St Francis’ message of hope

By Lavinia Louis
Parishioners of St Francis of Assisi (SFA) celebrated their parish feastday at the Holy Family Church on October 4, 2017. The overall theme was The Man from Assisi and His Message of Hope for Today.

The celebration began at 7.15pm with the recitation of the rosary, followed by Liturgy of the Hours and the Novena to St Francis of Assisi. Mass was celebrated by Fr Surain Durai Raj, parish priest of Holy Family Church.

The theme for the day was Never Give Up. In his sermon, Fr Surain asked the congregation to reflect on the question, “Are we saints or sinners?”

“Nowadays, we find ourselves struggling to make clear decisions. Just like the saints, we too struggle inside but the key point is to never give up,” he said.

“Even St Francis struggled when he was founding this order. People knew him as a peasant from Assisi but deep down inside of him, he had a discernment. God sent a message that the Church had to come back to being poor and that is why he is known as the patron of poverty,” he said.

After Mass there was fellowship and entertainment.

The next day, the celebration continued with the theme All is Not Lost. Parish priest Fr Andrew Manickam OFM Cap shared an incident that happened on January 15, 2009, called the miracle on the Hudson River.

“There were 155 souls on that unfortunate US Airways flight 1549. The passengers prepared for their final moment and said their last prayers. But to everyone’s amazement, that plane did not crash; instead, it just skidded on the water. It was a miracle,” he said.

“This goes to show that something good can come out of something bad,” he continued.

On Friday Oct 6, Fr David Reegon OFM Cap was the main celebrant. The theme for the third day of the novena was Rediscovery of Hope.

“October 13, 1884 was the day mankind was given another chance. It was the day Pope Leo XIII, after celebrating Mass, collapsed. He was given a vision of Satan ascending the throne of our Lord. The Lord had told Satan that he would never be strong enough to take down the Church. Satan then asked the Lord to grant him another 100 years and the Lord agreed. Later, he wrote down the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel. This prayer was said during Masses across the world in the hope that it would prevent any evil from taking over the Church. October 13, 2018 will be 134 years after 1884. We still see so much evil all over the world,” he said.

On the fourth day, Fr David spoke on Hope is my Anchor. He said, when we encounter difficulties in life, there are no easy answers. However, we must be hopeful. “We need guidance from the Church and the community. The greatest joy and the greatest strength is to find a good Christian and journey with him or her. It does not matter if you are a priest, religious or lay person, everyone needs this,” he stressed. The last and final day of the celebration concluded with a two hour adoration, recitation of the rosary, liturgy of the hours and Novena to St Francis of Assisi, followed by a multilingual Mass celebrated by former Parish Priest of SFA, Fr John Anandan OFM Cap.

The theme was Heroes of Hope. Fr John shared that we are all called to be messengers of hope.

“Who is your hero? I would say God is our hero of hope. He has never given up on us. He has great trust and hope in us,” he said.

Fr Andrew thanked the parishioners who had come from near and far to celebrate the parish feastday, despite not having a physical church.

“We are the Church and the Church is still active in many ways. I am glad to see the response we have been receiving. So thank you all,” he said.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online