PRAYERFULL PREPARATION FOR ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL: 134TH PARISH FEASTDAY CELEBRATION

Prepared by

Parish Soccom

Novena Mass

St. Mary’s Parish embarked on a 9 day devotional novena Mass from the 4th - 12th August 2017 in preparation for their 134th Feast day celebration which falls on 13th August 2017. The nine day period of prayer was an avenue for all the parishioners in St. Mary’s Cathedral to come together for a joint prayer to implore special graces, intentions and petitions for their coming Feast day.

Novena mass the sick, poor, needy and the suffering in the parish

The attendance of the parishioners has doubled compared to that of last year's turn-up. Except for Saturday Sunset Mass and Sunday Mass, the average attendance was 800 people who came together in a united community to pray together for a common purpose. Those attending the daily novena Mass had the opportunity to go for a Sacrament of reconciliation, half an hour before the mass, started at 7.30pm.  On Day 1, the Mass was offered for the leaders of the Church and the leaders of the diverse communities in the parish;  Day 2 , for the young people in the parish; Day 3 for all the faithful in the parish; Day 4, for the sick, poor, needy and the suffering in the parish; Day 5, for peace, love and unity among the communities and groups in the parish; Day 6, for families in the parish; Day 7 for children of the parish; Day 6 Mass  for the departed souls of the parish and finally, Day 9 Novena Mass was offered to promote peace and justice, and the needs of the country.

Rosary Rally

Apart from the devotional prayers, the Parish Pastoral Committee also organised a Formation Talks and Catechesis on Mother Mary as a spiritual preparation for the Parish Feast day Celebration. The objective was to enrich the understanding on Marian subject . The topic was based on the theme for this 134th Parish day, “My Soul Magnifies the Lord”(Lk 1:46), conducted in Chinese by Seminarian Raymond Lee, Bahasa Malaysia by Fr. Stanley William and English by Fr. David Garaman.

Rosary Rally

The last day of preparation for the Feast day celebration is marked in the calendar annually with a spiritual program known as the Rosary Rally, a 12 hours rosary recitation by the parishioners. The rosary rally has been organized by the parish for 5 consecutive years and this is a half day rosary recitation marathon by the many groups, communities and ministries in the parish. For this year, the outdoor rosary recitation along the Rosary corridor was halted temporarily at 10.00am at the peak of the Marian Mount to give way for an outdoor Mass and solemn blessing of the opening of the Meditation Hut cum Chapel for visitors. The memorable and joyous occasion of the opening ceremony of the Hut was solemnised by His Lordship Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom. As soon as the Mass ended, the recitation continued until the last group recitation concluded at the Cathedral itself at exactly half an hour before the Sunset mass.

Not only all the events and programs organized bring spiritual benefits and coming closer to Christ the Lord, but definitely the preparations also unite all the faithful and the many groupings and communities in the Church.

Blessing of the opening of the Meditation Hut