Pentecost

Journal #77

Finally, I think my busy days and tight schedule is over now. The culmination point was today, when I received my confirmation sacrament at St. Therese Church in Menteng area.

Yesterday was quite historical day in my life. I (as a member of the choir) sang at one of my friend’s wedding in the morning, and then went to Cathedral for the 3rd time in my life. The architecture (inside the cathedral) was marvelous. It was also my first time attending a mass at cathedral, not to mention a mass that was presented by the Archbishop himself. Wow… I attended the mass and then got a chance to shake hands with the archbishop, which also happened to be the Cardinal of Catholic church in Indonesia…. Words can’t describe how I felt.. I could only try to savor each moment I experienced. I, Eddy, Devi, Ladies, Ancie, Christine, Donna, Joseph and Finky attended the mass. After the mass, I attended another mass, a closure for Novena prayer and also to celebrate Pentecost. The pastor gave a very good sermon. And then after that went to the church activity hall and attended the “sarasehan” (dunno how to say it in English..;p). We (me, Ladies, Christine, Ancie n Joseph) were very late, so we only got the chance to eat….lolzzzz. After that we went to drop Ladies off at Shekinah. Stopped by there for a while n then went back home.

Today woke up early coz I wanted to confess my sins to the pastor. Eddy was already with the pastor, so I hurried up. After that I went back home n continued my sleep…just a lil bit.. at almost 12 PM I went to Devi’s house to pick up her n Eddy, who was already there. We went to St. Therese church n arrived there at 12.40 sth PM. Waited at St. Mary cave; took some pictures and then at around 1 PM we went inside. Eddy n me sat in the front rows while Devi, the photographer, sat at the back rows. The mass began at 2 PM and when the time for confirmation to be given came, Devi did her job well. She took our pictures and recorded when we received the oil, as a symbol that we receive Holy Spirit. The mass ended at 3.30 PM took some pictures and I got a sight of that pretty girl from St. Andreas parish..;p. After that the three of us went to Senayan Indoor Tennis stadium to attend 200 years Catholic Church in Jakarta (The Archdiocese of Jakarta) and 30 years Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement celebration. The guest star was Susan Bachtiar…and she was far more beautiful in person. She’s so slim, elegant and alluring. Saw Rhea on the 2nd row, and near the end of the celebration, her family was given chance to stand on the stage. Her family was a good role model for catholic family. The celebration ended at almost 6 PM. After that there was a mass, but I decided not to attend. If I had attended it, it would have been my 4th mass in the last 36 hours… I already broke my own record for mass attendance. So we went home. There were additional passengers, Joseph, Donna n Finky.

There was a little “miracle” happened. My car locks was jammed when we arrived at Indoor Tennis stadium. I couldn’t lock or unlock using the alarm remote control. I couldn’t even lock or unlock them manually from the driver side lock. I had to lock the car doors one by one. *sigh….. but when we wanted to go home and I tried to lock the door manually from the driver side, it worked. The central lock worked. I didn’t how, but it just worked. Thank God. N then I tested the alarm remote control and it also worked. The doors can be locked/unlocked smoothly and the back left door which was sometimes jammed worked perfectly. Wow…. It’s remarkable.

We went to eat fried rice near our parish church. We had so much laughter while we’re eating. There’re too many things that made us laugh out loud. It was an unforgettable moment. That dinner can be said (quite officially) close the busy days I’ve had. Now I can relax a bit from the church activities.

I’m planning to change my display name on friendster with my confirmation sacrament name, Alexius. I’ve already thought to use this name not so long after I got baptized. When I was attending weekly mass, I saw a military soldier’s name tag, which was Alexius. I was intrigued, but I only kept it in my heart. And then when I started to search for confirmation sacrament name, I instantly remembered Alexius. I was considering some other names and the last two candidates were Alexius and Ambrosius (Ambrose in English). But since I felt that I had some kind of bond with the name Alexius, I chose it. Alexius also known as Alexis;The Man of God. Alexius biography can be read here.

Well I guess that’s all for now. A new day has come (literally, cause now it’s 15 past 12). I do hope I can live up the name I chose. Happy Pentecost. May The Holy Spirit burn our heart, renew our strength and enable us to share God’s love to others, to serve Him in every way we can, so there’ll be peace here on earth. Let His kingdom come. GBU Abundantly…