Church of St Michael (1890)
24 Church Road, 30300 Ipoh, Perak
T: 05-2540176
F: 05-2415437
email: smcipoh@gmail.com
Parish Priest : Msgr Stephen Liew
Assistant Parish Priest: Rev Anthony Chong
Sat. Sunset Mass : 7.00 pm (English)
Sunday Masses :
8.00 am English
10.00 am Mandarin
5.30 pm English
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Celebration draws parallels to Christianity |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on Feb 22 2011 |
20 February 2011
IPOH: Chinese New Year, which traditionally marks the liberation of the Chinese people from an evil beast, should also remind Christians of the Salvation Story, since Jesus Christ liberated us from the power of sin. Like the reunion dinner each family attends, Christians celebrate a reunion with the Lord every Sunday at Mass, parish priest of St Michael’s church, Msgr Stephen Liew said.
Msgr Liew said this during his homily at the Chinese New Year bilingual Mass at SMC. The Mass was celebrated by Msgr Liew and concelebrated by assistant parish priest Fr Anthony Chong. In explaining the meaning of certain Chinese traditions like why the Chinese love wearing the colour red, playing with fire crackers and lighting red lanterns, Msgr Liew pointed out similarities in the reasons for the celebrations.
Over thousands of years, the celebrations by the Chinese to mark their liberation from the beast or nien was often thought to be simply that — red colour because the beast was scared of the sight of red as it resembled blood, and noisy firecrackers as it chased evil away. A reunion dinner followed in celebration when the beast was driven away. In the salvation story the people of God were saved from the angel of death who passed over them when they smeared the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. “We are fortunate because we believe in Jesus Christ and we know the power of Jesus who saves us, so we are invited to share this with all those who do not know Him.
“Help them to see that the Red colour put up is a celebration of Jesus, the salvation of the world and His saving power. “We are invited to share this privilege with those who do not know Jesus, and perhaps we can do this during Chinese New Year. Go out to our Chinese friends and tell them of how the lanterns and red colours are connected to Christianity and the meaning of salvation from the power of evil through Jesus Christ.
“We can’t play firecrackers now, as in the old tradition, but we can tell them of the other aspects such as how the sound of fire crackers resemble the sounds of worship at every Mass,” he said. The reunion dinner was a meal together for them but for us Christians, the Mass is the reunion of people partaking in the celebration of the Eucharist. “As a people of God we are lanterns (of Christ) to emit his light to others,” he said. After the homily the rite of reverence began. A scripture reading on how our faith was passed down the generations, was reflected upon before the rite of reverence.
Three generations of a family, came forward to bow in reverence and present gifts. The congregation together with Msgr Liew and Fr Anthony Chong gave three bows in reverence to ancestors who taught us our faith, and the congregation then bowed towards the priests before bowing towards each other. After Mass, Chinese mandarin oranges were blessed for distribution to the people.
Hospitality ministers distributed angpows to the crowd and as the Chinese choir sang Chinese new year songs, the people happily joined in, clapping their hands in joy. Outside the church, two “lions” danced, fascinating the crowd as they welcomed in the Lunar Year of the Rabbit. Fr Anthony Chong received a pomelo from the lion’s mouth. There were squeals of laughter and excitement as the lions pranced around and flung oranges into the crowd. Many people stayed back to wish the priests and each other a Happy Chinese New Year.
Last changed: Feb 22 2011 at 2:44 PM
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