Malacca Johore Diocese News Update #209

Feb 07, 2025

Dear Friends of MJD, welcome to the Jubilee Year of Hope. A pilgrim stops, breathes, watchfully observes, filters out the distractions, beholds the emerging lesson and lives out the new call. They see God.

Where are the moral and civics classes that build character, unity and national pride? The PM says the Madani Government’s top priorities are governance, leadership and accountability. Universiti Malaya (UM) saw the splashing of red paint at a KK Mart outlet within its campus.

Singapore introduced stricter measures to regulate screen use among children in school and preschool as part of a broader multi-ministry health initiative.

The PM warned of clinging to outmoded laws to face new challenges. Growing cafe culture and increasing demands for speciality coffee are boosting the coffee industry here.

The MAGA Movement (Make America Great Again) attacked the Pope for criticising Trump’s deportation plans. Increased incidents of violence directed at the disabled and vulnerable here raise concerns.

The Queen, Raja Zarith Sofiah, commented “Education that imparts knowledge without instilling noble values can produce corrupt and irresponsible individuals.” Gandhi observed that “knowledge without character and religion without sacrifice” as the second of the seven social sins.

Unfit Times: Did you know Malaysians are among the least active walkers worldwide? Malaysians average only 3,963 steps per day, making them among the least active walkers globally. With benefits ranging from better mental health to reduced risk of chronic illnesses, increasing your daily step count could be a game-changer. Some recommend 30 minutes of brisk walk or the 10000 steps, for five days a week. Move to keep fit.

A Thought for the Week: The Falling Cat. When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself. The cat becomes completely relaxed, and lands lightly on the ground. But if a cat were about to fall out of a tree and suddenly make up its mind that it didn’t want to fall, it would become tense and rigid, and would be just a bag of broken bones upon landing.

The lesson from the Tao: We are all falling …falling off a tree, at every moment of our lives. As a matter of fact, the moment we were born, we were kicked off a precipice, and we are falling, and there is nothing that can stop it. So instead of living in a state of chronic tension, and clinging to all sorts of things that are actually falling with us because the whole world is impermanent. Be like a cat. Alan Watts

Going through life in a relaxed fashion is better than being unduly tense.

QnQ! Q asks? People are excited about Healings. What is healing?
1. Maybe we need to look at the significance of Jesus’ healing ministry. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is in action: travelling, preaching and healing. It was not mere words. In the physical healings, He consistently rearranged faulty relationships — status, selfimage, courage, relationship to family or community changed with the cure.

2. The healings and exorcisms in Mark’s Gospel highlight power, abuse, relationships, class, addiction, money, exclusion, the state of women and the poor, and the connections between soul and body. The same issues we face today.

3. Jesus’ healing was not a reward for good behaviour; not conditional; not founded on prerequisites; not preoccupied with the cured. The healing stories are present-tense concerns for human suffering. God is interested and deeply cares for the suffering in the now. In general, all rewards and punishments are inherent and current. Sin is its own punishment; virtue is its own reward now.

4. The real message here is not a medical cure or whether Jesus could do such a thing, but that

(1) God cares about human pain,
(2) God cares about it in this world now,
(3) God’s action actually changes people, and
(4) the people who have experienced God’s grace are equipped to pass on the real message.

We are all initially created in the image of God, and Jesus’ public ministry is always recreating and restoring that image.

The Holy Spirit @work: There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. --Martin Luther King Jr

Something To Tickle You: The greatest leaders and people are self-managing; they don’t need to be managed.

Bishop Bernard Paul