Receive forgiveness by forgiving

Jun 19, 2014

By Francis Magimay
On the Feast of the Pentecost, Fr Peter Bretaudeau MEP, prior to his return to France for good, celebrated the 10.30am Mass at the Church of Our Lady of Fatima, Brickfields, on Sunday 8 June. Fr Stanislaus Soosaimariam, the Parish Priest, concelebrated with him.

In his homily, Fr Peter quoted Jesus, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any they are retained” (Jn. 20:23). Clarifying, he said that if we forgive others their sins, we receive forgiveness for our sins, but if we retain others’ sins, we in turn retain our own sins.

Among fathers, mothers and children, we are bound to have some misunderstandings but we must always forgive them. Forgive and we receive forgiveness. This is how we promote peace and happiness in the family and in our personal lives.

Then he spoke on the Holy Spirit and encouraged us to fill our hearts and minds with the Spirit of God. In the one Spirit, we are all baptized. He said that he was baptised the day after his birth. Thanks to his beautiful mother and father.

Next, Fr Peter quoted what Jesus said to his disciples, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Jesus breathed on them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Fr Peter wanted us to minister, using the gifts of the Holy Spirit, both inside or outside the Church. He invoked several times: “Come Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of your love; Come Holy Spirit fill us with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; Send us your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.”

Following through, he recollected on his ministry in Malaysia from 1957 to 2014, a total of 57 years. During that time, he had worked in ten parishes in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. He thanked God for blessing him in his mission work in this country.

The reason he was returning to France for good was that in his own village of Le Poire sur Vie, Vendee, western France, where he received his ordination to the priesthood in 1956, of the 7,500 Catholics only ten percent know the way to the church! So he is returning to do mission work in his homeland where God is calling him to go.

Before the closing, Fr Stanislaus said he had accompanied Fr Peter on his visits to the estates and he noticed that the people there saw Jesus in him. In his pastoral work, he had penetrated deep into the estates, plantations and kampongs, through swamps and muddy roads, to reach his parishioners and take their census. He could honestly claim to have met and known them personally through his visits.

Fr Stan requested the congregation to stand up, raise their hands over Fr Peter and pray intently in silence that his mission work in his homeland would prove abundantly fruitful as it had done in Malaysia. He added that he was indebted to Fr Peter who took responsibility for Fr Stan’s training as a young priest. After his ordination, Fr Stan was posted to St Anthony’s Church where he experienced trepidation when giving his homily and so he assigned his duty to Fr Phillip Muthu who was his colleague. Fr Peter noticed and firmly discouraged that practice and urged him on to preach his homily himself. Thus, Fr Stan gained confidence and insight in giving homilies and expressed his gratitude and thanks to his mentor.

In Church that morning, a few French families attended the 10.30am Mass. Mr Jerome and his wife carried the bread and wine in the offertory procession. Jerome said that Fr Peter celebrated a Mass in French every second Sunday of the month at the Little Sisters of the Poor at Cheras, especially for the French community in Kuala Lumpur. He said, with a smile, that it would appear that Fr Peter had already started re-evangelizing the French community.

After the Mass, BEC members hosted a lunch in honour of Fr Peter who had served here as Parish Priest in 1964-1965. The Master of Ceremony, L.A. Fernandez, said that when Fr Peter implemented the Vatican II changes at Fatima Church in 1964, he made a paradigm shift. Today we take these changes for granted: rearranging the altar for the celebrant to face the congregation, masses said in the vernacular languages, revamping the parish pastoral council, introducing lectors and commentators and other ministries, celebrating masses in parishioners’ homes and many others. Fr Peter made the start at Fatima Church before other Churches did. Now, at 83 he is still going strong, full of vibrant energy and literally bouncing at the pulpit. L.A. asked us to remember Fr Peter in our prayers invoking God’s rich blessings on him and on his future mission work in his homeland. Then, he invited Fr Peter to cut the cake with the wordings: Farewell and God Bless Fr Peter Bretaudeau.

Indeed, Fr Stan and L.A. painted a picture of Fr Peter’s missionary work for us to emulate in our ministries, BECs and visits to the homebound.