Testimony for Recruitment of Catechists

On 19 Oct 2008 (World Mission Sunday), I had to give two testimonies during Chinese mass at 8.30am and during English mass at 4.20pm for the recruitment of catechists at Sts Peter and Paul Church. This was my first time giving a testimony.

"耶稣长得帅吗？谁是耶稣的曾曾曾祖父？”这些有趣的问题都是我的一年级要理班的学生问的。

各位兄弟姐妹，早上好！我是凤婷，在这间教堂教要理已经有一年多的时间了。今天，我想和大家分享自从我决定当要理班老师后，天主所赐给我的三种赏报。

第一点、每当学生充满好奇心地问一大堆关于信仰的问题时，或者兴致勃勃地参于课堂上的活动与游戏时，我就会很高兴，而且觉得所付出的努力和时间去备课是值得的。

第二点、从孩子们的身上，我也可以学到东西，仿佛是天主在我教要理的过程中帮助我培养谦逊的美德。比如说，在我今年教的班里头，有一位很虔诚的小孩，名叫Amos. 他一踏进小教堂，坐下来，就会自己喃喃自语。原来他是在念天主经！这位小孩的举动提醒了我应该更敬畏上主以及事事多祈祷。

第三点、教要理也能使我在灵修上成长。记得有一次，我很生气某人对我说过的话，一直耿耿于怀。刚巧，那个星期，我正要准备教宽恕。当我在练习讲述宽恕之道的比喻时，我顿时重新领悟了这个道理，放下心中的不悦，决定效仿耶稣宽恕这个人。突然间，我感到天主真的时时刻刻与我同在，而且好像在通过我准备的教材来指点我该怎样做。这岂不是一种最美妙的赏报吗？

总的来说，正如圣保禄宗徒在斐理伯书信(4:19)说：“我的天主必要以自己的财富，在基督耶稣内，丰富满足你们的一切需要。”所以，别犹豫了，快加入我们的队伍吧，为天主向下一代传布福音。谢谢！

“Is Jesus handsome? Who is Jesus’ great great great grand-father?” These are
just some of the questions my P1 kids asked in the catechist class.

Hi, everybody! I'm Veronica from the Catechist Ministry. I'm here to share with you
three ways in which God has rewarded me after I decided to serve the Lord as a catechist.

Firstly, whenever I hear my pupils ask interesting questions about their faith in class and get very excited participating in the quizzes, games and activities during my lessons, I would feel delighted and that's enough to brighten up my day. All the time and effort spent in preparing for the lessons would be worthwhile.

Secondly, I get to learn a lot from the kids I'm teaching and in the process, God is also helping me to acquire humility. For instance, I have a very devoted kid in my class this year. His name is Amos. The minute he enters the chapel, he will straight away mutter “The Lord's Prayer” on his own initiative. He doesn't have to wait till communal prayer time, and that behaviour strikes me that I need to be more prayerful and show a greater respect for God.

Finally, but not the least, I realize I'm growing spiritually as well. I remember there was once I had great difficulties forgiving someone and coincidentally, that weekend, I was planning to teach about forgiveness. As I was practising narrating the parable of forgiveness, it suddenly dawned on me that God was using my teaching material to tell me what to do and to further convince me to forgive that person. God had manifested his love and presence for me at that time through my lesson preparation. So, isn't that a marvelous reward?

Hence, to sum up, like what St Paul said to the Philippians (4: 19): In return, my God will fulfill all your needs in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can. And in the first letter to the Corinthians (9: 18): It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel. So, are you ready to take up this privilege to help spread the Good News to the young generation?

I doubt whether my testimonies have convinced anyone to be a catechist but there is one thing for sure, and that is, through the Biblical quotes in my testimonies, someone felt touched or comforted by God as one auntie came up to me and asked which chapter of the letter to the Philippians I had mentioned. I'm glad that my testimonies have effectively served as instruments of God's Words. Praise the Lord!

I also need to thank Lord Jesus for giving me the inspiration to write out these two speeches. Glory to you Lord!

For One More Day- Forgive Yourself

When you’re rotten about yourself, you become rotten to everyone else, even those you love.

I had no one to talk me out of my despair, and that was a mistake. You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart.
(extracted from For One More Day)

My greatest take from this novel is the importance of being able to forgive yourself.

Charley Benetto adores his father since young, only to see him leaving his mother when Charley is on the verge of adolescence. With regards to baseball, Charley is as passionate as his father.

Years later, after Charley is married, on his mother’s seventy-ninth birthday, his father calls him to invite him to play in an Old Timers game. Though Charley is a bit hesitant to accept the offer, he cannot bear to reject his Dad; so he fakes an excuse, lies to his mother, wife and daughter and flies off. As he is reminiscing (remembering / recollecting past experiences) the glory of his days as a young energetic baseball player while swinging his bat, his mother collapsed at his hometown due to a massive heart attack. Charley thus misses the only opportunity to bid farewell to his mother. As he drives home through the night, he is tormented more by guilt than by shock and grief. Since then, his life has been destroyed by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits rock bottom after discovering that he won’t be invited to his only daughter’s wedding, and this is the most crucial thing that drives him to commit suicide.



Clearly, as Charley cannot let go of the immense guilt deeply engraved in his heart due to his irrevocable decision, he submits himself to alcohol and his relationships with his loved ones inevitably deteriorates. He does not confide to his loved ones anymore and becomes “ornery (grumpy) and distant”. He imagines himself suffering all alone. He shuts everybody out from his own world until he meets his dead mother...

It is a well-known fact that hurting people hurt others. The longer you
avoid forgiving yourself, the longer you allow yourself to harbor the feelings that you deserve to suffer for what you did, the more explosive you will become and, therefore, the more apt you are to hurt others. (extracted from http://www.allaboutgod.com/forgiving-yourself.htm)

Personally, I had been through this experience before. (Refer to last year’s August entry 4/4- Bane of my Teaching Career) The feeling was terrible once I realized that I had vented my frustration on another group of innocent pupils. I resolved this problem by confessing my sin to God and asking God to teach me how to be a firmer and more righteous teacher. After that, the healing gradually took place and I have never since repeated that mistake again.

Teaching is a life-giving career. If we persistently dwell on our sins and cannot forgive ourselves, then we are robbing ourselves of the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and to move on with life and with God. How can we then overcome our obstacles when we are stuck in our misery? How can we then encourage our students to stretch their limits when we already believe that it is impossible for us to impact others?

Forgive yourself. Let go of whatever you are holding against yourself. You can let the healing begin...

Writing Testimonials

Yesterday, I finally completed the mammoth task of drafting all the testimonials for my form class. A huge load was instantaneously off my shoulder as I printed out all the drafts and passed them to Mr. Osman to vet. After the first vet, I still have to print out the amended testimonials for Mrs. Aziz to vet. After the second round of amendments, then it would be the Principal's turn to vet. So you see, it's such a tedious and laborious task and all of us have to be very careful about it as once the School Graduation Certificate (SGC) is printed, then correction of each error will cost the school $50.

We will give you a chance to check your testimonial, so by then, please scrutinise (to examine it in detail carefully or critically) it! But anyway, rest assured that I did not rush through this process of drafting. I spent on average an hour recollecting each student's achievements and strengths in his / her character and writing them down. Thankfully, I have no other urgent tasks to be completed at hand, unlike other teachers who have buried themselves in marking their Sec 1-3 exam papers. Thus, I was in the clearest and most relaxed state of mind while writing your testimonials. :>

The most challenging part of writing testimonials is to omit all negative remarks, even for the most challenging students. However, fortunately for me, as I have taught you guys for at least a few years, I have been able to pick up some commendable qualities for each one of you. Hence, look forward to your testimonial!

Few interesting statistics:
1) Shortest testimonial: Hardi
2) Longest testimonial: Maisurah (Had spent three hours drafting it!)
3) Most unique testimonial: Louie

This statement is from the bottom of my heart. I'm truly honoured to be the first teacher writing your secondary school testimonial.