Our encounter with the risen Lord is never one by chance but is always a curated opportunity in hope that His gaze and ours meet.
Our encounter with the risen Lord is never one by chance but is always a curated opportunity in hope that His gaze and ours meet. The story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman is an example of a curated opportunity using Jacob’s well as a point of convergence. Similarly, Jesus used dinner as a point of convergence and opportunity for fellowship and radical hospitality.
We, as co-responsible and co-workers in the mission of Jesus, are called to follow in his creative and pastoral process of listening by encountering, dialoguing and discerning with others. Sometimes these points of convergence take the form of camps and retreats, assemblies and meetings, renewal experiences and devotional practices. Other times, these points of convergence happen during teh tarik sessions, personal direction and the liturgy. The Perjalanan SALIB is another example of a creative point of convergence. It is our pastoral attempt to facilitate an occasion of opportunity between the faithful and Jesus, the living water.
While the Perjalanan SALIB may have come to a close with the Malaysia Pastoral Convention 2026 (MPC2026), as a missionary Church we will continue to facilitate occasions of opportunity, new and old, creative and rooted in reality, visible and available especially to the margins and when possible, inculturation of the Gospel. Hence, we continue in the same Spirit with the implementation of the MPC2026 to equip ourselves and others for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13).
Just as how the nine SALIBs of the Perjalanan SALIB have journeyed across all nine dioceses in Malaysia unifying the Catholic Church of Malaysia with a common good, the participants of the MPC2026 return to their dioceses carrying a spiritual SALIB bearing the joys and blessings, anxieties and struggles but most importantly the hopes and aspirations of the assembly. This spiritual SALIB must be duplicated and shared with everyone, moving from the center to the peripheries. This is the two-fold nature of the Perjalanan SALIB: the journey of the physical SALIB into our hearts and the journey of the spiritual SALIB from one heart to another.
Therefore, allow your experience of the Perjalanan SALIB to strengthen and give you the courage to search for ways to be faithful to God in the family, in the church, in society, and in nature.
Scripture, prayer and the closing quote
Scripture of the Day
Ezekiel 18: 25-28
Psalm 24: 4-9
Philippians 2: 1-11 (or 2: 1-5)
Matthew 21: 28-32
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, may the spiritual SALIB we have received through our encounter with You never remain within us, but be carried from heart to heart—first in our families, then in our Church, into our society and our environment. Amen
Published by: Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute (API) | Email: [email protected]