Petaling District parishes hold joint Corpus Christi celebration

The Petaling District celebrated the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) on June 2 at the Church of the Divine Mercy (CDM).

In 2017, the Priests of the district agreed to a joint Corpus Christi celebration of the six parishes of the District: Church of the Assumption, Petaling Jaya, Church of St Francis Xavier, Petaling Jaya, Church of St Ignatius, Petaling Jaya, Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Puchong, Church of Divine Mercy, Shah Alam and Church of St Thomas More, Petaling Jaya.

A team of volunteers from all six parishes, led by the District Senator Fr Andrew Wong CDD, was assembled in early 2018.

The theme adopted for the celebration was Christ our Hope.

It was decided to hold the celebration at the parish of the Divine Mercy which can accommodate about 3,000 faithful. The date of the celebration decided was Saturday 2nd June 2018, commencing at 5.00pm with Rosary and Novena.

Part of the celebration included a group of bike enthusiasts who began a bicycling trip called Corpus Christi Ride to visit all the six churches. It began early from the parish of St Ignatius, being flagged off by Fr Wong and ending in CDM at 3.00pm. The bikers were then treated to a sumptuous lunch.

The Youths organised a procession from Monfort Boys Town to CDM. The procession of about 200 youth started at 4.15pm. Along the way, they sang hymns and recited the Chaplets of the Divine Mercy. They arrived in CDM by 5.00pm.

The faithful started arriving from 2.30pm. There was a festive atmosphere in the church compound as the various groups began preparing for the Eucharistic celebration. Hospitality Ministers, Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, Choir, traffic Marshalls and Altar Servers were from all the six parishes.

The celebration started after the recitation of the Rosary and Novena with a superb Liturgical Dance performance by six East Malaysian students from Sabah and Sarawak studying at the Tun Tan Cheng Lock School of Nursing. Following the dance at 6.00pm, the Eucharistic Celebration began. All the priests of the Petaling District were present. Fr Raymond Pereira, parish priest of St Thomas More was the main celebrant.

The Readings, Responsorial Psalms and Gospel were read and sung in Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil, Mandarin and English. The joint choir led the congregation beautifully with hymns in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil.

Fr Gregory Chan, the parish priest of the Church of the Assumption, in his homily said, “We are the people of God. After receiving the Body of Christ, we become one in the Body of Christ.

“Having become one, we have a responsibility to be of service to the world. We are to be the salt of the Earth, to be different and to do the right thing always,” he added. “Doing this is difficult and challenging, but we draw our strength from Christ our Hope, which is the theme of our celebration, to show our non Christian brothers and sisters that we are ready to do always what is right,” continued Fr Chan.

The Intercessory Prayers were read in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil by representatives from the six parishes.

The offertory gift bearers were representatives from the Hearing Impaired, the Youth students from Sabah and Sarawak.

After the Post Communion Prayer, the procession with the Blessed Sacrament commenced. The route was a predetermined 1,000 metre walk around the church and the surrounding buildings.

A beautifully decorated and brightly lit floral Float with a canopy was used.

The procession made three stops along the route. At each stop, a short Gospel passage was read by Fr Norris of St Francis Xavier Church, Fr Andrew Wong of St Ignatius Church, Fr Albet Arokiasamy of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, in Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil respectively. After each reading, the celebrant blessed the faithful with the elevation of the Monstrance.

When the procession reentered the Church, the final Benediction was celebrated by Fr Gerard Theraviam, of Divine Mercy Church.

Fr Gerard thanked the people for coming in such large numbers. The estimated faithful that attended was 3,000. Finally, Fr Wong thanked everyone for the planning and also for the faithful who took part in the celebration.

Everyone present was invited to a fellowship in the church compound. The entire celebration that ended at about 9.00pm was a great example of our oneness and unity with Christ our Hope.

 

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online

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