I woke up this morning feeling like I've been gifted with a new left ankle. Haha! I was so thankful that throughout the night, whatever it was that was supposed to function and heal the "sprain" did its job. I woke up feeling no pain at all and I am just grateful to be able to function normally again.
Needless to say, I was in high spirits when I left the house this morning.
Similar to last Sunday, the morning schedule was packed. I had a museum shift at 1130. I decided to hear Mass before heading to the museum. Thankfully, there are a few morning Masses in the city I can choose to attend.
Originally, my plan was to hear Mass at the same church I went to last Sunday. However, I arrived at the church feeling that there was no Mass that was going to happen at 9AM. It was already 845. I didn't see any church wardens guiding people to their seats. The church lights and fans were still off. There was no choir practicing the hymns. After saying a short prayer, I got up and left the church.
Thanks to my trusted Starhub data plan, I was able to find two other churches I could rush to for a morning Mass. First option was the Church of Sacred Heart at Tank Road. The second option was the Church of St. Bernadette at Zion Road for the 930AM Mass.
It was a few minutes before 9AM and I was having difficulty hailing a cab. I knew I would not make it to Tank Road in time.
I decided to take the train to Orchard and from Orchard, I took a short cab ride to the Church of St. Bernadette. Not only did I arrive early for Mass, I even managed to go to confession. Yay! I've been meaning to go to confession this morning and I'm glad I was able to do so at St. Bernadette's.
It was my first time to hear at St. Bernadette's. From the outside, the church looks old and 1940s. I was pleasantly surprised to see how modern and how spacious it was as soon as I stepped inside the church.
More importantly, I was happy to hear Mass from a priest who knew how to give a good homily. Today's homily talked about fraternal correction. He talked about how truth must be accompanied by two things - love and prayers. If one is going to do "fraternal correction" out of pride, self-righteousness, and the like, it is not fraternal correction. Fraternal correction is when one corrects his/her neighbour out of love for the other person. In my personal opinion, it is a very timely homily, especially in a society where we easily get angry or irritated by the "different" ways of the people surrounding us. Hehe.
The priests at this church and that church should attend Mass here and get pointers on how to give homilies. Haha! Other churches worth the trip because of the good priests are St. Anthony Padua in Woodlands, Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok, Church of the Holy Cross in Clementi, and Church of St. Francis Xavier in Serangoon Gardens.
The takeaway from this morning's Mass is a beautiful passage from St. Paul: "Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments."
Couldn't agree more.
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