Christmas time is a time everyone looks forward to. It somehow puts a smile on people who rarely part their lips for a smile or have the time to say a simple hello, yet at Christmas time they are full of joy. It was no different this Christmas eve. The only marked difference was that we had to celebrate Mass in the Visitation hall as the Church is undergoing restoration work. The number of parishioners that came for the Christmas Eve Mass far exceeded than normal numbers. Thanks to Fr. George’s far sightedness. He got the Church cleaned up and allowed parishioners to follow Mass from the Church hall projected to the inside Church. The Visitation Choir led by the Choir Master Edward Felix Joseph, belted some of the popular Carols to set the parishioners in the Christmas mood prior to the Mass. The Mass was concelebrated by Fr. Julian, Fr, Andrew and the main celebrant was Fr. George. In his homily, Fr. George encouraged all parishioners to keep the spirit of Christmas throughout the year and not only at Christmas season. He said our happiness to share with the less fortunate only increased during Christmas time and we should be doing this the entire year.
In his announcement, Fr. George got the congregation excited when he said that he is going to reveal 5 surprises. Firstly he unveiled the icon of the Visitation Church, the meeting between Mother Mary and Elizabeth. It was a life sized statues who look so radiant in their meeting of each other. Fr. George said that the statue will be placed for 4 months at the ground level to give all parishioners the chance to touch and feel Mother Mary and Elizabeth before they are placed in their permanent place at the top entrance of the Church . The entire congregation sang the Magnificat (The Canticle of Mary - LK 1: 46-56) as the statue were incensed and blessed with the holy water.
His second surprise was that we have surpassed the target for the restoration fund by about RM567,255.02. With that, his third surprise was that we will not have any fund raising project in the month of January but will resume in February for which the purpose will be announced later. The other two surprises will only be revealed next year.
The Mass ended with the Hymn JOY TO THE WORLD and the exchange of greetings between parishioners.
Edited by Zeno Jerome
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