Church lifts sanctions on Fr Joachim Kang

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"FATHER JOACHIM KANG is a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiosese of Singapore and has always been." This is what Archbishop Nicholas Chia said in a statement that officially restored Fr Kang fully to his duties as a priest.

Read more about His Grace's message here.

It is hearth-warming to know that the Archbishop welcome Fr Kang with so much warmth and love.

In a recent interview with the press, Fr Kang has also expressed his eagerness to return to his priestly ministry work.

Let pray for Fr Kang and welcome him back.

Happy Easter !

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I read in one of the forum recently that someone claimed that celebrating Easter is "against God" and only Passover should be celebrated. How ridiculous!

HOLY WEEK COMMEMORATES the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. The Church helps the faithful to focus on Jesus by highlighting the significant events that preceded Jesus’ death on the cross. These are done with special liturgies on Palm Sunday (when Jesus enter Jerusalem), Holy Thursday (the last supper and washing of feets) and Good Friday (when Jesus was cruxified).

How can these be "against God"?

Easter mark the start of a new liturgical season. Though not part of the Holy week, it is the first day of a new liturgical season. The first celebration of Easter takes place at Easter Vigil, celebrated on the Saturday evening before Easter Sunday.

And on Easter, we celebrate the risen Christ, the resurrection of our Lord. As St Paul said: "If Christ had not risen, our faith is a delusion, is empty! Our life does not make sense! Christ redeemed us by His death and resurrection. We believe in Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised up for our justification." (Rom 4:25)

As Archbishop Nicholas Chia said in his Easter 2009 message:

"Through Christ's death and resurrection our sins are taken away and new divine life has been given to us.

And so, dear friends, as we live the Easter mystery, we have the light of the Risen Lord in us ONLY when we recognise, respect and love each other as brother and sister in Christ. "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark" (1Jn 2:8-9)

Christ is risen and He wants to light up our lives. Let us hare this joyful message with our fellowmen."

Lesson from our Blessed Mother

Image via WikipediaAfter reading the homily of the Archbishop Nicholas Chia on our Blessed Mother (in the post before this), I gain a deeper understanding on Marian worship. As I have blogged before (click here to read about it), there are many misconceptions about praying to our Blessed Mother.

At the wedding feast in Cana, our Blessed Mother clearly showed us that she do care for us when she brings the needs of the wedding couple to Jesus. And as what the Archbishop said, “. Here we see the powerful intercession of Mary” and she continues to intercede for us and we must also pray and intercede for others like our Blessed Mother.

Our Blessed Mother has never seek fame and glory for herself. In all her appearances, she always point the people to her son Jesus Christ our savior. Her simple words ““Do whatever He tells you”, and her genuine love for others has converted more than any self proclaimed pastors (especially those Korean or American styled – courtesy of their wives) and is still converting.

So, let’s learn from our Blessed Mother and make her shining example be known to all.

To end this all, I love to share with you here a clip on Ave Maria....

Special Week-end Mass with the Archbishop

Image via WikipediaThis past week-end as been special for me personally as I visited the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Jurong. This is my first visit and I really liked the Church - too bad that I did not bring my camera along for pictures as it was unplanned.

This unplanned visit spring more surprises as the Church was having a confirmation for 39 youths and the Archbishop Nicholas Chia was to celebrate the mass!

During the Homily, the Archbishop remind us that we are stuck in a "consumerism" mindset where money, status and prestige is the top priority. Today's financial crisis is a clear sign to us that all the materials accumulations can be wiped out over-night.

Instead, we should take a "vocational" mindset. Having a vocational mindset means that we look at not just ourselves but also of service to others. As Jesus said, he is here to serve and not to be served. As his true disciples, should we also not take that approach?

As the 39 youths are being confirmed, the Archbishop lead us in singing "Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.....Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me......"