OLPS Mission Outreach: Talks Retreats Prayer Sessions

Showing posts with label Talks Retreats Prayer Sessions. Show all posts

Monday, August 6, 2007

Kid's Carnival Ticket Selling Fast!

OLPS Kid's Carnival is coming soon! Just four days away! Yipee!

How cool is Fr Greg!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel

Dear All

The Sisters of Carmel in Singapore has invited the Mission Outreach Team@OLPS to join them in their celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel on Sunday 15 July 2007 (instead of 16 July) in St Teresa Church. There will only be 2 Masses for this celebration and they are at 2.30 pm (Mandarin) and 6.00 pm (English). Do come if you can make it.

Fyi, Sr Francisca will be discharged from the hospital today and she sends her thanks to all for our prayers for her and also God’s blessings in abundance on us all. Do continue to pray for her as she will continue her Chemotherapy until mid-August.

Carol & Edmund

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Revelations unravelled?

Letter to the Hebrews and the Book of Revelation By Fr Ambrose VazAre we living in the last days? Will we experience the rise of the Antichrist, the mark of the Beast, and The Great Tribulation in our lifetime? What are we to make of these “end-time” predictions?12 Mondays (7.45 pm - 9.45 pm) July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, August 6, 13, 20, 27, September 3, 10, 17.Contribution: $30

All courses will be held at CAEC, Singapore Pastoral Institute,2 Highland Road #02-02, Singapore 549102Tel: 68583011 Email: spi@catholic.org.sgCheck our website www.catholicspi.org

Always wanted to find out more about Revelations, can never understand the book. So maybe this is a good opportunity. Love Fr Ambrose Vaz's talks. He is a Professor of Sacred Scripture (S.S.L-Biblicum, Rome). He has been a priest for 23 years, serving in a number of Parishes in the Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore. Fr Ambrose Vaz is currently lecturing at the Major seminary. I've attended two of his other courses and it has given me a passion to find out more about the Bibile.

Gerry

Monday, May 14, 2007

Personal Retreat - Chiang Mai September 12 t0 19

What I need is for you to let me know if you are keen on a Personal Retreat in Chiang Mai in September. Looking at Sep 12 to 19. Why those dates?

Coz Tiger Airways has a $1 promotion to Chiang Mai at that time. Please let us know.

The retreat centre is http://www.carefor.org/7fountains/7fountains_en.html.

Looking at 3 days silent retreat, and 2 days of R&R (where we can talk and talk.....)

June Kelong trip - any interest?

We can go for luxury $130 somewhere in Batam (see pdf file attached) or $45 in Malaysia, 2 days 1 night (basic). Either 16/17 June or 23/24 June. Please let us know

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Lenten Prayer & Reflection Sessions

Dear brothers and sisters of MOT

For the season of Lent, we would like to hold a prayer and reflection session every Saturday at 8pm commencing this Saturday 3 March, following the prayer format in the Lenten reflection booklet provided by our Parish.

Please mark your calendars, 3 March, 10 March, 17 March, 24 March and 31 March 2007. We are also looking at the possibility of doing a weekend retreat at Galang (Batam) for the weekend of 31 March to 1 April 2007. Details to be advised.

As our Faith formation is personal yet interpersonal, we need each other to grow together in our faith journey. So please do try and make it.

Jesus Loves You.

Carol & Edmund Lee
on behalf of OLPS Mission Outreach

Monday, January 8, 2007

Habitat For Humanity Singapore

Would anybody be interested?

Please register on line with Habitat for Humanity and let them know you are from OLPS Mission Outreach Team.

Last September, Habitat for Humanity Singapore initiated Operation Homeworks to help improve the living conditions of the elderly. The event brought much joy to the elderly as their homes were now cleaner and safer. Some also had beds and cupboards replaced. As we welcome the new year, Habitat is again looking for volunteers to help clean up the homes of another group of elderly.

Project details: Date : 3 Feb 2007 Time : 9am - 6pm Venue : Blk 61 and 62 Geylang Bahru

Volunteers are required to attend a training session prior to the actual event.

For more information about the project, log on to:

http://www.habitat.org.sg/volunteer/homeworks/homeworks.htm

To participate in this project, you can register at: http://www.habitat.org.sg/volunteer/homeworks/ophw.htm

If you are joining as a group of friends and want to be work together as a team, please give yourself a 'team name' so that we can group you together.

Registration closes on the 12 Jan 2007.

If you have other expertise like photography or videography skills, kindly state it in your registration.

Blessings, Habitat for Humanity Singapore

Why it is more blessed to give than to receive

Saint Vincent de Paul once gave an instruction to his religious community that sounded something like this : "When the demands of life seem unfair to you, when you are exhausted and have to pull yourself out of bed yet another time to do some act of service, do it gladly, without counting the cost and without self-pity, for if you persevere in serving others, in giving yourself to the poor, if you persevere to the point of completely spending yourself, perhaps someday the poor will find it in their hears to forgive you. For it is more blessed to give than to receive, and it is also a lot easier!"

That might sound curious. Why do the poor need to forgive us? For what do we need to be forgiven? Shouldn't we feel good about serving others?

All of us, I suspect, have a pretty good sense of what he means. We all know that there is a certain humiliation in needing to receive, just as there is a certain pride in being able to give. The things we often complain about are really our greatest blessings: What is worse than being too busy? Having nothing to do. What is more painful than having to give away something we own? Having nothing to give away. What is harder than being dragged out of bed to minister to someone in need? Being the person who is in bed and who needs someone to help him or her. What is harder than being brought to our knees asking someone else for his or her time and energy? It is more blessed to be able to give than to receive, and it is easier. But there's more.

There is a certain divine power, literally, in being able to give. The one who gives gets to be God, or, at very least, to feel like God. That's not an overstatement. God is the source of all that is, the source of all gift. When we are in a position to give, we mediate divine power and we get to feel that power. Whenever we act like God we get to feel like God.

Yet, the irony is that our very gifts and strengths, if not given over with the proper attitude, can easily make others feel inferior. It is important to understand this so that we are more careful to not serve others in ways that demean them. It is not automatic, nor easy, to give a gift in a way that does not shame the recipient. Vincent de Paul's counsel highlights this caution.

But there's a second lesson here as well. Vincent de Paul meant this too as an antidote to self-pity. For anyone who is in a giving role (a parent, a minister, a teacher, a nurse, a social worker, an advocate for justice, a philanthropist, a politician) there is the temptation to fall into self-pity: "Look all I am doing! I do all this for others, but nobody is doing anything for me! I am so tired! Is there no end to this? Am I the only one who cares? This is asking more of me than is fair! I have my own problems that I should tend to!"

It is easy, especially when one is tired and frustrated by lack of support, to lose heart, to begin to feel sorry for oneself, and to eventually feel that we are being unfairly used by others, that we are being asked to give more than our share.

That is very common. Care-givers often feel victimized by those to whom they are giving of themselves. We've even coined some terms for this: "Compassion fatigue", "Compassion burnout". Not surprisingly, many good people resent the demand of the poor: the welfare system, the push by various groups for their rights, the pressure for more immigration, the drain that the sick put on the energy and money of our society, the cost of repairing the damage done by youthful vandals, and so on. The temptation is to give up and give in; give up on going the extra mile and give in to the temptation to resign and take care of ourselves.

And so Vincent de Paul's counsel should be told and retold: If we do not continue to serve the poor, despite our tiredness and self-pity, the poor will never find it in their hearts to forgive us. We need to remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and it is also easier.

Written by Father Ronald Rolheiser

OLPS Mission Outreach

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