Spiritual Course: St John of the Cross

Lay Camerlite will be organising an Eight Days' Spiriritual Course based on St. John of the Cross's Life and Writing at St Ignatius Church, Petaling Jaya from August 4th-11th, 2012.

Further information on the course are as follows:

Journeying through Life with John of the Cross in Prayer Contemplation: A Complete Study of his Writings.

Introduction to John of the Cross:
The Writings of John of the Cross are classical and of perennial value. Through there, he leads us in prayer and contemplation through the vicissitudes of life to the highest state of union with God attainable on earth. Many saints, sages and ordinary persons of goodwill have benefited a lot through his Writings.

If you also wish to be among them here is a golden opportunity.

Course Content:

I Course :
Biography of John,
Romances,
Ascent of Mount Carmel (Active Night),

The Dark Night of the Soul (The Passive Night).


Il Course:
The Spiritual Canticle,
The Living Flame of Love
Minor Works of St. John of the Cross.

The whole programme is divided into two courses, spread over two years of 30 hours each year.

The first course will cover Active and Passive Night.
This includes:
1. Schematic understanding of the mind of John of the Cross.
2. Romances - Divine plan for us from eternity ìn the mystery of the incarnation.
3. Active Night of the Senses in detail - Liberating the senses from the bondage of the passions (I Ascent of Mount Carmel CC 1-15).
4. Active Night of the Spirit (Intellect) through a process of enlightenment in Faith [II Ascent of Mount Carmel CC 1-32).
5. Active Night of the Spirit (Memory) "Finding the hidden Treasure" in Hope (III Ascent of Mount Carmel cc 145).
6. Active Night of the Spirit (Will) "No more slaves but free Children" in charity/Love (III Ascent 16-46).
7. The Passive Night of the senses. initial contemplation, the sins of the 'just'. Attuning the Senses to the spirit (I Dark Night CC 1-15).
8. Passive Night of the Spirit: "Wash me more and more and make me whiter than snow" in the Crucible Faith, Hope and Charity (II Dark Night CC 1-25)


WHEN
Saturday 4th August to Saturday 11th August 2012
(all timings subject to Fr. D’Souza’s schedule and confirmation):

4 Aug 8.00 9.00 am (Registration)
4 Aug 9.00 am - 4. OO pm (Seminar)
5 Aug 9.00 am - 4.00 pm (Seminar)
7-10 Aug 7.00 pm - 10.00 pm (Seminar)
11 Aug 9.00 am-4.00 pm (Seminar)


VENUE
2nd Floor, SIC Community Hall (Room no. to be confirmed)
St. Ignatius Church, Taman Petaling Jaya (nearest LRT: Kelana Jaya Station)
(10 minutes walk from Kelana jaya LRT station - depend on your steps' speed)

COST
MYR150.00 per person to cover Fr. D'Souza's costs, the cost of venue, a simple snack & mineral water for morning/afternoon breaks.

Please note lunch will be on your own account.
Any love offerings can be given to Fr D'Souza directly.

WHEN TO PAY
Payment will be collected on the first day (4 August) during Registration.
Kindly pay in cash (not cheque or credit card).

WHAT T0 BRING
Your own Writing materials (cardigan optional).


FOR MORE INFORMATION
Agatha Chang (016-3927636) E-mail: ag_chang@yahoo.com
Agnes Tee (O12-3991026) E-mail: agnestee2000@yahoo.com


RESOURCE PERSON
Fr. Gregory D’ Souza is a Discalced Carmelite, specializes in Mysticism and in St.
John of the Cross. He has authored 8 books and a number of articles and taught in
State University of Mysore, seminaries and institutes both in India and abroad.


ELIGIBILITY:
Open for Christians.

Life in the Spirit Seminar 2012

Dear Friends,

I can say, "I am a Catholic and that I know Jesus, I know God, I know Holy Spirit" but if I never taste or experience the goodness of God's love...I am nothing. I am just like a drum without the song....noisy and meaningless...my fruits are not fortcoming. My spiritual life is dry as the desert and there is no fruit to attract people to what I believe as a Catholic. I am no different that the rest of the world.

I was once a person who was very critical about Christian and even criticized those who go to church as I see them as wasting their precious time. I did many stupid thing in my journey of life except killing other human but my words were sharp and ill intend which I regretted.

At that time, I thought I am my own king and I do not need God except during bad times as most human did.

God is merciful and patient with His creation as a Father towards his children. He gives me time to taste the goodness of self and goodness of the world. The goodness of self and the goodness of the world are nothing as compare to the goodness of God.

As a young and sexually aroused untested man, I used to think that sexual intercourse with a female will be the ultimate of Man's pleasure but alas, my friend; that is only a temporary pleasure. God has prepared for you a more everlasting pleasure that you can not describe in word for those He choose.

What pleasure you may ask....
To be with Him, to walk with Him, to talk to Him as a friend and to act as He does.
Troubles and sickness may come your way but you will stand firm with your trust in God to bring you through. It's as if you row your boat in a thunder storm with lightning all over and yet your boat keep moving forward to it's targeted destination. Hardship and suffering incurred but you are at peace in the turbulent as God is within you. This in turn will make you grow in your spiritual life.

A comforting words from the Holy Bible in 1 Corinthian 10:13 RSV
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyong your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

But God has a plan since the beginning for each and everyone of us. We are born into this world with a Mission embedded in our soul and engraved in our heart.

Did we know that?

No body knows except God.

St Paul said, "God is Spirit." (Spiritus est Deus)

Yes!! God is Spirit.

Further St Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 (RSV)
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

That's sound purity as the Holy Spirit is within you and Holy Spirit is Pure.

Thus He is the only one who can reveal and speak to our human spirit.

But HOW to know God and His Holy Spirit?

The KEY is JESUS.

Here is my testamony of this special friendship.

Holy Spirit-my Beloved Friend

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR is the best place to stir the spirit within you.

St Ignatius Church (SIC) Charismatic Team is organising a Life in the Spirit Seminar at St. Ignatius Church, Taman Plaza, Petaling Jaya.
Date: 14th Sept (Friday) - 16th Sept 2012 (Sunday)
Time:
Friday: 8.00pm - 10.00pm
Saturday:  8.00am - 7.00pm
Sunday: 12.45pm - 5.00pm
Venue: SIC Costantini Community Centre
Fees: MYR 25

Contact:
Lawrance Choong @ 012-228 2408; Richard Lai @ 019-333 1002 or Gail Massang @ 01- 942 9411

What you need to bring:
1. Body and Soul
2. Open mind
3. Expectant heart
4. Desire to make a friendship with God
5. Holy Scripture for reference

Why stir?

Coffee needs stirring in order to give it's real taste.

You may say, the coffee powder is already in the cup!

Well, the Spirit of God is already within you when you were baptised as Christians were baptised in the
NAME of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

Once the Holy Spirit is stirred within you, then the fragrant of flowers will be blooming and fruits start to appear in your life. It's not easy though but for God everything is possible.

If the God can change St Paul of Tarsus, a persecuter of Christian into His instrument, God also can change YOU from within.

Lastly, Have faith in God, He will tranform you.

Just keep this in mind, "A lot are coming to be listed in the army of the King but few are chosen".
I pray that you will be one of the chosen.

Amen.

Street Life at KIP Night Market

It's almost back to normal life for me as for the last two two weeks, life has been a bit hectic.

I have been involved in a lot of activities during these two weeks with includes attending Julianne-ang-son-full-moon-at-Bubba Gump, Ngieng-and-Low-meeting-of-two-parents, Samanthas-Birthday, DKSH's 10th Years Anniversary and DKSH Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2012.

The last two events were our company official events where I acted as the company official photographer for the events. There may not be any blog post of these two event as I need prior approval for posting of those two event. Should the DKSH's communication Manager gives me a green light, I will post it here.

My DKSH Team, you may check in our official MY DKSH's Blog on those event as once they complete the drafting of the blog, it should be posted there.

To keep my fingers some extra exercise even without going down to the Street of Kuala Lumpur, I headed for KIP Night Market.

Armed with my Nikon D7000 attached with Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G lens, I am ready for the game.
My Timex shows 05:42PM which gives me a great colours and lighting.
Actually I really like to capture images during these time of the day. I love the lighting that it gives.

The images will be retained in color to give it's real flavour.



Light and Shade



Burger Man



Waiting in the shadow



Evening Joy and Smile

Coming Home

Satu snap, Bang!

 Some people just love to have their picture taken.



Concentration

 

Frozen in Time



Sugar Cane Vendor



Fish: Cut and Slice



Give a try



Focus: Char Koi Maker

Too Many Scale

Communication

Pour it Out

Evening Fashion

Chop and Cut

Hair Style



Joy and Laughter




Let me pose for you

(This guy don't want me to take his candid shot instead he wants to pose for me. Street are full of unique people.)


Children and Sun

Street life continues as the sun hide behind the cloud and the night takes over.  May you have a great day. Happy Shooting. Hope to see you again in my morning walk.

Along the Way - Change of Plan

Saturday is the day that I am always waiting for. Why?
It's a day of passion and love. It's a day of releasing my desire and passion for the one I love to do that is roaming the Kuala Lumpur Street and capture the life in the street. My initial plan this morning was roaming the street but my wife has another plan which is to accompany his brother to look for a Basic DSLR.

As he is a Canon 60D user, I presumed that he is going for a Canon. Yet I am trying my best to promote Nikon D3200 as the price is within his budget. Lens wise, it's better for him to get a Canon.
Let he decide and I will be his bodyguard.
(Latest update: My wife's brother can not make it as he is not well.)

How about me and my itchy fingres?
I have to release this urge and itchy fingers some how. Thus I have a change in plan.
All these while I have been shooting from a moving car as my wife is driving either day or night, morning or evening. I shoot anything from road accident to nomal vendors by the roadside and I am getting better at it as I have being shooting thousand of images from the car since I was using my Olympus UTough 8010 then Nikon D7000.
The only different the way of how I handle the two system are Olympus UTough 8010 using P Mode while Nikon D7000 using M mode. In Olympus UTough 8010, I normally ramp up the ISO to increase the shutter speed. That's one of the reason, I get a DSLR in the first place. I want more control on my camera setting. While my setting in Nikon D7000 with a good morning sun lighting as of today was Manual Mode, ISO 100, F/4, Shutter Speed: 500s, W/B: Sunny or you may set as Auto, EV-7 and capture in RAW. I capture in RAW because I want to process directly in camera and by the time we reach the office my shots are ready.

How I handle camera in the car?
Normally I hold the camera firm in my right hand and the left hand supporting. Do not support on the window as that will increase your camera shake. Back of my body of the off the car seat to compensate the movement of the car. You become the human camera stabilizer. Relax my body and keep my eyes for the relevant SUBJECT MATTER far before hand as the car is normally moving in the range of 50KM to 100KM per hour. As my wife is a very good driver and the Malaysian Roads are good, so I normally get a smooth ride.

When to squeeze the shutter?
Normally when I see a SUBJECT MATTER in view, I plan, estimate the distance of attack, camera ready. When the subject matter reach the distance of attack, follow through the subject, compose, frame and squeeze shutter. You will be surprise at your composition after alot of practice.

How about Focus and metering Mode?
Ops almost forget the most important issue, if you use the wrong AF the camera can not focus and you can't shoot. I normally use AF-C (Auto Focus - Continuous) with metering mode either matrix, point or weighted, depend on what you want to capture. In AF-A, the camera can not focus and you can not shoot.

These are the images taken with Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G attached that I captured since my breakfast this morning.
All images are not crop unless stated



Breakfast: Nasi Dagang



Choice: Left or Right

 As the car moved at 50km/h, a fruit vendor in view.


Roadside Fruits Vendor

 

The Pole

 As the car moved at 60km/h, a cyclist in view.

Exercise: Cycling



Missing Driver

 The car slow down to 40km/h after the traffic light.

Half Open



Crowded and Dying

 THe car is accelerating to 95km/h. Here I need a burst shot.


Swamp as in the movie 'Platoon' (Crop bottom-to clear orange road block)

Mist and Sunshine - this shot was taken on a misty day at this same location from a moving car. This image is one my TOP 50 according to Flickr's Interestingness.

Construction area and the car slow down to 50km/h

Late for work

 The car is moving down hill at 60km/h.

The car stopped at traffic light.

Advertisment: Commercial Land for SALE

 The car move again and it's getting faster.

Discussion on the Project

 The car is going up hill at 70km/h


Ready to work

The car is going down hill and almost reach the traffic light which is the end of Puncak Alam Expressway.
The cars give way to a group of training cyclists.


Give Way

 I turn and squeeze the shutter as one of cyclist passed our car next to my window.

Out of Focus

After the traffic light, this cyclist seems to be racing with this man in the Blue uniform.

Lets Race

 At the traffic light next to JAYA ONE or next to UIA.

ALL MUST BE SOLD

 When this sign comes in view, we are near to our office at Jalan Universiti, Petaling Jaya.



ONE MIC STAND

A familiar figure.


DON'T SHOOT ME!

Did I capture her picture?
Yes I did but no one recognise her in this image.
My dear sister, don't worry. A photographer always have a way to hide your identity and still can share the image as an art.
May you have a great day.
Happy Weekend and Happy Shooting.