aka 15th Ex-Co update Week #1.

Well, it is week #1, even though we only became the 15th Ex-Co last Wednesday night.

This past Saturday was the Ex-Co Day of Recollection, a time-honoured annual tradition that sees the outgoing Ex-Co (in our case the 14th) preparing a day of prayer, food and fellowship to give the incoming Ex-Co (i.e. us) a chance to bond with one another and to be ready for their year-long service as members of the CSA Executive Committee.

The day really began with lunch at Jurong Point. I was glad that most of my Ex-Co agreed to meet up. I had been worried that the 11.30am meeting time would have been too difficult for many, especially, those who, like me lived on the other end of the island (it turns out I was not the only late one). But we managed to spend a good 45 minutes over lunch, just chatting and getting to know one another, which I felt was the real reason why I got all of us to meet.

We then headed down at 12.30pm to the Church of St Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok. The bus ride had been awkward, to say the least. I guess we were all bursting with silent excitement, yet were somehow able to keep ourselves from going crazy. But when we got off SBS service 174, I guess you could say that was when the fun began. We huddled noisely, glad that the rain had lightened up, and headed to the main church. I gave Gregory Loo, my Mass Officer, a quick rundown of the area - it was the first time he’d been to the parish, and soon, it was time for the program proper to start.

(Heading down to the San Damiano Friary always felt like a homecoming, somehow. It was originally built to house the Sisters from the Order of St Clare, but as they had not been given permission to start a chapter here, it was eventually turned into the living quarters of the Franciscan Friars. Before they moved in, however, there was one Vocation Weekend that I attended last year, and thus became one of the first to actually stay in the building.)

But anyway, I digress. The programme organised by the 14th Ex-Co began with an opening prayer and then we played several games and sang a couple of songs that were supposed to help us settle in. “Supposed”, being the keyword, of course. Having attended several CSA activities in the past couple of months, I dare say I’m feeling too old for some games. I mean, I turn 23 this year! We then participated in a “role-play” of sorts that tried to teach us the importance of living up to your responsibilities and commitments, because everyone’s actions do have repercussions on others.

After all that, we started to get down to the serious stuff (finally! I thought). It started with a sharing by Ria, followed by one from Dominic. By this time, Lisa was already so overwhelmed with emotion that she started tearing, and I guess that triggered me, because my eyes were wet by the time Dom had finished. And then it was time for my predecessor, Agustin, who shared about the struggles that her Ex-Co faced. As I looked around at my ex-co’s faces, it was hard to imagine what was going through their minds. I wasn’t sure if they knew the whole story about what happened behind the scenes, or even if they did, if they could empathise. Nonetheless, it was a welcome reminder that the journey as an Ex-Co isn’t easy.

The 15th Ex-Co was then prayed over by members of the 14th, and I received the vision of St Peter’s lack of faith, as told in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (Chapter 14, Verses 22-34). How apt, I thought. Then the Lord spoke to me in the words of the song - “If you pass through raging waters, in the sea you shall not drown… Be not afraid”. Wow. Talk about being apt.

But that wasn’t enough convincing from the Lord, oh no… The prayer session was followed by a short address by Father Clifford Augustine, who is our chaplain and spiritual director. And then, we headed down to the church building for Mass. The Gospel Readings also came from Matthew (Chapter 16, Verses 13-20).

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

And I knew that doing this - being a part of the 15th Ex-Co - was part of His Will.