Church of St Francis de Sales celebrates its feastday

In line with the theme of 2018, Be Disciples of Hope, the Feast of St Francis de Sales was celebrated on January 28 at the only church named after St Francis de Sales (SFDS) in Peninsular Malaysia. Prior to the feastday celebration, Novena prayers were organised in honour of St Francis de Sales at BEC level.

The first triduum Mass kicked off with prayers and the hoisting of the flag. The Mass was celebrated by parish priest Fr Vincent Paul on the theme He is Hope for all. During the homily, Fr Vincent shared how St Francis De Sales taught the people of his time all about the spiritual life in a simple way. He led a very devout life. In the same way, when we come to worship, we must surrender ourselves to God, thank Him and put all our pride aside. We must interact with one another.

Those serving in the ministries of the church must serve as Jesus served.

On the second day, the theme was He Heals. The homily was preached by Deacon Elect James Pitchay who has been assigned to the parish. He stressed that in order to be healed, we must open our hearts at all times. St Paul accepted whole heartedly when he was touched by our Lord and healed. There are three ways when Jesus heals;

a) Jesus goes to persons/people;
b) People go to Jesus, and
c) when somebody brings the person to Jesus.

For the third day, the theme was He is the Redeemer.

For the homily, Deacon James Pitchay stated that the Lord wants to redeem and save us. He urged the congregation to work for our own salvation.

On Saturday, the Holy Hour based on the theme He is the Word, was followed by a short reflection and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

On the feastday proper, the multi-lingual Mass was celebrated by Fr Vincent on the theme He is Power and Life. In his homily, Deacon Ricky Loo from Kuala Kangsar, said that the message for the day was “Love one Another.” He posed a question to all: whether we love Jesus. The answer is to love everyone as He did. God’s love is unconditional — Agape Love. It’s just like parents’ love for their children. It is not easy. We all need to have love in order to give love to others.

He explained that to fill our “Love Tank,” we must attend Mass regularly and pray everyday.

Before the final blessing, Fr Vincent thanked the Deacons who had come to assist and also the BEC coordinators and the parishioners for contributing in one way or another to make the feastday celebration a memorable one.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online