MY DEAR PARISHIONERS...

There was a woman who routinely cut the ends of each turkey before placing it i n an oven. One day, her daughter asked her why she always did that and she responded that s h e d i d n ’ t r e a l l y know. Apparently it was something her mother had always done. Her daughter then asked her grandma why she always cut the ends off a turkey before placing it in the oven and her grandma answered that it was something she had always watched her own mother do.

Finally, the young girl asked her greatgreat grandma the purpose of cutting the ends of the turkey. “Oh, that,” replied the elderly woman. “My oven is too small. I always had to cut the ends off to fit the turkey into the oven.”

Many of us continually think of certain ways of doing things because we’ve become so used to our own ways. We somehow do what we have been taught so much so that we never even consider questioning what we do. We are better served, however, when moment-by-moment we routinely examine our thoughts, beliefs and actions, asking whether they are serving us well. We can then begin to implement new ideas and see improvements in our work.

By this continual examination, we gently prod ourselves into looking “outside the box” of how a task has always been done. Life doesn’t come packaged. We shouldn’t be living as if it did. Life is an adventure and we ought to be open and creative and seek new and better ways of doing
something better than ever. While there is a place for true and tested methods, there is also always room for improvement.

My pastoral vision for Holy Spirit parish is to see it being renewed. Our main emphasis is on the renewal of family life, youth, Small Christian Communities (SCCs) and ministries. We will also be looking into a new ministry called ‘Landings’ meant to help lapsed Catholics return to Church. We are not looking for instant results but will be working steadily for three consecutive years.

This year, we start with the ‘Healing of the Family’. Next year, we have ‘Growing as A Family’ and finally, in 2010, we have ‘Serving as a Family’.

This Lunar New Year the Chinese ushered in the Rat. Let it not be a ‘rat race’ urging us to be even more materialistic and competitive. Let us not see our ministries or our work as competition or working without reward or performing meaningless work. For the secular world, the daily rat race offers no chance for future success. It recognises no possibility of invention, excitement or entertainment.

But for us the family of God, we must draw our strength from St Paul who exhorts us to keep running the race to win the crown of righteousness. In 1 Cor 9:24 St Paul says that we are to concentrate on our training and run to win.

May we not remain stuck in the oven with the roasted turkey!

Fr Andrew Wong