan imannya dan kita dan membuka jalan bagi dan gabungan SFA Cheras/Holy percaya bahawa Sabda Allah pertaubatan kita.

Sesi ceramah yg ke-3 dan Family Kajang. akan terpenuhi apabila dia Sesi ceramah pertama yang berkata “Aku ini hamba Tuhan, terakhir telah disampaikan telah disampaikan oleh Saudara maka terjadilah padaku menurut oleh Saudara Jika George, berjudul “Kerahiman Allah Jerome Jolly adalah mengenai perkataanMu” (Luk 1:38).

“Pembaharuan Iman Rohani”, Saudara Jerome meneruskan yang Menyembuhkan”. Sesi menerangkan tentang iaitu berkenaan krisis-krisis ceramah yang kedua mengenai ini iman kita serta tentangan- “Belas Kasihan Bapa”. Belas kerahiman Allah yang tiada tentangan terhadap iman, kasihan Bapa di sini merangkumi batasnya. Kerahiman Allah

yang terbesar ialah apabila Dia mengaruniakan kita Anak-Nya yang tunggal Yesus Kristus, supaya setiap orang yang percaya kepadaNya tidak binasa, melainkan beroleh hidup yang kekal (Yoh 3:16) dan selepas kehadiran Yesus di dunia, semua orangorang yang berdosa telah diselamatkanNya melalui pengorbananNya di kayu salib.

Sempena Tahun Kerahiman ini, kita diajak pulang kepada Bapa yang dipenuhi dengan kerahiman dan belas kasihan.

Sebelum Misa Kudus penutup, satu sesi renungan batin yang dipimpin oleh Saudara Jika George dan ekposisi Sakramen Mahakudus telah dijalankan. Sesi ini telah menyentuh dan menjamah ramai peserta yang hadir.

Seminar pada hari tersebut telah diakhiri dengan Misa Kudus penutup yang telah dirayakan oleh Fr Simon Labrooy dengan ucapan penutup berserta penghargaan yang telah disampaikan oleh Saudara Terence Zavier, selaku wakil pihak Penganjur STI-4 di bawah badan AST KL. — Ray Eyo (SFA Cheras)

Jadikan perpaduan satu keutamaan, kata Pope Francis pada ulang tahun Reformasi LUND, Sweden — Ketika di Sweden sempena memperingati ulang tahun Reformasi ke-500, Pope Francis mendengar testimoni yang menyentuh hati dari pengikut Luther (Lutheran) dan orang Katolik yang bekerja untuk memperbaiki masyarakat, mengucapkan terima kasih di atas kesaksian mereka dan berdoa untuk perpaduan yang lebih erat.

“Kita mengingati ulang tahun ini dengan semangat baharu dan dengan kesedaran bahawa perpaduan Kristian adalah satu keutamaan, kerana kita menyedari bahawa lebih banyak lagi menyatukan kita daripada memisahkan kita,” kata Paus di satu acara ekumeni di Malmo, Sweden pada 31 Oktober lalu.

Beliau menjelaskan bahawa perjalanan ke arah perpaduan yang sudah dilakukan setakat ini dengan sendirinya adalah “satu anugerah yang hebat” dari Tuhan.

Laluan dialog telah membantu kedua-dua Gereja untuk berkembang dalam persefahaman di antara satu sama lain dan memupuk kepercayaan yang lebih tinggi di antara umat Katolik dengan

Pope Francis menghadiri perkhidmatan doa ekumenikal di gereja Lutheran di Lund, Sweden pengikut Luther tatkala mereka berusaha kearah kesatuan (komuni) sepenuhnya, kata Francis.

Beliau menyebut tentang kerjasama dalam perkaraperkara umum sebagai satu contoh konkrit bagi langkahlangkah yang diambil.

Selain deklarasi bersama pada 1999 mengenai Doktrin Justifikasi di antara Takhta Suci dengan Persekutuan Lutheran Sedunia (LWF), organisasi kebajikan Katolik Caritas Internationalis dan Khidmat Sedunia Persekutuan Sedunia Luthean turut menandakan satu kenyataan bersama pada 31 Oktober, “Deklarasi Hasrat”

bertujuan untuk “memajukan dan mengukuhkan semangat kerjasama bagi mempromosikan martabat manusia dan keadilan sosial”.

Pope Francis mengadakan lawatan rasmi pada 31 Oktober – 1 November ke Sweden untuk satu peringatan bersama sempena ulang tahun Reformasi ke-500. Lawatannya menandakan kali pertama seorang Paus telah pergi ke Scandinavia sejak lawatan St John Paul II pada 1989.

Selepas beliau mendarat di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Malmo, Paus membuat kunjungan hormat kepada Kerabat Diraja sebelum

beliau menyertai waktu doa ekumeni di katederal Lutheran di Lund.

Selepas doa tersebut, Francis kemudian pergi ke Arena Malmo untuk acara ekumeni utama, di mana beliau disambut oleh Uskup Dr Muniba Younan, Presiden LWF. Dalam ucapan beliau, Younan bekata “ia amat menggembirakan saya untuk berada di sini pada hari ini, sebagai saksi kepada kerja Roh kudus yang menyemai perpaduan di kalangan para pengikut Yesus”.

Perhimpunan bersejarah itu, katanya, memberi mesej kepada seluruh dunia bahawa keyakinan

keagamaan yang dipegang erat “boleh membawa kepada perdamaian yang aman dan tidak selalunya menyumbang kepada konflik kepada dunia kita yang sudah pun bergolak”.

Apabila orang beragama berusaha ke arah perpaduan dan perdamaian, agama dapat memupuk perkembangan semua masyarakat manusia,” kata Younan.

“Tatkala kita bertemu di sini, Katolik dan Lutheran, dengan ramai tetamu ekumeni lain, kita dicabar untuk maju ke hadapan dalam Roh Kudus,” kata beliau, dan menambah pertemuan ini “bukan penghujung bagi dialog kita, tetapi permulaan baharu”.

“Saya yakin bahawa matlamat kita yang sama akan ditemui bukan hanya dalam dialog teologi sahaja, tetapi dalam kesaksian yang praktikal, iaitu ‘martyria’ dalam ‘diakonia’ bernubuat.”

Sebelum ucapan mereka, Paus dan Younan turut mendengar empat testimoni dari orang Katolik dan orang Lutheran yang bekerja untuk kebaikan umum serta kemajuan pelbagai lapisan masyarakat. — CNA/EWTN News (Terjemahan)

BERITA

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Dari meja pengarang

PAGE 25

Tiada belas-kasihan lagi?

Perayaan Kristus Raja pada 20 November adalah penamat tahun liturgi yang menandakan penutupan rasmi bagi Pintu Suci pada Tahun Kerahiman. Ritma hidup yang semula jadi, permulaan dan penghujung.

Kebetulan awal November menumpukan minda kita kepada ahli-ahli keluarga tersayang yang sudah meninggal dunia, mereka yang sudah menamatkan perjalanan mereka di bumi, dan juga semua orang kudus, mereka yang menikmati permulaan abadi.

Penutupan simbolik Pintu Suci bagi Tahun

Kerahiman tidak menandakan berakhirnya Kerahiman Tuhan seperti apa yang mungkin dibayangkan oleh segelintir orang.

Ia hanya menandakan berakhirnya satu tempoh bagi fokus yang istimewa kepada satu aspek khusus pada wajah Tuhan.

Pada waktu yang sama, ia adalah permulaan bagi keterbukaaan kita secara peribadi yang berterusan kepada belaskasihan yang kita telah terima sepanjang tahun ini.

Stella Chin (Terjemahan)

Paus di Misa Kanonisasi: Doa tidak selalunya mudah, tetapi teruslah berdoa ROM, Itali ­­ — Pada 16 Oktober lalu, Pope Francis telah mengangkat tujuh orang kudus (santo dan santa) baharu dalam Gereja Katolik, dan berkata doa bukan selalunya laluan yang lancar, tetapi seperti orang kudus, Kristus menyokong kita walaupun ketika ia susah.

“Santo-santa adalah lelaki dan wanita yang memasuki sepenuhnya ke dalam misteri doa. Lelaki dan wanita yang bergelut dengan doa, dan membiarkan Roh Kudus untuk berdoa dan bergelut dalam mereka,” kata Pope Francis pada 16 Oktober lalu.

“Mereka bergelut hingga ke penghujung, dengan segala kekuatan mereka, dan mereka menang, tetapi bukan dengan daya usaha mereka sendiri: Tuhan menang di dalam mereka dan bersama mereka.

Tujuh saksi berkenaan yang telah diangkat sebagai orang kudus pada hari ini turut berjuang dalam perjuangan kepercayaan dan kasih sayang yang baik menerusi doa-doa mereka.”

Dalam sembahyang Misa bersama 80,000 penziarah di

PENERBIT Uskup Agung Kuching PENASIHAT Fr Felix Au EDITOR Stella Chin EDITOR BERSEKUTU (B Cina) Magdalene Yeo SIDANG EDITOR Freddy Bohari (BM) Martha Ngui (B Inggeris) Victoria J Lim (Halaman Kanak-kanak B Inggeris) James Lo (B Cina) Margaret Bong (Halaman Kanak-kanak B Cina) STAF Audrey Yu

Seminar memberi kesedaran tentang kerahiman

INILAH KERAHIMAN ... Stephanie Ng (kanan) menyampaikan ceramah Kerahiman kepada jemaat Saratok Dataran St Peter, Pope Francis mengisytiharkan tujuh orang kudus baharu, termasuk Santa Elizabeth Trinitas Berkat, seorang biarawati Carmel; dan Santo José Sánchez del Río, yang dibunuh kerana kepercayaannya pada usia 14 tahun. “… kita mengisytiharkan dan mentakrif Blessed Solomon Leclercq, José Sánchez del Río, Manuel González García, LodovicoPavoni, Alfonso Maria Fusco, José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero dan Elizabeth Trinitas Catez sebagai Orang Kudus,” kata Francis.

“Dan kita meletakkan

mereka di kalangan Orang Kudus, dan menitahkan agar mereka dihormati sebagai yang sedemikian oleh seluruh Gereja.”

Dalam homily beliau, Pope Francis mengumpamakan doadoa kita dengan pertarungan yang dilancarkan oleh Moses ke atas Amalek seperti yang diceritakan di dalam Kitab Keluaran.

Walaupun dia menjadi semakin letih dan lemah semangat, Moses disokong oleh Aaron dan Hur, dan dapat bertahan dalam doa untuk Israel. bersambung di ms28

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Atau datang ke Pejabat Pro-Life: Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre, 1st Floor, Lot 2500, Jalan Stampin, 93350 Kuching | Laman web: http://www.prolifegroupkuching.org

SARATOK — Pada 16 Oktober yang lalu, kira-kira 60 orang jemaat telah menghadiri Seminar Tahun Kerahiman di Pusat Katolik St Ignatius.

Jemaat dari Gereja Keluarga Suci Betong dan St Anthony Skrang turut menyertai seminar tersebut.

Tujuan seminar ini adalah untuk mengenali dan memahami kerja-kerja kerahiman Allah tehadap manusia yang telah berdosa dan ingin kembali kepada kerahimanNya. Antara fasilitator yang telah menjayakan seminar ini adalah Vernon Juram, Kassia, Stephanie Ng, Cosmas Klumai dan Louise (SSVP).

Pada malam Sabtu 15 Oktober, program dimulakan pada jam 8.00 malam dengan ceramah Kerahiman Ilahi yang disampaikan oleh Vernon.

Pada keesokan harinya, Seminar Tahun Kerahiman

bermula pada jam 9.00 pagi.

Di antara topik-topik ceramah yang disampaikan adalah ‘Fahaman tentang Kerahiman Tuhan dalam AlKitab’, ‘Peranan Belaskasihan dalam kehidupan Gereja’, ‘Bagaimana kita dapat menjalani Tahun Suci ini dengan baik’ dan ‘Seruan Khusus bagi Keadilan dan Belaskasihan’.

Program juga diselitkan dengan perkongsian daripada Society of St Vincent de Paul (SSVP), aktiviti perbincangan kumpulan, nyanyian lagu pujian, dan doa Kerahiman Ilahi pada jam 3.00 petang.

Seminar ini diakhiri dengan Misa Kudus yang dirayakan oleh Father Robert Jissem pada jam 4.00 petang.

Ini diikuti minum petang bersama semua jemaat dan peserta seminar.

Rossita Guang

Pengampunan adalah intipati kasih sayang yang dapat memahami kesilapan dan memperbetulkannya.

- Pope Francis

BERITA

PAGE 26

“Tuhan Gembalaku” Saya dilahirkan dan dibesarkan di London, seorang budak bandar yang hampir tiada pengalaman dengan kehidupan luar bandar, dan apabila saya merenung kembali, ia mengejutkan saya betapa mudahnya saya menerima kehidupan luar bandar, ketika saya tiba di sini, di Sarawak, 45 tahun yang lalu.

Ini tidak bermakna bahawa saya tidak perlu mempelajari selok-belok di sungai dan di dalam hutan – saya memang belajar – tetapi saya ada ramai orang yang suka membantu di sekeliling saya, yang mengendalikan bot dan mengajar saya bagaimana untuk berjalan dalam hutan, dan oleh itu dalam tempoh dua tahun pertama, saya berjaya melakukannya, tetapi tanpa menyedari sepenuhnya betapa saya amat bergantung kepada teman-teman saya.

Pada suatu hari, seorang rakan paderi saya, dari sebuah paroki bersebelahan, meminta saya untuk merayakan sembahyang Misa di salah sebuah rumah panjangnya, ketika dia bercuti di tempat lain. Saya bersetuju, kerana walaupun saya tidak pernah merayakan sembahyang Misa di kawasannya, saya tahu di mana tempat tersebut.

Apabila masa semakin tiba untuk saya menunaikan janji saya, saya tertanyatanya sama ada saya harus, seperi kebiasaan, memanggil katekis saya untuk melakukan lawatan bersama saya, tetapi itu bermakna perjalanan sehari ke hilir sungai dari rumah panjangnya ke tempat penginapan saya dan kemudian perjalanan sehari lagi untuk sampai ke rumah panjang di mana saya dijadual merayakan sembahyang Misa.

Ketika saya menimbang untuk melakukan perkara ini, kesombongan muncul

dan saya fikir – “saya dapat melakukannya bersendirian!”

Saya memulakan perjalanan saya dengan menaiki perahu panjang, bersendirian; saya menelusuri terusan yang menghubungkan sungai di mana stesen misi berada dengan sungai besar dan kemudian menuju ke rumah panjang berkenaan, kirakira dua jam perjalanan lagi.

Saya sedang menikmati perjalanan dan rasa sudah mencapai sesuatu apabila enjin tiba-tiba mati. Saya cuba menghidupkannya semula, tetapi tidak berjaya, lalu saya menggunakan pengetahuan yang saya perolehi daripada sebuah moped lama yang pernah saya miliki dan memeriksa talian petrol, mencuci pencucuh palam dan meniup karburetor, tetapia masih enggan hidup.

Ketika itu tangan saya semakin letih kerana menarik tali pemula enjin, lalu saya berdiri di dalam bot dan mula menarik sekali lagi, tetapi siasia.

Saya kemudian ingat seseorang yang memberitahu saya jika kita memasang gear enjin, ia kadang-kadang hidup; lalu saya memasang gear, berdiri dan menarik tali sekali lagi. Ia hidup!

Tetapi, oleh kerana gear dipasang, bot menerjah ke hadapan apabila enjin hidup, dan saya jatuh ke belakang – terpelanting dari bot dan jatuh ke dalam sungai. Apabila saya muncul dari air, saya melihat bot panjang berkenaan berpusingpusing dalam bulatan yang semakin kecil sehingga ia lesap di bawah air!

Nasib baik bot panjang tidak tenggelam apabila ia karam.

Ia terbalik dan walaupun enjin menarik bahagian sebelah ke dalam air, pengapung cukup kuat untuk mengangkat bahagian bawah haluan bot dari air setinggi kira-kira sekaki, lalu saya berenang ke sana dan duduk

Tuhan memberikan kepada saya tugasan yang paling sesuai dengan bakat dan anugerah saya, manakala Dia Sendiri menguruskan bahagian lebih dalam yang saya malah tidak sedari.

di atas bahagian bawah haluan bot, yang menopang saya, tetapi dari jauh, ia mungkin kelihatan seperti saya duduk di dalam air.

Sungai Igan, di mana saya karam, adalah sungai yang besar – sungai yang sangat, sangat besar – dan tidak ramai orang tinggal di tempat di mana saya karam, jadi ketika saya duduk di sana dan melihat di sekeliling saya, saya hanya melihat tebingan sungai, hutan dan sawah padi, tetapi tiada orang.

Jadi saya duduk di sana, terapung dengan perlahan ke hulu sungai di atas air pasang dengan sebuah beg yang saya selamatkan di dalam tangan saya dan lubang besar dalam perut saya. Saya melihat sekeliling dan tidak melihat sesiapa; saya mengeluh kuat dan berkata kepada diri sendiri, “Oh dear!”

Nasib baik, walaupun saya tidak ternampak mereka, beberapa orang kanak-kanak telah bermain di tebing jauh sungai dan melihat saya karam.

Mereka lari untuk memberitahu ibu bapa mereka, yang bekerja di ladang mereka, dan saya ternampak beberapa bot kecil, dari jauh, sedang dikayuh ke arah saya, dengan ketawa dan sorakan gembira ketika orang di sana datang untuk membantu saya.

Bagaimanapun, apabila mereka sampai kira-kira 15 meter dari saya, mereka berhenti! Kerana apa yang mereka lihat adalah seorang lelaki putih yang basah kuyup, dan berjanggut hitam yang lebat dan seakan-akan duduk di dalam air, dan saya mendengar mereka berkata kepada satu sama lain dalam bahasa Iban, “Pulang, pulang, itu hantu (iblis)”.

Nasib baik mereka tidak berpatah balik, sebaliknya seorang lelaki berdiri di dalam botnya dan bercakap dalam bahasa Inggeris, “Ya, tuan, apa telah berlaku?”

Apabila mendengar ini, saya fikir kepada diri saya sendiri, “Hmmph! Tidak jelaskah apa yang telah berlaku?” tetapi saya menjawab, dalam bahasa Iban, “Saya telah karam”.

Dia kemudian bertanya, “Oh! Adakah anda paderi itu?” kerana mereka berasal dari rumah panjang yang saya tujui dan apabila mereka mendengar saya adalah paderi, semua mereka berkayuh ke arah saya dan dengan kata-kata “Ah, kasihan dia!”, mereka mengangkat saya dan bot saya dari dalam air, menyelamatkan apa sahaja bagasi yang dapat diselamatkan dan membawa saya ke rumah panjang mereka untuk mengeringkan diri dan berehat.

Bagaimanapun saya tidak dapat merayakan sembahyang

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

BENIH-BENIH PADI Fr Terry Burke ialah seorang mubaligh Mill Hill yang pernah berkhidmat di Sarawak, Indonesia, India dan England. Buat masa sekarang, beliau adalah pensyarah di Kolej St Peter selain ditugaskan kepada kerja pembentukan di Keuskupan Kuching.

Today’s Catholic ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Fr Burke kerana membahagikan renungan dan pengalaman pastoral yang kaya di dalam ruangan ini yang bertajuk Benihbenih Padi.

Misa untuk mereka pada malam itu seperti yang dirancang, kerana kelengkapan Misa saya berada di dalam kotak besi yang sudah tenggelam ke dasar sungai, dan ia tidak akan dijumpai kerana Sungai Igan begitu dalam sekali, dan bersamanya hilang sebuah piala perak cantik yang saya pinjam dari rakan paderi saya di Misi.

Disebabkan oleh kesombongan saya yang memikirkan saya dapat melakukannya bersendirian, jemaat tidak dapat bersembahyang Misa dan saya berada dalam kedudukan memalukan di mana saya terpaksa mengaku apa yang telah berlaku kepada rakan paderi saya dan memberitahunya bahawa piala peraknya yang cantik kini sudah hilang buat selama-lamanya di dasar Sungai Igan.

Ia pasti bagus jika saya dapat memberitahu anda bahawa semenjak hari itu, saya tidak pernah membiarkan diri dibimbing oleh kesombongan lagi – tetapi itu adalah tidak benar.

Itu hanya satu sahaja daripada banyak bencana yang telah berlaku dalam hidup saya dan semua itu kerana saya fikir saya paling tahu dan dapat melakukannya bersendirian.

Ini bukan sahaja benar mengenai hubungan saya dengan orang lain, tetapi, dalam satu segi yang istimewa, mengenai hubungan saya dengan Tuhan.

Saya mengakui “Tuhan adalah Gembalaku – Pembimbingku”, tetapi doadoa saya biasanya adalah cubaan untuk memujukNya agar meluluskan jalan yang saya telah pilih, dan bukannya memintaNya untuk membimbing saya di sepanjang jalanNya. Bagaimanapun, seperti apa yang disebut oleh St Paul, Tuhan mengubah segalanya untuk kebaikan mereka yang menyayangiNya, jadi dengan melihat secara jujur bencanabencana tersebut – dan tidak cuba menyalahkan orang lain baginya – saya membiarkan rahmat untuk bekerja dalam diri saya dan belajar untuk tidak mempercayai penilaian saya sendiri – sekadar akal biasa,

kerana begitu banyak aspek di dunia yang saya tidak tahu dan tidak dapat tahu.

Jadi sekarang, setiap pagi, apabila saya bangun, saya melontarkan kaki saya ke sebelah katil, tetapi sebelum saya berdiri, saya memanjatkan doa pagi saya.

Kata-kata saya mungkin berlainan dari hari ke hari, tetapi maknanya tetap saya – “Tuhan, ambil tanganku dan bimbing aku ke mana sahaja Kamu mahu kita berada, kerana aku tidak dapat tahu apa yang betul dan baik tanpa bimbinganMu.” Saya mesti mengakui bahawa saya kadang-kadang ingin sekali mengambil balik kawalan sekali lagi, tetapi saya tahu jika saya berbuat demikian, maka keadaan akan menjadi porak-peranda, jadi saya cuba berhenti dan berfikir sebelum terburu-buru untuk menyelesaikan sesuatu masalah, kerana saya tahu jika saya memohon kepadaNya, Tuhan akan menunjukkan kepada saya bahagian saya dan bahagian mana yang lebih baik diserahkan kepadaNya. Dia memberikan kepada saya tugasan yang paling sesuai dengan bakat dan anugerah saya, manakala Dia Sendiri menguruskan bahagian lebih dalam yang saya malah tidak sedari.

Jadi memori saya berenang di Sungai Igan, walaupun saya kadang-kadang masih mengerut apabila saya memikirkannya, banyak membantu saya, kerana selagi saya terus mengingatinya, ia akan mengingatkan saya bahawa ia adalah kesombongan yang telah menyebabkan saya untuk karam dan walaupun saya percaya bahawa pada hari itu, Tuhan mungkin telah mencegah akibat yang lebih buruk daripada berlaku, ia pasti lebih bagus jika ia tidak pernah berlaku sama sekali.

Jika saya meminta Tuhan untuk menjadi Gembala saya pada hari itu dan tidak cuba melakukan perkara dengan cara saya, maka penduduk terbabit di Sungai Igan pasti ada sembahyang Misa dan rakan paderi saya pasti masih ada piala peraknya yang cantik.

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

BERITA

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Kardinal pertama dari Malaysia Bakal kardinal Anthony Soter Fernandex

KUALA LUMPUR – Sejarah dilakar dalam Gereja Malaysia apabila Pope Francis melantik Most Reverend Anthony Soter Fernandez, Uskup Agung Emeritus Kuala Lumpur, sebagai Kardinal.

Pengumuman itu dibuat oleh Bapa Suci pada 9 Oktober dalam ucapan mingguan beliau pada Hari Ahad.

Bakal Kardinal Fernandez adalah antara 17 orang uskup agung Roman Katolik dari seluruh dunia yang telah dinaikkan ke pangkat tinggi kardinal pada Tahun Jubli Kerahiman.

Dikenali sebagai “puteraputera Gereja”, kardinal merukan anggota paling kanan dalam hirarki Roman Katolik selepas Paus dan bertindak sebagai penasihat utama beliau di seluruh dunia dan di Vatikan.

Bakal Kardinal Fernandez, yang bersara dari jawatan beliau sebagai Uskup Agung di Keuskupan Agung Kuala Lumpur pada Mei 2003,

merupakan seorang daripada empat kardinal baharu berusia lebih daripada 80 tahun, yang diberi penghormatan kerana khidmat mereka yang lama kepada Gereja.

Dalam menjalani cogan kata keuskupan beliau ‘Keadilan dan Keamanan’, Uskup Agung Emeritus berusia 84 tahun itu terkenal kerana keberanian beliau dan perjuangan beliau untuk menegakkan keadilan.

Kenaikan beliau kepada status kardinal seperti yang dilaporkan di dalam media asing adalah juga untuk mengiktiraf peranan beliau dalam memupuk dialog.

Selama beliau menjadi uskup agung, bakal Kardinal Fernandez mewujudkan satu panduan yang signifikan bagi Gereja Semenanjung Malaysia menerusi visi beliau yang jelas dalam memahami dan mengenalpasti keperluan Gereja di Malaysia. Beliau mengetuai jemaat dalam proses memahami kepentingan untuk menjadi Gereja dan mempromosikan perkembangan Komuniti Eklesia Asas.

Ini telah digambarkan oleh St Pope John Paul II dalam sepucuk surat peribadi kepada bakal Kardinal Fernandez sempena ulang tahun ke-25 pentahbisan keuskupan beliau pada Februari 2003.

“Komitmen anda yang kuat kepada kewajipan bukan sahaja memanfaatkan jemaat yang diamanahkan kepada anda tetapi juga ternyata jelas kepada semua di Asia. … Peranan anda dalam Persidangan Uskup Katolik Malaysia-Singapura-Brunei juga menyinar dalam usaha anda yang gigih untuk memberi hala tuju dan matlamat kepada Gereja di Malaysia Barat,” kata Paus dalam sepucuk suratnya.

Demikian juga, bakal Kardinal Fernandez, ketika merenungkan keuskupan beliau selama 25 tahun, berkata dalam satu temuramah ketika itu, “Saya tidak memburu kejayaan.

Kita hanya menyemai benih.

Kita melakukan kehendak Tuhan dan berusaha untuk taat setia kepadaNya. Kita juga mesti berada di dalam dunia dan bertindak terhadap keperluan umat. Kita perlu mendengar umat.”

Kata-kata ini ternyata sedang menerima ganjaran, seperti yang disebut dalam satu komentari baru-baru ini … ‘Biografi kardinal-kardinal baharu mendedahkan bahawa Pope Francis jelas telah memilih pastor-pastor yang merupakan lelaki-lelaki rendah hati, yang tidak menaruh aspirasi untuk menjadi putera; pendokong dialog, bukan pahlawan

Sambutan Hari Minggu Kateketikal meriah

budaya; lelaki-lelaki yang tahu bagaimana untuk menunjukkan belaskasihan dalam pelayanan mereka’.

Bakal Kardinal Fernandez yang meraikan ulang tahun pentahbisan kepaderian beliau yang ke-50 pada tahun ini, dilahirkan pada 22 April 1932 dan ditahbis menjadi paderi pada 10 Disember 1966. Beliau ditahbis menjadi uskup bagi Diosis Pulau Pinang pada 17 Februari 1978 dan kemudian dilantik sebagai Uskup Agung kedua Kuala Lumpur pada 10 November 1983. Beliau menerajui keuskupan agung itu selama 20 tahun sebelum berundur pada usia 71 tahun atas sebab-sebab kesihatan.

Selepas beliau bersara, beliau terus berkhidmat kepada Keuskupan Agung Kuala Lumpur dan kemudian ditugaskan sebagai Bapa Rohani bagi Kolej Seminari Utama Umum di Pulau Pinang. Selepas beliau menamatkan penggal beliau di seminari tersebut, beliau kembali ke Keuskupan Agung Kuala Lumpur dan terus berkhidmat sebagai Chaplain di Rumah Warga Emas St Francis Xavier, Cheras.

Uskup Agung Julian Leow dari Keuskupan Agung Kuala Lumpur menyuarakan kegembiraan di atas

pengiktirafan yang diberikan oleh Pope Francis kepada Gereja Malaysia dalam pelantikan Uskup Agung Emeritus Fernandez sebagai Kardinal.

Sambil menjelaskan bahawa kardinal umumnya dipilih dari negara yang mempunyai populasi Katolik yang besar, Uskup Agung Leow berkata kebelakangan ini, Bapa Suci telah memilih kardinal dari negara yang mempunyai populasi minoriti Katolik.

Uskup agung itu, yang juga merupakan Presiden Persidangan Uskup Katolik Malaysia, menganggap waktu pelantikan itu sebagai bertepatan sekali kerana Konvensyen Pastoral Semenanjung Malaysia IV yang diadakan baru-baru ini telah memutuskan bahawa Gereja perlu menjadi ‘suara’ yang lebih lantang untuk umat.

Beliau menambah pelantikan ini bermakna Gereja Katolik di Malaysia akan lebih berpengaruh di Rom. Bakal Kardinal Fernandez dijangka akan pergi ke Rom untuk konsistori pada 19 November, di mana beliau akan ditabal secara rasmi sebagai kardinal. — Herald Malaysia (Terjemahan)

St Ignatius menutup bulan Rosari

YAKIN… Pelajar Sekolah Hari Minggu membuat persembahan untuk hadirin.

SERIAN — Sempena Minggu Kateketikal pada 18 September lalu, Jawatankuasa Sekolah Hari Minggu Peringkat Kampung (JSSPK), Paroki Gereja St Theresa, Serian telah menyambut ulang tahun yang ketiga mereka.

Sambutan itu dihadiri guru-guru dan pelajar-pelajar Sekolah Hari Minggu di sekitar paroki.

Turut serta dalam sambutan tersebut adalah Pengarah Rohaninya Father Arockyaraj, CMF. Acara dimulakan dengan Misa Kudus dan pemberkatan guru-guru Sekolah Hari Minggu oleh Father Arockyaraj.

Sesuai dengan tema bagi

Minggu Kateketikal 2016 ‘BerbelasKasih Seperti Bapa’, dalam homily beliau, beliau menekankan bahawa perasaan berbelaskasihan dan iman yang kuat perlu disemai dalam anakanak sejak kecil lagi.

Sementara itu, Pengerusi JSSPK, Jenner Menggu dalam ucapannya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada pengurusan Gereja St Theresa, terutamanya Rektor Father Paul Herry, kerana menyokong aktivitiaktiviti yang dijalankan oleh JSSPK selama ini.

Beliau juga berharap guruguru Sekolah Hari Minggu terus berusaha gigih dalam menjalankan tugas mereka di kampung-kampung.

Pada hari tersebut juga diadakan pameran hasilhasil daripada aktiviti dan pembelajaran pelajar-pelajar Sekolah Hari Minggu kampungkampung.

Bagi memeriahkan lagi sambutan, beberapa persembahan yang menarik telah dibuat oleh para pelajar.

Tidak ketinggalan untuk turut serta membuat persembahan adalah guru-guru Sekolah Hari Minggu sendiri.

Semua yang hadir, terutamanya ibu bapa, menzahirkan rasa gembira mereka yang seronok dapat menyaksikan sendiri persembahan anak-anak mereka.

Walter Angan

GAMBAR KENANGAN ... Mereka yang menghadiri malam penutupan bulan rosari berkumpul untuk merakamkan kenangan.

SARATOK — Pada 31 potluck.

Oktober yang lalu, lebih 30 Program itu juga bertujuan anggota jemaat Pusat St Ignatius mengukuhkan lagi iman Saratok telah hadir untuk sama- jemaat St Ignatius di samping sama menutup bulan rosari. mengeratkan lagi hubungan Aktiviti yang diamalkan antara jemaat. setiap tahun di gereja ini Sepanjang bulan Oktober, bertujuan untuk memanjatkan selain berkumpul di Pusat doa kepada Allah Bapa melalui Katolik setiap Jumaat, jemaat Bonda Maria supaya memberi juga mengambil peluang rahmat dan berkat kepada semua untuk berdoa rosari beramaiumat. ramai di rumah persendirian.

Program pada malam itu Pada tahun ini, doa rosari bermula pada jam 8.00 malam di rumah telah dimulakan di dengan doa rosari. Setelah itu, rumah Peter Engkasan. sesi bergambar disusuli jamuan Rossita Guang

PAGE 28

BERITA

TODAY’S CATHOLIC NOVEMBER 2016

Paus di Misa Kanonisasi: Doa tidak selalunya mudah, tetapi teruslah berdoa

TUJUH SANTO BAHARU ... (Dari kiri) St Alphonso Maria Fusco, St José Gabriele del Rosario Brochero, St Elizabeth of the Trinity, St José Sánchez del Río, St Lodovico Pavoni, St Manuel González García dan St Solomon Leclercq 20. Beliau membesar di Dijon, Perancis Perancis kerana enggan melafaz sumpah untuk sentiasa “memanggil, untuk tidak bersambung dari ms 25 berputus asa, dan jika kita menjadi “Ini adalah jenis kehidupan dekat sebuah biara Carmel. Selepas taat setia kepada kerajaan baharu. letih, meminta bantuan untuk terus St Manuel González García merupakan rohani yang dituntut oleh Gereja dari melawat biara tersebut pada usia 17 tahun, mengangkat tangan kita”. seorang uskup Roman Katolik dari kita: bukan untuk menang menerusi beliau rasa terpanggil untuk menyertainya.

Kita adalah anggota-anggota Tubuh Sepanyol; St Lodovico Pavoni, seorang Taat kepada ibu beliau, yang peperangan, tetapi menang dengan Kristus, iaitu Gereja, jadi walaupun kita paderi Itali, mengasaskan perkumpulan keamanan! Ada satu pesan yang penting menyatakan beliau tidak boleh masuk menjadi letih, kita tidak bersendirian, ‘Sons of Mary Immaculate’; dan St dalam kisah Moses ini: komitmen sebelum usia 21 tahun, beliau terus kata Paus.

Alfonso Maria Fusco, juga seorang kepada doa menuntut agar kita bekerja dengan belia bemasalah, mengajar “Hanya di dalam Gereja, dan berkat kepercayaan kepada mereka, sehingga paderi Itali, mengasaskan perkumpulan menyokong satu sama lain,” katanya. doa Gereja, kita dapat sentiasa taat setia ‘Sisters of St John the Baptist’.

“Untuk berdoa bukanlah untuk beliau memasuki biara Carmel di Dijon dalam kepercayaan dan kesaksian.”

Pope Francis mengakui keletihan mencari pelindungan dalam dunia yang pada 1901. Beliau meninggal dunia Pada hujung Misa, Pope Francis dalam kehidupan doa kita “tidak dapat ideal, ataupun untuk lari ke dalam rasa akibat penyakit Addison hanya lima tahun mengetuai penziarah dalam doa dielakkan”.

Namun demikian, dengan tenang yang palsu dan mementingkan kemudian, pada usia 26 tahun.

Angelus, dan menyebut tentang Hari sokongan saudara-saudari kita, Tuhan St José Sánchez del Río dilahirkan di diri,” kata Francis. “Sebaliknya, untuk Menentang Kemiskinan Sedunia yang dapat berjaya di dalam kita. berdoa adalah untuk bergelut, tetapi Sahuayo de Morelos, Mexico pada 1913. berlangsung pada 17 Oktober lalu, di “‘Pertarungan’ kecekalan tidak dapat juga untuk membiarkan Roh Kudus Beliau seorang Cristero di Mexico. Pada dalam perutusan beliau. dimenangi tanpa doa.

Bukan doa dari usia 14 tahun, beliau diseksa dan dihukum berdoa di dalam kita.”

“Marilah kita menggembleng Bukan bersendirian, tetapi menerusi bunuh oleh pegawai kerajaan apabila masa ke semasa atau ragu-ragu, tetapi tenaga, baik moral mahupun ekonomi, doa yang dipanjatkan seperti apa yang Kristus, orang kudus “mencapai beliau enggan meninggalkan kepercayaan untuk sama-sama berjuang membasmi dinyatakan oleh Yesus di dalam Injil: Katolik. matlamat”, tambah Paus.

Selalunya digambarkan menunggang ‘Sentiasa berdoa, tanpa pernah berputus kemiskinan yang memalukan, menghina “Berkat doa, mereka memiliki dan membunuh begitu ramai saudarakemurahan hati dan hati yang taat setia. kuda, paderi dari Argentina, St José asa’,” kata beliau. saudari, dengan melaksanakan dasar“Ini adalah cara hidup Kristian: Mereka berdoa dengan cukup kuat; Gabriele del Rosario Brochero terkenal dasar standard untuk keluarga dan untuk sentiasa taat setia dalam doa, untuk mereka berjuang dan mereka mencapai kerana khidmat beliau kepada orang pekerjaan,” kata beliau. sentiasa taat setia dalam kepercayaan dan miskin dan orang sakit; St Solomon kemenangan. Jadi berdoalah!”

CNA/EWTN News kesaksian.”

St Elizabeth Trinitas merupakan Leclercq pula adalah seorang paderi (Terjemahan) Misteri doa, kata Pope Francis, adalah seorang biarawan Carmel dari abad ke- Perancis yang dibunuh sewaktu Revolusi

Gereja Mukah mengadakan kempen derma darah di pusat beli-belah

JIWA MURNI … Henry Lee (berdiri 11 dari kiri) bersama ahli jawatankuasa dan penderma darah Beliau menambah, penderma darah MUKAH – Seramai 31 orang menderma darah semasa kempen derma yang tampil menderma darah termasuk darah anjuran Majlis Pastoral Paroki penduduk tempatan yang beragama (PPC) St Peter & St Paul di Pusat Beli- lain, selain penderma darah beragama belah Medan pada 15 Oktober yang Kristian.

Henry turut berterimakasih kepada lalu.

Menurut Pengerusi Penganjur, pihak Pusat Beli-belah Medan di atas Henry Lee Liong Ing, kempen kerjasama dan kebenaran mereka untuk tersebut merupakan kerjasama dengan menggunakan pusat tersebut sebagai Persatuan Penjagaan Hayat Sarawak tempat menderma darah.

Beliau juga mengucapkan terima Cawangan Mukah (PPHSCM) dan urusan pengambilan darah dikendalikan kasih di atas kerjasama kakitangan oleh kakitangan Bank Darah Hospital Bank Darah Hospital Mukah dan juga penderma darah.

Mukah.

Turut hadir semasa kempen ialah Henry Lee yang juga Timbalan Pengerusi PPC St Peter & St Paul Pengerusi PPHSCM Yek Wee Ping dan berkata kempen itu adalah sebahagian Pengerusi PPC Dominic Aseng Edal daripada aktiviti sosial yang dijalankan serta ahli-ahli PPC. Harapi Charles oleh PPC pada tahun ini.

Vatikan: mayat yang dibakar tidak boleh ditabur

KOTA VATIKAN — Kongregasi bagi Doktrin Kepercayaan telah mengeluakan satu panduan berhubung pengebumian dan pembakaran mayat, dengan menegaskan ajaran Gereja bahawa pembakaran mayat, walaupun amat tidak digalakkan, boleh dibenarkan di bawah had-had tertentu – dan menabur abu mayat adalah ditegah.

Ad resurgendum cum Christo, atau “Untuk bangkit bersama Kristus”, yang diterbitkan pada 25 Oktober lalu, menyatakan sementara pembakaran mayat “tidak dilarang”, Gereja “masih memilih amalan untuk mengebumikan mayat orang yang sudah mati, kerana ini menunjukkan penghormatan yang lebih tinggi kepada si mati”.

Dokumen itu menjelaskan iaitu selepas “motif sahih” bagi pembakaran mayat sudah dipastikan, “abu orang yang percaya mesti disemadikan di sebuah tempat suci”, seperti di perkuburan atau gereja. Ia seterusnya menyatakan bahawa ia tidak dibenarkan untuk menyimpan abu di rumah atau menaburnya “di udara, di darat, di laut atau dengan cara lain, mahupun dipelihara dalam memento, barangan kemas atau objek lain”.

“Pengebumian, liturgy terakhir bagi

Pembakaran mayat, walaupun amat tidak digalakkan, boleh dibenarkan di bawah had-had tertentu – dan menabur abu mayat adalah ditegah. kita, adalah satu ekspresi bagi harapan kita untuk kebangkitan,” tulis pengawas kongregasi Kardinal Gerhard Müller, “dan oleh yang demikian, Gereja tetap mengajar bahawa pengebumian mayat yang biasa adalah bentuk biasa”.

Seperti yang dijelaskan oleh dokumen itu, “dengan mengebumikan mayat orang percaya, Gereja mengesahkan kepercayaannya kepada kebangkitan badan, dan berhasrat untuk menunjukkan martabat tinggi badan manusia sebagai sebahagian yang amat integral dalam peribadi manusia kerana badan mereka membentuk sebahagian daripada identiti mereka.”

“Maka itu, ia tidak dapat menyokong sikap atau membenarkan upacara yang membabitkan ideaidea yang salah mengenai kematian, seperti menganggap kematian sebagai penghapusan manusia yang mutlak, atau saat penyatuan dengan alam semula jadi atau alam sejagat.”

CNA/EWTN News (Terjemahan)

Published by: The Archbishop of Kuching, Batu 1, Jln Tun Abang Haji Openg, 93000 Kuching. Printed by: Bahagia Press Sdn Bhd (86546-K), Lot 225, Section 49, Jalan Padungan Utara, 93100 Kuching. Tel: 082-238900