Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
Peace of Christ! Let us love God, for He loved us first (1 John 4:19).
27th June 2025 will mark the end of a special jubilee that began on 27th December 2023. This jubilee commemorates the 350th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lord to St Margaret Mary Alacoque. This first apparition which took place on 27th Dec 1673, was appropriately the feast of St John the Evangelist. In this particular vision, Christ allowed St Margaret Mary, in the manner of the Evangelist, to lay her head upon His Heart.
Between 1673 and 1675, the Sacred Heart appeared to St Margaret Mary from whom we have received different forms of devotion to the Heart of Jesus. The final appearance of the Lord, also known as the Great Revelation took place during the Octave of Corpus Christi. Our Lord lamented to Saint Margaret Mary that while He has loved so much, what He has received has been nothing but ingratitude, irreverence and sacrilege. Thus, Our Lord has asked for a feast of reparation which today is known as the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Given that the Universal Church is celebrating the 350th anniversary, and we being the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, it is fitting that we should organise our Lenten formation based on a theme central to the name of our Cathedral. Thus, we are pleased to announce that Fr Francis Lim SJ will be around to give two talks in English on 29th March, one to the youths at 12 noon and one to the adults at 7:30 pm. The venue for both the talks is St James’ Hall. He will based this formation on the 4th encyclical of Pope Francis, focused on the Heart of Christ, titled, “Dilexit nos” (He loved us).
Do keep the date (29th March) and time (12:00 noon, youths, 7:30 pm, adults) free for your spiritual nourishment.
“It is essential to realise that our relationship to the Person of Jesus Christ is one of friendship and adoration, drawn by the love represented under the image of his heart.” (Dilexit nos, 49).
God bless
Padre
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