14July2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
Don’t under estimate this series of Six Weeks Bible Study Guide. There are about 40 titles within this series and each book addresses a book or a theme from the bible. Very user friendly and un-intimidating.
The interesting portion of this is the Life Application Notes.
Try it. It makes bible reading interesting and within 6 weeks you would gain a good insight into scriptures. Catholic and Life Application! The Catholic answer to the famous NIV Life Application Bible.
1July2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
Daniel Tay, a fellow Singaporean and local Catholic writer and Catholic News journalist published a book on how Jesus can be a friend to us if we allow him.
Are you searching for a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus?
Look no further! Befriending Jesus, a new book by Catholic News journalist and author Daniel Tay, offers you a simple answer to your search that you are already practising.
This little 48-page book invites you to explore how your own relationships with your friends hold the key to building a more solid friendship with Jesus. Accompanied by verses from the four gospels and delightful illustrations, this affordable little book reveals the many ways in which Jesus became friends with those who met Him, and how He wants to be friends with you.
Befriending Jesus is an ideal gift for those who are just starting to know Jesus, and for those who wish to become best friends with Him.
You can buy this book from the main Wellsprings Online Site.
24May2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
Br Jerome Manh, a Salesian religious brother who resides in Ho Chi Minh shares his vision and philosophy in his pursuit of caring for his boys in his orphanage, Son Ky.
A extract from his notes …. you can read the full article by clicking on this link or right click to save this - pdf.
These are some among 52 orphans and street-children belonging to Son Ky Orphanage, under the care of Mr. Nguyen Duc Manh, Fr. Vincent Nguyen Van Hung, Fr. Paul Pham Minh Thanh and Ms. Bui Thi Mai Lien. Together with them, closer to the boys are 5 young aspirants, who in the same time learn the work to become future educators and to assist the orphans 24 hours a day.
On August, 2005, we have started with 7 double orphans and single orphans at Tam Thon Hiep, Can Gio Island, HCM City. Due to problems about the jurisdictional difficulties caused by the local government, on June 2007, we had to move most of them, and received more new ones and up to now, we are gathering in this Son Ky Orphanage 49 orphans and street-children, aged from 8 to 18.
The key to his program is loving his boys with no strings attached. In his words, Br Jerome, “For them, I will dedicate all my energies, times and all my life. I will live and die for them. For their sake, I will make my best to train successors to continue my work. Together we shall form a team, or a community, to serve this great cause. This will be one of the most important tasks while I am still living. From my heart of hearts, I wish that the children I am educating and appealing now, will be the future successors of my work.”
This looks so incredible, if we do not imply love in all this. How can we succeed with so remarkable results, with so much persistent good effects? The secret is that we do not only love these orphans, but we have made them to be firmly convinced that they are loved. More than anyone else in the society, these children need love. They are very sensitive about the way people treat them. The saying: “What matters is not what you give, but how you give” implies here most perfectly. The element which makes the educator succeed depends on how much do the educated feel themselves to be loved. In this family, the orphans have a father whom they are convinced to be ready at any moment to offer his life for their sake. They trust this man completely. In all his undertakings, his activities, his teachings, his exhortations, his going-out to look for money supporting them, or even his rest, his prayers . . . are seen no more than what he is doing for them, because of them, for their goodness, for their sake. No wonder why the children respond so well to what we ask them to do, to change their behavior. They want to show their gratitude, they want to return the good they have received. They do not know what to do, but they fervently wish to be good, so that they can please the one who loves them so much, the one who could die for them.
While making no distinction in admitting children here, in terms of religions, cultures (even children of ethnic minority are admitted), levels of academic achievement, Buddhist and Catholic followers are encouraged to live according to their belief, to practice Buddha’s Teachings or Biblical Principles and Spirit. We even teach them to trust God and to unite closely with Him, to find moral strength to live a decent and worthy life. Many children have found religions a strong base for their moral life, to become good and honest people, ready to fulfill their own duties, but willing to help others as well. They feel that in their religions, they are loved by Buddha or God.
A man with a remarkable vision, Br Jerome speaks a few languages fluently: Vietnamese, English, French and Italian. He also does translation work in voice-over English, French & Italian movies into the local Vietnamese language.
Attached here is a letter from the local bishop to support Br Jerome Manh’s effort and mission. Click on this image/read it as a pdf or right click to save it as a pdf.
22May2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
Thinking Aloud .. Comments from Theresa …
I wonder if Bro Jerome Manh would be open to suggestions of projects to
compliment his work with the boys. These could be :
1) Education partners with volunteers, teachers from S’pore who are
willing to do a week or a month of teaching exposure in Vietnam;
2) Recycle English books from Sin;
3) Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) business start-up (eg: cafe; book
store) to be manned by the boys.
4) Virtual adoption of individual boys;….etc
5) Collaborate with Boys’ Town in Vietnam on his street boys’ project.
These projects would contribute towards achieveing the larger objective
of the Salesian mission.
I also happen to know that there is a project whereby benefactors could
choose to donate the bags of VitaMeal to children who are in need of
nourishment. This project is now on for children in Myanmar. The
VitaMeal Project will certainly ensure that the children gets the much
needed food that Bro Manh has emphasized to us during our meeting.
The contacts below are in Sin. They are ppl in the Nu Skin Business.
These are some ideas that we could offer to improve the lives of the
boys in Bro Manh’s home.
22May2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
Son Ky Orphanage Ho Chi Minh
Address: No: 382/24 Tan Ky Tan Quy. F. Son Ky Quan Tan Phu. TP Ho Chi Minh.
On our recent trip to HCM City, William, a Singapore friend who lives in Saigon and Singapore, introduced Br Manh and his boys to us. He runs a centre for orphan boys below 20 years. In Vietnam, there are lots of children who have been abandoned by their parents for many reasons and the authorities don’t seem to be able to cope with this issue.
Br Jerome Manh, a Salesian religious has a vision of taking young boys and forming them to be future educators who in turn would help run centres. He believes strongly that education is the key to their future. From these boys in his centre, some of them may be called to religious life, to serve as shepherds to the local communities. He is hoping, praying and forming the boys that his dream will one day be given wings to soar.
William, Theresa & I visited his centre on Monday, 19-May-2008 and discovered another world, far removed from the ever-busy Singapore. Here the boys are housed in a 3-storey building, 54 kids all in all, well disciplined and tidy. The day was hot with no electricity, the fans weren’t working and the day’s heat permeated throughout the place. Gathered in lines of 3, the kids were cheerful and respectful. They planned to put up performances for us but they couldn’t due to the lack of electricity. They welcome us with cheers and claps and songs (in vietnamese). Songs and more songs …
An older boy came forth and welcome us in the local language which Br Manh translated, “Welcome to our centre! We welcome you in Jesus and his love. Thank you for visiting us and it is by God’s grace that we meet …..”.
Soon it was our turns to encourage them with words …
There was a boy of 8 eight years who looked so small and tiny. He isn’t much bigger than Basil, (my son of 2 years). I was touched and moved by them.
Due to the rising food prices, (the inflation in Vietnam is 21%) they had to cut down on their meals from 3 to 2 a day. Yet they remained cheerful and hopeful of their futures. Perhaps they are mindful of their present day-to-day struggles without giving much thoughts to the past nor future.
They appeal for funds to help them with their daily struggles as well as their plans to build a bigger centre to house more children. To give each child a future through education. They certainly love and look up to Br Jerome Manh as their father. Hugging and grabbing him by the waist seem to be the norm.
If you are moved to help after reading this, please do get in touch with me, Peter (peter.wellsprings@gmail.com) and perhaps together, as a group we can make a difference in these boys’ lives. You can also write to Br Jerome Manh directly (manhjrsdb@yahoo.com) or call him at +84-908058546.
Address of the Son Ky Orphanage:
No: 382/24 Tan Ky Tan Quy. F. Son Ky Quan Tan Phu. TP Ho Chi Minh.
Beside money, you may also wish to contribute your skill as an English speaker to them as a community. Visit them and spend somtime at the centre to teach the kids English. Communicating in English & interacting with English speakers would help them to build up their skills in the language. Email me and I can make the arrangement for you.
14March2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
I first learned of these “rules” from a friend, Chris Cheong who gotten the information on his retreat in Chiang Mai. It was written in 1968 by a student, Kent Keith who now has a website - www.paradoxicalcommandments.com
The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
4March2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
Lifesprings Retreat Centre is run by the Canossian sisters in Singapore for people wanting to seek God. It is located at Jalan Merbok in Bukit Timah area on a hilltop with beautiful surroundings, very close to nature with trees and monkeys.
I have done a retreat and spent quite a bit of time there. The air is clean and cool and conducive for prayer. If you ever need to rest and seek God, check out this place.
2March2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
I met Uncle Peter in St Mary when we first set up the Books on Wheels. Ever friendly, with jokes and a ready smile Peter Chua is a part time assistant working in St Mary.
Every week he would push the 2 heavy carts out on Saturday to the piazza without fail. On Sunday after sunset mass, when we are done with the sales of the books, he would help to get the 2 carts back to the piety shop. Whenever help is needed in Church, short of bi-locating, I think Uncle Peter has a finger in many events.
He is also a walking encyclopedia when it comes to food especially good food. Ask him where to find the best fried Hokkien mee. Yes sir, the Uncle knows his food.
25February2008
Posted by peter under: Community.
by Andrew Cameron-Mowat SJ
Those of us who have given up something we enjoy for Lent may be glad to note that we reach the mid-point of the season this week. But there is more to Lent than that: Jesuit liturgist Andrew Cameron-Mowat explores the deeper meaning of this penitential and yet joyful season, as brought out by the Sunday readings.
Thanks to the renewal of the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council, for most parishes Lent is a time of celebration of the transforming grace of Christ demonstrated especially in the lives of those who are given the sacraments of initiation, or who are received into full communion with the Catholic Church. But, as one Sunday follows another, the scripture readings, the prayers, and the symbolic gestures work together to enable all those participating in the liturgy to share in the transforming power of Christ, which is offered also to anyone seeking peace and healing in their lives.
Deeply rooted in the origins and early traditions of Lent are the two intertwining themes of preparation, through fasting and prayer, for the sacred rites, and of healing of our sorrow for sinfulness so that we can truly rejoice in the feast of the Risen One. Lent builds over the weeks in urging us towards true reconciliation and peace. We unite ourselves with the catechumens who are preparing for their “first washing”. These candidates were known in the early Church as the photizomenoi, or “the ones to be enlightened”. We unite our prayers with theirs and hope for our own experience of enlightening and purification. For those of us living in times of darkness or despair, this stage can be a period of real prayer for the light to shine on us. It could be that “first glimpse” of a hope that does not allow the darkness to overcome it, a door that opens to show us a way out of shadows and fog into the light.
The third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent are united in their liturgical and spiritual themes. The scripture for these days emphasises purification, or freedom from the darkness of sin and death, and enlightenment, in which one is filled with the truth and joy of Christ.
On the third Sunday of Lent, we hear the Exodus story of the waters at Horeb, and this is partnered with the encounter at the well. Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman about living water – just as she is renewed by living water and by the Spirit, so we too are refreshed and renewed, and more – we are given life. The conversation with the woman is a touching description of the process of gradual revelation and coming to faith in Christ.
Catechumens preparing for Baptism certainly are on a similar journey, but all of us share in moments of questioning and doubt when we need to call on the revelation of Christ to assure us of the gift of faith. The power of the reading from Paul to the Romans should not be forgotten: “Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” (Rom 5:8) We are reminded that the offer of faith and salvation is given to all people and that Christ is calling all of us to proclaim this truth without judgment.
On the fourth Sunday, in the first book of Samuel, God, who “looks at the heart” chooses the most unlikely candidate, fresh and ruddy David, as the one to lead the people. The Gospel text recounts the healing of the man born blind, portraying the bewilderment of the people as to why such a thing could happen on the Sabbath, and particularly that someone whom they regarded as a sinner could be cured. For the blind man, the curing is a gradual process, mirroring the Samaritan woman’s gradual realisation of faith recounted in the previous week. The letter to the Ephesians speaks in terms of the darkness of our former lives and reminds us of what light brings: “complete goodness and right living and truth.” (Eph 5: 9) We are all in need of healing from our blindnesses, to God and to the good in one another. This Sunday is half-way through Lent and known as Laetare Sunday after its entrance song. As we are “beginning to see the light”, the mood lifts a little.
With the fifth Sunday, the particularly rich selection of scripture begins with the wonderful vision of the prophet Ezekiel, who consoles us with the good news that the Lord will raise the people from their graves, and will put his spirit in the people, who will live and be restored to their own soil. The Gospel text is the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus speaks words of great comfort: “I am the resurrection and the life … whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) Paul, writing to the Church in Rome, assures us that the Spirit of God is present in all those who are members of the body of Christ, “and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (Rom 8:11) These passages with their assurance that the death of sin is conquered by the risen Christ resonate in the hearts of anyone searching for transformation and freedom from whatever holds them in despair, disease and doubt.
The period of Lent ends with the events of Holy Week; Christ enters Jerusalem at the end of his own life’s journey, and then begins the period of his final ministry to his people before his death. This will be a time of particular grief, but within that sadness is the certain hope that Christ dies for all of us: rich and poor, slave and free, saint and sinner, and that his special mission is to the sinner and the destitute and the despairing of this world.
Andrew Cameron-Mowat SJ teaches liturgy at Heythrop College, University of London.
This article was originally published in the Rapid Response series on the web site of the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics and Public Life.