By Caroline Soon / Stephen Chin
KUCHING — What an Upper Room experience! The Holy Spirit, who rained down on Pentecost in the Upper Room, came to us this evening as we concluded the Lectio Bible Study on Mary. The 2-month programme online attracted 170 pax, of which about 150 regularly attended the weekly session. Dr Brant Pitre, a renowned theologian, and a professor at the Augustine Institute gave compelling talks over seven sessions on the different names and roles given to our Blessed Mother.
We learnt in more details about the four dogmas of the Church pronouncing the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and the Perpetual Virgin. How compelling Dr Brant Pitre was as he unpacked for us on Mary as the New Eve and the New Ark of the Covenant! Many were sold by the time the first session was over! The topic on the Sorrowful Mother saw our Lord giving us His Beloved Mother in Calvary. The seventh video segment on Mary as the New Rachel was truly an eye opener as Dr Brant Pitre cleverly used ancient Jewish traditions and to draw out parallels. In all the sessions, the Old Testament was linked to the New. To the majority, the word ‘typology’ was unheard of until we embarked on this bible study.
In the small groups, many have shared that they were not aware of these fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church. Yet to many who were initially not too convinced about the role of Mary in God’s plan of salvation, they have come out of this bible study very much clearer and convinced.
The late Fr John Gnanapiragasam was guiding us in this online programme taken from FORMED. He had hosted in two small groups before his untimely demise. We are sure tonight he was watching over us from above. We had listened to heart-warming testimonies over these weeks. We were fortunate enough to have some priests and nuns journeying with us. We were blessed to have even His Grace, Archbishop Emeritus John Ha attending all but one of the video sessions, and taking on questions from the floor on three occasions.
Live mass was streamed from St Michael Church, Ipoh via Zoom. We are so grateful to Fr Anthony Liew who celebrated this mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. We used a recorded video of Fr John who had led us in a general infilling of the Holy Spirit in a previous Alpha course. It was as if he was here with us. In the small groups when we prayed for one other, many felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Holy Spirit dwelling in our Blessed Mother has embraced us in our Upper Room. We concluded the evening listening to a few more testimonies before we did our consecration to Jesus through Mary.
The Alpha-Formed team comprising of East and West Malaysians came together as one to jointly organise online courses. Tonight’s event went on smoothly, thanks to our Tech Savvy team. One jested that Fr John made Steve Job worked from heaven above! Our core team of 12 are united in building the Body of Christ, each using one’s gift to serve. We believe the Immaculate Virgin, our dear little Mother has drawn us together, so that we can be fit instruments of Our Lord.
We pay tribute to the late Fr John G who had been our source of strength and support. May he rest in peace. The Lord’s name be praised!
