OLPS Mission Outreach

Monday, July 2, 2007

Please pray for Sr Francisca

Dear All

If you recall, Sr Francisca, one of 2 regular contacts between our Mission Outreach Team and the Carmel Sisters, recently went through an operation to remove cancer cells in her lymph nodes and is now undergoing chemotherapy.

She was warded last week due to high fever and low white blood cell count. The doctors are still trying to determine the cause and with 2 more cycles of chemo until mid August, I would like to ask for your prayers for her.

Despite her condition, she has informed me that all of us are always in her heart and prayer. She and Sr Angeline continues to pray for our mission outreach work and have invited us to be united in pray with them through the Angelus Prayer – 6 am, 12 noon and 6 pm.

Edmund

Ps: let me know if you have misplaced your copy of the Angelus.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Who says Religion Can't be funny 2

Who says Religion can't have a sense of humour?

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

St Ignatius - Batam Update

The landfill works is part of the plan which is one of the most important works that we must do in our school and dormitory. The reason why it is important is because our location is quite low, during the rainy season all the water comes onto the site and the river behind our site can not with hold that much of water and it causes flooding. The flood can reach up to the entire kitchen area and water closets.

So, our objectives are :
1. Increase the land elevation at the back
2. Widen the river and dig another channel
3. Eliminate the curve of the river by digging up a straight channel so the water can run smoothly to the sea.

In addition, the excavators to be brought in from Batam across the Batam Bridge , incurs a toll which adds to the cost of the works.

The alternative to lowering the cost is to do it manually, which the first mission outreach team from OLPS in June 2005 has shown it can be done when they dug out the stream to clear the choke. If we can find enough men and women to take this on, the Parishioners of Tembesi and local community are ever ready to work alongside with us, like they did in our trip last year.

I agree that will really put us outside our comfort zone but it allows us to answer the Church’s constant reminder to put our faith into action and to really show God’s Love in Action!

Edmund

Asrama - Tanjung Pinang Update

1. Placed order for new beds
2. Purchased (second hand) mattresses for the boys
3. Purchase (second hand) sofa set to set up a general office for official work (instead of using the bedrooms of the French Volunteers as is currently the case) and to meet the parents and visitors to the Asrama
4. New refrigerator for the kitchen to replace the existing one that is out of order

Nicholas de Francqueville’s replacement, Olivier Dubois has arrived and will be going through his orientation. Olivier’s stay at the Asrama will be a one year arrangement and he will be working with Laurent Dricot during this time.

Nicholas will be returning to France at the end of August, after 2 years at the Asrama.

Carol & Edmund
for Mission Outreach@OLPS

PC Recyling Outreach

We are in the process of working out the mechanics of this. So far, about 7 volunteers have stepped up to help in repairing the PCs which we are soon to ask our parishioners who have spare or unused PCs lying around (even some offices who are upgrading may want to donate their PCs...hint hint)

So if you guys want to help, please let us know. More hands make light work!

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

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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