I’ve been wanting to blog this for the longest time now, but I keep pushing it back. And even now as I think back, the memory of my experience is rather blurry, that I had to go dig out my journal to read it. So I figured I should get down to it before I start my attempt at my date with aristotle once again.

So this post is actually a bit of my sharing and reflection about my experience at the “Experiencing Community” retreat a few weeks back. This camp experience was something extremely different for me, because I was the only person from BASIC in the retreat. Right until the day before the retreat started, mad was supposed to be my facil partner, but by some stroke of luck/misfortune (?), I ended up as the only person from BASIC serving in the camp.

Being the only person from BASIC was bad, a lot worse than I could ever have imagined actually. The only other girl from ym was joan, but she had her friends from sow, so essentially, I had to do everything alone. Even facil pairings were supposed to be by community (mark abraham & freeman, swee & joan, simeon & james etcetc) but I was paired with jason & candice, and hence when the participants were supposed to join their facils’ communities, I was alone. I think I can safely say that I have never experienced this much loneliness in a camp before. Sleeping alone felt bad, going to wash up & bathe and basically do everything alone really affected me in some sense. And how ironic that I had to feel that way when the retreat was about experiencing community. I was filled with anger that they decided to take mad out of the camp, I mean, of all people why mad !! They could have taken others out such that I would at least have a community member to facil with or something right. So I just went on wallowing in my puddle of self pity from the start to the end of the camp, and it was horrible. It felt horrible.

But I guess this camp really did help me to realize how much I’ve taken the people in community for granted. Just having that one person to sleep with, or to go and brush my teeth with, or talk to, the subtle comfort & joy that it brings, I never knew. It was always a given, always there, and I guess you will never understand until you’re there. But yes, I guess, through all my loneliness, God helped me to realize that despite all my frustrations or angst (lol) with community, that it does bring me so much joy that I have never even noticed. Sigh, the little joys of life.

Also, I guess it brought me to a realization that I wasn’t being “Catholic” enough. It felt as though God was trying to remind me that the Church is one big community, and that my idea of community is just so myopic. That I should try and find joy in whatever community He gives me at whatever time, just knowing that we’re all here for the same reason, and that is for God. And not just live in my little hole, wanting that comfort from the people that I am familiar with, or that I like. It was really a call to love brethren, despite of the differences in maturity, or understanding of community, or whatever. Most of all, it was a call from God asking me “Do you love me & my church ?” Sigh, the pain of being slapped down from your pedestal hahaha. And so I end this post thanking God for His reminder that I’m still broken & imperfect, even in my idea of community, and that I should be thankful that I have a worldwide community that is the church of God :)

love, lou.

hello basic! okay this is not a reflection on holy week, but I was very struck by this picture. marriage is a long discernment process, whether it’s God’s call for you, and who exactly is The One for you. I can’t think of anything more romantic or loving to share this Sacrament with a special person for lifelong, the same union that Jesus has with the Church, His Bride. okay la seeing this pic makes me think of community in the long run, the lifelong run, where we come as an integral part of each other’s lives. fills me with joy, like Easter : D yay see I got Holy Week link haha God bless! <3

Rachel

hello basic! wazzzzzzzzzup it’s nikki here!

anyway just wanted to share with you guys how my holy week has been so far.. as alot of you should know, this week is presentation and project submissions week and i’ve been feeling really tired and burnt out mehhh ): so i’ve been rather angsty/angry/frustrated and it’s really been a challenge (that i’ve been failing at quite miserably recently) to act out of love towards certain people.. and on top of that, i havent been going for mass as frequently as i would want to.

so today on the bus back after my crazy long day, i used the entire bus ride to pray/talk to Jesus and tell Him how i’ve been feeling guilty about the way i’ve been acting and about how i felt like holy week was really turning out to be quite horrible for me.. and then somehow things took a turn for the better after that! when i reached gardens, my mum and i decided to go eat dinner together at the small pow sing and it was surprisingly nice :D hehe im quite thankful for the quality time we had together (: and after that i just really felt like going for ado so i asked if we could go together! and she agreed (although reluctantly at first hahaha). and so we did :D and it was really really nice sitting in the ado room next to my mum in front of the Blessed Sacrament, just worshipping and adoring Jesus (: so peaceful and awesome hehe so yeaaaaaaaaaa.. praise God!!!!! (:

so yup just felt v prompted to share about this :) and i pray that as we approach the Easter triduum, that we will all continue to strive to die to ourselves so that we may live like Christ and then maybe we will be able to bit more worthy of His death for us.

love you guysssssss ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Hi guys! just a short sharing coz I can only afford a small break amidst the crazy pile of work sigh. first time in my life I felt so unwilling to go to school in uni life, really think it’s the retreating of retreat heh.

it’s just a further reflection about the last session we had on the communion of communities session during the retreat. for those who weren’t there, it was brother Jude sharing his and a few of the ym people’s vision - to have a communion of communities where people living the community life are guided by the spirit of love (Jesus selfless unconditional love) where we can journey and commune in life together with people beyond our given communities, acknowledging that we’re all part of the same community in the end, a community God intended and Jesus laid His life down for.

it sparked off when I saw mel sharing an article with von, something that really piqued my interest. it reminded me of the times where I do consider if I fit in better with other communities because I somehow have similar interests with some, and can click better and from there share better and deeper with a majority of people in other communities. it was the makings of the honeymoon period - similar interests, interested ears, open hearts. what more can you want?

two fridays ago we had bible sharing as usual and I was very affirmed by Grace’s courageous sharing. I tried to share on the similar topic, but somewhat it just sounded very awkward and I guess the way we deal with awkwardness is laugh it off. the same fear that made me very awkwardly share was the same fear and vulnerability being attacked by the peals of laughter, furthermore grace’s sharing was met with a lot of encouragement. I just broke down, and amidst that low state and brokenness I had fleeting thoughts if I shared with this in another community that won’t react that way I might feel so much better and more loved.

it was a very human thought, and by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit I thought of this instead - I am placed in the community where my expectations are constantly not being met and the truth of love is being revealed through it. I mean it’s so easy to say a community loves me when they love me the way I want them to. the real test of love is really when community can love you beyond all expectations, surprising you even at times. 

after I calmed down and the awkwardness of my crying broke off a bit, lou in a very loving gesture reached out to me saying that it wasn’t that they were judging that made them laugh and it was really the awkwardness on it. I guess it was really my own insecurities of being judged by God for my sins that was projected on them, making me believe I need their justification to be okay but obviously I needed to reconcile with God. okay that’s another point. in that reaching out to me, not only do I feel love, but I’m further revealed of the uniqueness of our community. I dunno how to eloquently put it, but I think God puts me in a community that I cannot choose the people in, but that’s really the true proof of communitarian love; you can love the people not coz you choose them, but because you choose to.

anyways regarding the session haha I realised I strayed so badly. I’m not meaning to harp on the uniqueness of basic, but that this communitarian love is precisely the spirit of communities. we don’t get to choose the people in our community, much less the people that compromises ym. yet we’re called to be in the same parish, the same youth ministry, at this very moment. I mean it’s really God’s call for me to be here - for those who don’t know, I live quite far in Hougang and the reason why I came to this parish coz my parents wanted somewhere near to drive to the country club for my swimming lessons haha true story. it’s the same for everyone - God called us here, we answered it and the common denominator for our reasons, I believe is that God must have touched us somehow somewhat in our lives. although we may not be able to click with EVERYONE, and like what some people share we don’t share everything even in community, what less ym, we can share LIVES, the same life that God breathed in you to make you His child. 

I think when we hold on too greatly in the uniqueness of our communities, we become too prideful in our human work because we toiled so much in making community work. this breaks us away from the universal church, and when we conflict with the church we can break away like denominations. I guess what I’m simply saying is that we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, because we are made by the same Father, who created us because He loves us (and not the other away around). So let’s pray for this vision for our fellow brothers and sisters!

Hello basic!

It’s 2am and but i can’t seem to fall asleep! I think it’s the gong cha I just drank! Hahah. Anyway, I thought I’ll just share how my week went and how I felt God’s presence very strongly.

This week has been a CRAZY week for me! Maybe to some, it might seem bearable but for me I felt like I was going to die every other day. I haven’t gone to school in the longest time and so my brain seems like its nothing but rust! Haha. So anyway, I had 3 midterm paper (back to back 12-6pm) and an assignment due on Monday followed by the dreaded econometrics paper on Thursday and an insanely-crazy-nothing-but-content-overload drugs paper the next day. I remember studying with Gracemary on Sunday afternoon and telling her how demoralized I felt cause I can’t seem to understand fully everything. Any oh how, I trudged on but in my desperation, i decided it will be wise to just drop into ado and say hi to Jesus. Afterall, no one but Jesus could help then! I came out after 15mins feeling as desperate as before I went in. And I thought to myself “I’m doomed, even Jesus couldnt make me feel better”. Hahah. The night went on and I slept.

The next day, I awoke and the first thing that came to my mind was Psalm 118:24 “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad it in.” I seriously laughed at the thought it! HAHAA! But it was in that laughter that I somehow just felt in my heart that Jesus heard my cry and he was reassuring me that I was not alone! The next thing I knew, the saving grace for my uncompleted assignment came in. You see, the night before, I gave up doing my econometrics assignment cause I really didn’t know how to. And the next morning, I was rescued from having to turn in a semi-completed assignment! Thank you Jesus! (: And so I rushed to school for my English midterm, did it with some unfathomable knowledge of english’s historical variation, rushed out of the LT and into the Econs department, turned in my assignment, ran to the bus stop, ran for the internal shuttle bus, squeezed out of the bus, ran to the MPSH and into the hall for my next paper. I made it in time! But I was crazy tired! Before I could take a break, the prof said the magic words “you may begin”. Arh Jesus, save me!!! Well, He did and I managed to press on through the paper! But that was not the end! After that paper, I rushed out of the hall, called Gracemary (who came with Starbucks in hope that it would replenish my energy for the next paper), gulped down the coffee, and rushed into the exam hall for my next paper! “You may begin!” Sigh, I was dead tired. Did the coffee save me? Nope it didn’t! But the thought of a community member coming all the way down with coffee did! And it was in that act of love for a friend that I recognized yet again God’s hand in my crazy day. I had zero ounce of physical energy and brain juice left and Lou gladly sent me back! The car ride home was highly entertaining and once again, I thank Jesus for the gift of community for it is through them that I felt Him. It was a good enough way to end my day but no, God blessed me further with ‘joy’. I had a hilarious night with some church friends. There are snippets of it on fb (videos)! And before I slept that Monday night, I looked through my phone only to realize that many of you texted me to encourage me along my day. It was such a rushed day and I failed to acknowledge them. Sorry! And so I thank god and went to sleep that night feeling loved by Him and the people around me.

I remember Bro Jude once said that went we go to ado, it’s okay of we don’t feel anything because it is then that we prepare our hearts to recognize Jesus for when we step out of the ado room. That 15mins on Sunday wasn’t futile after all for it was through my prayer then that I could recognized God’s hand in my hectic day.

Sorry for the long post. It’s 3am and I’m not asleep! Hahah. But I’ll just end off with something that just struck me while I was (once again) desperate for my drugs paper later - ” When you are struggling, if you look to the world, you are in distress, if you look to yourself, you will feel depressed, but if you look to God, you will find rest.”

God bless! (:
Mad.

hey guys. lynnlong here. i realise that its been quite awhile since i’ve posted here. well its been super long since i’ve posted anything on tumblr. but when i did eventually log on to basic’s tumblr, it was so heartwarming to see so many new post cos i remember there was a time when i refreshed the page and it was the post i last read.😳 i know right! but anyways i’ve missed you guys so much. like almost everyday.. i would think of you guys or mention your names or something at least 5 times. and i wish i had tried harder to put basic first amidst all the tiredness and frustration i feel from work.

i don’t know whether you guys know but i’m actually pretty scared of working. when i started prcp i was so psyched for it to end but now.. i’m almost. ALMOST scared shitless about starting next month as a staff nurse. suddenly it feels like one whole shit load of responsibility has been shoved down my throat. and the mere thought of it scares me. i just hope its pre-work jitters. and i need loads of prayers that i can manage cos many nurses have warned me about the stress that i might face as a new nurse.. which doesn’t really help with whatever i’m feeling now.

well. in these 3 months, to be really honest. i’ve struggled countless of times to put god first. to see god in the things that happen to me. to see him in my collegues and patients and even their reletives. i think work makes me an angry person! haha lou you can slap me for this.. while working i can say like vulgarities i never knew existed! like countless of times.. and thats not very catholic of me especially most of the people there know i’m catholic.. ahhh i’m just glad life as a student earning 10 dollars a day has come to an end. kk enough of the unhappy stuff.

so on sunday.. we had combine session and i was late. DAYUM! but hey i made it. and i remember how the song ‘our god’ struck me so much. the line ‘our god is healer, awesome in power’ made me cry cos at that time i really felt so broken. the last week of attachment was extremely hard for me cos i made some HUGE mistake. well it’s huge in my eyes. and i kept blaming myself for making such a stupid mistake. and whats worst was nobody blamed me for it but i wouldn’t let myself go that easily. and on sunday i really felt god ministering to me through that song and in the process healing me. i’ll probably share tomorrow at bible what happened cos its kinda embarressing if i say it here! haha

yup and props to michelle for such an enlightening session. i never knew how important my parents and siblings were to me but i was half glad and half not glad at the outcome.. my ranking that is. cos you see i ranked 1parents, 2siblings and 3community and god. i mean politically god should come first which is why i was half not glad. but then when i looked again i somehow managed to psycho myself into thinking that this was not too bad. i mean afterall family’s our first community, no? and if we get this spirit of community right within this community.. surely it’ll be fairly easier to ‘jaga’ the next few.

(some of you may be asking why i didn’t just put parents and siblings into family and the reason for me is super simple. cos my family’s too big. and my siblings give me a whole different kinda support. different from my parents. and they mean so much to me but with slightly different meanings.)

hence i’m quite proud that most people in basic are very family orientated.

ARGH i don’t know if my post made sense.. it’s pretty late and my brains don’t work too well at night except for watching korean dramas😉. anyways i’ll see you guys tomorrow at bible and maybe then i’ll make more sense! HA! doubt it!

lynnlong ❤s you all to pluto and back!

Hi Basic! Just wanted to share something with you all that the priest said that struck me at mass today.  This is today’s gospel:

 Saint Matthew ‪25:31-46.

Jesus said to his disciples: «When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 
and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 
naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 
Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 
And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 
a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 
Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Somehow I felt very drawn to this gospel especially the line ,’Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Very often people in general don’t really care for the poor, hungry, thirsty and in short the disadvantaged. In his homily, the priest said Jesus is also present in the disadvantaged so if we don’t help them, we are not helping Jesus and that maybe this gospel could be a guideline for your Lenten sacrifice. When ash wednesday came, I still could not think of a sacrifice to make for lent. And I thought yea, this gospel is a perfect example of what I could do, to help others.

He also said we should care about what others in the community is doing and what is happening in the community for example people who need help in any way, we should help them or if a brother or sister is sinning or straying away from God, we should help that person. The priest said that whatever others in the community does, might have a ripple effect on everyone else and when Jesus comes on judgment day, he might judge us together with the rest of the community. His sharing is somewhere along those lines haha sorry it took me a whole long passage to try and say what he shared.

I also thought it was very apt as today my message from God on facebook Is this:

 Devotion to god begins with devotion to your family and community. It is much easier to proclaim abstract and remote love, then to step into the midst of living and keep an open heart through the thick of it. Be there where you are needed the most.

So lets try to help the less fortunate k even if it is something really small that we do it’s never too small in God’s eyes((:

God bless!(:

Benedicta(:

hello !! lou here. just wanted to say how happy i was at community lunch today. even though the guys chased yappers and i away in exchange for brandon :( sad. but yes. it was really a blessed time of fellowship :) so praise God. & here’s to more and more sunday lunches as community (COMMUNITY HOR, CANNOT CHASE US AWAY). yay :D

Hey guys! Okay since yesterday I didn’t share during bible sharing because I was doing my group project, I shall share my thoughts here. (: 

So the Gospel reading can be found from Mark 1:12-15.

“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, 
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.

After John had been arrested, 
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Here it is for those who haven’t read the Gospel reading for this Sunday’s Mass yet. (: 

I guess I’ve shared this many times before, and so those who have heard can just bear with me. The line that really screams out at me is the first line which says “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert”. For many years, I haven’t actually noticed this phrase before, and never saw any importance in it. Until one year when I had to plan session for sec2/sec3 camp, where I was figuring out how to tell these younger ones that tough times are going to come their way, that their journey will not just be smooth and loveydovey all the time. But there will be hardships, trials and crosses that they must carry in this journey to become closer to God. 

So that was when I turned to James for help, as I usually do when it comes to planning sessions. And he mentioned to me this verse, and how if we actually read the verse carefully, it says that the “spirit drove Jesus out into the desert”. Jesus was actually led into the desert by the Spirit!

Can we then, assume or hope that our lives will be one without deserts? NO. That would be silly, wouldn’t it? 

And I began to see these deserts in my life, where I really feel distant from God, ironically the time for me to become even closer to God. What “makes or breaks” this situation is how I choose to respond.

When I’m in a “desert” period of my life, do I choose to give up and say, “forget it. I’ll live my life my own way, not trying to seek God..” or do I turn back, kneel down and say “God, draw me into Your holy presence once again because I want to seek You, I want to feel You once again!”

And unlike Jesus, I can’t do it alone. I can’t always tell Satan “NO” and turn back to God. Instead, many a times I will fall, and I will sin, and I will consciously choose to sin. BUT what I find comforting is that I have a community to support me, I have a community to urge me and to guide me to choose the right path - to cling onto Jesus despite the dryness in my life. 

heyyyyy,

i don’t really know what this post is for, but i guess it serves as some form of sharing. so anw, as some of you would know, i’m struggling with a lot of things at this point in time. the most pressing one is probably my inability to focus on my school work. i feel like the entire sem i’ve just been drifting to and fro from school, and it frustrates me so badly cause i rlly wanna do well and pull up my cap. other than that, i’m struggling with my dad yet again. he’s been really mean lately and throwing tantrums at me for no reason, everyday when i get up to go to school i will have to listen to his discouraging words and/or scoldings. and it hurts so badly, cause the more it happens the more i stay away from home. as such, my home is no longer a solace but more of a house where my mummy and korkor stays. my frustrations with community are honestly no secret, and well, i honestly don’t know what to do about it. but i guess in all, my greatest struggle comes from my relationship with swee. things are not going as well as i wished they would be ? and i think not having that person to share with and support me is really making everything worse. i guess in some sense God is preparing me for the second half of the yr when he goes for exchange.. but it sucks.

but enough of my sob story. so many times i want to give up and God reminds me time and time again to have faith. i think recently i’ve asked myself many times, who am i to help and guide others in their problems when i’m so screwed up myself ? and selfishly, i think i should be helped more than i should help others. but then, when i told yappers that God uses us in our brokenness and weaknesses to convince her to lead ado, i knew that at the same time, He was telling me the same thing too. and then on sunday, i was feeling v frustrated about community and wanted to give up, and i made a deal with God that if he wants me to push on and that there is hope, he will send a basic person to come sit next to me, and of all people, nikki had to come and sit next to me. and so i guess, in all my tiredness and frustration i will answer that call to trust God. and i believe that it is also by God’s grace that he has brought me to this song, blessings, to assure me that He knows & that He provides.

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
 

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe