Its the end of another year again...

Dear all,

This coming weekend marks the Feast of Christ the King. It marks the end of the current liturgical year. And following which marks the Season of Advent which also the start of another new liturgical year.

For me it is always the best the time of the year...it is a time that we should slow down in our lives and to take stock of our lives...to ponder..to reflect..how the good Lord was with us thru and thur this year...it is a time to reflect on where we are, how do we want to move forward from here..what do we really want to do for the remaining time of our lives...

Over the past Sunday, the church readings talks about the end of the world as reminder that all things in this world is passing and there is always a end to all things in this world...when? no one knows except God the Father.

Lately I have slowed down considerably as we moved into less than 2 months for 2009...reflecting on what I want to achieve..not materially but spiritually..

I have been thinking on getting myself more involve in church of holy trinity since I conclude that we will be around in Tampines/Changi area for the long haul..( I have been in this area for the past 13 years and Theresa was raised in this area)
I too guess that with the church of Divine Mercy coming up in Pasir Ris, there might be some manpower shortage in Holy Trinity church (after all it is the largest parish in Singapore with 13000 parishoners to serve)

Warden? Helping hands?Lector?well perhaps cathechist...still thinking seriously over this idea...canteen helpers? too bad they don't have permanent canteen helpers for the sunday canteen...as the canteen is operated on a rotation basis by various church organisations. Well, what about the care taker of the church? I still don't know...perhaps being hold back by fear of not able to commit my time.. I guess that is the reason..

Whatever I may end up doing in the church i think i may have to prepare myself a little sacrifice to walk a little way off the comfort zone a bit to fulfil God's will for me.

I take comfort in Fr Aloysius Ong blog in which one need at time to walk a bit off one's comfort zone to discover God's wish for him.

http://alongcorner.blogspot.com/

I completed my usual run at the stadium in the afternoon today. The sky was dark and looks like a heavy down pour is anytime soon.
It was pretty much very quiet at the NYP stadium (as usual coz normally people do not exercise at high noon)..I was thinking about God, thanking Him for the gift of life and then this question came thru my mind...here it is:

1. Why did God create us here on earth? If the intention was really to ultimately know HIM and hence to LOVE HIM with all our strength, all our soul, all the days, then why can't He just make us angels and place us in heaven? After all, that is the final destiny whether one is created an angel or as a human who loves and abide God's Law. So why did God chose to create us as human here on earth, to know Him and ultimately to meet Him and hopefully be with HIM in heaven one day. For me, never mind if you take away my freedom of choice in life..and never mind if angels are of lower life form than we humans...

I do not know the answer and I don't think I will ever know the answer...


I want to be an angel

You have a nice day!

AlbertY

LC300 5th Anniversary

Dear All

It had been quite some time since we met up with you lovely LC couples. We almost couldn't make it today, as we were busy with activities since 10+am this morning. Luckily the Opennet guy called to come earlier at around 1pm instead of between 2 - 4pm to install the free

broadband point. At least we could catch an afternoon nap before Bert fetched Tiffany to church for bible sharing whilst I fried the springrolls, samosa and hashbrowns. Never fried so many things before and realised how much oil fried food contain!!! Gosh, I had used up half bottle of my oil over 2h which normally would last me 2 months!

Anyway, as things turned out, Bert got his much needed rest so that he can fetch us safely across the island and back :)

Err, next time, it'll really be further across the island as we'll be moving to Loyang :(

It's with God's grace and blessings that we managed to go to LC tonight. We only have a couple of weekends more to pack our stuff for the big shift and we have only packed bearly HALF the house. Bert is getting frentic and the rest of us, being proscastinators, are beginning to feel the panick too as the deadline draws near.

We must firstly thank Lenz and his better half, Josephine, for taking the initiative and time to organise all the LC meetings and social gatherings. I think those extra gathering really help mesh us closer together. It really helps that for most of us, our children are of around the same age group, so as couples, we can relate our situation more with each other and give other emotional and spiritual support.

Tonight's sharing, especially from Desmond and Jenny, really touched our hearts. Our personal problem and crisis cannot compare to theirs as ours are only financial hiccups whereas theirs are about people.

Here's some shots taken by our lovely host leaders, Lenz and Josephine, who show us today, that to lead is to be a servant to all. We received not only lon-tong and si-you bak, but only a specially made CD and newsletter celebrating the 5th Anniversary of our LC300 circle.

The LC300 5th Anniversary Cake..yummy chocolate ;P

LC300 Couples (absent but sorely missed..Jean&Chris and Chloe&Colman)

We couples and our children, the fruits of the vine :)

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY TO ALL YOU LOVELY COUPLES! Thanks for being always there for us and with us!

Love Theresa&Albert

Felicia Elected Ikea's Family Minister

Dear All

This is the second attempt by Felicia in running for a post in the cabinet of Ikea's Smaland.

I think it's because of her maturity at 9 years this time round that she had won the elections. Needless to say, I AM PROUD OF HER lah!

This is what she wrote during her election campaign:

"I love to play board games and collect recycled bottles for craft work, dogs and chicken rice. We could help by collecting recycled items like plastic bottles, newspapers and going online to see what we can create and after we make it, we can decorate our rooms.

I imagine that in 2050, earth will be filled with clean air and is a beautiful planet with families spending time and happiness together".

Her scope of work is quite daunting....to help design a city in 2050! Attached is what her 1st assignment is:

The first project that we have is to assist the Embassy of Sweden in Singapore create a vision of a City in 2050. Your ideas will be shared with students from Temasek Polytechnic School of Design and made into an exhibition for display at the National Library during the Singapore Design Festival in November 2009.

We will be having a workshop for you to meet with the rest of the Ministers in your Government, as well as meet Ministers of the previous Government. We will also share with you your roles as a Minister. The workshop will be held at IKEA Tampines store, on 7 Nov 2009 (Sat), 9.30am to 3pm.

Thanks once again to all who had voted or supported Felicia!

Love Theresa

Divine Mercy Prayer Chaplet Format

Dear All

Found the Divine Mercy prayers to share with you.

Website is : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2384879786&ref=nf

==========================

How to pray the Chaplet?

say it preferably (at 3:00 p.m. if possible Jesus' hour of death)

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

2. On the Our Father Beads say the following:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son,

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Lastly

' O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in

You!'
==========================

Love Theresa

Today's (4 Oct 09) Sunday Sermon

Dear All

Today's Gospel reading is about the indisolvable union of marriage between husband and wife.

We have a new parish priest, Fr Edward Lim. He gave a clearer understanding, at least to me, on marriage and parents' responsibility in instiling moral values in our children.

He lamented that divorce rates are now very high. The children are the ones most affected. They would probably grow up with psychological scars. He understands that couples have challenges and quarrels, but the "victim" should go to the cross to pray for their errand spouse. This reminds me of the movie Fireproof. We need to turn to Christ, fall on our knees and pray for ourselves to be Christ-like in our response to our spouse although we are hurting within us and can no longer give.

He said spouses must always remember to give and take. If one is always giving, it will be draining. If one is only receiving, then that partner will get fat. That is not good either.

He explained that when 2 catholics are married in church and are divorced, if they don't remarry, they can still receive the host in communion. Once they remarry without getting the approval of the Church for a divorce, they commit adultery and cannot receive communion. They cannot get absolution for this sin at confession either BECAUSE they will still go back and live in sin.

The point is, the Church ONLY recognises the marriage if it is celebrated in Holy Matrimony, in the catholic church. ROM and living together are not considered as husband and wife in the eyes of God.

He also touched on the importance of parents saying "no" to children and teaching them right from wrong. He said parents should not give their children colouring books or pens and paper to draw during Mass. They should teach them to sit as quietly as possible and follow the Mass. Of course he don't expect kids to remain quiet all the time, but parents have to tell them to quiet down. Otherwise you'll disturb others and get them irritated and cause them to sin. It's better for such family not to come to church then. Parents should not wait for others to tell their children to keep quiet. Some parents even get angry when others tell their children off. Such action of parents are wrong.

He noted that working parents who rely on maids to take care of their children do not side the maid when they discipline the children for bad behaviour. Instead, they scold their maids.

Once, a warden saw a young child pulling the curtains in church. He quickly told the child to stop. Do you know what the parents' response was? "Don't worry, we can afford to pay."

We parents have to teach our children what is right and what is wrong. We also need to learn to tell our children "no" sometimes as that is for their good. If we don't teach our children well, these same children would abandon us in our old age. The saying "We reap what is sow" is so true. That's why we see old parents abandoned in old folks home or nursing home, or children not visiting their parents. Our overindulgence in our children and protection of their ego would only encourage their self-centredness and their cravings for instant gratification without knowing the meaning of waiting for gratification.

I find that this is a timely reminder, at least to me...to sometimes say "no" to the girls. For e.g. when the elder wants another poster, though it doesn't cost much, I need to say "no", as she already has one. Then the younger one also hanker that if I get che che one, she also must have one...it's so unfair. But the younger one is too young to fully appreciate a poster, especially when it isn't the cartoon sort of poster that she'll like. She just wants one so as not to lose out. In such cases, we parents must learn NOT to give in and let the kids control us. We must be in charge and be in control of the kids. It's something I have to always remember.

Another e.g is asking the kids to do their work BEFORE they do other things like turning on the TV. If you catch them watching TV and their school work is not done yet, don't make the mistake of asking them to turn off the TV and do their work. You MUST tell them clearly "Turn off the TV and do your homework" instead of "Can you please turn off the TV and do your homework?" If you notice, the first is an instruction that you expect them to follow. The other is a request, so you are unknowingly putting the power in your kids' hands. They can tell you..."Wait, let me watch this show first" or they can choose to ignore your request or question. This would cause conflicts between you and your kids. (This last part was something I read on the internet few weeks back about empowering yourself and taking control back from your kids).

Just food for thought to share you with.

BTW, I tried the instruction method, and it worked about 90% of the time. Just be careful HOW you say it.

Love Theresa

Novena Sermonette, 3 Oct 09

Dear All

I'll like to share with you on today's novena devotion's sermonette by Fr Albert. It's about the various devotions.

Fr lamented that youths these days loathe going to church. He is saddened that this is because the congregation do not fully appreciate the richness and indulgences the church pours out to us.

What is an indulgent?

There are 2 types of indulgences. One is plenary (not sure the spelling) indulgence and the other is partial indulgence.

He explained that after our confession, although our sins are forgiven, our penance is still there. We cannot escape from the punishment and consequences of our sinful ways. That is why very few souls would go to heaven directly. Most would need to go through purgatory as God is holy and we are not. We cannot bear to enter His holy presence until we are purified.

If we attend devotions and services like novenas and the Divine Mercy services, we receive partial indulgence. Some of our punishment is reduced and hence we need to spend less time in purgatory. A plenary indulgence is a fantastic deal, as far as I know. What it means is, all our penance until to-date is COMPLETELY wiped off! So if we die, we are on the express stream to heaven! Isn't that fantastic? Plenary indulgence is gotten by attending the Divine Mercy Mass. This is given to us by Saint Faustina who gave us the Divine Mercy.

I don't know about you, but I sure would try to attend a Divine Mercy Mass. Meantime, I'll try to attend the Novenas to at least get some partial indulgence. I didn't know about this indulgence thing before, but all I know is Our Lady always comforts me when I am troubled and helps me. I like attending the Novena as I get inspired and moved by the petition and thanksgiving letters as well as the meaningful sermonettes. Getting a partial indulgence is the cherry on top of the cake!

Love Theresa

My Birthday, 2 Oct 09

Dear All

We just came back from the mid-autumn lantern festival held at Holy Trinity. It's a celebration for children actually, but the magic show are pretty good. We ate mooncakes and bought snacks like fishballs and packets of various kinds of indonesian koropok.

We had celebrated my birthday earlier...last week actually. We went to T3 (our new fav haunt) and ate at Sakae Tappanyaki. Bert took the chicken set, Tiffy the beef and Feli and I the seafood. The food was super yummy! We ended with 2 tubs of Ben and Jerrys ice-cream from NTUC.

Since tonight's my real birthday, so sweet of Bert to surprise me with a cake. We cut it after we came back from the mooncake festival.

Here's some snap shots of me with my cake....see the glee in my face!

There's really so much to be thankful for. I thank the Lord for Bert who is such a loving husband to me. I thank the Lord for 2 lovely girls. I thank the Lord for blessing us with good health. Indeed, there is just too much things to thank the Lord for and I don't know why He has blessed me so, and for that, I am eternally grateful to Him.

Love Theresa