A soul lifting three days, it was, with the parishioners of the Holy Redeemer Church, (HRC) Klang- Friday, 18th (evening) till Sunday 21st August 2011. The event? HRC's Annual Parish Retreat,,-the theme-Deepening Spirituality.A subject close to the heart of Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Joachim Tan. He was deeply concerned with the decline in Spirituality at Parish level, especially among young people and he hopes that all who attended the retreat will bring home some essence of spirituality to nurture.We are living in a world where spiritual connection with God, is side lined, over preference for more tasty worldly pursuits and that is a worrying trend.
The guest Speaker, Father Joseph Stephens from The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ipoh was a seasoned speaker of good substance, witty, jovial, injecting plenty of humour to bring in the laughs, and sustain interest . Christian Spirituality, he said, is a connectivity to the person of Jesus Christ. It is a journey of searching for God's presence in our lives, an awakening , knowing who we are. Accepting our shortcomings-then detox the harmful toxins. Build goodness within ...allowing our soul to progress unhampered in our spiritual journey to God. Allowing God to dwell within us and centre Him in our hearts. The summing up could not have been more beautiful than through the words of St. Paul:-
The time has come for you to wake up from your sleep. For the moment when we will be saved is closer now than it was when we first believed. the light is nearly over, the day is almost here. Let us stop doing the things that belonged to the dark and let us take up weapons for fighting in the light. Let us conduct ourselves properly as people who live in the light of day-no orgies or drunkenness, no immorality or indecency, no fighting or jealousy. But take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and satisfying its desires..Romans 13: 11-14
From the Spectator's Stand: Full house, Good Food, Good Awakening, Fun Environment. Despite the concern of Father Joachim, Jesus shone in the faces and hearts of these good people. Warm, Caring , Friendly, No Barriers-just members of one community.
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True humour : As the good priest was earnestly expounding the virtues of spirituality, my mobile, went off....the good man, looked at me, as I frantically tried to switch it off.. Without any change in his expression, he said," I hope that is not God calling"
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