When Young Hearts Meet Christ—A Dad’s Reflection By Kelvin Koh

5 July 2026

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Categories: Reflections

When Young Hearts Meet Christ—A Dad’s Reflection By Kelvin Koh

Conversation Between Father and Son

“Why do I have to go? It’s going to be boring! And why can’t we use our phones at night?”

My 14-year-old son was not pleased about attending a church camp for Secondary 2 youths at the start of the June holidays. I suspect his greatest concern was the ban on mobile phones at night. After all, he would lose all his mobile gaming “streaks”.

As one of the catechists serving at the camp, I simply replied, “You’re going. You won’t regret it.”

His eye roll suggested otherwise.

Letter to God

During one of the camp activities, the youths were invited to write a personal letter to God. They were encouraged to pour out their worries, frustrations and struggles in complete privacy. The letters were not meant to be shared with anyone else.

When we later reflected on the experience, their responses were revealing.

Some admitted that they felt awkward because they had never expressed themselves in such a way. Others were unsure what to write because they had never really stopped to think about their struggles. A few were able to put pen to paper immediately, almost as though they had been carrying these burdens for a long time.

What struck me most, however, was that many of them had never considered bringing their concerns to God at all.

When asked why, the responses were simple and honest. Some did not think it would help. Others had never thought of it as an option. More often, they turned to close friends or simply kept their struggles to themselves.

Perhaps this says something about the reality facing many young people today. It is not necessarily that they have rejected God. Rather, they may never have developed a personal relationship with Him in the first place. And if a relationship has never truly been formed, how can it be strengthened?

Eucharistic Adoration

Later that evening, the youths gathered for Eucharistic Adoration. They were invited to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament and, if they wished, to receive prayer from the adult facilitators for challenges they were facing — personal struggles, family difficulties, friendship issues, bullying and more.

At first, no one moved.

Perhaps they were afraid of being judged. Perhaps they felt uncomfortable being vulnerable in front of their peers.

Perhaps they were just wondering when the session would end.

Then one teenager quietly stood up and knelt before the Blessed Sacrament. A facilitator approached and prayed with her.

Soon another youth stepped forward. Then another.

What began as a single act of courage became a movement of grace. Realising that they were not alone in their struggles, the youths came forward without fear or embarrassment.

Together, they brought their burdens before the Lord as the hall echoed with the familiar chorus of a song:

“All my life You have been faithful.
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God.”

Praise and Worship

In that moment, I was reminded that many young people are not looking for perfect answers. They are looking for an encounter. Sometimes, all they need is the opportunity to pause, put aside the distractions around them and become aware once again of God’s presence.

The joy and conviction in their voices during the Praise and Worship session that followed bore witness to something deeper at work. It reinforced for me how important it is for us, as Catholic educators, parents and catechists, to intentionally create spaces where young people can encounter Christ through prayer, community and authentic relationships.

Praying for and with Our Children and Youth

As we celebrate Youth Day on Sunday, 5 July 2026, let us pray especially for our young people in Singapore and around the world. May they come to know that God is present in their lives, that He listens to their hopes and struggles and that His love continues to call them closer to Him.

And what about my son?

At the end of the camp, he sheepishly admitted, “You’re right, Papa. I didn’t regret going.”

Then, after a brief pause, he asked, “So… when’s the next camp?”

Youth Day: Reflections by Michelle Tan

1 July 2026

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Categories: Reflections

Youth Day: Reflections by Michelle Tan

Every year, on the first Sunday of July, Singapore celebrates Youth Day. It is a timely opportunity to honour the dignity, the gifts, and the struggles of young people in our homes and classroom, and to recommit, as educators and parents, to journeying with them on the road of life.

It is a timely reminder for Catholic educators, mid-year, to heed the words of Pope Francis to young people: “Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!” [Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit (2019), 1], alive in him and for his mission.

Youth in the Eyes of Christ

In the Bible, youth is no impediment to mission. On the contrary, it is often a time of great openness to God’s call.

As Pope Francis reflected in Christus Vivit (CV), “Samuel was still a young boy, yet the Lord spoke to him. Thanks to the advice of an adult, he opened his heart to hear God’s call: ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening'” (1 Samuel 3:9–10; CV 8).

When Jeremiah protested his call: ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy!’ God assured him, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:7–8)

And St Paul instructed his protégé Timothy: “Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).

How often have we mentored any young person in their journey of life and faith, following the example of Eli with Samuel, the Lord with Jeremiah, St Paul with Timothy, and Our Lady and St Joseph with Jesus, such that he or she “increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (Luke 2:52)?

Youth as a Possession of Humanity

Pope St John Paul II, in his 1985 Apostolic Letter Dilecti Amici (Dear Friends) to the youth of the world on the occasion of the United Nations’ International Year of Youth, insisted that youth is not merely a personal phase of life but a gift to the whole human family.

“Youth is not only a period of life corresponding to a certain number of years,” he wrote, “it is the whole of that space that every man traverses in his life’s journey, and at the same time it is a special possession belonging to everyone. It is a possession of humanity itself…. Responsibility for this present reality and for its shape and many different forms lies first of all with adults. To you belongs responsibility for what will one day become reality together with yourselves, but which still lies in the future.”

In other words, the young are the living bridge between what they have received and what they are called to build.

As the Second Vatican Council bluntly put it, “It is you who are to receive the torch from the hands of your elders and to live in the world at the period of the most gigantic transformations ever realised in its history. It is you who, receiving the best of the example of the teaching of your parents and your teachers, are to form the society of tomorrow. You will either save yourselves or you will perish with it.” (1965 Message to Youth)

We were youth once. How did we bridge the past we received with the future we were called to build then? How did we contribute to our present time?

Youth at the Cusp of a “Gigantic Transformation”

The Second Vatican Council was uncannily prophetic.

In 1965, the post-World War II world was being transformed by the Cold War and the existential threat of nuclear conflict; rapid decolonisation and the reshaping of the entire global political map; the Space Race and other technological advances; social upheavals; the spread of mass media and global communications; the rise of communism, atheism, secularism, and materialist ideologies, all competing for the hearts and minds of the younger generations.

Just over 60 years later, our youth are living in analogous times. As Pope Francis pointed out, a World War III is being fought “piecemeal”; there is still a nuclear crisis; the post-Cold War rules-based international system is giving way to deglobalisation and super-power rivalry; the Space Race has resumed; traditions, religious values and morals are still being eroded, with all these compounded by the disruptions due to socio-economic ills, climate change, pandemic threats, and of course, the social media and AI revolution.

It is hard to imagine today that, in 1965, television was the new mass medium. The youth then were exposed to shared images and/or narratives in radio and TV programmes, magazines, etc. Today, algorithms curate personalised content for youth, potentially isolating them in their own virtual realities — oxymoronic echo chambers where falsehood often masquerades as truth.

What other ‘gigantic transformations’ is the world going through? How are we coping? How are we helping our young people cope?

Youth in a Digital World

In Christus Vivit, Pope Francis acknowledged that although social media can “provide an extraordinary opportunity for dialogue, encounter, and exchange between persons, as well as access to information and knowledge” (CV 87), it also exposes young people to the risk of self-isolation, addiction, and a bombardment of data that dulls rather than enriches — “a kind of mental pollution.”

Young people who measure their worth by the number of ‘likes’ on an Instagram post, or in comparison to the carefully edited highlight reels of their peers, are vulnerable to the destructive lie that they are not enough.

In his 2026 landmark first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), Pope Leo XIV warns that AI’s ability to deliver instant, summarised answers risks “extinguishing the desire to ask questions” and that hyper-stimulated young people experience “fatigue, boredom, and apathy” and resistance to undertake the process of discernment and genuine learning that “bears fruit only over time” (MH 140).

Hence Pope Leo XIV called for a renewed “educational alliance for the digital age” — a collaboration among families, schools, faith communities, and public institutions — all of which are “not called to follow the pace of the digital world but to offer that which the digital sphere by itself cannot provide, namely a shared time for learning and developing trustworthy relationships” (MH 141).

More than ever, our young people — whether they realise it or not — are thirsting for oases of quiet in deserts of noise, safe spaces where they can establish their identity and find belonging and acceptance, and sanctuaries where they can speak from and listen with their hearts with others in face-to-face physical encounters.

How are our schools and homes safe and serene havens for our young people?

Mental Health: A Silent Crisis

In his Message for World Youth Day 2024, Pope Francis acknowledged that “many of your contemporaries who experience wars, violent conflict, bullying, and other kinds of hardship are gripped by despair, fear, and depression. They feel as if they are in a dark prison, where the light of the sun cannot enter.”

In May 2025, the Straits Times reported that “mental disorders are the leading cause of disability and death among 10- to 14-year-olds in Singapore, while the impact of mental distress on population health here is the highest in Asean, according to a new paper published in medical journal Lancet Public Health on May 28.” The Institute of Mental Health also reported that its 2022–23 National Youth Mental Health Study found that about 1 in 3 young people aged between 15 and 35 years in Singapore reported experiencing severe or extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or stress.

The pressures of academic performance, fears of an uncertain future, and social isolation despite digital hyperconnectivity leave many young people feeling alone in the crowds around them. Yet many mask their feelings very well for fear of judgment.

In response, Pope Francis urged: “When you feel surrounded by the clouds of fear, doubt, and anxiety and you no longer see the sun, take the path of prayer.” This is a reminder to young people to seek not only professional help where needed, but also to find strength in their Good Shepherd who never abandons them.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

How might we or our school/home environments be contributing to the lack of mental well-being in our youth? What could we do about it?

Parental, Societal and Self-Expectations

In a high-achieving Singapore, success is often defined by high grades in exams, good universities, prestigious careers, and high salaries. The flourishing of a person’s inner, spiritual life does not feature much in the assessment of the secular world.

Pope Leo XIV, in his 2025 Message for the 40th World Youth Day, told the story of the Rich Young Man (Mark 10:17–22). The young man came to Jesus rich in the eyes of the world, with wealth, social status, and in the prime of his life. Still, he found something missing: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” When he could not bring himself to give away all his riches to the poor and follow Jesus, the Bible tells us the Lord, instead of reproaching or condemning him, looked at him and “loved him” (Mark 10:21).

Pope Leo wrote, “Christ alone fully knows who we are and why we are here; young people, he knows your heart, your indignation in the face of discrimination and injustice, your desire for truth and beauty, for joy and peace. Through his friendship, he listens to you, motivates you, and guides you, calling each of you to a new life.”

Jesus meets each young person where he or she is, and looks at everyone with Christian love and without judgment. Do we?

Why the Catholic Church Celebrates Youth Day

Inaugurated by Pope St John Paul II in 1985, the Church traditionally celebrates World Youth Day locally around the end of the liturgical year and the feast of Christ the King, and internationally every two years. The next international event is in Seoul 2027.

In his ‘pitch’ to the Roman Curia, the Pope said, “All the young people should feel followed by the Church: that is why all the Church, in union with the Successor of Peter feels more and more that it is committed, on a world scale, in favour of young people, of their worries, their questions, their openness and their hopes, in order to match their expectations, by communicating the certainty who is Christ, the Truth who is Christ, Love who is Christ. And in this privileged attention that the Church nurtures in their regard, young people need to find proof that they count a lot because they are worth a lot. Their lives are precious for the Church.” (December 20, 1985)

The Holy See calls all Catholic schools to see the uniqueness of each young person with such “supernatural vision” (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #1). Our frequent celebration of youth imbues “a Catholic worldview” in the life of our schools. (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #4) How?

  • It is an act of justice. We need to give young people what is due to them: they need to be assured, in no uncertain terms, that they “count a lot” and are “worth a lot”, not as mere statistics in school rankings, or future workers or taxpayers, but as human persons made in the image and likeness of God, gazed upon lovingly by Christ, no matter their intellectual, mental or physical capabilities. In this way, our Catholic schools will be “founded on Christian anthropology” (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #2).
  • It builds identity and belonging. Young people yearn to be part of something larger than themselves. Catholic schools, “animated in communion and community” (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #3), should remind their students that they are not alone; they are part of a living, worldwide People of God, believers and non-believers alike. After all, Jesus died for the salvation of all humanity.
  • It is witnessing to the Gospel. (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #5), drawing youth closer to Christ and his Church. Pope Leo ended Magnifica Humanitas with a heartfelt appeal, among others, to cultivate relationships.

“In an era that favours speed and fragmentation, the human person still yearns to receive care and recognition from attentive minds, kind words and hands capable of tenderness. The digital culture multiplies connections and offers new opportunities for interaction; yet, the human heart retains an irrevocable need for genuine closeness. I invite everyone to cherish places and times where physical presence remains crucial, such as shared meals, community gatherings, time spent with the lonely and serving the poor. These are signs of a humanity that continues to believe that every person’s body is a dwelling place of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Christ is alive in our youth, waiting to be revealed. May our Catholic schools always be divine strongholds of magnificent humanity, shelters in the storms of life.

On your marks, get set…. GO! Go, to bear fruit for the Kingdom by Michelle Tan

15 June 2026

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Categories: Reflections

On your marks, get set…. GO! Go, to bear fruit for the Kingdom by Michelle Tan

“You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
(John 15:16)

After the great Paschal Pause of Lent and Eastertide, we find ourselves in the season of Ordinary Time once again.

With the full revelation of the Holy Trinity and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost upon the whole Church, the People of God are now empowered to go proclaim the Gospel of Christ and bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

Ordinary Time, Extraordinary Witness

A missionary priest once told me, “The ‘Ordinary’ in Ordinary Time does not mean mediocre, routine or unimportant, but it means mission time, a time of bearing extraordinary witness to the goodness of God.”

Indeed, ‘Ordinary’ Time is so-called because it derives from the Latin ordinalis (ordered) wherein the weeks of this liturgical season are numbered. The numbering represents the slow but sure and steady growth of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, represented by the green liturgical vestments worn, the colour representing new life.

The engine of growth is fuelled by the spiritual food given to us in the Holy Eucharist, which is why we begin this period of Ordinary Time with the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and end it with the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Alpha and Omega of Ordinary Time, as it were.

All who are baptised in the Church are called to be such extraordinary witnesses, sowers of the seeds of the Gospel. Through baptism, each person receives an anointing in which he or she becomes part of the Body of Christ.

  • Priests — continuously offering sacrifice of praise, prayer, thanksgiving, and self-surrender.
  • Prophets — proclaiming the Good News through words and witness of life.
  • Kings — building bridges of trust and relationship as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.

The Kerygma, the Message of Eternal Life

How do we discharge our duties as prophets, priests and kings?

As Pope St Paul VI teaches in Evangelii Nuntiandi, the Gospel must first be proclaimed through witness — a wordless testimony that inspires questions and points others toward Christ.

The content of that witness is the Kerygma, the core proclamation of the Christian faith:

  1. God loves you personally and unconditionally.
    Every human person is created by God in love and for love.
  2. Sin broke our relationship with God.
    Sin separates us from the source of life and meaning.
  3. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour.
    God sent His Son to restore our relationship with the Father.
  4. Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead.
    His death redeemed humanity and His resurrection conquered death.
  5. Repentance, faith, and baptism are the response.
    We are called to turn away from sin and trust in Christ.
  6. The Holy Spirit is given to dwell within us.
    Through baptism we are empowered to follow Christ and lead others to Him.

Catholic Education and the Kerygma

“Education and catechesis are at the service of this growth.”

Pope Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium, emphasised that the Kerygma must remain at the centre of all evangelising activity and Church renewal.

“Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.”

This proclamation remains the foundation of catechesis at every level and stage of faith formation.

How can Catholic educators proclaim the Kerygma?

  • Believe it personally. We cannot give what we do not have.
  • Be authentic. Witness according to your character, personality, gifts and talents.
  • Meet people where they are. Approach others with joy, patience, openness, dialogue, warmth and welcome.

Courage and the Kerygma

Church teachings do not require us to be theologians, canon lawyers or philosophers, but dedicated men and women of simple faith.

June 24 celebrates the Nativity of St John the Baptist, one of only three individuals whose birth and death are both celebrated as feast days.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

God assures us that whatever reason holds us back, He is with us and equips us for the mission He entrusts to us.

May we remember with gratitude those who first proclaimed the Kerygma to us, and may we find the courage to build and plant the Kerygma in the hearts of those whom God sends us to serve.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.” (Matthew 9:37)

 

Nurturing an Awareness of God’s Existence by Bro Kenneth Tham

1 June 2026

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Categories: Reflections

Nurturing an Awareness of God’s Existence by Bro Kenneth Tham

We often hear that what we learn in school has little relevance to adult life. How many of us still remember the definition of an acid, what a tombolo is, or have applied Pythagoras Theorem in our daily routines? For most of us, our content knowledge of subjects we do not teach may have long faded, and the same will be true for our students. What, then, is the point of learning content that may never be used beyond examinations?Perhaps this is not the right question. As Catholic educators, we should instead ask: Are we simply teaching subject content, or are we educating our students?

A hallmark of Catholic education is the cultivation of a Catholic worldview, where faith is woven into academic subjects to help students discover their identity and recognise God’s presence and action in their lives. God has placed in every human heart a desire for Himself (CCC 27), yet many factors lead people to hide from God, as Adam did in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:10). Ignorance, evil, attachment to worldly things, and the influence of bad example can cause us to overlook or reject God (CCC 29–30). As Catholic educators, we hold the privileged responsibility of nurturing our students’ awareness of God’s existence, presence, and action in their lives.

God reveals Himself through creation. We experience reality and learn through our senses, and through the faculty of reason given to every person, we can come to know God. St Paul reminds us that “since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Rom 1:20). This is our starting point in Catholic schools: to help students recognise God’s existence through what they learn.

Subject content is a vehicle for communicating this truth. The Catholic educator serves as a bridge between study and insight, helping students see the fingerprints of God in what they are learning. A science educator helps students perceive in nature’s intricate coordination and purposeful complexity a testimony to divine intelligence.

An arts educator helps students understand that when we are moved by beauty, we glimpse something of God Himself. St Augustine recognised that beauty in the world reflects God’s own beauty. Whether encountered in art, music, literature, nature, or language, beauty reveals God’s order, harmony, and goodness. Mathematics can be viewed from a similar lens, where there is beauty and order in numbers, geometry, sequences or mathematical proofs.

In the humanities, we may teach historical facts or data, geographical phenomena, patterns of human development, or economic trends influenced by human behavioural patterns. However, a Catholic humanities educator has the responsibility and privilege of challenging students to see God’s hand moving in human history and development.

I once spoke with a student who was studying a case on the persecution of groups denied religious freedom. I saw an opportunity to invite her beyond the source-based questions that followed—to consider how this case study connected to her own life. I asked her to reflect on what religion meant to her personally, on the freedom she had to practise her faith, and on how God had blessed her with this freedom.

Answering techniques and exam skills matter, but to truly fulfil our mission as a Catholic school, we are called to guide students in seeing beyond exams and objective facts. Our role is to help them examine how what they study applies to their own lives, how it shapes their understanding of the world, and how it deepens their faith and knowledge of who God is.

A good Catholic education therefore enables students to live out their deepest calling: to seek truth and so fulfil the desire God has placed in every human heart. St Ignatius of Loyola in his spiritual exercises (S.E. 23) reminds us that we are created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and that all things exist to help us achieve this purpose. The subjects we teach are means of leading students to an awareness of God. In discovering who God is—expressed through the beauty of creation—they may come to know themselves and their purpose in life. They begin to realise that lasting happiness is found only when they are true to themselves and to that innermost desire God has planted within them: to reverence, praise, and serve Him.

This is our calling as Catholic educators: to guide students in discovering the existence, presence, and constant action of God in their lives. Yet we cannot give what we do not have. We too must first recognise God’s hand in what we teach, something that can only be cultivated through a strong prayer life and a living relationship with the Lord. Our love for our students, and above all our love for God, should move us to deepen our own faith and to grow in understanding of how we can better help those in our care to discover God and their purpose in life. We do not merely teach subjects. We educate students so that they may grow in their Catholic worldview.

Bro Kenneth Tham is a fifth-year Seminarian in the St. Francis Xavier Major Seminary. He taught at a secondary school before joining the Seminary.
Who is the Holy Spirit? by Michelle Tan

15 May 2026

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Categories: Reflections

Who is the Holy Spirit? by Michelle Tan


We have been chosen and sent by the Holy Spirit on our mission to build up the Kingdom of God as Catholic educators, whether in Catholic or non-Catholic schools.

In his great 1975 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (Proclaiming the Gospel) – which we reflected on in Sowers February 2026 – Pope Paul VI wrote: “The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of the whole of the Church’s mission.” (EN 21)

But who exactly is the Holy Spirit? And how is the Spirit the “principal agent” of our mission?

During this liturgically significant month, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord on 14 May, the end of Eastertide on Pentecost Sunday 24 May, and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on 31 May. These celebrations have much to teach us about the Holy Spirit.

Trinity Sunday: The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says: “When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath.” (CCC 689) “The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature.” (CCC 703).

St Augustine famously described the Holy Trinity as Lover (Father), Beloved (Son), and Love (Holy Spirit), i.e. the Love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father, and the Love both Father and Son have for each other and every human person created in their image and likeness.

The Spirit is the Love that has been “poured into our hearts” (Romans 5:5) and dwells within us, making us “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Risen Christ who will be with us “always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He was last person of the Trinity to be revealed, on Pentecost Sunday. Since the Holy Spirit is pure spirit, he cannot be seen or ‘known’ except through the effects of his actions.

So when persons are moved or touched by the Holy Spirit, they may cry tears of joy or repentance, feel a warmth as though enveloped in a loving embrace, trembling like a leaf with awe or wonder, or perhaps some or all of the above coupled with a lightening of the heart and a soaring of the soul as though a weight is lifted, or shackles untied.

Hence, the Holy Spirit is often symbolised by water, fire, wind and a dove, traditionally a sign of peace, gentleness and freedom.

But more often than not, the Holy Spirit works in undramatic, imperceptible and unseen ways. Take how he mysteriously transubstantiates the bread and wine at the Epiclesis during every Eucharistic celebration when the priest prays: Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and + Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit is at work, silently and subtly, but slowly and surely, in the lives of all of us faithful, and those whom we pray for, all the time. He is our other ‘advocate’ – ‘one who has our back’ – forever, with Jesus, our first advocate (John 14:16).

Pentecost: The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, the Body of Christ

Although Pentecost is often referred to as the “birthday of the Church”, technically, the Church was born on Good Friday.

“The origin and growth of the Church are symbolised by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Christ [water and blood symbolising the life-giving sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist]. As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church [the Bride of Christ] was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.” (CCC 766)

But it was only on Pentecost Sunday that “the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun.” (CCC 767)

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit transformed and empowered the motley crew of 11 ordinary, most uneducated, men on the street into extraordinary prophets and witnesses who proclaimed Christ and handed on his teachings with such boldness and zeal that 2,000 years later, we have received the same.

This is why Pope Paul VI wrote (EN 24): “The Holy Spirit is indeed the principal agent of the whole of the Church’s mission. His action can clearly be seen in the early Church: in the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10), in the decisions made about emerging problems (Acts 15) and in the choice of regions and peoples to be evangelised (Acts 16:6ff). The Spirit worked through the apostles, but at the same time he was also at work in those who heard them: Through his action, the Good News takes shape in human minds and hearts and extends through history. In all of this it is the Holy Spirit who gives life.” (emphasis mine)

If you are reading Sowers today, it is because the Holy Spirit has been, and still is, working in you, and wants to work through you to shape the minds and hearts of your students and everyone else whose life you touch.

Ascension Thursday: The Holy Spirit, the powerhouse of mission

Just before his ascension into heaven, Jesus enjoined his apostles not to leave Jerusalem: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Pope Paul VI wrote: “Evangelisation will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descends on Jesus of Nazareth at the moment of His baptism when the voice of the Father – ‘This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17) – manifests in an external way the election of Jesus and His mission.

Jesus is ‘led by the Spirit’ to experience in the desert the decisive combat and the supreme test before beginning this mission (Matthew 4:1). It is ‘in the power of the Spirit’ (Luke 4:14) that he returns to Galilee and begins his preaching at Nazareth… To the disciples whom He was about to send forth He says, breathing on them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (John 20:22). (EN 75)

In the same way, “When the first evangelisers go down from Jerusalem, the Spirit becomes even more of a ‘guide’, helping them to choose both those to whom they are to go and the places to which their missionary journey is to take them. The working of the Spirit is manifested particularly in the impetus given to the mission which, in accordance with Christ’s words, spreads out from Jerusalem to all of Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest ends of the earth.” (EN 24)

Wherever the Good News was proclaimed, communities of faith quickly sprang up. As Pope St John Paul II pointed out in his 1990 Encyclical Redemptoris Missio (The Mission of Christ the Redeemer): “One of the central purposes of mission is to bring people together in hearing the Gospel, in fraternal communion, in prayer and in the Eucharist. To live in ‘fraternal communion’ (koinonia) means to be ‘of one heart and soul’ (Acts 4:32), establishing fellowship from every point of view: human, spiritual and material… The first communities, made up of ‘glad and generous hearts’ (Acts 2:46), were open and missionary: they enjoyed ‘favour with all the people’ (Acts 2:47). Even before activity, mission means witness and a way of life that shines out to others.”

This is the work of the Holy Spirit, who brings about communion in mission, mirroring the perfect communion of the Holy Trinity and their joint mission to “awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to know the Father and the one whom he has sent Jesus Christ” according to God’s plan for our salvation (CCC 684).

Today, he wants to be the powerhouse of our mission too. Will allow him to take charge?

Mary, Mother of the Church and St Joseph: Filled with the Holy Spirit

It is no coincidence that the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church takes place one day after Pentecost, this year on May 25.

Instituted by Pope Francis in 2018, the celebration emphasises Mary’s maternal care and continued intercession for the Church: having received the Holy Spirit already at the Annunciation, she was in the Upper Room praying for and with the apostles as they awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit. Together with Christ, she too will be with us ‘always, until the end of the age’.

So too will St Joseph, whom Pius IX had proclaimed the patron saint of the Universal Church in 1870. In 1889, Leo XIII proclaimed him patron saint of fathers and workers, and in 1955, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St Joseph the Worker on May 1. He too had been visited by the Spirit on various occasions after the Annunciation, and had obeyed the Spirit’s promptings in taking Mary as his wife, fleeing to and returning from Egypt after the Nativity, and providing for the Holy Family all his life.

Both Mary and Joseph, as good parents and educators, had taught Christ the Jewish holy scriptures and the teachings of the rabbis in the witness of their lives.

May we seek the intercession of Our Lady, St Joseph and the Holy Trinity as we continue our Communion In Mission as Catholic educators, and as missionaries in our families, schools and marketplaces, doing our bit to pray and work for peace in society and the world.

And may this liturgically rich month of May immerse us, and help us treasure even more the spiritual riches of our faith.


The Forgotten Friend by Geraint Wong

1 May 2026

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Categories: Reflections

The Forgotten Friend by Geraint Wong

So, we know our God is a Triune God. Now which Person of the Holy Trinity do you relate to most easily or most often?

Some of us may relate best to God the Father, whom I’m sure many of us picture as a kindly old bearded man. I, for one, have often imagined myself lying on the Father’s lap and feeling utterly comfortable and secure.

Or perhaps some of us relate best to Jesus, who is easy to picture as a friend who walks beside us or as a shepherd who leads us to rest in green pastures. Sometimes, when I am feeling down, I imagine Jesus coming up from behind, placing his arm round my neck and speaking words of affirmation and assurance, and instantly I experience his warmth and closeness.

But unlike the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, I suspect, can be somewhat difficult to relate to for many of us. And the symbols used of him in the Scriptures aren’t very helpful in this regard – a dove isn’t particularly cuddly, and the wind and fire of Pentecost can make him appear more dramatic or scary than approachable. This, unfortunately, often leads to the Holy Spirit being neglected – some may even forget he is God and refer to him as “it”.

Agent of Communion

True, we don’t often picture the Holy Spirit as a Person, the way we do the Father and the Son. At most, we may think of him as a bird flying overhead or an invisible force that moves within us and across the world.

Nevertheless, the truth is that the Holy Spirit manifests himself in the Body of Christ and in the world in tangible ways. See the community worshipping God together in a song of praise? That’s the Holy Spirit at work. See people using their gifts and talents to serve the community? There’s the Holy Spirit too. See estranged friends, relatives or colleagues being reconciled? Again, the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, the Holy Spirit plays a crucial role as the agent of communion within the Church, fostering unity among believers and enabling us to live as the Body of Christ. And the communion he brings about is multidimensional:

  • Communion with God and with neighbour: The Spirit breaks down barriers of sin and division and enables us to be drawn into deeper communion with God and with one another.
  • Eucharistic communion: The Spirit is intimately involved in the celebration of the Eucharist, through which we partake of the divine life and are united with Christ and with one another.
  • Communion in the Church’s life: The Spirit sustains the life of the Church by inspiring harmony in her teachings, sacramental life and hierarchical structure.

Communion in Mission

In the Church, we come from diverse backgrounds, and the Holy Spirit binds us together as one family in Christ. The unity we share in the Church is not uniformity – this is something I believe we all know but can easily forget when we have to work and interact with brothers and sisters who think or behave differently from us.

Instead, what the Spirit creates from our diversity is a rich tapestry of gifts and charisms working together for the common good:

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11–12 NRSV)

And in the body of Christ, “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (1 Corinthians 12:18 NRSV).

After teaching us that we are all members of the body of Christ, St Paul says, “Strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:31 NRSV) And then he goes on to talk about love:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–6 ESV)

We need to ask ourselves then: How much of this description applies to me? Am I patient and kind, or arrogant and rude? Do I insist on my own way, or do I rejoice with the truth? After all, the common good is what we are working for, not our own individual good; the body of Christ is all of us together, and we cannot say to anyone, ‘I have no need of you’ (1 Corinthians 12:21 NRSV); and the kingdom we are building is God’s, not ours.

Friendship with the Spirit

And here’s where the Holy Spirit comes in again. His grace is what we need to achieve this ideal state, to work with one another in true communion in mission. And in the process of fostering communion, he does his work in each of us personally, softening our hearts, moulding our minds, forming in us the image of Jesus.

This is just what I have experienced. As I look back over the years, I can see how far I have come – how much my outlook and my ways have changed. And every morning I still pray for the grace to cooperate with the Spirit’s grace as he continues to lead me and guide me and shape me.

We may not imagine ourselves snuggling up to him, but the Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life, is without doubt our true friend, our steadfast companion, our indispensable guide. If you have yet to discover the joys of his friendship, why not ask him for that gift today?

 

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (it will be opened) by Geraint Wong

15 April 2026

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Categories: Reflections

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (it will be opened) by Geraint Wong

In Aesop’s fable of Hercules and the Wagoner, when a man gets his wagon stuck in mud, instead of pushing it out himself, he kneels and prays to Hercules for aid. Hercules appears and replies: “Put your shoulder to the wheel, urge on your horses, and then call on Hercules to help!” The man does so, freeing the wagon easily. The moral of the fable is stated as “Heaven helps those who help themselves”.

Centuries later, this moral was borrowed into Christianity, and many parents, mine included, would often tell their children: “God helps those who help themselves.” No doubt this was meant to discourage laziness, but then where does prayer come in?

St Ignatius of Loyola had a much better maxim: “Work as if everything depends on you; pray as if everything depends on God.” It’s a call to live with both a work-attitude and a prayer-attitude at the same time: working in a spirit of prayerful dependence, and praying alongside responsible action.

Persistence in prayer

With this in mind, it is helpful to ask ourselves: How much do I pray? Do I turn to God in times of need? Do I deal with situations with God or without him? I suspect that many of us, having been taught that “God helps those who help themselves” and having been reminded in well-intentioned homilies not to treat God like a divine vending machine, may have developed the habit of relying on our own resources or on our families and friends in most circumstances instead of looking to God for help.

But is that what God expects of us? Listen to his lament: “I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name.” (Isaiah 65:1–2 NRSV)

Time and again, in both the Old and New Testaments, through prophets and psalmists and in the Person of Jesus, God invites, exhorts and even commands us to turn to him and ask him for whatever we need. Here are two instances:

  • “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalm 50[49]:15 NRSV)
  • “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” (John 16:24 NRSV)

Jesus even told the parables of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1–8) and the friend at midnight (Luke 11:5–13) to instruct us to keep asking God for what we need and not give up: “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.” (Luke 11:8 NRSV) So, yes, we have his permission to pester God with our requests!

Promises of answered prayer

Notice, too, that God doesn’t just ask us to call on him: he promises that our prayers will be answered. Here are a few more examples:

  • “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him.” (Psalm 91[90]:15 ESV)
  • “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7 ESV)
  • “I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24 NRSV)

At this point, I’m sure many of us will protest that this just doesn’t square with our own experience. As Pope Francis puts it: “How often have we asked and not received – we have all experienced this – how many times have we knocked and found a closed door?” Why is this so? On this side of Heaven, we can never be sure, of course.

But Pope Francis continues: “Jesus advises us, in those moments, to persist and to not give up. Prayer always transforms reality, always. If things around us do not change, at least we change; our heart changes… We can be certain that God will respond… He promised us this: he is not like a father who gives a serpent instead of a fish.” (General Audience, 9 Jan 2019)

I can testify that I have had so many of my prayer requests fulfilled time and again, from the biggest matters to the smallest details like finding a parking space in a crowded car park (“Hail, Mary, full of grace, get for me a parking space!”). And whenever my prayer wasn’t answered in the way I wanted, I always found my heart and my perspective changed. In the process, I have gradually become more acquainted with the way God works – and that growth in my relationship with him is ultimately the most important, because that’s what prayer is really about, isn’t it?

Perseverance in hope

What we need then is an attitude of persistence in prayer and hope in God’s faithfulness to his promises. And this hope, as we reflected during the Jubilee last year, will not disappoint us, “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5 ESV). And remember that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26–27 ESV)

And we will pray, and pray persistently, knowing that God is our loving and providential Father, who only desires the best for us. But we also pray with humility, not with an attitude of entitlement or presumption, because, after all, God is God and we are not, and whatever wisdom we may claim to have is definitely no match for his.

St John Paul II says: “I plead with you – never, ever give up on hope; never doubt, never tire and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.” Whenever we find ourselves in any need, no matter how big or small, let’s not rely on human strength alone. Let’s turn to God and pray – persistently. Because the truth, as I have learnt from my own experience, is that God helps those who CANNOT help themselves. Thanks be to God for that!

Photo: Canva Pro

A Seed Planted, A Journey of Faith Begins by Nick Chui and Brandon Law

1 April 2026

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Categories: Reflections

A Seed Planted, A Journey of Faith Begins by Nick Chui and Brandon Law

“Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity.” This quote from the movie Gladiator always struck me as very Christian. Maximus the gladiator was a pagan, yet he had intuited that actions on earth do matter.

In some way, this was also my own teaching motto.

“What I teach in time echoes in eternity.” And as a Catholic educator, this is even more so in the light of the Resurrection.

When our Lord rose from the dead, he inaugurates the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth, where every tear would be wiped away.

In the Dec 2025 issue of the Sowers, I shared about how as a Catholic educator, the deepest joy would be seeing your former students find their direction in life, and come to accept Jesus Christ as the way, truth and life.

Fast forward to April 2026, and I find myself with the immense privilege of witnessing, as his godfather, my ex-student Brandon Augustine Law, accepting Christ and being baptised at the Easter Vigil.

What follows is his own reflection on the mystery of the Resurrection in the light of his own journey to accepting Christ.

May it be a source of consolation and inspiration to my fellow Catholic educators!

Initial disbelief and error

Resurrection, or delusion? Before my conversion, I certainly felt it was the latter. I did think that the man Jesus Christ taught some relevant moral lessons, but he could not possibly have been divine. That, I chalked up to delusion. It proved beneficial to occasionally invoke some of his teachings. I sometimes felt the need to ‘turn the other cheek,’ or ‘go the extra mile,’ but saying this man rose from the dead? That would be too far.

Religion seemed to me to be a tool for maintaining order, and I felt I did not need to comply. In my arrogance, I believed that God spoke some truth about morality but somehow lied about who he was; I took from Christianity what was expedient to myself and discarded the rest as make-believe. In my blindness I could not see that I was the one making up my beliefs. As the Psalmist writes: My heart overflowed with follies, and I set my mouth against the heavens.

I observed devout Christians living out the Catholic faith in the hope of a resurrection that, I believed, would not come, and I could not help but find it foolish. Do they not see how they are being controlled? Have they not a mind of their own? My modern sensibilities could not process true piety.

Absurdity to possibility

One day, I got into a discussion with a Christian friend. We were talking about what it meant to be a ‘good person’. To me it was uncontroversial to call my friends ‘good people’ whereas this Christian seemed adamant in his view that no one was good. “Jesus himself said so,” I remember him telling me.

I was incredulous. We see good people around us all the time, and even though we might class some under ‘bad’, surely saying that no one is good is too extreme.

The position is, by worldly standards, a radical one. But this seemingly untenable – and almost provocative – statement that no one is good somehow acted as a catalyst to awaken me from my slumber:

It made me realise I was a sinner.

Of course this didn’t happen overnight, and I did mull over it for quite a while. I hadn’t thought I was perfect, but I couldn’t have been that bad. Then I realised what the more untenable position was: That one could be without sin.

Believing that I was good enough, and without belief in the promise of the Resurrection, I had really arrogated to myself sanction to do as I pleased. You only live once, I thought, and so what a waste it would be to glorify God instead of being freed from the absurdity of religion. I had witnessed true devotion, but to me it seemed to be in vain that they kept their hearts clean and washed their hands in innocence.

Yet from this Copernican Revolution of sorts, the absurdity and delusion of my friend’s position overturned my “enlightened” worldview; I turned out to be the absurd and deluded one.

No one is good. Those were indeed the words of our Saviour. But that alone would be incomplete, for he followed that with but God alone.

If I am not a good person – or rather: If I am with sin, how might I be saved? No longer some absurd delusion, my heart was stirred to explore this source of goodness, the Good itself. This would soon lead me to the Good News, and our Lord’s Resurrection.

Confronting my error

And so, it took this work of God for me to confront the depths of my error. I saw that I was in fact creating my own truth by picking and choosing what I liked and disliked about God. I surely cannot be said to be coming to truth itself. Compelled to see who Jesus Christ really said he was, I turned to Scripture and there I found my answer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

In that moment, Jesus himself spoke to me. He was not merely an enlightened teacher with a few teachings that are relevant to our times, nor was he simply a prophet of God whose words we try to superimpose onto our worldview. He simply is. The same God who spoke to Moses at the burning bush now spoke to me in the same way. The same God who was in the beginning. Who else could have saved me from my error, and showed me the truth? For indeed he is Truth itself, he who is.

This is the true Jesus Christ, who said he rose again in the flesh, and who has overcome the world. As it turned out, I really was the one that had believed in delusions. These fantasies by which I, in deciding on what is good by my standards, usurped the proper place of the Creator. By an act of God, I was made to confront the truth of the Resurrection.

The RCIA journey; the mercy of God

I continued to pursue this truth where it led, and feeling a real desire to be baptised into the Catholic Church, I began my RCIA journey. Even though I sometimes found the process unnecessarily drawn-out, I gradually came to appreciate the intentional symbolism behind the process that would culminate at Easter. Of course, not without the help of my sponsor and godparent, Mr Nick Chui throughout.

The Liturgical Calendar would play an important role in determining the direction of my life, especially spiritually: During Ordinary Time, as focus was placed on the public life and ministry of Jesus Christ, my trust in God grew steadily. I pondered over the prophecies about the coming of our Lord in the flesh, and reflected on his Second Coming during Advent, and contemplated the mystery of the Incarnation during Christmastide. During Lent, I do penance and prepare for Good Friday and the festivities of Easter, along with my own baptism. As the faith became a part of my daily life, what was once simply propositional, having to do with statements and logic, has become something profoundly real to me.

As Easter approaches, I am confronted with the great mercy that God has shown me as I contemplate the Resurrection. Not simply as we affirm in the Creed, or read in Scripture, but in the true realisation of God’s immeasurable love for us:

That he gave his only Son, so that we may have eternal life. That, through our baptism, we may be united with Christ, such that we may be united with him in a resurrection like his. The fact that Christ truly rose from the dead, without which our faith is futile. I look back on the views I held before, as I reflect on the words of the Psalmist:

 

Truly you set them in slippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors.

They are like a dream when one awakes,

on awaking you despise their phantoms.

 

This is the Psalmist’s perceived end of those who set their mouths against the heavens. They perish like a fleeting dream, temporal and impermanent, for God puts an end to those who are false to him. I am filled with immense gratitude for the gift of faith, as I now recall the extent of my error.

My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

How else can God be our portion forever, except if we may enjoy a resurrection like his? How else can we make him our refuge, if not in hope of our resurrection, when we see his face? I pray that I do not envy the prosperity of the wicked, but that I be near to God.

For me, the mystery of the Resurrection, and indeed the entire Paschal mystery, is no longer something that is ‘too good to be true,’ nor is it mere delusion to keep society functioning. In fact, the world appears to function at its best when the Gospel is rejected, and we give ourselves sanction to do as we please. To me, the Resurrection is historical truth, and a mercy that God has shown to me, a sinner. I thank God for my faith, for rescuing me from error, and for his death and resurrection. Amen

They Are God’s Children By Donna Koh

15 March 2026

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Categories: Reflections

They Are God’s Children By Donna Koh

In school, major and difficult decisions often come down to the answer to this question:
“What if this were your child?” Multiple opinions are offered in response, and I am struck
by how everyone makes a concerted effort to consider the “best interest” of the child.
Yet I often wonder about the way this question is naturally exclusive; it implies that
wearing the parent hat leads to the best decisions for the child, that the educator’s hat
is not as good. Even worse when teachers make the conciliatory disclaimer of
“I am not a parent, so…”, as if implying that the opinion and decision may not be as
thoughtful, or well-intentioned.

What if this is not about good, better and best, but that we have different ideas of what
“best” means? What if we accepted that we all want the absolute best for young people,
and this necessitates a common vision and mission?I think this starts with understanding that children are not ours to influence at will,
nor are they even ours to begin with; they are God’s children. Shaped by learned
experience of how one can survive and succeed in a specific context or society,
adults recite tips, adages and cautionary tales to steer young people in the direction
we deem necessary, safe, best.

Affected by personal circumstances, relationships, wounds, we transfer our own
worldview and impressions to the young. What a huge undertaking it is to have young
people in our care; but also, what an enormous privilege it is to be called to this ministry
(in more ways than one) of educating, and be able to share who and what we are with
the young people we encounter.

Most importantly, we are called to share who God is with our young people, how He
sees and loves His children, and how they can make the world a little more like the
one Christ came to build.

Catholic schools are special. While curriculum – apart from Religious Education –
is secular, the school culture is imbued with a Catholic ethos. And what does that
look like?

It means respecting every child’s dignity by accepting their uniqueness as a human
being who is a work in progress; forming them as a whole human person by showing
them how to serve and not just to achieve, and how to flourish and not just to survive.
It means encouraging them to pursue, and honour, their God-given gifts and talents
even if these are not money-making endeavours.

And it is honestly not enough for schools and parents to believe and practice this
separately. When we echo the same sentiments – not what we each desire as a separate
entity, but what God desires – the whole village educates the child together, united in
vision and mission.

Almost a decade ago, students from my Secondary Four Literature class gave me two
onions for my Teacher’s Day gift. They were referencing the poem Valentine by
Carol Ann Duffy that we had analysed in class together, in which the speaker presents
an onion to her partner as a Valentine’s Day gift.

We had discussed the complexity, ugliness and pain of authentic, raw love,
juxtaposed against the romantic, materialistic, showy love that society has conditioned
us to desire. We talked about the examples of ‘onion love’ we know in real life;
friendship and its patient steadiness as well as marriage and its commitment through
perseverance came up, as did sacrifice and unconditional love through Christ’s
crucifixion.

Handwritten notes aside, I have never treasured a Teacher’s Day gift more, and only
wish I could have preserved the two vegetables; I was so heartened by how sensible
my students were, and hopeful that they will continue to be exposed to, and practise,
love that is life-giving.

(Two onions, from Teacher’s Day in 2017)

Life-giving love is exceptionally challenging when the pace of life is fast, vulnerability
is contained, and efficiency goals put human-centricity on the back burner. But if our
agendas were more God-centred, and focused on what we know is timeless and
enduring, imagine the ways our young people would flourish!

During one of my recent (and frequent) angst-ridden rants about people’s
overreliance on Artificial Intelligence and its ‘productivity-enhancing’ benefits,
someone suggested that I “quietly throw sand in the gears” and never have I ever felt
more inspired to start a revolution, the kind where I say things like:

Stop for a moment. How does God see this world and His creation?
What ought we to do in this situation?
Shall we consider at what cost and to whose detriment this is?
Who did God make you to be?
What can you do for God and His people?

And I wonder what would happen if we all came together to do the same. Boldly.

 

Communion In Mission: One In Christ Branches of the True Vine By Michelle Tan

1 March 2026

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Categories: Reflections

Communion In Mission: One In Christ Branches of the True Vine By Michelle Tan

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit… Abide in me as I
abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them
bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing… If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love…
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
(John 15:1–9, 16)

This March 2026 we find ourselves in last few days of the Lunar New Year, and almost two
weeks into the season of Lent.

In the preceding editions of Sowers, we have been highlighting the urgency of being on
mission in our Catholic schools – anchored on the 5 Essential Marks of Catholic Schools1 –
in Communion with God, his Church, and with each other.

Essential Mark 3 – Animated by Communion and Community – is very much aligned to the
Singapore Roman Catholic Archdiocesan vision of a vibrant, evangelising and missionary
Church, built upon the theme Communion in Mission.

As Archbishop Michael Miller, author of The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools (in
which the 5 Essential Marks are outlined) aptly puts it, “This communal dimension is rooted
both in the social nature of the human person and in the reality of the Church as the home
and school of communion.”

One in Christ, United in Mission

The Holy Spirit seems to be leading the Church in the direction of unity in community for
mission: on 25 January 2026 Pope Leo XIV released his message for the 100th World
Mission Sunday which falls on 18 October this year.

A true missionary himself, his opening words were:

“I have chosen the theme One in Christ, united in mission. Following the Jubilee
Year, I wish to encourage the whole Church to continue its missionary journey with joy and
zeal in the Holy Spirit. This requires hearts united in Christ, reconciled communities and, in
everyone, a willingness to cooperate with generosity and trust.”

It is fitting, in this holy season of Lent when all Catholics are invited to pray, repent and
be more charitable, that we examine how we can be more united in Christ, and more
reconciled to and more generous with one another, for the purpose of our mission as
Catholic educators in our diocese.

1. Abiding in Christ the True Vine

Elaborating on his chosen World Mission Sunday theme, Pope Leo continued:

“The mystery of union with Christ lies at the heart of mission…. Being a Christian is not
primarily about practices or ideas; it is a life in union with Christ, in which we share in his
filial relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit. It means abiding in Christ, like branches
on the vine (John 15:4), immersed in the life of the Trinity. This union gives rise to mutual
communion among believers and is the source of all missionary fruitfulness.”

How do we grow in communion with Christ and each other? Let us consider in more detail
the parable of the vine and the branches.

Our parishes and our school communities are like vineyards, and each of us a vine, with our
own ordered place in the disorderliness of the world.

Though we may often forget it, Christ the true vine is always abiding with us, his branches.
In fact, he is the trunk from which draw the graces sustaining our spiritual lives, rooting
us solidly in the fertile soil of the Word of God, and filling us with the water of the Holy
Spirit.

All we are asked to do is simply be, right where we are, at his side, reaching out towards
the light of the Son above, allowing ourselves to undergo the natural spiritual photosynthesis
by which we grow and mature enough to bear fruit for the Kingdom.

The true vine does not abide in us only if we cut ourselves off from him. And as we know
from nature, any branch that is not connected to the main plant withers and dies.

2. Abiding in Communion with Fellow Vines

No man is an island. We were created in the image and likeness of the Trinitarian God, to
live in community, cooperating and collaborating with one another in the communion of
love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Vines, by nature, cling to any means of support they can to reach the sun. Thus, vine-growers
train their vines on a network of trellises designed to maximise the productivity and long-term
health of the vines, and to make sure they do not become entangled with each other.

In the same way, we too have been gifted with the perfect support system for our spiritual
vines by the divine vine-grower. He has given us the Church, the Word of God and the
Sacraments in and through which we can flourish and grow as communities of faith.

We are assured of Christ’s intercession for us. Pope Leo wrote in his Mission Sunday message:

“Before his Passion, Jesus prayed to the Father, ‘that they may all be one. As you, Father,
are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us’ (John 17:21). These words reveal Jesus’
deepest desire, as well as the identity of the Church as a community of his disciples. That is,
a communion that flows from the Trinity, and continues to be sustained by the Trinity; a
communion at the service of fraternity among all human beings and harmony with all creation.”

If we find a lack of support from our ‘trellis’, it may be because the ‘vines’ – including ourselves –
are not at “the service of fraternity” with each other, jostling for space and exposure to the Light
to the detriment of others.

Thus, Pope Leo emphasized:

“In this context, the Church’s primary missionary responsibility is to renew and sustain
spiritual and fraternal unity among its members. In many situations, we encounter conflicts,
polarization, misunderstandings and a lack of mutual trust. When this occurs even within our
communities, it undermines our witness. The evangelizing mission that Christ entrusted to his
disciples requires, above all, hearts that are reconciled and eager for communion.”

3. Love, the Heart of Communion

If the heart of mission is communion, then the heart of communion is love.

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
(John 15:9–10)

We all know this is easier said than done – we probably find it more agreeable to love God than
to love our neighbours as God has loved them. How can we bring ourselves to actively love the
persons whom the Lord sends to be the thorns in our flesh and the splinters in our eyes?

Perhaps we could start small. St Teresa of Calcutta said, “We cannot all do great things,
but we can do small things with great love.”

Quoting St John Paul II in his Mission Sunday message, Pope Leo wrote: “Communion represents
both the source and the fruit of mission.”

Before vines bear fruit, they flower. The inflorescences of grapevines are tiny and totally
unremarkable in appearance, yet from these humble beginnings are formed the luscious fruit that we so enjoy – if the vines remain healthy i.e. grafted to the master vine.

This Lent, perhaps we could start in small ways, not only to abide in Christ through prayer,
but also to start doing little acts of love.

In his 2026 Lenten Message, Pope Leo invites us to:

  • Be more prepared to listen to others:
    “The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into relationship
    with someone. In revealing himself to Moses in the burning bush, God himself teaches us that
    listening is one of his defining characteristics: ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are
    in Egypt; I have heard their cry’ (Exodus 3:7).”
  • Fast from hurtful words:
    “Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining
    from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead,
    let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our
    friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities.”
  • Strive to do the above together:
    “Lent emphasizes the communal aspect of listening to the word and fasting… For example, the Book
    of Nehemiah recounts how the people gathered to listen to the public reading of the Law, preparing
    to profess their faith and worship through fasting, so as to renew the covenant with God (cf. 9:1-3).
    Likewise, our parishes, families, ecclesial groups and religious communities are called to undertake
    a shared journey during Lent.” So are our Catholic schools. For example, this Lent, ACCS is
    collaborating with Assumption English School and St Joseph’s Institution to organise a Lenten
    Programme for upper primary students of St Anthony’s Primary and De La Salle School on 10 March.

If we strive to start small, even with faith as tiny as a mustard seed, growth is still possible. Like the
first buds of the grapevine, such beginnings can one day bear fruit — good fruit. Through this fruit,
those around us, especially our non-Catholic students, may savour its goodness and come to “taste
and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). These fruits can endure, for the seeds of faith they
contain may take root, grow, and become new vines themselves when sown in fertile soil.

And if we have already been bearing fruit, no matter how small our vine or feeble our yield seems to
us, our heavenly Father the vine-grower continues to gently prune us as friends and disciples – not
as servants – so that our harvest will be ever more bountiful for the glory of his name.

So, this Lent, let us always remember that, apart from the Lord, we can do nothing, but with him,
anything and everything is possible.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

 

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