Programmes to be incorporated throughout the Jubilee Year of Mercy (JYM) in our parish:

Please use the Parish Webpage (http://stsimonlikas.wordpress.com)

PRODIGAL SON Retreat

Dr Jeffrey and Angie Goh

will be the speakers together

with Fr Cosmas Lee.

DATE: Aug 12 & 13

(Friday & Saturday)

FEE: RM100 per person

(meals included)

Registration is ongoing and

closes on July 17. First

come, first served - limit to

50 participants only!!!

Pilgrimages to Jubilee Doors St Peter Church Kudat—30 July

St Peter Claver Church, Ranau—27 August Holy Rosary Church, Limbahau—17 September

Sacred Heart Cathedral—1 October

LAUNCH of "ST SIMON LOVE-IN-A-SHOE BOX"

A JYM project by the Minis-try of Pastoral Care together with our Sunday School stu-dents to encourage each stu-dent to reach out to under-privileged children in rural communities. Each student will prepare a gift shoe box with his/her own craft and/or small items with a personal message while the church will provide essential stationery and certain religious articles. About 200 boxes will be distributed to various children hostels in Kota Marudu; Pukak and Borombon in Kiulu as well as Toboh, Tambu-nan. Any parishioner who may wish to donate towards this project is much welcomed. Other donations of essential dry food, sundries, used clothing. etc for the various rural communities will also be distributed during the Outreach vis-its in August and October. For more information, please contact the Parish office.

The Secular Carmelite (OCDS) Community invites pa-rishioners to a 2-day talk entitled "The Teaching of St Teresa of Avila about Personal Prayer" (English) Date/time: Wednesday 13th July 2016 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm Thursday 14th July 2016 8.30 pm to 10.00 pm Venue: Sacred Heart Parish Centre, Room F8 Speaker: Carmelite Fr. Gregory Hon, OCD For more details, please contact: Dorothy (019 8809809)/Matthew (016 839 5337)

We will continue to update parishioners. So do check

out this box!!!

PRAYERFUL CON-

DOLENCES to the

family of the late Erom

binti Angkati @ Ce-

cilia Jossie who passed

away on 4 July 2016. May

her soul rest in peace!

St Simon Catholic

Church Likas

Address: Jln Punai Tanah, Off Jln Tuaran Mile 3.5 (KM 6), 88400 Kota Kinabalu

Tel: 088-212713 Fax: 088-288713

Email: SSCCL010608@gmail.com Webpage: http://stsimonlikas.wordpress.com

Office Hrs: Mon-Fri: 9.00am - 1.00pm; 2.00pm-5.00pm Sat: 9.00am - 1.00pm

Rector: Rev. Cosmas Lee

Sunday Services: Masses (Eng) - 8.30am; 5.00pm;

Rosary - 4.15pm Confession - 8.15am; 4.45pm Weekday Masses (Chapel)

Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri - 6.30pm Holy Hour (Chapel)-Every Thursday

7.30pm followed by Mass at 8.30pm Weekly Intercessory Prayers - every Tuesday after

weekday Mass Chapel opens 7.00am - 9.00pm

Bulletin edition: 10 July, 2016

15TH SUN IN ORDINARY TIME-10 JUL

R1: Deut 30: 10-14; R2: Col 1: 15-20 Gospel: Lk 10: 25-37

Resp. Psalm: Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.

16TH SUN IN ORDINARY TIME-17 JUL

R1: Gen 18: 1-10a; R2: Col 1: 24-28 Gospel: Mk 10: 38-42

Resp. Psalm: The just will live in the presence of the Lord.

17TH SUN IN ORDINARY TIME-24 JUL

R1: Gen 18: 20-32; R2: Col 2: 12-14

Gospel: Lk 11: 1-13 Resp. Psalm: On the day I called, you

answered me, O Lord.

Thank you for your generosity, and may God bless you!

Saints & Feast Days

Jul 11 St Benedict, abbot

Jul 13 St Henry

Jul 14 St Camillus de Lellis, priest

Jul 15 St Bonaventure, bishop & doctor

Jul 16 Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Jul 20 St Apollinaris, bishop & martyr

Jul 21 St Lawrence of Brindisi, priest & doctor

Jul 22 St Mary Magdalene

Jul 23 St Bridget of Sweden, religious

Jul 25 St James the Apostle

Donations

26 June Black Bag RM6,685.50

Red Bag RM5,044.45

03 July Black Bag RM7,638.85

Red Bag RM6,564.40

T ODAY is Bible Sunday! What

is the treasure revealed in the

Liturgy of the word? What is

God’s Word for me? Contained in the

Bible is God’s Word for human hearts

and human lives.

The first reading tells us

that no one needs to “go up to

Heaven” or “cross the seas” to

discover it. Let us remember

that “ … the Word is very near

to you, it is in your mouth and in

your heart for your observance.”

More importantly, Jesus came as

the image of the unseen God, the Creator,

the Head of the Church, reconciling all

things to God, making peace through the

Cross.

Jesus was asked by a lawyer, a very

practical question: “What must I do to

inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him

with two pertinent questions: 1. What is

written in the Law? 2. What do you read

there? The lawyer’s answers were both

acceptable and pleasing to Jesus.

The honest truth, however, is that I do

not love God with my whole heart. I am

familiar with the great commandment. I

have failed this holy commandment of

loving God in a perfect way.

I use my mind, heart, soul and

strength to love the perishable things of

the world, to love myself more than God

and to despise my neighbour. I barely give

Jesus leftovers. I often serve myself and

then from whatever is left, I throw

a few scraps to Him. Not only do I

fail in loving God as I should, but

in reality, I adorn myself proudly

with self-love, egoism and lack of

charity for others. Jesus came to

teach me of His Father’s uncondi-

tional LOVE, MERCY and COM-

PASSION. In this Jubilee Year of

Mercy, may I always say: “Father

they are your gifts to me. Help me share

them with my neighbor.”

I am willing to love my neighbor but

don’t get me involved with the “wrong”

neighbor! I also want to keep the meaning

of neighbor as minimal and manageable as

possible. I want to dumb down and mini-

mize what and who my neighbor is.

My enemy is also my neighbor. There

should be no distinction about whom I am

to help. In the parable, Jesus defines the

“neighbor” as anyone in need who crosses

one’s life path.

That definition of “neighbors” would

seem to include just about everyone on the

planet! Everybody on the planet is a gift

for me. Jesus makes it clear in the parable

that neighbors cut across national, ethnic,

A time to recognize and welcome our neighbor

NEWS AND FORTHCOMING EVENTS

COME, SPEND TIME WITH THE LORD AT WEEKLY HOLY HOUR: Parishion-

ers are reminded that there is a weekly Holy Hour which begins at 7.30 pm followed by

Mass at 8.30 pm. Without regular prayer, no one can be Christian. We urge parishioners

to make full use of the Holy Hour so that at least once a week we spend some time seri-

ously in prayer. There is always a reflection on the forthcoming Sunday Gospel Reading

at the beginning of the Holy Hour, a good way to prepare for the coming Sunday every

week.

religious and political boundaries to encom-

pass EVERYONE. The priest and Levite

refused to help the victim by the roadside

because they had concerns which would

make them unclean and unfit for temple du-

ties.

I wonder if I can buy God off, by reli-

gious observances! It becomes all too easy to

walk past the needy, to walk past injustice,

to tolerate evil, to remain silent and protect

my ego and all the while, think that God

won’t mind because I have done my Sunday

obligation.

Jesus also seems to be telling me that

compassion is one thing necessary for salva-

tion. What is compassion? Compassion, to

me, is identifying with the suffering of the

other person. It is to suffer with the one who

is hurting.

The Samaritan had compassion. His

love was spontaneous. He “was moved with

pity.” It was not just an emotion but a feeling

which led to emotion. He took care of the

unfortunate man. I have been attending Sun-

day services, worships and retreats at St

Simon Parish and I meet up with many pa-

rishioners, and I must admit that I still may

not know a soul. I smile, nod, mind my own

business and move on.

This indifferent attitude is not right!

When I am part of a close, supportive group

of Christians, intently focused on loving God

and loving my neighbour, then I see a beau-

tiful glimpse of the kingdom of heaven, so I

need the Lord to change my heart.

Today, when I look around at the suffer-

ings of people in war-torn countries, of ba-

bies and children who are battered and

abused, of unborn babies whose lives are

snuffed out, of those who are homeless and

those who go hungry, how do I respond?

Yes, I am angry, sorry, sad, furious, upset! I

do realize that these are emotions. I have to

respond concretely to their needs.

I must remember that anyone who needs

me, and anyone whom I can help, is my

neighbor.

This brings me to the parable of the Last

Judgment (Mt 25: 31-46), where Jesus iden-

tifies Himself with those in need - with the

hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked,

the sick and those in prison. “As you did it to

one of the least of these my brethren, you did

it to me.” (Mt 25:40). I often find excuses

and I too ‘go by on the other side’ like the

priest and the Levite.

The Psalm invites me to look at the par-

able from the victim’s perspective: I, too,

have pains, hurts and disappointments; many

have walked by me and failed to hear my cry

for help; I can often feel wounded, aban-

doned and helpless - but in the end, my con-

solation and joy are that Jesus will never go

by me “on the other side.”

Who am I in the parable? Well, eventu-

ally, I have to admit that I, too, was in the

ditch at one time in my life! Really, it was

some of God’s good Samaritans who gave

me hope and pointed me towards Jesus and

His Church, where in time, I was healed and

made whole! To enter the kingdom of God,

to inherit eternal life, I must get into the

ditch and be ministered to.

Love of God and love of neighbor have

become one! In the least of the brethren, I

find Jesus Himself and in Jesus, I find God.

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, have we

found our neighbor? Have we recognized

our neighbor? If we haven’t, well it’s still

not too late!

A time to recognize and welcome our neighbor