Divine Mercy Triduum

Ok last one before I go to sleep.
On wed and thurs nite, I went for the divine mercy triduum at CTK. It was preached by a polish priest, from the hometown of St Faustina. I can't remember how to spell his name, but will find out later today.

Anyway, he had many interesting stories in his sermon. Just want to record it down for future use, and share with my readers if there are any ;Þ

Bus Driver
There was a bus driver, driving his bus full of passengers into town, when he realised that his brakes were not working, thus not able stop the speeding bus. He saw a parking lot ahead, and decided to turn into it, as it was on a slope, and that would slow the bus down. Normally the parking lot would be deserted, but as he turned in, he saw a child playing there. Without brakes he only had to choices, to knock the child or swerve and kill the people on board the bus. (a bit drama..but tat's not the pt) So the bus driver kept his course and knocked the child over. When the bus came to a halt, the passengers asked him, "why did you knock down the child?" He answered, "I had no choice, the brakes were out, it was either he die, or you die." Then a passenger said, "you should at least have sounded your horn". The bus driver in tears replied, "it would have been of no use. The child is deaf." "How do you know?", They asked. "Cos he's my son."

I heard this story before, but can't seem to find it on the net. But yah, basically describes the father's love for us. Sounds like the other story about the family who had to give up their son to produce a cure for a plague.

Bend Down
When John Paul II was still a cardinal and the archbishop of Kraków, there was an occasion where a boy was reading a poem to him. But because of the noise generated by the crowd. Cardinal Karol had difficulty hearing the poem. So he asked the boy to read it again, because he couldn't hear it. And the boy told him "Bend down, so that you can hear".

The point the priest was bringing across here, is for us to listen to the voice of God amidst the noise of the world around us, we have to 'bend down', to humble ourselves, to put ourselves in a better position to hear God speaking to us.

Good Luck, Bad Luck
There were two polish neighbours, one day the horse of one man escaped, the neighbour said, "oh wat bad luck". The owner of the horse replied, "bad luck? maybe good luck." A few days later, the horse returned, the neighbour said, "oh wat good luck". The owner replied, "good luck? maybe bad luck". The next day, the owner's son was riding the horse when he fell and broke his leg. "Oh what bad luck." The neighbour said. "bad luck? maybe good luck." was the owner's reply. Subsequently the son was supposed to be called up to do national service, but because of his injury, he was exempted. "oh wat good luck" the neighbour commented. The father said "good luck? maybe bad luck".

This story can go on forever, but the point is, that bad things may be blessings in disguise, and good things may not be that good after all. God has a purpose for things to happen in our lives. He can bring good out of our misfortunes, even when we can't see it. We have to trust in him.

Ok... no more stories. But some interesting points he brought up.

Disciples in the Upper Room
The gospel he used on thurs, was on doubting Thomas. And father, suggested that we imagine that the upper room with the 11 disciples in it is actually our heart. In each of us, we have the doubts of Thomas, the weaknesses of Peter, the rashness of James.

Building up trust in God
One of the ways that father suggested for us to build up our trust in God, is to connect ourselves with others who also trust in God. He mentioned that the early christians had a practice, that they were to meet a fellow christian everyday. So that we can be motivated and inspired to trust in God more. We can also read the lives of saints to see how they led their lives. At that time, I remembered one of the few chinese proverbs that I know by heart.

Jin Zhu Zhe Chi, Jin Mo Zhe Hei.
"He who stays near Vermillion gets stained red:
He who stays near ink gets stained black."
Meaning : One takes on the colour of ones company.

My chinese not bad ah...can quote proverbs all. Anyway that's about all I can remember. Time to go to sleep. So I shall end of with some polish words :

Jesu Ufam Tobie
Jesus I Trust In You