Reflections on the celebrations on the Feast of St Charles Borromeo (Bro Samuel Lim)

On the 4th of November, just about ten days ago, we celebrated the Feast of St Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of seminaries and seminarians. The liturgical celebration in our seminary chapel was presided by His Grace Archbishop Nicholas Chia. The seminary community also invited members of Serra Club, and took the opportunity to thank them for their genuine love, fervent prayers and life-giving sacrifices.


After Mass, we had dinner in the refectory. In an effort to show our appreciation to the Serrans, we brothers prepared dinner especially for that occasion. And to create a cozy ambience, the refectory was decorated by a team of creative seminarians.


One significant element of the decoration was definitely the coloured lights on the ceiling (see the photo above). The amusing thing was, the same dish looked differently on different tables, depending on what colour of light you were seated under :)

“Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path.”
Ps 119:105

Our perspective of life or our worldview depends a lot on the light that we use to see. If we’re guided by the light of God which is his Word, then the way we see life and the path we walk would be different than if we were to use the superficial light the world is offering. The light that is offered by the world is made of worldly material, and therefore its use is limited within the world. This kind of worldly light is dim and temporary – definitely incapable of shining our path and guiding us into the next world which is eternal.

In contrast, Jesus said in the Gospel today: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Mk 13:31

Just like the same dish that appears differently under different coloured lights, we experience the same world in a radically different way if our life is guided by the Word of God. Although the Word of God has the power to change the world, the more important question is: how much do we allow the Word to change us?

Don’t walk in the dark! Let us walk along this path of life with Jesus, the Word Made Flesh and the Light of the World.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Bro Alphonsus Dominic on 17th Nov 2009.