Easter 2005

Good Friday, 25 April 2005 Went to church at 9 am. We spent much time preparing for the Passion play and stations at 3 pm. Lots of last minute work. But I'd say we did a good job. Well done people!! Easter Saturday, 26 April 2005 Went for Legion meeting in the morning. Damn, we lost another guy. Another two of them are considered as on the way out. Sometimes, I feel like condemning these people in their face. But would that be really okay? Yeah, we all know army deserters are to be shot, but it would be right to shoot my former comrades? I don't know. The irony of it, those two people came in a year after me, and now they leave earlier than me. I don't know what to say. We haven't had any graduates since Dominic and Nicholas left. They were the last ones to finish their service properly. And that was in 2003! Ever since then we only had traitors, washouts and deserters. I might be harsh when I say this. But I can't think of anything better. Ok fine, maybe God has a better plan for them. But why does He have to put us through the agony of worrying how to recruit people, send them to us, then take them away after we have so much hope? I don't know. Maybe we did something wrong, maybe we didn't teach them properly, maybe we didn't pray as often as we should.... Maybe He has something better in store for us? Anyway, I came home and played DotA while waiting for lunch. Joshua came over then we played GTA: San Andreas. Spent most of our time running away from the Police, and figuring how to shoot down their helicopters. Went for Easter Vigil at night. 7 readings from the Old Testament, 1 Epistle and 1 Gospel. Wah lao eh..... At least the songs were good. There was some new priest who sung the Exsultet. Not very good, plenty of off key. But hey, he's new, give chance lah... Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to the honour of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning: Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

(Final 3 Stanzas of the Exsultet) Easter Sunday, 27 April 2005 Went to Pei Suan's and Timothy's Baptism at Frankel Estate Church. With such good speakers, and nice hymns, I finally understand the allure of the other Churches. Shall I be tempted and change sway? I think not. In any case, I am very happy for them. I hope they will be strong in their faith and continue love the truth. Came home to do my Organic Chemistry practical report. Went to Robin's chalet later. Plenty of food.

Father forgive them!

Father forgive them!

With these words of Jesus we have been forgiven. Let us meditate on how the Lord used these important words on the way to Calvary as we accompany him. Let us feel the way Jesus felt and experience his merciful love. Let us live those moments of pain and echo his words as we pray for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of the whole world. In the agony in the Garden he suffered anguish in his soul, he was going to give his life for this ungrateful humanity and he hesitated because of the indifference by which we value his salvific sacrifice. Father if it is possible, remove this cup from me, but not my will, your will be done. "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the painful scourging Our Lord atoned for all the sins of impurity, how savagely his body was being torn for all the sins of impurity committed in our minds and in the flesh. Imagine how Jesus was almost fainting with pain and yet he could only think of saving us while he was saying silently "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the crowning with thorns he experienced so much pain on his sacred head which continued until the moment he died, his mind was tortured by the horrors of our despising his wisdom. Our pride and the attachments to the world have despised the kingdom of heaven while we open our hearts to the kingdom of the world. Jesus foresaw this and humbly atoned for pride. Very mindful of these humiliating sins he just prayed in silence: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the trial, the Supreme Judge was misjudged and condemned by our ignorance. What an insult to the One who has the power to forgive. But Jesus was very patient until death he was whispering with great love "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the carrying of the cross on his wounded shoulder, Jesus experienced the weight of all our sins, his pain can not be measured. And yet he did it willingly because he loves us so much, "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the encounter with his blessed mother, Jesus was united to her suffering, no words between them, but their hearts were one, they both felt so helpless, but in their powerful intercession for us they were saying the same prayer: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the encounter with the Cyrinean, the Lord shared a little bit of his suffering with this man, who represents everyone of us when we share the sufferings of Christ and our neighbour, not so much physically, but spiritually. Let us implore: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the encounter with Veronica, the Lord left an impression of his countenance on this woman’s veil since she felt compassion for his sufferings and was willing to be united to his words of salvation: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the encounter with the holy women of Jerusalem, the Lord felt pity for them and for their children, he pointed out to them that it was not enough just to weep for him, that they should be concerned for their children and always pray: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the three falls of our Lord, he stressed that we fall over and over again, weakening our souls with sin, but he suffered mercifully because knew the importance of his plea: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the painful stripping of his garments, the Lord experienced the pain that destroys souls of their innocence as they are stripped of the robes of salvation, the image of Christ. How fools we are, but Jesus continues to plead in his pain: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the crucifixion, the Lord suffered the most excruciating pain, we mortals are paralyzing our God with our sins, we don’t let him rule our lives because we rebel against Him, he gets stuck on the cross to put our sins to death and to forgive us as he says with great love: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the sorrowful agony and death, he suffered unimaginable pain out of his most merciful love for us. The infinite offence of men could not be paid by finite offerings or sacrifices, God in the person of his Son had to personally experience the pain of the sacrifice to satisfy his divine justice in order to forgive us and to open the way to everlasting life. "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". In the piercing of the Sacred heart of Jesus, he no longer suffered but the humiliation of men had to be pushed to the limit. From his heart flowed blood and water as symbols of his mercy and grace. Our Blessed mother had to endure all the sufferings of the passion and death, now the lance fulfills the prophecy of Simon who predicted her sufferings so that our thoughts would reveal compassion for her, the mother of humanity, our mother, who has conceived spiritually the children of God in great pain and sorrow. She continues the prayer of our Savior: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do". The body of Jesus is taken to the sepulchre. We are the temples of the living God, he visits our souls in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, making us living sepulchres for the flesh and blood of our Savior who will grant us the resurrection and eternal life. His words reverberate in our hearts, he is continually saying: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do".

http://www.theworkofgod.org/pray.asp?page=58

Cycle A, Palm Sunday, 20 March 2005

As Holy Week begins with the celebration of Palm Sunday, we might be asking ourselves if we can truly live out all of the aspects of Christianity. The past five weeks of Lent should have been a profound experience that produced abundant personal fruits of conversion and spiritual progress.

When we encounter Jesus and his gospel, we immediately sense that we are dealing with something that is not of this world. To be a Christian is not the same as being a member of an organization. When we join an organization, we make a commitment to the goals and objectives of the organization, but we still have our own private lives that we live outside of the meetings and activities of the organization.

Christianity is essentially different. When we embrace Jesus as the truth, the way, and the life, we are faced with the reality that Jesus encompasses our entire being. Christianity is a way of life. Jesus wants to send his Spirit through every door and window of our soul. The little Teddy Bears that we hold on to must be given up.

Pope John Paul II once wrote; “It is urgent to rediscover and to set forth once more the authentic reality of the Christian faith, which is not simply a set of propositions to be accepted with intellectual assent. Rather, faith is a lived knowledge of Christ, a living remembrance of his commandments, and a truth to be lived out. A word, in any event, is not truly received until it is put into practice. Faith is a decision involving one’s whole existence. It is an encounter, a dialogue, a communion of love and of life between the believer and Jesus Christ, the way, and the truth, and the life. It entails an act of trusting abandonment to Christ, which enables us to live as he lived, in profound love of God and of our brothers and sisters” (Veritatis Splendor, 88).

On Palm Sunday, we come face to face with Jesus. Thus, we come face to face with the reality of how we are to live our lives each day.

Jesus, the Savior of the world and the king of the universe was born in the humility of Bethlehem. All throughout the Gospels, He taught His apostles and disciples the importance of humility.

His followers had already heard His piercing words: "blessed are the meek" and "blessed are the peacemakers". But, he continued to affirm the importance of the virtue of humility when he held a child and said: "unless you become like a child, you shall not enter the Kingdom of God". The Apostles continued to struggle with pride and Jesus continued to teach the importance of the basic virtue of humility. "Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave".

When the first Palm Sunday took place, Jesus, the king of heaven and earth, once again gave a lesson of humility. He entered into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey.

Went for CL in the morning. Wow, it was totally chaotic. Plenty of technical errors and we had no idea how the procession of Palms was supposed to take place. Though it was rather disorganised, we managed to pull through. I met with the aunties from the CL adult group. We finally managed to settle the costumes. I sincerely hope that all will be well this Friday. The crew have put in so much effort.

Well, I didn’t stay for the rehearsal for Passion Play, but I heard it wasn’t too bad. In any case, I went down to St Peter and St Paul for Curia. We had the Acies after that. Basically, it is one of the most important functions in the Legion. It is modelled after Rome’s armies, where they are set in a battle array, with a speech given by a general. The purpose of the Acies is to renew our loyalty and promise to do a better job. Today we had quite a number of presidiums from junior and adult side, Mandarin speaking of course. Basically, we will go forward in pairs and place your right hand on the vexillium (flag). The vexillum is a standard that is constructed out of wood. After you place your hand, you say the words of consecration, which translated into English will be;

“I am all yours, my Queen, my Mother, and all that I have is yours.”

In Mandarin it will be;

“我的母皇，我的母亲，我全属于你，我所有的一切全属于你。”

Before that we had the Opening prayer of the Legion, followed by the Rosary. Then the priest delivered his homily. Sheesh, his accent was very strong. I was trying to decipher his words. After the consecration was the praying of the Catena. Then there was the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Following was the closing prayer of the Legion, then we were dismissed.

Some of us went nearby to chill out. Went home with parents after that. Ah, I finally got my thumbdrive. Now I can get rid of all those diskettes, Muahahahh! Went to lavender with my family for dinner. Came home after that.

7 to 13 March

7 March 2005

Went to play DOTA with Eugene and Izaac at Raiders. I have not seen Izaac in a long time. His skin is still pale. Well some of his navy mates were with us too. Played from 8pm to 12 mn. Yes, that long. I’m amazed my parents didn’t kick up too much of a fuss.

9 March 2005

Went for GEO Council meeting at 3 pm. We cleaned up the room after that. Discarded a lot of junk. Well, so much for recycling.

11 March 2005

Did the SPSS project today. Horrible crap. In any case, I was doing the project with Rayson. We managed to finish keying in all the values, but I don’t really know how to make use of it. Damn it, I hate statistics. Went to church after that. We had the rehearsal for Good Friday passion play. Oh my God! It was so chaotic! I felt like screaming! A lot of the important actors were not around, and I missed out more stuff than I thought. Too pissed off to go for Mass. I think I wouldn’t be paying attention even if I went. What’s the use of going then? But I was around during the Stations of the Cross for the kids anyway. Then there were this little boy and girl holding hands. I don’t know if they were siblings but it was so cute! Where can we find this innocence nowadays? Bah, kids aren’t like they used to be.

Then EXCO appointed me to admin department head, with Fabian as assistant. Should I stay here or shall I go join the adult Legion at Holy Trinity? I would do both, but the meeting times clash. I think I’ll probably stay here till next year, then go to Pet’s proposed presidium. If it even gets set up.

12 March 2005

Went for Legion meeting in the morning. Crappy attendance again. Maybe I ought to lower my expectations. But can I not be worried when I have 4 official members (including me), of which 1 is going to the army, and 2 are on indefinite leave? Then there are 4 probationary members, of which 1 is taking forever to get invested, and 3 n00bs. Ah, whatever. I hope the 3 of them will have gained enough know-how soon enough. I don’t know if I will stay here forever. Anyway, I went back to church in the afternoon for the rehearsal. Today was better than I had expected. Gen was around to do the directing. Melissa was rather good at it too. And I thought Nicholas would not be coming down. But he did come down, so the two of us finished building the cross. Damn, if not for these people, we’ll never get anything done. Thanks people. Went down to St Josephs’ in town for evening mass. Met Eugene and Winson after that. We went to Shaw Tower to play LAN. Holy crap, the shop is horrible. The counter guy doesn’t even know what games there are in the computer, the network latency is too high, and the computers keep getting jammed. We played Battlefield Vietnam, Star Wars: Battlegrounds and Battlefield 1942. Yeah, we are all war junkies. I reached home at about 11.30 pm? Hmm.

13 March 2005

Today was a long day. We finally had the mass games that we were planning so long for. It was at the botanical gardens. Went down there at 9 am. Met Pet, Winson and Marcus. Eugene was late, as usual. We had to set the clues around the whole place. It was a treasure hunt. An old idea, but still good. Turnout today wasn’t too bad. Haha, but I think we made them run around too much. Funny. We ended at around 5 something. Some of us went to Pet’s house for dinner. Yup…

I feel faint. I better go sleep now.

God of mercy and compassion, Look with pity upon me; Father, let me call thee Father, "Tis thy child returns to thee.

Refrain: Jesus Lord, I ask for mercy; Let me not implore in vain; All my sins I now detest them, Never will I sin again.

By my sins I have deserved, Death and endless misery; Hell with all its pains and torments And for all eternity (Refrain)

By my sins I have abandoned Right and claim to heaven above, Where the saints rejoice forever, In a boundless sea of love.

(Refrain)

See our Saviour, bleeding, dying, On the cross of Calvary; To that cross my sins have nail'd him, Yet he bleeds and dies for me.

E. Vaughan (1827-1908)

It's been a long time, my friends. Let's see, I'm getting my common test results and I'm going to get f***ed, that's for sure. I hope not to, but....never mind. I deserve it anyway. Exam is like in 2 or 3 weeks time. I need to start studying. Haven't done much schoolwork. I really need to wake up my idea. There has been quite a bit of change lately. Legion will really change a lot now. Matthew and Benedict are taking leave, Eugene is leaving soon. I don't know if those newbies will be able to hold out. Ah well, God provides. If I can gather enough musical skills in time, I might even get to follow the band to the competition overseas, Ah, I'll see how it goes.