Parish Chaplain - Fr Paul

Dear Staff and students,

The academic year is going into the end, I think that all of us are very excited to have a good holiday, but we still have some days left. So, let us pray that with the help of God’s grace each one of us will try our best to work and to study,  in order that when we finish the academic year we can say that we have done the best we can and that we have reached our goal of the year 2019.

At the moment we are preparing for a Christmas party either at school or at home and but the best preparation we have done for our lives, especially for those who are catholic, is the sacrament of the Reconciliation. As we are entering the Advent season, let us strive to keep Advent a season of waiting and longing, of conversion and hope, meditating often on the incredible love and humility of our God in taking on flesh of the Virgin Mary.

Congratulations to those who came to the sacrament of the Reconciliation. We believe that through this sacrament the merciful Lord has granted you pardon and peace.

Although most of you have come to the confession, I think you are not aware of why you should go or how often you should go.

Every day we often say “please …. thank you” and “I am sorry”, I think we should do the same to God, our heavenly Father. But let us see what the Church teaches us regarding this.

Why do we need a special sacrament of reconciliation?

Baptism does snatch us from the power of sin and death and brings us into the new life of children of God, but it does not free us from human weakness and the inclination to sin. That is why we need a place where we can be reconciled with God again and again. That place is confession. (Catechism 1425- 1426)

 It does not seem like a modern thing to go to confession; it can be difficult and my cost a great deal of effort at first. But it is one of the greatest graces that we can receive again and again in our life – it truly renews the soul, completely unburdens it, leaving it without the debts of the past, accepted in love, and equipped with new strength. God is merciful, and he desires nothing more earnestly than for us, too, to lay claim to his mercy. Someone who has gone to confession turns a clean, new page in the book of his life.

When is a catholic obliged to confess his serious sins? How often should one go to confession?

Upon reaching the age of reason, a Catholic is obliged to confess his serious sins. (By “the age of reason”, the Church means the age at which one has arrived at the use of reason and has learned to distinguish between good and bad.) The Church urgently advises the faithful to do this at least once a year. At any rate one must go to confession before receiving Holy Communion if one committed a serious sin.

I hope that these questions and answers will help you understand more the graces which you have received from the sacrament of reconciliation.

Dear friends,

We will have the end of Year School mass next Friday. That is a chance for each one of us to give thanks to the Lord for all the blessings He has granted upon our school and us. Let us prepare ourselves and bring all the sacrifices we made to the Lord and together with the sacrifice which Our Lord Jesus Christ himself made to offer to God for us. Let us also offer our small sacrifice to pray for all teachers and staff at our school, that the Lord will grant superabundant blessings upon them and their family.

May God bless you all.

Fr Paul Lu