My parish, the Church of the Holy Spirit

My parish celebrated the Feast of the Pentecost yesterday and the same questions that have been on my mind popped up again – what is special about our parish? What is our identity?

Honestly, I’m not so sure that each church necessarily owns any individual identity. After all, we are all parts of a universal Church.

I haven’t been at the Church of the Holy Spirit that long but only since April 2003 when I began my RCIA journey, baptized the year later and can never leave since.

What I do notice and observe in the four years I have been here though, is how the community has visibly grown.

Well, at my parish, the same people who are in one ministry are also the ones in various ministries. You more or less see the same passionate souls running around the church at different times of the week, or running around altogether on weekends. They are the ones who pop up at most church events, if not all – which means they are almost around 24/7 since the church is alive and buzzing with activity unceasingly.

As a fellow parishioner, Carmen, shared of the parish, “I think the Holy Spirit parish is very vibrant. There are so many activities for you. There’s always a smile for people… it’s very hard to express but it’s like people are on fire here.”

It is amazing to me, how their energy never runs out. But then I was reminded by Archbishop Nicholas Chia at his homily yesterday that the holy spirit is still doing what it did for the apostles – “to bring out in them what was already in them”. Yes, the holy spirit is still helping us “to harness [our] power and release [our] gifts”. We can do the work we do in our parish only because of “the love and energy that the spirit draws out from [us]”.

The priests must also be commended for this. Without their trust and unfailing support, the ministries in my parish cannot have taken off to such great heights. The priests don’t overshadow the laypeople. They don’t run the parish as their empire but like their family. Our parishioners are not fearful of our priests, but respectful. Ministries understand their boundaries and work within them – and the priests have empowered the lay parishioners and trust us to fulfil what we are called to do in our ministries.

I know of a parish where the head of some ministries refuse to take instructions from their parish priests and things went as far as the Ministers of Hospitality going on strike at a Sunday Mass, leaving the priests in dire straits.

I am grateful this will not happen at my parish. We obey our priests because we make it a point to. After all, they are our shepherds. They are always invited to functions and social fellowships. We love our priests. And we know our priests love us. The spirit is in right order at the Church of the Holy Spirit.

My parish was one of two to host the Archdiocese’s last Rite of Election, earlier this Feb 24. We also hosted the one in 2005.

And in just two years, I see how we have all grown.

All ministries involved – Hospitality Ministers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Eucharist, Altar Servers, the RCIA, Lectors, the Choir, Sacristans, Audio Visual, cleaning teams – and everyone else involved in logistics preparation had naturally been busying themselves the week leading up to the Rite of Election.

The Friday night before the Rite, our RCIA ministry was setting up the canteen when I noticed fellow parishioners streaming into the church. After many hellos and waves, it finally occurred to me that everyone was there on a Friday night to serve. We finished around 10.00pm that night – early by our standards – and the altar servers were still squatting on the ground, polishing their brass (????), the AV ministry was still testing out their systems, the lectors and choir were still rehearsing… and I was flooded with this feeling of immense well-being, to witness so many coming together as one body. Working happily and uncomplainingly, embodying the essence of how “God loves a cheerful giver”. And I felt like I have a family in church.

I remember distinctly the head of the Ministers of Hospitality, Roland, suddenly coming up to reassure our RCIA team who helped to coordinate this Rite, that all his wardens are at our disposal. Considerately, he had arranged for the wardens who had been baptized through the RCIA, to take on key positions in church as they better understand the movements and liturgy involved. And God knows how many times we have argued with him over a lack of cooperation!

I remember the head of the Lector Ministry, Joan, offering to help us with the liturgy, saying that we should all work together.

I remember the head of the AV ministry, Terence, who was incredibly patient with our lack of submission of the final liturgy, when the sequence of movements and parts of the Mass were not yet finalized and empathizing that he understands how that can’t be helped.

At the end of the day, it isn’t only about how well coordinated we were or how each ministry is skilled or tasked to their role. I saw for myself, how different ministries came together. It was such a privilege to be witness to this love! I was in the midst of the Ministers of Hospitality and sacristans when our parish was being presented to Msgr Vaz and we all stopped what we were doing to celebrate the occasion and cheer on our new sheep.

Antonio, head of the Ministry of Altar Servers shared the same sentiment.

“Every ministry played its part, no matter big or small… every ministry played its part,” he said as he recalled the event.

Antonio, like me, arrived at the Church of the Holy Spirit in 2003. He had come from Christ the King parish.

“I’ve made more friends at Holy Spirit than at Christ the King, and I’ve been there for 21 years,” he said. “In the span of this time, what keeps me coming back is the hospitality we have here, the atmosphere, the environment. The parish has improved tremendously. Now, more people are involved and more want to be involved.”

Yes, admittedly, sometimes, we don’t pay as much attention outside of our ministries (naturally, we tend to take greater care of those within our ministries), but when we are called to, I see how each ministry relents to its own inconvenience or how it lowers its own hopes and expectations for the “greater good”.

So when I arrive in church now and can exchange hellos to people who have grown to be my brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, little brothers and sisters, I know what makes the Holy Spirit parish home to me.

It’s the community. The bonds that we have unknowingly forged over time, the love, the smiles.

Yesterday, on our feast day, I gave thanks even for the disagreements we sometimes have with one another. I’m sure the apostles had them too. But it is witnessing how we have negotiated through them (perhaps grudgingly sometimes too!) that has helped me realize what a community we have grown into.

So we continue to run around on weeknights and weekends. On fire, with passion, we continue to come as one body. This is what I have witnessed over the last four years and what keeps me rooted in this parish that I am so proud of.

Save the World

Isaac, the painter who paints canvasses of the future... Claire who is able to heal (much like Wolverine from XMEN)... the detective who hears your thoughts... Peter Petrelli the empath... Hiro, the Japanese who bends time... and Niki/Jessica the woman with split personality (EXACTLY like Spiderman in Spidey 3, except she's the female version).

these are just some of the characters in Heroes, my latest love.

it's a brilliant show... well-directed and simply captivating.

you've got to look beyond the superficial though, which is exactly what we've been talking about at work - to see God in the ordinary, to see Christian morals and values through the dirt.

sometimes, being a hero isn't about having supernatural powers and abilities. look beyond the entertainment value (definitely surpasses the amateurish Spidey and the blow-up-cars-with-gorgeous-sidekick male type of movies. think: Die Hard, XXX *yawn*).

it isn't about being able to fly or be invisible but about being able to soar through adversities and be silent and prudent (something i have yet to learn).

it's not about being able to heal and be indestructible but about growing to own the resilience to live through pain and stand tall on your own feet, trusting even when you don't see and are unable to believe, that there is a higher reason for it all.

it's not about being able to absorb someone else's powers but perhaps, about being able to share a person's best and strongest points to be a better person.

it's not about wanting to be The One to save the world but desiring to be the one that says, "a hero must not give up." - those simple truths that show your yearning to be a part of the grander scheme in life, to play your little role to make even that little difference to preserve life.

it's also not about whether you have the tendency to be a cold-blooded killer or some streak in you that makes you change personalities like the weather but about how to negotiate between the two sides within one person (think: Spidey 3). rather than look at the negatives of a situation, shall we celebrate the strength of character of the weak underdog in scrambling around to subdue the bad within us?

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the heroes in Heroes are not your typical heroes. *hahaha* (repeat that 10 times)

they are common folk like us, who battle heartbreaks from the condition humans suffer from - love (*hahaha* and we THANK GOD for that!); struggle to hold together a family that's falling apart; negotiate between your real upright and honest self and the more underhanded you as you go about breathing in the corporate world; nurse (again) broken hearts from unrequited love; reconcile with an estranged parent; continue the legacy left by predecessors; answer the Call.

to?

to be a hero in our everyday lives. face it, we ARE in the life. (or, we are in the Matrix as they say). manage it. manage it and triumph above it. not avoid it.

look the ordinary in the face and see past it. God is there in every bit of life. allelujah!

true heroes live IN the world. they don't exist out of it. they are every bit as human as we are. so when you watch Heroes, don't watch it for the sharp and happy colours (:P) or the supernatural abilities that bring our imagination to new heights.

celebrate instead the heroes' frailties and how they get through them, the larger plot of putting self last, protecting loved ones at cost of self, setting aside personal gain and daring to love, take a chance, die, try, live... knowing that you could be robbed of all of that, knowing the high risks of getting hurt again and again... over and over...

after all, it isn't about winning the race... getting to the destination... it's about how we make that journey and how we continue to fight the good fight till we breathe our last breath.

Let us save the world together even if we all do it differently. but keep recognising God in the ordinary. keep saying hello to him.

Becoming Heroes

saving the world...

it's all in our hands...

such a Catholic doctrine.

the world is not for God to save. it's for us to. why lament at how bad things go if we don't do something about it?

life is shitty sometimes. no one doubts that. and i always remember 10 years ago, a friend who's 20 years older than me told me that if a person ever says they have no regrets in life, they have not lived enough. i didn't believe it then... but i half believe it now. it's not about carrying regrets but only one who has tasted real regret, in saying goodbye, or letting go but wishing there wasn't a need to, for example, who can claim they have lived?

i'm not too sure. it's open to debate!

but yes, life is shitty sometimes. sometimes oftentimes too. how do we handle these shitty moments... and above that, continue to be resilient in being good people, undaunted by sways of the world to conform to its demands, to keep that sparkle in our eyes, the bubbly laugh erupting from within, that quiet smile of true appreciation and to dare to live and love no matter how many times we fall?

how do we be heroes in our own lives?

In My Lil World...

i have a friend who draws caricatures and illustrations of the future of his friends' lives - what he sees into their lives that they have yet to reach.

he is this amazingly sensitive soul attuned to the quiet whisperings of his friends' hearts, those unspoken stirrings that some of them aren't even that aware of. he draws these emotions into beautiful pictures and i've always said to him, that he should try to build a career based on his art. my artist friend who can tell the future.

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i have a girlfriend who's this remarkably strong woman. her life has been one of such hardship, having been robbed of her family when she was in her teens, forgotten by her love who lost his memory in an accident... but she never gave in to the despair that threatens to control her life at each and every turn. it's not that she's desensitised. in fact, with every obstacle that comes along, she's deeply wounded afresh and perhaps, it's ironically worse that she's so strong because she only allows herself to cry but not to wallow.

she heals each time... each and every single time. no matter how deep the cut is, be it just a little bruise from a trip, or a knife that pierces her deep in her gut or pain so hot and real it scorches her very being... she heals... on her own, in her own time, working through her own pain.

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then i have these two friends whom i simply can't lie to, no matter how sometimes i wish i didn't have to be so frank with them.

but i think it's a good thing. they force me to be honest with myself. it's almost like they can read my thoughts or they can influence me in such a beautifully positive way that i just want them to know the truth, and everything that is true in me... which they see and acknowledge through the failings i try to hide.

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and there's the nerd of the group. such a beloved child. he's such a simple man with no personal wants except to live honestly, humbly and simply. yes, sometimes, he gets lost in his dreams and fantasies but otherwise, he actually tries really hard to be the man he isn't yet but knows he will be someday. and i know he will reach that goal if he doesn't waver or stray too far from his life's course.

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lastly, there's me.

simple, little me. the little woman inside this hard shell.

oh yes, i have had my fair share of knocks and falls. and i have climbed up and above all these obstacles. i like to think i'm strong and i know i am simply because everyone of us is. life is hardy. it can't be snuffed out so easily even when you think you have lost your spirit and soul.

i've also discovered i'm quite a little woman inside, wanting to don my apron, clean my house, look after my children and love my husband.

then again, there's that part of me that sometimes breaks loose from within. and i want to ROAR and shout out loud that i am ALIVE! and i want to try EVERYTHING that can show me what life is - that it is meant to be LIVED not avoided.

i shall not delve too much into this because i can feel my other half, dormant at this time, being aroused and waking up. but oh, the thrill of truly experiencing life with all its sharp tanginess... yes, go right ahead and lick up every last morsel of what is dished out. take it like a man without making a face at how awful it might taste but do it in the style of a true woman, brave, daring and beautiful.

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so we are this special, unique bunch of people. we weren't always friends. in fact, we've only gotten together recently. bonded together by our zest for life, to live and to honour this world, God's gift to us.

with all our quirks and strangeness, i sometimes wonder what the world thinks of us. making a difference actually means something to us... we want to, we have to, to preserve this world, our reality. but... we are just regular people. how does one rise up to challenges - challenges above the difficult circumstances in each of our lives - to make a difference in the world?

can we save the world if we need to?