National Day Mass at St Mary's Cathedral

The flag raising ceremony.

Sandakan : On 31st August 2009, Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom and all diocesan priests concelebrated the Eucharistic Celebration for National Day at the St Mary's Cathedral. Joining the celebration together with the local faithful were the 235 participants of the Diocesan BEC Seminar. The Cathedral was packed. The celebration began with the flag raising ceremony and the singing of the national and state anthems as a mark of solidarity, respect and honor to our beloved country, Malaysia.

The mass concelebrated by Bishop Julius and all the diocesan Priests.

In his homily, he invited Christians throughout the country to join their fellow Malaysians in offering prayers of thanksgiving to Almighty God for His kind mercies upon us throughout the 52 years of nationhood and pray that He may continue to shower His blessings upon us as we forge ahead in building a 1Malaysia.

He urged the people not to take for granted the peace and prosperity enjoyed by Malaysians but to re-double our efforts to ensure that Malaysia develops in the way we desire for the generations of Malaysians to come.

Together with our Prime Minister and our government, he asked everyone to move forward to build a 1Malaysia free of the preoccupation with race, language, quotas and religion. It is a vision of 1Malaysia where all of us are Malaysians and treated equally as such. May we pray and work alongside him to do things the right way for the benefit of all Malaysians for “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29 : 18, KJV).

He called on all faithful to continue to pray for the Prime Minister and the government in accordance with Psalm 72 that the Prime Minister be endowed with justice and righteousness from Almighty God so that he may govern in righteousness and justice and bring about prosperity for the people, defend the afflicted and save the children of the needy.

He said the churches join all Malaysians in praying for the good health and well-being of our beloved King and Queen, the various Sultans, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, the Mentris Besar and Chief Ministers of the states, our parliamentarians and all members of the state assemblies that they govern with justice, fairness in all aspects of good governance bringing about strong bond of friendship and harmony among all people.