By Maribel/CW
KOTA KINABALU – At 6.25 am, Jul 16, a joyous and loud bell ringing from the Carmelite Monastery, brought forth about 100 people including the Carmelite Sisters and the Secular Carmelites to celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mt Carmel (OLMC).
The Solemnity Mass was presided by Archbishop John Wong and concelebrated by four priests Fr Matteus Luta, Fr Terans Thadeus, Fr George Ho and Fr Albert Musinguzi from Africa.
In conjunction with the Solemnity of OLMC, the Mass was also offered for third sacerdotal anniversary of Fr Terans (16 July) and the seventh anniversary of the ordination of Fr Albert (7 July). However, the prelate pointed out that Our Lady of Mt Carmel was the focus of the celebration.
Parts of the liturgy were sung in Latin by the nuns, and there were three special readings. In the homily, the prelate pointed out that the Prophet Elijah prayed for rain on the top of Mt Carmel and God answered his prayer. The appearance of dark cloud signified the appearance of Our Lady as she brings hope of salvation to the world. Through the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God was made flesh through Mary to fulfil the salvation plan of the Heavenly Father.
At the end of the Mass, OCDS KK President, Agnes Moniu on behalf of the Carmelite sisters thanked the archbishop for celebrating the Mass and congratulated the two priests on their sacerdotal anniversaries. All were invited to witness the cake-cutting ceremony to mark the memorable occasion. The prelate expressed his gratitude to the nuns for their continuous prayers for him and the Church, and called on the faithful to pray for the nuns as well.
Prior to solemnity, daily novena to Our Lady of Mt Carmel at the end of daily Mass from Jul 7-15 were held. While on Jul 13-15, three-evenings seminar and Holy Hour were held focusing on Mary being the model of theological virtue: faith, love and love. The evening talks were delivered by Friar George Ho and Friar Kittibood.
More than hundred people turned up for the three-evenings seminar. Each topic lasted for an hour and a half-hour Q&A session. On the last day, Fr Ho explained to the faithful the meaning of wearing the garments. The brown garments represent the habits of the Carmelite Order. The color of the vestment, the apron symbolizing the Virgin, protects the purity of the heart of the individual from temptation and reminds the wearer to imitate the virtues of the Virgin Mary and live out their faith, hope and love. On the last day talk, most of the attendants lined up to receive the blessing of the scapular, and expressed their desire to follow the footsteps of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in bearing the witness of love for Christ.
Triduum Talks
First night: Friar George, OCD delivered the talk entitled Mary, Model of Faith. The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first and the most perfect of Christ’s disciples, that is why she is the model of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. However, non-baptised or non-believers can also have these virtues.
Faith is defined naturally as based on human reason and acquired through experience; supernaturally on the other hand, defines it as a free consent to the divine truth. Did Mary have a blind faith, following without listening to reason? Unlike Zechariah who doubted the angel when told of her wife Elizabeth conceiving a child, Mary’s questioning the same angel seeks clarification; not assuming but seeking the truth. Mary’s faith therefore unties the knot of sin. Her faith gave human flesh to Jesus.
Second night: The talk was given by Friar Kittibood, OCD. His topic was: Mary, Model of Hope. He first presented hope as found in the scriptures, mostly from the letters of St James, St Peter, St John and St Jude. He defined hope as not the expectation for the material or temporary things, but for that, which is beyond the natural or worldly material, such as salvation and eternal life.
Furthermore, he explained that faith and hope are inseparable, as Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope for he who made the promise is trustworthy. According to St Thomas Aquinas, a prolific writer of the Catholic Church, faith is always followed by hope.
His formula is summed up in these: know, expect and take action. After acquiring knowledge about God, we seek to know Him better, then we will understand His Holy will for us. Friar Ong, the speaker’s Chinese name, shared about sins against virtue which are: 1) Despair which ceases to hope for one’s personal salvation from God, which is also a sin against the Holy Spirit; 2) Presumption which is hoping to be able to save oneself without help from on High or hoping to obtain one’s forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit. Mary is the model of hope. She never lost hope amidst the prophecy of Simeon and Anna regarding her Son.
Third night: Bro Kittibood, OCD, once again delivered a talk on the topic Mary, Model of Love. He started by stating that the Bible has a lot to say about love- 500 times it was mentioned there.
What we can see from the Scripture on love is that love of God and neighbour cannot be separated. Perfect love therefore is when a man wishes a person some good for that person’s sake; imperfect love however is when a man loves something, not for it’s own sake but for himself.
The effects of Charity are love, joy, peace and beneficence; while the sins of charity among others are schism and strife, the former being split between two opposing sections but not necessarily harmful, and the latter being anger or bitter disagreement which is directly harming people.
Christ is the perfect model of love, with Mother Mary as the model of Charity. She exemplified it in 1) the Annunciation; to love is to serve; 2) the Visitation; to love is to forget oneself for others; 3) Wedding at Cana; to love is to be generous; 4) At Calvary; to love is to endure suffering and to love is to forgive; and 5) Upper Room after the Ascension; to love is to care or nourish.
