Community

Hi all...This is a reflection on last week's prayer meeting on Community, preached by our brother, Philip.

I realised that each time Philip speaks, he would emphasize on purgatory and what we should do in order to gain eternal salvation of our souls. He is so deeply focused on the theme of the goal of our faith each time he speaks. And, I think he learnt a lot from his one year spent in Rome, because he will always cite examples from there. He speaks about how he would spent his time in adoration so that he could avoid his friends...but when he realise that he is going to have no friends soon...bad friends are better than no friends. For me, I had such a thought last time too..thinking that my friends are not that nice and I begin to distance myself away from them, close up myself in my small cosy area, reading mass readings..then when I begin to realise that I'm losing my friends, that I begin to reach out to them.

I feel that we all need a community to spread our love around, to have an object of love, to show our care, concern and friendship too..and how we need to have a shoulder to lean on, in times of loneliness, unhappiness and adversity. Just like God created human beings so that we can be his object of love, we too must have a community to have that object of love. It's also beautiful to know that there's someone out there, other than your family members, who loves and cares for you as much as them.

I like it when Philip mentions that how each of us is being challenged to do good, tolerate others, be nice and accept people for who they are. We are to grow in faith as a community and never give up on one another, but to help each other to grow in faith and love as disciples of Christ. He said there was once a lady who approached a  Philippino priest to request to switch to a perfect community as she feels that her current community consists of imperfect people. And the priest said to her that if she switch to that perfect community, it'll become imperfect. ( I thought that was a nice illustration...and how succint the priest's reply was) Philip said that at times, when we see the imperfectness of others, we are actually the ones who are imperfect. I feel that is so true to me as well. The bible says Why do you see the speck in your brother's eyes and not the log in your own eyes. At times, I tend to over-criticise others as well but I keep reminding myself not to judge others, not to criticise others and accept them for who they are. I remember when I first join Emmaus and Logos, I remember the big huge smiles on each person's face that made me feel so welcome and the desire to want to be like them. Hence, I'll definitely open my warm welcome and huge smiles to new people in our group.

He also talks about how holy Mother Theresa is that she is only a step away from Heaven and ours is like a marathon from Heaven. We are all called to be Saints and he cited example like how people in future would like us to pray for them when we are in heaven....Maya from Choa Chu Kang pray for us, Anne from Holland Village pray for us [Am I right?... :)]....Then, everyone starts to burst out in laughter..I've never thought of that..but Philip makes it a possibility for each of us and that's so cool! :)

All in all, I enjoyed the session as usual..and I appreciate all the effort that Philip has put in for that session...A big thank you to you, Philip! :)

Cheers and God bless! :)