North Johore BEC Core Teams (BECCOT) Assembly

The Diocesan BEC Animation and Formation Team (BECAFT) had an assembly for the core teams of North Johor parishes on Saturday, August 11 (9.30am – 1.00pm) at the Church of St Matthew. The ‘Three Burning stories’ was used as part of the BECCOT Assembly in Melaka Vicariate in July (8/7/18) and North Johor Vicariate (11/8/18).

The Three Burnings’ session was done at the MJPT 2nd Assembly in March 2018. Seventy-four people were present – Bishop Bernard Paul, 11 BECAFT members and 62 people from the parishes of Muar, Tangkak, Segamat, Batu Pahat and Kluang.

There were two groups who were Mandarinspeaking, one group from BMspeaing and five groups who were English-speaking. The BECAFT members sat with the groups to facilitate sharing. The ‘3 Burnings’ are the Burning Bush (Moses), Burning House (Book of Esther) and Burning Heart (Two Disciples on the road to Emmaus). For each of the ‘Burnings’, we watched a short video clip followed by personal sharing in the ‘table groups’.

For Moses’ encounter with God in the ‘Burning Bush’, we shared our personal encounter with God. The ‘Burning House’ represented the people of Israel under threat of being destroyed.

Queen Esther saved the whole Israelite people even though she knew that she would die if she went to the king without being summoned. We looked at moments in our lives when we were courageous in living out our faith and service to others. In the Road to Emmaus – the two disciples eperienced sadness after Jesus’ passion and death.

Their eyes were opened when Jesus broke bread with them. Then the two disciples were filled with oy returned immediately to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples that ‘JESUS IS ALIVE’. We were asked which Burning story touched us the most. One group said that the ‘Burning Heart’ spoke to them the most. et we had half an hour of Eucharistic Adoration.

It was a time of being with the Lord, offering what we had lived in the ‘3 Burnings’ and allowing Jesus to encounter and enlighten us. Then, Bishop Bernard summed up the ‘Three Burnings, followed by his vision for the BECs in the Diocese.

The BEC is a Diocesan option and a centre for evangelisation. God calls the laity to build His Kingdom. We are called to listen to Jesus and witness by our actions. Bishop, Priest, Religious, Laity – all are to become 4E Catholics, and develop family spirit to build believing communities. In the year 2022, our Diocese will be 50 years old and Bishop Bernard hopes that we can have a grand Golden Jubilee celebration in Majodi.

We are reminded to work with the Bishop to implement his plan for the Diocese so that as many people can participate meaningfully in this Golden Jubilee. We had a wonderful time being with each other, with Bishop Bernard and in listening to God.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online