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Let God’s Word Reach Everyone

An evangelizing activity in honour of Mr Matthew Dou …

My New Knee

In September I did a total knee replacement surgery and shared in the Lord’s suffering …

My Earthly Father

On Father’s Day, Sr Grace remembered her father and the legacy he left her …

Lent Retreat with Anglican Clergy

It was a very novel experience for Sr Grace to lead a short retreat for 18 Anglican clergy…

Welcome Lent 2019

Sister Grace recalls what she did during Lent when she was a secondary schoolgirl ….

Christian Unity Week - In Action

The Sisters were invited to make a book display in the Anglican church, All Saints Cathedral

Hong Kong Community Vacation

The HK community had been trying to go for a community holiday but …

Easter Blossoms in Spendour in Singapore’s Garden by the Bay

The wonders of the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore filled Sister Grace with Easter joy …

Lent and the Bible

Sister Grace tells us the different versions of Bible available …

Why do Catholics pray the Rosary?

Sister Grace shares an article to answer this question.

Lenten Project for Poor Children

Sister Grace was inspired to look for sponors to buy books for poor children to read ….

Apostolic Sharing with East Asia Delegation

Sister Grace tells us her apostolic experience in the St Paul Media Centre ….

To Spend the Best Advent This Year

Sister Grace tells us how the Sisters spend the Advent.  We can do the same too …

Celebrating the Golden Jubilee

Sr Mary Grace Lee returned to Rome in 2013 to celebrate her Golden Jubilee ….

Revised Changes in the English Missal

Sister Grace Lee talks about the Revised Missal 2012 ….

My Experience of Vatican Council II

Sr Grace Lee was a novice in Rome when the Vatican Council opened in October 1962 .…

Cherish our Faith

See how the Daughters of St Paul use the mass and social media to help people conserve and nourish their faith life...

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  Sister Grace Lee  

I was just wondering how I can spend this Advent, the best and most beautiful that can happen.

Advent is a charming and warm season, liturgically and even weatherwise. In Hong Kong, we don’t need to wear heavy clothings, the air is cold and brisk. There is enough sunlight for most of the day. People’s moods are still high and joyful.

The songs and prayers, the Readings and the rubrics are pleasant and uplifting.I like the song: Sion, Sing, break into song, forwithin you is the Lord with his saving power. Other hot favourites are O Come O Come Emmanuel, O Come Divine Messiah.

This year I will not sing the Novena with 400 sisters but only with four sisters in our temporary dwelling place in a school. Our house is under repairs, maybe for four months so we are like the Holy Family, away from our home. We shall experience the kind of atmosphere and condition of Bethlehem on that Christmas night. Of course, we can never enter that stark and extreme poverty of that stable where the Richest and most Powerful God came down on earth to become one of the poorest and weakest being.

Every year we set up a Christmas Tree under which we placed our gifts. Our most cherished decoration is a fantastic Crib each year, with Baby Jesus delightfully reclining in some velvet spread and in soft lights around him. Where shall we enthrone Baby Jesus this year?

According to our simple community tradition, we play Kris Kringle. We draw lots to take the name of one of the sisters. She is our secret Christ Child. We pray for her during this holy season, make some secret gifts or favours for her, and on Christmas day the identity will be revealed. One year, Sr Francesca kept receiving her favourite fruit – the banana, on her place at table. She was never able to catch her donor. But she really felt pampered as the Christ Child would have felt.

The highlight and conclusion of Advent is Christmas midnight Mass. The singing, the packed church, the greetings and the good cheer.And Baby Jesus in our hearts during Holy Communion. And for us sisters, the refreshment in our dining room with hot chocolate drinks, grapes, and the most looked forward treat – the Italian cake called PANETONE.

To remind us of God’s eternal love, we put up an Advent wreath. The circular form and the green branches symbolize everlasting happiness, and that is God. The four candles brightly shine in the dark of our world, telling us that the Lord is near, that he is coming very soon.  And then for those who make the traditional Christmas Novena, we sing this Novena on Dec 16 onwards. As a young novice in Rome, living with 400 sisters in our convent in the 1960s, I really loved the Christmas Novena. We sang in Latin, standing straight and tall in the huge church. In the middle of the Novena, there is the Rejoice hymn when everyone sits down. What a welcome moment! I connect the sitting down with rejoicing!

I feel that this year will be such a different Advent for me because everything is and will be improvised. Nothing is the same as before. I hope to do this for my Advent this year. I will walk with Mother Mary who at this time is carrying her precious baby in her womb. She can help me to focus my attention on this Christ Child waiting to be born. With Mary, I feel I can read God’s Will for me and anticipate it with much love and care. All my preparation for the Christ Child’s coming will be in my heart, in my attitudes, in my words and actions.

On Christmas eve, will the Christ Child recognize me as his own, and come joyfully to be born in my heart?

panetone

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