165 YEARS OF EVER SEEKING, EVER SERVING

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28 May 2019 Tue
Sharing notes from homily
by His Grace Archbishop William Goh
Mass celebrating CHIJ 165th years @ National Stadium





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • 28 May 2019
  • The national stadium
  • 18,000 students, educators, parent, old girls, guests
  • about 20 IJ sisters and religious
  • 27 priests & the Archbishop
  • One family
  • One mass
  • Giving thanks
  • 165 years of faithful service


Ten years of education immersed in a Catholic environment, even before I believed, shaped me.  It was truly a blessing for me to be able to take time off from work to join in this milestone celebration, to be there to give thanks to the Lord as one IJ family. 



The Bishop started his homily by imploring us to ask ourselves this important question, "What are we here for".  And he attempted to answer this question based on the celebration theme "Ever seeking, ever serving".


To seek and to serve are two dimensions of the same reality
  • To seek without serving, we end up serving ourselves, and we cannot find true happiness in life. 
  • That is why the fruit of seeking is always to serve.

Which comes first?
  • Seeking and serving are mutually dependent.   
  • In order to serve, we must first seek, ie to have the resources, means to serve.  But if we do not know what we are serving and who we are serving, we do not know what we should be seeking.
  • The key is to start from the end.  And from the end, we begin.

Mission of IJ sisters
  • The end of the IJ mission is to share in the dream of founder of the IJ sisters, Blessed Nicholas Barre, and to make it a reality in our midst.   
  • His mission was to help girls in poverty to be independent and people who can contribute to society.  He knew the key to this aim is human and spiritual formation.  
  • So his mission was to instruct and educate the girls, and the IJ sisters continue to live out this mission throughout the 165 years of history - called to serve the marginalised. 
  • IJ schools are not to produce elite students, but to give opportunities for girls to grow and succeed in life. 
  • This in fact is the hallmark of Catholic education.   Catholic education is not to make the rich richer, but to help the marginalized and to transform them to become leaders are tomorrow.


How can this be done?
This can be done only when we subscribe to the four core values of the IJ schools are asked to live out.

  • Seek Truth - Truth is more than just intellectual knowledge, technology skills. Truth is to know about ourselves, our identify, our direction in life - what am I living for, what am I here for.  Only by seeking and knowing the truth can we live our lives meaningfully.
  • Seek Love - the whole meaning of life is love, regardless of success and achievements.  Without love, there is no meaning in life.  It is only when we begin to love and to serve that we find meaning.
  • Seek Justice - Justice is not about my right, it is about the right of everyone.  That every human person, created in the image and likeness of God, has the opportunity in life to live and to give his or herself for the contribution to humanity.  Justice means right relations.
  • Seek Freedom - Freedom is not about oneself, not about my pleasure, my wants.  True freedom is the capacity to love and to serve freely, not a freedom for self.  Freedom is always a service for others, not for ourselves. 


Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty
  • The bishop summarised by urging all to live out the IJ spirit and motto.. 
  • To be Simple in Virtue means first we need to be true to ourselves, to grow in virtues - fortitude, wisdom, truth, understanding and love.
  • So that we can be Steadfast in Duty - giving of ourselves wholeheartedly to strengthen and to form ourselves such that we can be responsible in our vocation in life.





 

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