Are You as Courageous And as Determined As St Therese of Lisieux?

On Saturday, 13th July 2019, the Single Working Adults Group (SWAG) of Jesus Caritas Church, Kepong and Chapel of Kristus Aman, TTDI visited the Church of St Theresa, Nilai as part of the Extraordinary Missionary Year 2019.

The Church of St Theresa, Nilai was designated by Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur as the pilgrimage church for the Extraordinary Mission Year 2019 due to St Theresa’s influence on the church through her writings and as a doctor of the Church and also due to her contemplative prayer life.

8 young adults from SWAG JCC and KA came together to participate in the evening pilgrimage which was held after the 6pm sunset mass at Church of St Theresa. The young pilgrims were welcomed by Fr Eugene Benedict, the parish priest of the Church of St Theresa, Nilai. They were brought up to the main church and were privileged to have a short session which included 5 minutes of meditation with Fr Eugene Fernandez, CSsR from OMPH Church, Ipoh Garden.

The young pilgrims were also privileged to have animated the 6pm sunset mass at St Theresa’s Church, Nilai which was celebrated by Fr Eugene Fernandez, CSsR. They helped out in various areas such as readings, offertory and responsorial psalm. After mass, they took a group photo at the altar and then adjourned to the canteen for a lovely home-cooked dinner prepared by St Theresa Church’s parishioners.

After dinner, the pilgrims were led by Fr Eugene Benedict on a pilgrimage focused on St Therese’s life. The pilgrimage consists of 5 stations; arrayed around St Theresa’s Pastoral Centre, the church compound, the old church ruins and finally, the main church. Fr Eugene Benedict gave a great description of each station and presented in a manner which was very engaging.

The young pilgrims closed off the 5 stations by having a casual sit-around with Fr Eugene Benedict, and were also treated to ice cream. We thanked him for his dedication to the parish and for making it such an amazing pilgrimage.

Recently, Fr Eugene Benedict celebrated his 30th Sacerdotal Anniversary (on 3rd July). We took the opportunity to also thank him for his dedication and faithfulness to the priesthood, his service to the parish and to the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur on the whole. Some in the group also fondly reminisced the time when Fr Eugene had served in Jesus Caritas Church and Chapel of Kristus Aman.

Overall, it was an amazing pilgrimage and those who came, returned home with their own encounters/experiences of St Therese. Thank you also to the committee members who had organized this pilgrimage to Nilai.