Felicia's 1st Holy Communion, 27 Sep 09

Dear All

Yesterday was a BIG and Important day for our little Felicia. She has received her very First Holy Communion! I am so excited and happy that she can now receive the body and blood of Christ with us instead of just going up to receive a blessing. I feel that now she is all grown up to better understand right from wrong, and to be in full communion.

Here's a photo of our little angel in front of her cohort of P3 classes from Holy Trinity...

Sermonette @ Novena yesterday

Dear All

A nun gave a sermonette during the Novena @ Holy Trinity yesterday. It was a timely and lovely sermonette.

In life, we will meet all kinds of people...some nice ones and some not so nice ones. Sister shared with us that we must remember and "we are children of God" and this is a PRIVILEGE. We cannot reciprocate negatively to those who had wronged us.

She gave us the image of Our Lady. She must have felt and heard lots of criticism and ridicules from relatives, friends and people when they taunted her for being an unwed teenaged mother-to-be and later on as a young mother. Those words and behaviours must have been like darts piercing her heart. Later on, when her beloved Son died a criminal death on the cross, those same people must have again made fun of her and her faith in her God. They must have told her that Jesus can't be a Son of God if he is allowed to die such a shameful and public death. But did she waver and reciprocate in a negative way? NO, she DIDN"T!

We are all called to holiness. Holiness is not having a halo over our heads or to be saintly. Holiness means living our lives in Christ-like manner.

It is difficult. Our human nature tells us to take revenge. To take an ear for an ear. An eye for an eye. But Christ calls us to act as a child of God. To act with kindness to an unkind act.

Recently, our family have encountered some people, be it classmates or colleagues who "sabo" them. Feelings of hurt, disappointment and disgust were there. Fortunately, they did not react back in a negative way. Looking at yesterday's sermonette, we may be called idiots by others, idiots for being cheated, not seeking justice etc, but if we look at the actions of the Holy Family, especially Mother Mary and Jesus, we are called to act differently from what the world would normally do. That's why it's so difficult to be a Catholic. People have certain expectations of us and when we react negatively, non-believers would quickly point that out...that's because they most probably are taking advantage of our faith to their advantage. If that is so, so be it.

Love Theresa

Healing Mass on 21 Sep 09

Dear All

Yesterday, Bert fetched my parents to the Healing Mass for the elderly and sick at Holy Trinity Church. Father Monsineor Francis Lau was chief celebrant and gave the sermon.

What I wish to share with you is the sermon by Fr Lau. It is about the true meaning of suffering though it cannot be explained fully.

He began by calling to mind how much Jesus suffered before he died. The torture he knew he will be going through made him sweat blood. Yet he chose to suffer for our sakes when we are still sinners, for our redemption.

He asked "Is suffering evil?"

Suffering IS a physical evil.

Next he asked, "Do we suffer because of our sins or because we are sinful?"

He told us that Jesus suffered greatly but he was sinless. Hence, a person that suffers greatly doesn't mean that he is very bad or sinful. (Of course some physical sufferings like AIDS and certain cancers are self-causing by our lifestyle choices, so is the consequence of our own sins). So then, why do we suffer?

Fr Lau brought us back to why Jesus suffered so greatly for us. It was to reconcile us with God and in penance for our sins. We are all part of the mystical body of Christ....when 1 part is sick, all the other parts of the same body suffers too. Those who suffer do so for the sake of their brothers who have wandered away from God. That is the mystery of sufferings.

Fr Lau himself is quite old. He has leg cramps, even as he was climbing up the steps to the altar. He shared how he accepts his suffering. Focus on the cruxified Christ on the cross. Jesus must have suffered excuiating cramps in his limbs but couldn't move them because of the nails holding his legs down. Fr says how lucky he is to elevate his own cramps by being able to move his limbs compared to Christ.

He said suffering also can be good. There was a man he knew who never felt any pain till he felt some discomfit in his abdomen. When he saw the doctor, it was too late...he had 4th stage stomach cancer. So suffering and pain is an indication for us to seek medical attention early before it is too late.

We should also learn to accept our sufferings. It would be difficult to do so when the pain comes or is unbearable. That's when we should turn to our suffering Lord for inspiration and offer our sufferings for the good of the sinners of the world.

I found the sermon very sobering and touching. It gives me a better understanding that when I suffer, it is not because I am bad or that God has abandoned me. Afterall, Jesus also felt that way in the Garden of Getsemani when he asked God three times why He had abandoned him, and prayed if this cup of suffering could be taken away...yet he accepted the cup of suffering for our sake.

Love Theresa

Classic Stomp Moment...

Dear All

After fetching Felicia to school for librarian duty last Friday, I went to McDonald's at TM for breakfast. I was lucky that day to find it relatively empty, and zoomed in on the corner seat with high-back sofas/benches. There were no one sitting on the row of tables next to me on my right and the table in front of me, left side (I was sitting at a corner, so no left side) was empty too. It's let a L shape and I was sitting at the corner of the L.

I was settling to enjoy my muffin and coffee when a shabby looking man came to sit on the vertical side of the "L". He had only a cup of black coffee and 4 satchets of sugar. I kind of pity him at first. He used his teeth to rip off his satchets and that was when I noticed he had only 1 arm...his right. Then he did the unspeakable....he used his only hand to scratch his head!! It was then I also noticed he had long dirty finger nails. The next classic moment was, he started to clean his nails by flicking his dirt from under his fingernails using his thumb nails!! Oh my....I drew my cup of coffee which had it's lid off closer to me, and kept my muffin safely guarded by its wrappers close to my mouth ALL THE TIME!!

I then thought of moving horizontally but it was too obvious. I don't dare irk him...he looks capable of showering vulgaries at people.

Next, a family of mother, grandma and 2 little boys came and sat on my right. The mum and her 2 boys then went off to buy their breakfast. The grandma then took out a tiny little coin purse from her bag. She was just sitting next to me. She opened my purse and guess what? She took out a nail clipper and started to CLIP HER NAILS!! Oh boy!!!

Here was I, looking forward to enjoying a leisurely breakfast, was now cornered (literally) on both sides by such inconsiderate people! Don't they know I am eating????

Bert said this was a real Stomp moment!! Yeah, sure....lucky I didn't have diarroeah...and you know what he's rebut was...."Maybe you have some tapeworm or something residing inside you now". Yuck! That's definitely no consolation!! You can guess, I quickly gobbled down my chow and got out as quick as possible ;(

Love Theresa

Pulau Ubin 6 Sep 2009 (From Lenz)

Cycling, or is it walking? on Pulau Ubin.. (above)

Dear all,

1) It rained in the morning when we were on the way to Changi Ferry Terminal.
2) J&J text they are not coming, C&C text they are also not coning
3) Jo & I start to think about plan B. After all the weather is so bad.
4) But it was not raining in Changi!
5) We are among the first few visitors to Pulau Ubin, although it is Sunday as the weather don't look good. The bicycle shop owner looks worried.
6) We decided for bicycles instead of van as we want to tour P.Ubin in our own time.
7) Soon we selected our bicycles and off we go…. Target : Chek Jawa, about 35mins by bicycle.
8) In Pulau Ubin, it drizzle once and we took shelter at Pekaka Hut for about 10mins, otherwise from 9am to 3pm, the weather was overcast, but fine. Good in fact, as it is not sunny.
9) Even without the sun, we were the unfit, were sweating, and wonder if we can make to Chek Jawa
10) Looking at the map and taking measurement now, all of us could have easily cycled 10km! or rightfully, 9km of cycling & 1km of pushing. Not bad for a couch potatoe like me!
11) Attap huts, chickens running freely around, jackfruits, rambutans trees were interesting for the children and us, but imagine looking face to face with a wild boar!

Everyone was so excited, and camera just clicked away. They are really wild, not domesticated.
12) Visit to Chek Jawa is like science lesson in classroom comes alive, mangrove trees, mud skipper, mud lobster intrigue the children much.
13) Tired and hungry we have a good lunch of 7 dishes at the seafood restaurant.
14) After lunch, the children wants to continue.
15) This time we cycled westward to the Mountain Bike trail.
16) not a bad way to spend the weekend with the childreb.... but now we have to bear with body aches for a few days!

Wish all your children a happy Sept holiday…. Don't work then too hard!

Btw, I have Joycelyn taking “O” level this year, and Lennon taking PSLE….. but they still need to play their computer games and have some fun with the families outside.