Reactivated and revitalized

Sep 10, 2016

By Anne Yeo
The local youth of the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima organized a programme to strengthen their faith in God while the breakfast sale was to raise funds for the ministry’s future activities.

The programme, with 30 participants, began at 8.00pm with ice-breaking and praise and worship by Seven Direction. This was followed by a talk on Forgiveness by Mr Francis Lai.

“Forgiveness is a very important practice that everyone must apply in daily life, but is everyone able to forgive and forget?” asked Mr Francis in his opening question. The talk on forgiveness opened our eyes and our hearts as we learned the need to forgive others if we are hurt.

Next, Maria Tiau shared about her trip to Gua Musang with members from the Parish Human Development committee, led by FMM Provincial Sr Susan Thomas and an Indonesian sister, Sr Detha, to meet and help the migrant workers from Indonesia. She said that it was heartbreaking to see the poor living conditions of many of the migrant workers. The road to where they stayed was difficult but the migrant workers still managed to get through all the hardships. The FMM sisters also spent some time with the kids, teaching them Catechism and some basic knowledge and skills. We also gave them packs of food and drinks to supplement their diet.

During the ‘eye-to-eye contemplation’, participants were asked to find a partner, look into their eyes and say “I Love Myself Unconditionally” three times. There was also a Taize prayer session in the church which involved sung and chanted prayers, meditation, a period of silence and liturgical readings. The youths stayed overnight in the church so they could prepare the meal for the next day.

On Friday, August 5, the youths set up the booths in the early morning and prepared the food needed for the breakfast sale. They began their sale after the week-end Mass at 10am. The parishioners were very supportive. Many said that the activity was a good opportunity for the youths to learn about unity and tolerance. The food and drinks were sold out very quickly and the money earned will be used for future ministry’s expenses.