亲爱的兄弟姐妹

愿复活主的平安与你们同在!

我写这信是因为已宣布了延长行动管制令。这种每两周检讨的重复性措施,只会增加人们对于不确定何时才能恢复正常生活的不安。如果这种持久的封锁可以提醒我们些什么,那就是傲慢的我们可能已经忘却了: 谋事在人,成事在天。我们曾希望一旦行动管制令结束后,我们就可以继续家庭日的计划,这是一个值得庆祝的好时机以振奋人们的精神。但可悲的是,我也意识到在行动管制令结束之后,我们还必须应对国家封锁后所带来的经济问题。许多人将会失业,我们也必须意识到我们有很多兄弟姐妹也将遇到许多困难。

毫无疑问的你们中有些人已经在网上看到了预定于 6 月 6 日举行的家庭日海报。考虑到现有的情况,我们将无限期的搁置这项家庭日活动。

封锁所带来的经济影响现时已经很明显。全人发展事工除了提供粮食与杂货给有需要的人之外,现在也协助一个机构提供熟食。我们的三位成员每天都在为大约90人提供热食,其中包括移民(越南,菲律宾,缅甸,孟加拉)和马来西亚人。

因此 5 月 1 日的大圣若瑟劳工主保日更显得与我们息息相关。很不幸的是该节日仍在行动管制令期间。为了向劳动者表示敬意,我们将平日的私人感恩祭弥撒奉献给主,特别为一群确保我们的健康及帮助国家克服新冠肺炎疫情而冒着生命危险工作的医护人员。致我们所有的医护人员,我们感谢您们的牺牲,并祈求上主降福您们和家人。我们也没有忘记那些提供基本服务的人员並感谢他们履行他们的职责。

在此刻请不要松懈我们的祈祷。请继续在每天早上 6 点至晚上 8 点之间念玫瑰经,最后以慈悲串经作为结束。在保持社交距离的同时,我们也必须热诚

的祈祷。正如教理教导我们的,「你們要祈禱,就如一切全靠天主;你們要勞作,就如一切全靠自己」(天主教教理 2834)。

我非常想念你们。

我仍然谦卑地为您服务.
杨光明神父

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!
The Lord is risen indeed!

Sorry for this rather late message. You would think that this lockdown would give a person a lot of time but somehow it has not happened that way. Since my last message to you, I have kept a regular routine. In fact, I have increased my rosary praying from twice to thrice—a total of 60 decades. The daily Masses continue according to schedule. I continue to keep you in my prayers.

Last night, the Vigil Mass took place at 11 pm and since there was no baptism, we finished at about 1 am. This morning’s Mass at 10 am was over in about an hour. Sadness at the emptiness took second place last night and today as the main focus has been on the victory of Christ our Lord. He conquered sin and death so that we may have life eternal. The Eucharist was truly that—a thanksgiving to the Lord for saving us.

I am exhausted. I am almost certain you are too. Even though Holy Week was “peopleless”, still it was physically taxing to go through it. This is compounded by the fact that waiting is tiring. As the MCO continues, we have been storming heaven for a miraculous end to the pandemic.

We may not have life-streamed Masses but we do have homilies from Palm Sunday and all through Holy Week posted on the parish website. The direct link is www.homiliesofajesuit.blogspot.com

Mindful that the effects of the MCO are starting to bite especially for those who are daily wage earners, POHD is doing a great job in reaching out to those who have asked for help. Recently a kind soul donated trays of eggs (>1500) that were distributed as soon as we received them. That was just an instance. Others have been bringing bags of rice, cartons of milk and tins of biscuits. Thank you kind souls who have come to the Cathedral’s aid in both cash and kind. As last reported, we are still in the process of setting up Jompay. The paperwork has been submitted. Details will be made available as soon as it is ready.

Last but not least, do not hesitate to call out if you need help.

God bless you. Wishing each one of you, on behalf of Fr Michael, Fr John, Sr Imma and the parish staff, a blessed Easter.

I remain humbly, your servant in Christ,
Padre

The picture shows an array of beautiful Easter Egg Candles courtesy of Agnes Gan (Mrs Joseph Soo). The egg on the left has the 3 Theological Virtues of Xin (Faith) Wang (Hope) and Ai (Love). The middle egg symbolises the Sacred Heart (so our Cathedral) and the egg on the right carries the MJD50 logo. Both the empty shells and the butterfly are apt symbols of the Resurrection.

亲爱的主内兄弟姐妹

主耶稣基督真的复活了！阿肋路亚！

对于这迟来的信息，我深感抱歉。你们以为封锁会让人有更多的时间，其实不然。自上次的牧函以来，我一直保持例行工作。实际上，我每天念玫瑰经的次数已从两次增加到三次--总共 60 端。在每天举行的平日弥撒中，我继续
为你们祈祷。

昨晚的复活前夕守夜礼弥撒在晚上11点举行，由于没有洗礼，我们大约在凌晨 1 点结束。今天上午 10 点的弥撒大约在一个小时结束。在昨晚和今天的弥撒，空荡的教堂带来的伤感是次要的，因为主要焦点是我们主基督的胜利。
祂战胜了罪恶与死亡，使我们获得永生。圣体圣事确实是如此--感谢主拯救了我们。

我感到筋疲力尽，我几乎可以肯定你们也是。尽管圣周是“无人的”，但要度过圣周，在体力上仍是相当耗费。再加上等待是很让人疲惫的。随着行动管制令的延长，我们继续积极的祈求这次疫情能奇迹般的结束。

我们虽然没有直播弥撒，但我们有在堂区的网页发布本堂神父从圣枝主日开始的圣周弥撒礼仪的讲道。直接链接是 www.homiliesofajesuit.blogspot.com

识到行动管制令的影响，特别是对那些领日薪的人，全人发展事工（POHD）对那些寻求帮助的人提供了很好的协助。最近有一位善心人士捐赠了超过 1500 粒鸡蛋，我们立即把它分发出去。这只是其中一个例子。我们还有其他捐赠米粮，牛奶和饼干的善心人士。感谢那些为我们主教座堂给予金钱和物质上帮助的善心人士。如上次提到，我们仍在设置 Jompay。我们已提交相关文件给银行。详情将在一切准备就绪后再公布。

最后，如果你们需要帮助，请随时致电给我们。

天主降福你们。我谨代表邓神父，Fr John，蔡修女和堂区职员祝福你们复活节快乐！

基督内的谦卑仆人
杨光明神父

The picture shows an array of beautiful Easter Egg Candles courtesy of Agnes Gan (Mrs Joseph Soo). The egg on the left has the 3 Theological Virtues of Xin (Faith) Wang (Hope) and Ai (Love). The middle egg symbolises the Sacred Heart (so our Cathedral) and the egg on the right carries the MJD50 logo. Both the empty shells and the butterfly are apt symbols of the Resurrection.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

I pray that each one of you is able to cope with this imposed isolation. Our communication channels are such that even though we are apart, we can easily reach out to each other. You would have, by now, read of the unfortunate arrest of our seminarians. We live in a country where sometimes the rules are unevenly enforced. Getting angry is not a solution but praying that the rules may be equally and compassionately applied might be a good start. We pray for our seminarians that this regrettable episode will only strengthen their resolve in pursuing the vocation to the priesthood. Even before Holy Week has begun, seeing them in handcuffs and chains, they are already identifying with their Lord in His passion.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. From the pictures below, you see quite a lot of palms have been sent to the Church for blessing. Just a thought for next year, we might be able to source our palms locally. Mind you, these palms were cleaned before they were sent to the parish.

I learnt something from an old priest who told me that seminarians were given a formula to live by and it is this: "Keep the rule and the rule will keep you". What this means is that early in one's formative years, learn to keep the rule, that is, be disciplined in establishing a routine in life so that in later life, one would have developed a habit, a good one, that carries one amidst the hustle and bustle of life. You would have noticed in these pandemic days, how easy it is that one is distracted by the "latest" news. We scour the internet hoping to catch the latest or the most up-to-date news about Covid-19. Have you found yourselves wasting too much time trying to keep abreast with news? It can be a form of addiction. Establishing a habitual routine helps us to avoid this trap of aimless clicking from one website to another. So, I hope many of you are still praying the rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy thus allowing them to flow in a rhythm that marks our days of waiting for God to grant our prayers.

As promised these are the times for the ENGLISH live-streamed Masses for Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday at 8 am
Holy Thursday at 6 pm
Good Friday Service at 3 pm
Easter Vigil at 8 pm.

The link is this: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1k4OvY-vmnkdrCfqvssQmw/featured?view_as=public

For the Mandarin live-streamed Masses, we ran into some technical difficulties. They will not be live-streamed from St Theresa's Church, Malacca. Instead, we have found an alternative source, that is, St Mary's Church, Air Salak.

Palm Sunday at 8:30 am
Holy Thursday at 8:30 pm
Good Friday Service at 3:00 pm
Easter Vigil at 8:30 pm

The link is this: https://www.facebook.com/422079758165712/posts/1056405631399785/

Finally, thank you for responding to the appeal for donation to upkeep the Church as well to help the poor. Also a big thanks for feeding the priests in the parish. We have been receiving food and fruits. Thank you. Have a blessed Holy Week and to those who have sent your palms to be blessed, you will hear from me soon.

God Bless
Padre

The array of palms that will be blessed on Sunday.

The cutest bunch of palms. The Jacob's Biscuit tin shows you how small the bunch is.