Being a member of the St. Mary’s choir, I sat at the choir pews and watched the whole ceremony clearly. I am happy for the teens who have finally reached the end of a decade long journey of catechism classes. To them, this is their window to adulthood – the beginning of their freedom. Hopefully, they will be guided by the Holy Spirit to make the right choices in life. They brought back memories of my daughter’s confirmation just last year. Like them, my daughter and her friends were filled with the Spirit after their confirmation and arranged to meet up once a week to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist. However, this arrangement did not last very long. I was quite disturbed when my daughter told me that she was following her friends to other churches to experience God. I questioned the need for this as I felt that God is already with us in our own church. Then later I realized that my daughter and her friends were actually searching for a place where they could find their own identity.
During the celebration of their Confirmation last Sunday, the teens not only received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but also received mementos from their catechists, God-parents and parents. Members of the Youth Council also presented the teens with a hand-made rosary as a sign of welcome and invitation to join them. I could feel the relief and joy of the Confirmation 4 catechists who have sacrificed a lot of time and effort to journey these three and a half years with them. However, I could not help but feel a bit sad knowing that after this day, we will lose some of the Confirmation 4 catechists from our ministry and a large number of these teens - who hold the future of our church – going out into the world. It dawned on me that my next challenge as a catechist was “How to help these teens find their own identity in our church?”
Extra Toppings
This is a picture of our Church's Main Hall Stained-Glass. At the Centre of it is a picture of the Holy Family. Surrounding the Holy Family are 16 pictures depicting scenes in the life of Jesus.
Picture contributed by Christina Lim
Smoothies:
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples.The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."
Contributed by Francisco Furtado (Conf 1 YF)
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