My Prayer of Repentance



Psalm 51

Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight--
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart--
These, O God, You will not despise.

Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

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Lord I thank You for dying on the cross for me and I thank You for Your gift of forgiveness.

Lord I love You... draw me close to You always.

In Jesus name I pray.

Amen.

Angela's Ashes & My Sacred Heart



I have been a fan of reading ever since I discovered PayLess Books - a place where I can purchase 2nd hand books at 1/2 the retail price! Anyway, I was there one Thursday afternoon and after browsing the shelves for sometime I decided to head home because there is not a book that caught my interest. As I was about to leave I peered into the "Promotion Section", where books can be bought for as low as RM5. And there it caught my eye - ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Hardcover) in good condition, retailing for only RM5! Back then I do not know much about Frank McCourt except that he was a Pulitzer Prize winner, but I just bought it anyway because of it's very affordable price. Boy am I glad I have bought the book. It was one of the best literature I have ever read. Refreshing, thought provoking and insightful! ;)

ANGELA'S ASHES is a memoir by Frank McCourt about his life - from before he was born and until the day he left for the States. In this book one can sense the bitterness of the life the McCourts led; poverty, social rejection, family abandonment and of course - the pains of growing up. Strangely, these "bitterness" are cleverly laced with humour by Frank. :) Oh yes, another reason for me to love this book is the million and one Catholic elements it possessed. haha. :) Honestly, ANGELA'S ASHES inspired & motivated me to take up a long awaited Catholic devotion - the Sacred Heart of Jesus. :) The weird thing is, there was one night I was having this thought of having the Sacred Heart Devotion and the very next day a friend of mine from Christian Fellowship - Emily; gave me a prayer card of ... (yup you guessed it) - the Sacred Heart Devotion! She told me she found the card the night before (which was the very same night I thought about taking up the devotion) and thought of me. She contemplated on whether to give me the prayer card of Saint Francis of Asisi or the Sacred Heart of Jesus but at last she decided to give the prayer card of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! I was totally amazed! This was truly a sign from God for me to take up this devotion. :)

Praise God.

Photos taken during Easter Vigil Mass

My Holy Thursday



Holy Thursday - the day before the crucifixion of Jesus. The day where He instituited the Holy Eucharist, washed His disciples feet, foretold the betrayal of Judas and Peter's denials and also the day where he prayed fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane 'till drops of blood trickled down with his sweat.

I went to the Holy Thursday's Mass yesterday and it was truly an experience. The larger-than-life crucifix that hung at the wall of the altar was draped with a blood-red cloth. During the Mass, Father Simon re-enacted the scene where, Jesus washed His disciples feet by going on his bended knees to wash, dry and kiss the feet of 12 parishioners. That scene reminded me that Jesus; being God literally stoop down to serve others and we can do no better than to do the same. At the end of the Mass, all lights were switched off and the Holy Eucharist was held high by the priest and incensed by the altar servers as Jesus was brought 'round the Church towards the tabernacle. As He passed, all fell prostrate before Him. And I too fell on my knees and it was an emotional experience with tears welling up in the eyes; as I recalled the times which I had sinned againsts Him. At last the Eucharist was brought to the tabernacle and the Adoration is ready to begin. Most of the congregation left the church early but before they left many went near the tabernacle to adore the Eucharist for a short while. But there are some that stayed for the Holy Hour, adoring the Eucharist in silent of the night...

"Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. " -Matthew 26:40, NIV-

Peace <><

My Claimed Promise

It is sad that Romans 16:20 ("The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet") is a promise never claimed by most of our Protestant brothers and sisters, and I say this with all due respect to all of our Protestant brothers and sisters from various denominations. "Why is that so?" you ask

Well, in order for one to claim Romans 16:20, one must recognize the Blessed Virgin as his/her spiritual mother. In Genesis 3:15, God says; "...And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." It is a well known fact that the "he" in Genesis 3:15 refers to Jesus, and if that is so, what can we say about the "woman" mentioned? Yup, it is refering to the Blessed Virgin.

Because we are IN Christ we are able to have this priviledge to crush satan's head (or in other words "defeat satan" ;) ) BUT there is a catch, in order to claim this promise we have to recognize ourselves as the spiritual offsprings of the Blessed Virgin. If we don't? We fail to claim this promise.

God's plan for our salvation has been eternally in His mind and we can see as early as in the book of Genesis, God has already planned to save us through His Son Jesus Christ, who is to be born of the Virgin Mary and become man, to suffer and die in order to atone for the sin of the world. Now all of that is fulfilled and Jesus is risen, we have to do our part and recognize Jesus as our Lord & Savior to attain salvation. With Mary the mother of our Lord (and our mother as well), let us claim this promise in Romans 16:20 and defeat satan as one body in Christ. Amen.

Peace <><