By Way of the Heart

Dear children of Mary,

You would have heard and read about the latest supplementary budget provided by the Singapore government to support businesses and workers in making transitions to adapt, transform and seize new opportunities. Interestingly, they have named this budget “Fortitude”, or courage, which is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, our Heavenly Father has always prepared a “budget” of an even greater scale around this time of the year for the entire Church and her people. The name of this “budget” is Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit is outpoured lavishly upon us! The apostles, with Mary, being filled with the Holy Spirit came out from hiding in the upper room, boldly stood in front of the crowd and with great courage, proclaimed Christ crucified. In Acts of the Apostles, we hear that this same crowd were “cut to the heart” upon hearing this proclamation and were converted that very day.

The heart has always been a symbol of the intimacy of the person, of love, of surrender. It is impossible to speak of the hearts of Jesus and Mary without entering into the mystery of love and suffering. As the flames on both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary burn with love for God and for humanity, it is not without the cross and the sword; the suffering and pain which comes along with the ultimate sacrifice of love for humanity. We should as St. Louis Marie de Montfort would say, be consumed by the loving flame of the Holy Spirit and face these sufferings with the heart of a bold lion.

Montfort, in his hymn on the tenderness of love of one’s neighbour, reminds us to “love with our heart and hand, and not simply with our mouth”. These days, besides the danger of our mouths spreading the deadly Covid-19, the fear of the unknown might have made us spread spiritual death through our words and attitudes of segregation, discrimination and even blame. Montfort’s invitation to us in one of his hymns devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is to have the courage to “enter this marvelous Heart, so that we may love as it does”.

As such, the theme of our prayers for this month of June is: BY WAY OF THE HEART. 

Come, join us on ZOOM, as we enter and journey by way of the heart through contemplating the beatitudes and the mysteries of the life of Jesus in Mary:

HEALING PRAYER

07:30 PM – 08:00 PM

• Mondays: 1, 8, 15, 22 June 2020
• Fridays: 5, 12, 19, 26 June 2020

 

We will also have a short recollection and faith sharing for all to have heart-to-heart conversations on the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help:

HEART-2-HEART RECOLLECTION 

• Tuesday, 23 June 2020: 07:30 PM – 08:00 PM
• Saturday, 27 June 2020: 10:00 am – 12:30 PM