Peripheries in the Land of Milk and Honey

Peripheries in the Land of Milk and Honey

by | Dec 31, 2018 | Custody, Vocation

Wahhh … you guys are going to Australia? Have a nice holiday!”

“Are you sure you are going to learn something in Australia? Sounds more like a long holiday.” 

“Don’t go to Victoria Market, go to the South Melbourne Market. That’s the better place with better deals.” 

These are just a few of the comments people made when they heard that we were going to Australia for our immersion and exposure to our province. We could not lie. Australia was an exciting place to go for our immersion. It is a land of milk and honey, literally, because indeed, a lot of the milk and honey sold in Singapore comes from Australia. The thought of visiting famous places, such as the Sydney Opera House, for the first time added to our excitement. 

As much as the seven of us were excited about going to Australia, we were also worried about the unknowns. None of us had ever lived in cold weather. Airconditioning at 16 degrees Celsius was the coldest we had ever felt. Also, for most of us, English was not our first language, and we were not confident of speaking to “ang mohs” in our imperfect English. What if they did not understand us? 

After spending the first few days going around to get familiar with our new home and the surrounding area, we were assigned to a shelter for the homeless, De Porres House. We went with some apprehension. How were we supposed to minister to them? We had been told they might not be polite to us. We had also heard that some of them might not like Asians, and that some might be drunk or high on drugs. The shelter sounded more intimidating when we thought too of how Australians are generally taller and bigger than us physically. 

Thank God we found we had worried unnecessarily. We were welcomed with warmth, and the residents were interested to get to know us. Things became easier for us as time went by. We got to know them by name, and some of them shared their personal stories with us. After a few days with them, they were no longer just “homeless people”. They were Paul, Tom, Grant, Jason, James, Steve, Rob, and so on. Each of them had a name. Each of them had a story. 

We enjoyed listening to them. They made us realise that everyone there, whether an ex-prisoner or a drug addict, had a story about their lives. The stories were not beautiful, and sometimes they were so painful,
we felt we would rather not have heard them. It was difficult to imagine that God was present in their lives like God is present in our lives. They gave us a new understanding of what Pope Francis meant when he asked us to take care of those on the peripheries. 

Eucharistic Celebration at De Porres House

We will never forget our first Eucharistic Celebration there. All of us sat together encircling the dining table that had been transformed into the altar. We sang “I Will Never Forget You” for the opening hymn, in the Gospel Reading, we heard Jesus say, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today”, and we sang “One Bread One Body” for our communion song. 

I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MY PEOPLE,
I HAVE CARVED YOU ON THE PALM OF MY HAND, I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU,
I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ORPHANED, I WILL NEVER FORGET MY OWN…

– The refrain of “I Will Never Forget You” 

The songs and reading came alive as we shared the Eucharistic meal together. Jesus had come to be with His people who had no place in society. Jesus was there with us, in communion with His people who had no one but Him. 

Serving in a shelter for the homeless turned out to be not difficult after all. We only served them by providing food and accompaniment. They helped us to encounter God in a way we had never imagined. 

We had another surprise as we explored the life of the Church in Australia. We had read up and prepared ourselves to enter into churches that are pretty much “dead”. We had been told there is no life in the Church, that there are only old people in the churches. What we found was that although there is a bit of truth in that, there are a lot of great things going on at the same time. 

For example, in Brisbane, we attended an event initiated by the youth to help those far away from the Church to encounter God. The Nightfever event was held at St Stephen Cathedral, which was kept open for public adoration throughout the evening. The Blessed Sacrament was placed in a beautiful monstrance on the altar and prayerful live music played in the background. The special thing about this event was how the youth went out in twos into the streets to invite everyone they met to go to the cathedral, light a candle and place it around the altar. 

The young people’s invitation was not always successful. One of the most common rejections they received was “I am not a holy type”. Sadly, some think that we have to be holy to be part of the Church. 

When the invitation was accepted, it was heartwarming to see the candles being lit. Some people decided to stay and pray for a while, and some even decided to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

Strangers stopped by to light up a candle

Once again, the message of Pope Francis echoed in our minds. Going to the peripheries does not necessarily mean going to a faraway mission land. We realised that there are many people who are not “inside” because they either do not know that they can be inside or they feel that they do not deserve to be inside. There are many people who do not know that God loves them as they are. 

We thank God for the lessons we learnt in Australia. Going for devotions and adoration are important, but Jesus is not only inside the church. It is also important to bring Jesus to people. The Sydney Opera House is beautiful, but De Porres House has a special place in our hearts. As Friars in Initial Formation, we had learnt an important lesson – that each of us has a name and a story, and that each of us is a beloved child of God. 

This is our Christmas wish for you. As we celebrate Christmas, may we always be aware that we are loved. God bless. 

The Friars in Formation

Blessed Jacopone of Todi (1230-1306)

Blessed Jacopone of Todi (1230-1306)

by | Dec 25, 2018 | Saints

Jacopone Benedetti was a prosperous lawyer in the Umbrian town if Todi. His life took a tragic turn one day when his young wife was killed in an accident. This terrible loss was compounded by the belated discovery of his wife’s piety. As she lay dying before his eyes, he loosened her gown and was surprised and deeply moved to find that she wore a secret hair shirt, a penance he believed she must have undertaken to atone for her own sins.

His world in ruins and his ambitions laid bare, Jacopone quit his profession, gave away all his belongings, and became a public penitent- to all appearances, a kind of wandering fool. For ten years he maintained this life of aimless poverty and penance. Then, at the age of forty-eight, he knocked on the door of the Franciscans and applied for admission.

Remarkably, in joining the Franciscans he also found a new voice as a poet – indeed, one of the great lyric poets of the Middle Ages. In the passionate language of love, his mystical poems described the soul’s yearning for Christ. But they retained a mournful undertone, the accent of a faith born in loss. Among his most famous poems is the Stabat Mater Dolorosa, a heart-breaking meditation on the sorrows of Mary at the foot of the cross.

At the cross her station keeping,

Stood the mournful Mother weeping,

Close to Jesus to the last:

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

All His bitter anguish bearing,

Now at length the sword had passed.

Jacopone was a leader of the Spirituals, a Franciscan party dedicated to the most radical form of apostolic poverty. The Spirituals ran into conflict with the worldly Pope Boniface VIII, whose legitimacy they challenged. After addressing a bitter manifesto to the pope, Jacopone was imprisoned for five years. Only after Boniface’s death was he freed to live out the rest of his life as a hermit. He died on Christmas day in 1306.

Saint Albert Chmielowski (1845-1916)

Saint Albert Chmielowski (1845-1916)

by | Dec 25, 2018 | Saints

Adam Chmielowski was born in Poland to an aristocratic family. At seventeen, he lost a leg while participating in a nationalist uprising. Afterward, he was drawn to art and began to enjoy recognition for his painting. At the same time, living in Krakow, his heart was increasingly moved by the sufferings of the poor. He finally gave up his life as an artist to assume the life of a poor beggar. With the name Brother Albert, he donned a gray robe and became a Third Order Franciscan.

In time he founded orders of men and women, known as the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, who practiced the works of mercy in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. In one of the shelters that he founded, Brother Albert died in Christmas day, 1916.

His reputation lived on. Among the priests who attributed their vocation to his example was Karol Wojtyla, who in 1949 wrote a play about him. Years later, as Pope John Paul II, he championed Albert’s cause and later presided over both his beatification and, 1989, his canonization. He said of St. Albert, “In his tireless, heroic service on behalf of the marginalized and the poor, he ultimately found his path. He found Christ. He took upon himself Christ’s yoke and burden; he did not become merely ‘one of those who give alms,’ but became the brother to those he served.”

Blessed Frances Schervier (1819-1876)

Blessed Frances Schervier (1819-1876)

by | Dec 14, 2018 | Saints

Frances Schervier, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, was born in Aachen. Upon the death of her mother when Frances was thirteen, the young girl assumed responsibility for the household and the care of her younger siblings. With other women in Aachen she engaged in various charitable projects, visiting prisoners, caring for the sick in their homes, and rescuing prostitutes. In 1844, she entered the Third Order of St. Francis.

In 1845, following the death of her father, she joined with several other women to form a religious community, the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis. They established soup kitchens and fearlessly cared for those suffering from typhoid, cholera, and smallpox. Eventually, Frances sent sisters to America, where she visited in 1863 and offered her service as a nurse during the Civil War. Returning to Germany, she joined her sisters in nursing soldiers and staffing ambulances during the Franco-Prussian War.  

She died in December 14, 1876. Her beatification followed in 1974.