The Quality of Mercy

“The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
 

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself.
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. 

Living Freedom as God’s Child through Forgiveness

Parish Recollection in conjunction with our parish feast day, St Henry's Feast will be held from Friday, 12 July 2013 to Sunday, 14 July 2013 on The theme “Living Freedom as God’s Child through Forgiveness” by Bro Dominic Yeo Koh, a Gabriellite brother. Open to all. More details will be given later. All PPC, PFC and BEC leaders are to attend. Including Extraordinary Ministers of Communion and Hospitality. Please clear your dates.

Voter's guide for Election 2013

Pope Francis

Pope Francis

Francis is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. He was elected on 13 March 2013.

Born: December 17, 1936 (age 76), Buenos Aires
Nationality: Argentine
Education: University of Buenos Aires
Parents: Regina Maria Sivori, Mario Jose Bergoglio

New Office-bearers for Parish Pastoral Council 2013 - 2015

pix from left - Anna Lee [secretary], Martin Lim [Chairperson], fr lawrence ng [just standing there], Francis Ong [Vice-Chairperson] and Grace Sia [Vice-Secretary]

Congratulations and let's do some good :)

Reflection

 Dear God,

I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?

Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me.”

― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life

Our Father Who Art in Heaven...

It cannot be stressed enough the great importance of knowing who we are and how knowing and accepting this matters as we live out lives. The depth of understanding and acceptance of the person that we have become and are today contributes to the freedom in which we live our life today.

It contributes to the courage we must draw from within us to navigate through the storms of life.

It inspires or allow for inspirations that greatly color our daily lives.

It enables us to become gifts to those to whom we meet, are a part or share our lives.

Christian Federation Statement on the word "Allah"

New Day

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American Poet

P.S Tomorrow is already today. Today is the new day.

Things Take Time

I believe one of the temptation in one’s spiritual journey is to do too much too soon. One can think of a great act of charity as something that arises naturally without one’s act of will; or that great act of charity was formed over the years in little bits and pieces.

Letters To A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Paris
February 17, 1903

Dear Sir,

     

Your letter arrived just a few days ago. I want to thank you for the great confidence you have placed in me. That is all I can do. I cannot discuss your verses; for any attempt at criticism would be foreign to me. Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsay able than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.

To laugh often and much

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of the intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know that one life has breathed easier
because you lived here.
This is to have succeeded.

Power of Celebration

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained.

Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation.

To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle....

Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions.

Source: The Wisdom of Heschel”

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

 

 

Robert Frost,

1874–1963

Harden not your hearts as at the waters of Meriba...

Don't forget to greet your creator daily!

你今天不要忘记你的主，天主