Catholic Undergraduate Society USM: Life Goes On...

Peace and salam satu CUS kepada semua. Sebenarnya sudah lama saya rancang untuk mengarang sebuah post untuk blog ini and since I have some time to spare now, here it is. Saya rasa pada masa ini kamu semua tentu sedang sibuk berkemas mahu pulang kan? Maklumlah kita sudah tiba di penghujung semester and that post by Deejay before this more or less sums up how things have went. Thank you Deejay! The ups and the downs. Essentially, these both are complements to each other and pada pendapat saya, kedua-duanya amat diperlukan untuk membolehkan seseorang itu berkembang.

Some of us may think that we can do without the pains in life but in my opinion (which you are free to challenge), a smooth-sailing life can result in one taking matters for granted. On the other hand, when you experience heartaches, you are well aware of how some things are precious to us and we start to treasure things and people around us more. To those who agree, we may have realised this already but we have to keep reminding ourselves each day. We tend to forget. Well, we’re only humans.

It is important though how we handle our joys and pains. Bak kata pepatah ‘buang yang keruh, ambil yang jernih’, perhaps we should let only positivity reflect in us. Looking at it, we do feel happy when we see happy people, right? I don’t know about you guys but I do feel joy and tranquillity whenever I see happy kids or people showing their love to each other. Can we be like them? We all have the same thirst after all.

The bad stuffs are inevitable sometimes. What we can do is to share and deal with these together. And we will overcome them together as a family. That’s what we have each other for. I hope you guys find this comforting. I do.

And something I've always believed in is that there’s nobody who wants to be bad in this world. Everybody wants to be good. It’s just that the way they handle things might not be in accord to our expectations or rather the way we want to see things done. And then, judging on relativity, we have good and bad people. See, that’s us being judgmental. If we don’t judge, we’ll see everybody in the same light-as equals. Therefore, I don’t think it’s fair to fix nasty labels on people. Unfair la.

During my last confession, the Fransiscan brother I went to shared something which really opened my eyes to things. He said that we are in no position to judge others. We are all sinners kan? But God the Father constantly gives us second chances. Every single time. And He is happy if that one kambing sesat returns to Him. Now when it comes to our neighbours, who are we to judge and not forgive? Even in the Lord’s prayer we have a line, “Forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us”. It’s normal to be angry and to find it hard to forgive but if we pray about it, I’m sure it’ll be easier to put our past behind us and to move on.

We have come to a point in life where we will have to say goodbye to people whom we have journeyed with for some time. It can be sad but we always have to consider the viewpoint from the other end of the spectrum. They are only moving towards more advanced and rewarding phases of their lives. It was an honour to have known each other. And nothing says that we cannot continue to be close. In this CUS, I believe that real bonds are fostered. Not temporary ones. We will be in touch come what may. And with the entry of fresh undergraduates in September, this family of ours will only grow in number.

Here, I would like to thank all you seniors who have made the CUS what it is today. You may have graduated already or you may be graduating very soon. Whichever it is, do bear in mind that you always have us for support as you go through the other phases of life be it postgraduate studies, working careers and the rest of it. And we hope to have your support and guidance too as we walk along the paths that you may have already crossed. In short, please don’t be strangers.

Another thing I would like to share about is this e-mail I received from Dr. Jacqueline, our advisor. It’s entitled, “Beyond Disrespect”. I hope you guys take time to read it and think about it. If you feel the urge that you should do something, just pray about it.

The content of the e-mail is as follows,

Sharing and for your action. God Bless. Beyond Disrespect! Abraham asked the Lord to spare 50 righteous people. God responded to Abraham's plea "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all ....Genesis 18:16-33 The movie " Corpus Christi " is due to be released this June to August. A disgusting film set to appear in America later this year depicts Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals! As a play, this has already been in theaters for a while. It's called " Corpus Christi " which means "The Body of Christ". It's revolting mockery of our Lord. But we can make a difference. That's why I am sending this e-mail to you. If you do send this around, we just might be able to prevent this film from showing around the world . Let's stand for what we believe in and stop the mockery of Jesus Christ our Savior. Where do we stand as Christians? At the risk of a bit of inconvenience, I'm forwarding this to all I think would appreciate it, too. Please help us prevent such offenses against our Lord. There is no petition to sign, no time limit, or minimum number of people to send this to.. It will take you less than 2 minutes! If you are not interested and do not have the 2 minutes it will take to do this, please don't complain when God does not have time for you because He is far busier than we are. Hey it's worth a shot! Apparently, some regions in Europe have already banned the film. All we need is a lot of prayer and a lot of e-mails. JUST GET THE WORD OUT! ....Will God be able to find at least 50 righteous people who are willing to express their concern and voice their opinion against this.

With that, I end this post. Again I stress here that these are only what I think. I’m not imposing and you don’t have to agree. Do feel free to discuss what you think or feel in comments below. Remember that we can also grow in faith through dialogues. Let us continue praying for each other and God bless you all..