austraLasia #4598
New Year in Malaysia
Kuching, Malaysia, 2 January 2018 -- Happy New Year 2018! This is the greeting of joy to the world. We begin this New Year 2018 with Mary, as Jesus’ life begins with her. Mary is the mother of Jesus, Jesus is God, and so Mary is the mother of God. And because she is the mother of God, Mary is the mother of joy, joy to the entire world. Mary’s “yes” to the will of God makes her mother of the Church, the children of God. We are the Church, so Mary is also our mother, our Heavenly Mother.
In this first very joyful day, I had the happiness to celebrate the day of our Heavenly Mother with the people in the Church of Mary, Kampung Bogag, 20 minutes driving from the Residence of Priests, St. Stephen Parish. Before the Holy Eucharistic celebration, I sat down at about for an hour to extend God’s love and mercy to the people of God who came for confession.
The celebration was more meaningful because during the Mass, I installed thirteen adults’ catechumens. This is the joy to the world, to my joy. It was my first time to administer the installation of catechumens. Praise be to God in the highest.
After the Holy Eucharist, there was a simple and very fraternal fellowship as the conclusion of this 49 years anniversary of the Church. Bidapod bauh = See you!"
The two Salesians present in Malaysia, experience now their adapation period and learn the new languages of our first mission in Sarawak state. Next February 2018 expect the visit of their provincial from the Philippines and the signing of the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) between the Archidiocese and the Salesian Congregation for our first apostolic work. Let's keep them in our prayers!
