As the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Penang waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they came together to listen to the breaking of the word by anointed priests during the Pentecost Triduum and Pentecost Vigil as well as to pray and listen to testimonies during the Pentecost Vigil Prayer Service. The five Ministry Cluster Groups within the Cathedral were tasked with animating different days throughout these last few days.
The Cathedral chose ‘Fan into flame the gift of God’ (2 Timothy 1:6) as her theme for our 10-day journey starting from the Ascension of the Lord. The Cathedral made ready various Upper Rooms for different language communities to listen to the breaking of the word. We were blessed to have Fr Simon Lau ministering to the Mandarin speaking community and Fr John Anandan, OFM, ministering to the Tamil speaking community during the Pentecost Triduum from 24th to 26th May 2023.
On Pentecost Triduum Day 1, the English speaking community had the opportunity to listen to Fr Esmond Chua, OFM, elaborate on the theme ‘Spark A Fire’. Fr Esmond brought to mind the image of a matchbox and how a match has to be struck before it can ignite. The three things that are needed to spark the fire in us is to:-
- Surrender. It is difficult to surrender because of our various fears or we are sad to let go of what we are familiar with. Surrendering is also to die daily to things such as ourselves, our pride, our insecurities, our fears so that God may be able to come in and live in and through us. This surrendering sparks fires because when we die to the many false selves that we may have created along the road of life, we will begin to recognise our role in the bigger picture of God, our role as His instruments, as his servants and not masters over God.
- Embrace struggles. Fr Esmond encouraged all to embrace struggles by seeing our current struggles and turning them into opportunities to grow in faith, to grow in deeper love of God. Oftentimes we ask the Lord to remove that struggle but Fr Esmond opined that removing it will not do us any good.
- Serve. Fr Esmond cautioned that oftentimes we think and so assume that we can or we will only serve when we feel ready, when we feel moved, when we feel drawn or passionate about something. But such thinking will only make our service become all about us, all about on our terms. Serving sparks the fire because grace cooperates with nature. God wants to give us His graces to move through life but He needs our cooperation. And part of that is to serve, to serve one another and to move with the Spirit.
The focus on this night was the elderly. Fr Esmond brought to mind all the elderly within our midst as well as those who have passed on. They have made the necessary surrenders when they served actively in church. Through their efforts, through their service, through their sacrifices, they have brought this community to where it is today.
Fr Esmond invited everyone, especially the young in our midst to move. For when we move, we see God’s hand at work. When we make ourselves available to God and to His graces, when we see struggles as opportunities and as we cooperate with God’s graces in our service, our hearts may truly be ready for God to spark that fire within us. And in turn, having been ignited, may we spread this fire in our homes, our school, our workplaces and to the world. The Novena and Mass for this day was animated by the Service & Outreach Cluster Group.
