Malacca Johore Diocese News Update #131

“Test everything”, the Scriptures say. Common sense, sense of objectivity and common good are getting rare these days. Social media, propaganda, adverts, preachings and speeches are today’s influencers.

May 19, 2023

Greetings again dear people of God.

The voices are back. Divisive voices. Uniting voices. Assuring voices. The voice of politicians. But where are the voices of the rakyat? As if the heat wave is not enough, there are the disgruntled voices, adding fuel to the fire. The voices of self-interest have possessed many. More important is to hear the voice or voices that unite, that hear the cry of the poor and the earth, and that discriminate against no one.

Discerning Times: “Test everything”, the Scriptures say. Common sense, sense of objectivity and common good are getting rare these days. Social media, propaganda, adverts, preachings and speeches are today’s influencers. We buy, act or react without thinking. What makes us do what we do? Do we stop-look-go? What tools do we resort to when making decisions or changes? We feast on what’s online and TikTok. We consume what we are fed by the government and the Multi National Companies and their propaganda machines, we are enslaved by what the spirit of the world sells as the normal, the acceptable and the approved. The call is to discern. The See-Judge-Act or the Awareness Examen or Spiritual Conversations are some of the tools for discernment. Check every news for teaching, preaching and statement against the Word of God and the Church’s stand. Listen to what the Spirit is saying to you.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

The Eagle & The Raven The only bird that dares to peck and irritate an eagle is the raven. It will sit on the eagle’s back and start to continually bite its neck. However, the eagle does not respond, nor does it fight with the raven. It does not spend its time and energy on the raven…it just opens its wings and begins to fly, and rise higher and higher into the heavens. The higher the eagle flies, the harder it is for the raven to breathe and soon, the raven falls off due to the lack of oxygen.

Lesson from the eagle: Stop wasting your time with the “ravens.” Just take them to your heights and they will fade away. Do not let the “little things” in your life get you down, make you mad, or take the joy out of your life.

The enemy will sit behind your back and bite your neck, but those who wait upon the Lord will have new strength; they will lift their wings like eagles. (Isaiah 40:31)

Announcements for this Week

1. Seminarian Aaron Alammalay will be ordained a transitional deacon on May 23 at the Church of St Joseph, Plentong at 8.00pm. He is now based at the Church of St Andrew, Muar.

2. The upcoming Clergy Monthly Recollection will be held on May 23-24 at MAJODI Centre.

3. The 100th Day Memorial Mass for the late Bishop James Chan is planned for Monday, July 31 at 6.00pm in MAJODI Centre, with dinner and exhibition to journey down memory lane. Please register for both Mass and dinner using the Google Form link provided. https://forms.gle/zUNzcXhUfTgHStdn9

This Week’s Question and Query.

The Q asks: People collect and collect. Do they need all that?

+ The TRUTH is that all of the ‘STUFF’ here on earth we work so hard to buy and accumulate ... does not mean a thing.

+ At the end of the day ... people will be cleaning out our ‘STUFF’, going through our ‘STUFF’, figuring out what to do with all of our ‘STUFF’... This ‘STUFF’ we’ve accumulated in our life.

+ The only thing of VALUE that remains are the MEMORIES and what we deposit into others. May we all learn to spend less time accumulating ‘STUFF’ and spend way more time making MEMORIES. (ECSaayli © Saayli8)

On May 5, the World Health Organisation Director General Tedros announced: “It’s with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency. The emergency phase is over, but the pandemic declared in March 2020 has not come to an end, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and thousands still dying from the coronavirus every week.”

Stay Safe. May the Lord watch over you and keep you safe. God Bless.

Bishop Bernard Paul