in memory: elaine hoo

elaine,

we organised a memorial service for you this evening. your friends from afar joined us to remember the life you shared with us. your brother and mother flew in today from east malaysia. mom wept, her grief heavy & distraught, deepened with every thought of you. your brother shared the last stages of your journey with cancer. it came so suddenly. you left without us knowing. you kept faith till the end.

elaine, here was a simple service you wanted; we picked your favourite hymns-anthony on the keyboard, dennis with guitar and viktor with violin. kk shared your life in a eulogy. among your friends and family were buddhists, free-thinkers, presbyterians, methodists. it didn't matter...the chapel bore the loss and silence. we prayed with our Lord to support your brother and mother who still mourn for you. may your eternal rest in Christ give courage, comfort us on our journey home. till we meet again...

with love from 5th canticle choir
st mary of the angels


O GOD YOU SEARCH ME

O God, you search me and you know me.
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.
When I walk or lie down you are before me:
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.

You know my resting and my rising.
You discern my purpose from afar,
And with love everlasting you besiege me:
In every moment of life or death, you are.

Before a word is on my tongue, Lord
You have known its meaning through and through,
You are with me beyond my understanding.
God of my present, my past and future too.

Although your spirit is upon me,
Still i search for shelter from your light.
There is nowhere on earth i can escape you.
Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.

For you created me and shaped me,
Gave me life within my mother's womb.
For the wonder of who I am I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.

B Farrell (adapted from psalm 139)

The Annunciation (luke 1: 26-38)

Christmas...Cristesmessa -Festival of Christ-old english derivative- God becoming Man. God chose to be born of a Woman. The same God who chose a simple poor person to bear Him amid the squalor and shame of pre-marital birth. may the same canticle reach the lives of people everywhere who struggle with abandonment, confusion and possible loss on their journey this time of the year.


Cast from afar before the stones were born
And rain had rinsed the darkess for colour,
The words have waited for the hunger in her
To become the silence where they could form.

The day's last light frames her by the window,
A young woman with distance in her gaze,
She could never imagine the surprise
That is hovering over her life now.

The sentence awakens like a raven,
Fluttering the dark, opening her heart
To nest the voice that first whispered the earth
From dream into wind, stone, sky and ocean.

She offers to mother the shadow's child;
Her untouched life becoming wild inside.

by john o' donohue

sense, instinct & mystery

I viewed these clips some years back. Left me in awe. Distorted my entire understanding of what constitues predator-prey relationships as it was traditionally taught in school. A recent foray into Masson's (1995) seminal work into animal emotions renewed my interest in ethology...a subject i would pursue if i were to relive my undergraduate journey again...this quote by the author merits a second thought...


"Animals cry. at least, they vocalize pain or distress and in many cases seem to call for help. Most people believe, therefore, that animals can be unhappy and also that they have such primal feelings as happiness, anger or fear...But there is a tremendous gap between the commonsense viewpoint and that of official science on this subject. By dint of rigorous training and great efforts of the mind, most modern scientists -- especially those who study the behaviour of animals -- have succeeded in becoming blind to these matters...Many scientists have avoided thinking about the feelings of animals because they have been frightened -- and realistically so--of being accused of anthropomorphism...If that can be disposed of as a false criticism, then the study of animal emotions can proceed on a scientific basis, freed from bogus fear."

(prologue to masson's text)

at last...