Tuesday, 26 February 2008

Forgiveness

In today's gospel, Peter ask Jesus about forgiveness, and Jesus told us through him that we must forgive endlessly. I would like to share what our parish priest quoted at the end of his homily today:

The one who does not forgive, breaks the bridge to which he/she must cross, to reach heaven. For everyone needs forgiveness.

Monday, 25 February 2008

Parenting

Last weekend, I was at a parish doing having our media outreach and interesting I witnessed 2 scenes of "parenting".

Halfway during a Mass, a father suddenly walked out of the Church angrily, carrying his 3-year old boy. He was crying in fear and covering his father's mouth, saying something like "no, don't do it, no...." As they reached a grass patch behind some parked cars, I could heard some beatings and the father practically "roared" (he shouted so loud that his voice went almost coarsed) at the boy: you purposedly do this to me, why are you doing this? I treated you nicely, but you are not treating me the same... you purposedly do this, .... he went on repeating similar lines. After this came a silent and perhaps they were having a "father and son" talk. After quite some time, both of them went back towards the Church and stayed at the entrance. Just then the mother, pregnant, came out and carried the boy, filled with pity and love.

As I was watching them, out came another father and son. This time, the little boy, about the same age as the other, lowered his head, seemed to be sad, sorry and guilty but without a word. The father whispered to him with a serious look, but from a distance, I could tell that the little boy must have did something wrong and was punished by standing aside. The father was also standing near him.

2 misbehaved boys in the Church, 2 different ways of treatment. One was dwelt with in a rage, the other in silence. I do not want to judge the action of the first father, even though I felt that the way he vent his anger on the child was not appropriate. He might be undergoing his own problem but channel it to this poor child. Yet, I can't help thinking--how would these 2 children turned out to be in the near future? How can we tell? Who has the better approach in dealing with their children? Parenting is definitely not an easy task. I pray that these 2 children will grow up to be good, loving and responsible young men for others.

Thursday, 21 February 2008

Stations of the Cross

Time flies, we are almost midway into Lent (soon will be 3rd Sunday). Many websites offer valuable resources for making the Stations of the Cross, lenten observances, reflections...etc. One of the sites I would recommend is Pray-as-you-go. This is a website hosts by the Jesuits and it offers audio readings and reflections daily. You can download it onto your computer, ipod, mp3 players so that while you are in the MRT (Metro in certain countries), bus, train, or even while driving, you can spend some 5 to 10 minutes for meditations and reflections. This is great for those of us who are always on the go and have little time to really sit down for quite time. For the lenten seasons, you can even download 10 stations of the cross, with beautiful paintings of Caravaggio accompanying it. Do try this website: http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/ or
http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/stations.htm for the stations.

Sunday, 10 February 2008

New video dedicated to Venerable Tecla Merlo

Here's a video I want to share with you dedicated to the co-foundress of the Daughters of St. Paul, Venerable Tecla Merlo. It was done by our Italian sister, Sr. Pina. Regret to say, it is only in Italian, but just by the graphics and technical design, it is spectacular.