Malacca Johore Diocese News Update #212

Feb 28, 2025

Dear friends of MJD, the holy Season of Lent and the Muslim’s holy month of Ramadan is just around the corner.

Statistics amaze, frighten or enlighten us. They reveal trends, preferences and warning signs. Already 1.3 million pilgrims have passed through the Holy Door. Archbishop Fisichella emphasised, it is not about numbers, watch the heart. International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that an estimated 300 million Christians worldwide are facing persecution, with religious nationalism, authoritarian crackdowns, displacement, and extremist violence; and enduring under hostile governments, terrorist groups, and societal discrimination. A total of 8,076 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination candidates were absent from all of their written papers, as of Feb 6, said the Ministry of Education. Were they unprepared, or see no value in the SPM certificate, or found “taking up jobs” appealing?

Unemployment rates dropped to 3.1 per cent in Dec 2024, except in Sabah. Malaysia’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2024 score remained unchanged, at 50 points. TTI-M suspects the series of discounts, discharges not amounting to an acquittal, could be the reason. Old standards and approaches do not work nor appeal to today’s generation.

Step-in Times: In a matter of weeks, the latest US foreign-aid policy under the Trump Administration paused nearly all US foreign-aid programmes for review and dismantling USAID. Faith-based organisations, Medical Teams International and other world aid groups fear that millions will be denied access to basic health care. Another humanitarian crisis is looming, some say.

But historians say the Church has done this before and it must do it again. The countless institutions — hospitals, schools, social services were built, not by governments — but by the Church. The Church built the first universities, championed human rights before governments ever enshrined them into law. And this is the Church’s calling and purpose.

The Church’s work was never about government funding. It has always been about answering a call higher than politics, responding to needs greater than our own, and trusting that justice will prevail — not because governments demand it, but because it is what God invites us into.

A Thought for the Week: Chuan and Jing
Chuan and Jing joined a wholesale company together just after graduation. Both worked very hard. After several years, the boss promoted Jing to sales executive but Chuan remained a sales rep. Chuan could not take it. He decided to resign, feeling not valued.

The boss knew that Chuan worked very hard for years, but in order to help Chuan realise the difference between him and Jing, the boss asked Chuan to go and find out if anyone is selling watermelon in the market?

Chuan returned and said yes. Then the boss asked how much per kg? Chuan went back to the market to ask and returned to inform the boss the price was $12 per kg.

Boss told Chuan, I will ask Jing the same question? Jing went, returned and said, boss, only one person selling water melon. Price is $12 per kg, $100 for 10 kg, he has a stock of 340 melons. On the table are 58 melons, every melon weigh about 15 kg, sourced from the South two days ago, they are fresh and red, good quality.

Chuan decided not to resign but to learn from Jing.

The lesson from the boss: Successful persons are more observant, see more, see different aspects and understand the dynamics. They see what’s ahead, possibilities and potentials.

QnQ! Q asks? People say the world is about to tip over? What say you?
1. From any angle, humanity stands at the edge, teetering between Superman and animal.

2. Superman — what we call the higher self, soul, or spirit — is the part of us that seeks expansion, wisdom, and divinity. The part that reaches for something beyond survival, beyond impulse, beyond limitation.

3. The animal — our primal, reactive nature — is driven by survival, fear, instinct, and desire. It’s not wrong; it’s part of us. But if we live only through this lens, we stay in cycles of scarcity, conflict, and reaction.

4. So the question becomes: Are my actions being driven by survival, or am I choosing them from my soul? Am I moving through life reacting, defending, consuming, fearing — like an animal just trying to make it through? Or am I moving through life creating, expanding, transcending, loving — like the higher being I know I am? May the higher self listen to the Spirit at work in the “near death experiences” of the world.

The Holy Spirit @ work: In the darkness and ignorance of this life the Holy Spirit enlightens the poor in spirit. He is the love that draws them on, the sweetness that attracts them, the way in which a man approaches God.” --William of Saint-Thierry

Something To Tickle You: “I’ve been protected, I’ve been directed, I’ve been corrected. I’ve kept God in my life and it’s kept me humble. I didn’t always stick with Him but He always stuck with me.” --Denzel Washington

Bishop Bernard Paul