Malacca Johore Diocese News Update #214

Mar 14, 2025

Dear friends of MJD,
Ramadan is already here. We Catholics have entered Lent with Ash Wednesday. A holy time for review of life and change. The Pope’s Lenten Message is this “Journeying together means... walking side-by-side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded.”

Shocks are never over. A new search for the unexplained disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370 has begun in the Indian Ocean. Azlina Othman, Minister in PM’s Department said the AGC had granted DNAA (Discharge without Acquittal) to 18 VIPs between 2017 and 2024. Another MACC investigation into the RM170 million and 16kg of gold bars found lying around. A total of 1.2 million National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) borrowers have yet to settle their loans, resulting in outstanding debts of RM10.8 billion as of Dec 31, 2023. Wall Street Journal reported that Malaysia is the number one most corrupted country in the world for doing business.

More and more young adults, the Gen Z and Millennials, who are ditching the stable 9-to-5 well-paying jobs and the climbing corporate ladder, for more fulfilling and flexible life, believe adulting is about purpose, autonomy and wellbeing.

They call this the new normal. Caritas deplores slashing of Humanitarian Assistance, the drastic cuts to international development aid, as the betrayal of global responsibility. Some have more, some have none.

Going Beyond Times: it is not about feeling pious nor indulging in pious acts.

Many church groups target homes and institutes to dump rations, meals and cash during Lent. Ask the operators of these shelters, and they say only twice a year, there’s so much hype.

The Pope says “journey together” … the Caritas Internationalis calls us to “turn debts into hope”. Servicing of national debts, debts to foreign fundings depletes resources for nation building and eradicating poverty. When we are blessed, it is to bless others. Gandhi once said that “there is enough from everyone’s needs but not enough for people’s greed”. We can payback or pay forward by being volunteers too.

Volunteers are the backbone of social action or Caritas. It is the tithing of skills, time and self. The church needs volunteers. We never lose anything. In our giving, we receive. Give 10 per cent of yourself and see what happens. “A life is not important except in the impact it has on others”

A Thought for the Week: The Water Pump
A man was lost in the desert, and was dying of thirst. He stumbled upon an abandoned house. There he found a pump. Stumbling, he began pumping. But no water came from the well. Then he noticed a small jug with a cork at the top and a note written on the side: “You have to prime the pump with water, my friend. P.S. And fill the jug again before you leave.” He pulled out a cork and saw that the jug was full of water. He began to wonder: to finish the water and not die or pour it down the rusty pump as written on the note.

Something from inside told him to follow the advice and take the risk. He did as instructed. The water gushed out. There was enough to drink, and enough to fill the jug. He corked the jug and left a note on the jug: “Believe me, it really works!”

The lesson from the desert: Sometimes one has to give away the only vital thing in order to get in return something better. Give and you shall receive.

QnQ!  Q asks? Finding God? Is it that easy?
“Every place is the place to find God, and God is in everything.” Sr Ilia Delio

1. People who accept themselves accept others. People who hate themselves hate others. Only Divine Light gives us permission, freedom, and courage to go all the way down into our depths and meet our shadow.

2. When we become aware that we are not the persona (mask) we have been presenting to others; when we recognise our manufactured self-image; when we are able to face the reality that we are creations of our own minds, desire, choice and everyone else’s opinion…..we find ourselves, we find God. Be liberated. Grow in spiritual maturity. Meet God.

3. Jesus came to change our minds about God — and about ourselves — and about where goodness and evil really lie.

The Holy Spirit @work: The Holy Spirit's main ministry is not to give thrills but to create in us Christlike character. J. I. Packer Something To Tickle You: “We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.” --Hermann Hesse

Bishop Bernard Paul