Message from Our Parish Priest

Dear People of God,

The Season of Lent is upon us again.

Well, maybe “upon” is not the appropriate word since it connotes a sense of being weighed down with the obligation to observe what Catholics traditionally do at this time: praying, fasting and almsgiving. And yet, it seems appropriate to feel a certain “weight” upon our shoulders. Otherwise, how else can we unite ourselves with the Lord who is weighed down by the cross that He bears for all of us?

We live in a world that tries to sanitize and anesthetize everything that is painful, raw, confronting, discomforting and awkward.  Unfortunately, that is what Truth sometimes is – it is hard to face because it calls out our faults and prejudices. It puts us in a place where we do not want to be and makes us feel the pain that we rather deny. Here is where Lent enters into our lives. We are invited to spend 40 days with our Lord who is the Way, Truth and Life. And being the Truth, the Lord cannot and does not run away from Himself. He faces the painful, the raw, what is confronting, discomforting and awkward squarely. He does this out of love and in return bears the pain of witnessing to God, who is Love and Mercy par excellence.

In this light, pain is good for us. It is when we feel pain that we know that we are alive. And to be alive is to live and living to the fullest is the Gift and Reason why our Lord willingly chose to suffer and die so that all might live! Let us therefore resist the temptation, as the Lord did in the desert, to run away from facing our shadows and confront them with the Light of Truth that is Christ our Lord. Let us use the grace given to us to bear the weight of our crosses and walk with the Lord on the Via Delarosa. Let us not pander to the world’s penchant for denials, for too long, we have been taught that life’s crosses are bad and that we need not face them; replacing them rather with distractions that are fun, entertaining and self-affirming and inward-looking. 

Christ comes to set us free from all these. Free to follow Him to put others ahead of ourselves and serve with the trust that all will be well in God’s ways and time. So, take a deep breath and plunge into Lent. Look out for various parish events and activities that are lined up to help us get closer to the heart of Christ and in so doing, allow His light of Truth to shine through us come Easter!

Blessed Season of Lent – let the love of Christ be upon us all. Amen.

Alvin Ng, SJ