Comm Retreat 2013! (:

Sorry for the late posts! Here’s a few coming your way guys, brace yourselves! (:

On the first day of this month, we began yet another journey down the road, not too far away from Melbourne city, to spend time together and reflect.

It was a beautiful 3-day, 2-night trip down to an amazing place off St Leonard’s Beach and we had a lot of fun. 

Some of us even made a trip down to the beach for the sunrise on Saturday morning. It was freezing and the wind was blowing really hard at us but the scenery was hauntingly beautiful; it was another moment in time where I was awed by the beauty in God’s creation. 

We also took turns cooking… Here are some pictures! :P

Fr Thinh joining us today.. Yummy chicken! :P'

The food and drink hoarders Kim and Reina ;P

So they weren't cooking. . . 

A beautiful sunrise Laura took while we stayed warm in the car~

So much Oil! >:O

Our Mighty President swinging by xD

Comm pic :DD

At other times in the trip, we also put our heads together for the upcoming events in the semester! I think we have a pretty exciting semester ahead guys. Are you as excited as we are? (x

Come And See~

It has not been long since I joined COSDU, and for that fact, since I came to Melbourne.

I do, however, recall the day I first came to COSDU. Being greeted by Father Thinh and Sister Delma, as well as the members warmly, I had wondered what took me so long to come and see.

A year ago, I arrived in Melbourne for the first time as a university student, wondering what the year ahead held for me. I checked out clubs, wondering whether I should join any, and I found a neat page of COSDU on the Melbourne university website :P

I had been uncertain, unsure. I had craved for a catholic community of friends, which had been pretty hard to find before this. Leaving Singapore and family, I had often found going to church alone hard. I prayed about it, and for a while wondered if my prayer would be answered.

I was initially apprehensive about joining this club, because I was not sure what we did in this club. I can still remember feeling hesitant and asking God, “Is this it?” Looking back I could not have imagined life turning out any other way. In the past, I had always gone to church with my family, and suddenly there was a slight emptiness in going to church by myself in Melbourne.

When I Did join COSDU however, it just felt right. Cheesy as it sounds, I couldn’t say it better : it felt like home, like family. The family and community I have, my brothers and sisters in Christ, my dear friends… Now whenever I go to church, I cannot help but thank God for bringing me to COSDU and for friends to go to church with each week.

COSDU has brought together God-loving people of different nationalities who could relate to each other and help each other along the way to stay on the path He designated for each and every one of us.

And as orientation approaches, when I think about the catholic students who will be walking around the campus, possibly as hesitant as I had been… I can’t help but hope that they can find the community that welcomes them with open arms – COSDU. 

Gratitude

Something good happened today, and I was filled with gratitude as well as this crazy urge to share my thoughts with everyone! :)  

I have been reminded, a lot, by people I know, of how important it is to praise and be grateful, regardless of the situation. And that in adopting a heart of praise and gratitude, our lives can be changed. 

I’ll be honest. It’s not the mystical enigma I thought it was for a while.

It’s the attitude we adopt, to look upon the life we are given by God’s grace. A while back, there was a talk about what God’s grace was – a gift we did not deserve (funny how things we hear in the talks can fit in place and help us in our lives huh. *hint hint* *nudge nudge* *wink wink* :P ).

Life. By God’s grace, we were given life. A chance to discover, to journey in Christ’s love, to know Him more and more, a chance to rehearse an eternity of heaven with God. We were blessed with the opportunity to know Him, to know one another, to find a community, to learn so much more about our faith and our God. I often wonder about what could have been if I were born elsewhere, if God had placed me in another family and if I may have never known God.

In adopting what some call the cloak of praise and gratitude, we learn to search for the blessings we receive by God’s grace (even something as simple as the fact that we are here, able to see and know of the catholic church) and to practise our faith. In fact, trying my best to praise even when I didn’t feel like I had the heart to praise is what brought me to this day. I didn’t understand how it works, but then someone explained it to me : it is the fact that even as we are troubled and in a state of mind that we can barely praise Him but still do, in trusting that He will make all right.  

I’ve seen how God has worked in my life as I learnt to do that, and the ‘chicken and egg cycle’ it can bring about : being joyful can make you grateful just as how the spirit of gratitude can bring you joy. Recognising the gifts we have is not just about the clichéd way of looking upon a half-full glass and being happy about it, in my opinion, but also about acknowledging that God Gave us this half-full glass and being thankful for it.

And in the joy the Lord has given me, I just wanted to share this quote I found as well as this prayer in my heart with my close friends : my brothers and sisters in Christ! :)) 

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And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah,

that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery.

So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God.

— Saint Paul of Tarsus (3-67 AD), I. Thessalonians 5.16-18 (54 AD)

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Lord, I thank you for giving me this community of friendship and love, that I could have people by my side for the good and the bad times, as we grow together in love and faith, by Your grace. I thank you that you never abandon us, that you brought us together to help each and every one of us to grow, especially since a great majority of us are alone and away from home and family. 

 

Lord, bless those who have graduated, as they start to enter or have entered the workforce and begin to develop their career… as they leave behind university life as a student and possibly a community of friends and family in beginning this new adventurous chapter in their lives… as they grow a year older and wiser in Your love… Lord, help them never to forget the friends they made who helped them, in one way or another, to grow into the amazing people they are today, as well as to never forget You who sent them friends to journey with in faith – that even if they may not physically spend time with their friends (just as they would not physically spend time with You) they may always keep one another in their hearts.  

 

Also, Lord, bless those returning (or not) to their homelands, those enjoying their holidays and the opportunity you give us to spend more quality time with loved ones that You gave us to remind us of how much You love us. Dear Lord, as we approach the end of another beautiful year of knowing you and learning about ourselves and You, lead us into yet another beautiful one. 

Amen.

Graduation Mass

As our graduants close a chapter in their lives and begin a new one, our other members approach the end of a year and the beginning of another one – a year of exciting journeys to be accomplished. Though this sounds oddly like an adventure out of the movies, that is actually what I like to think of life – an adventure. An amazing roller coaster of a journey where we get to know God yet a little more, receive a few more of His gifts and graces and take a teensy step ahead, closer to our final destination : heaven. :)

It seems a little early for talk of heaven, but life is, after all, a practice for an eternity of happiness found in God and with God. We learn so much each day, by God’s grace – to love one another better, to love oneself better and to love God better. We grow and mature a little each day and we get better at accepting and following His will each day.

I have been told that it is pretty bizarre – the uncertainty of the future, especially that of a graduate. There are so many different things that one can branch out to be upon completing one’s degree, and the world is their oyster. Tonight, we celebrated with those of us who have completed their life as a student (including those who sadly, could not make it) and also those who have chosen to go back to their homeland. 

Amidst the heartbreak of separation who we have come to recognise as family but may not see much of anymore, we wished the best for them and will continue to keep them in our hearts as well as in our prayers. 

Our dear graduants, you will always be deeply treasured by COSDU and by God, wherever you are <3 :))

Exam Calendar

Suffering children are safe in your arms.

“There is none like you. No one else can touch my heart like you do. I could search for all eternity long, and find… there is none like you.”

Just a quick check-in aside from sessions updates :)

Most universities have gone past the half-sem mark, and spring breaks went by all too quickly.

As the exams loom over us, (a mere month or two away), let us not forget the Lord is there for us in our times of need, exams or what not, and that if we ever look for His loving support and strength to find it right there.

And so is COSDU. :) By God's grace, we have our community to pray with us and for us in times of need, and our exam calendar will make this possible, so do update the exam calendar from the link provided on facebook!

“Suffering children are safe in your arms…”

Quotes from : There is none like you by Hillsong

Grace fest!

Hello there!

Just an update on what went on during Grace fest which ran from the 15-19 August involved COSDU having a booth at the Australian Catholic University! There were many many workshops and talks going on which obviously called for some COSDU love! Our booth was set up right in the middle of the crowd which proved pretty helpful as we had tons of people coming up to our stall and helping themselves to lollies and quotes. We were giving out tons of brochures, prayer cards and information on what COSDU was all about. What a wonderful way to spread God's love aye?

Here are some pictures of what went on!

Can you see our massive bowl of (half gone) lollies? Well THAT was how much lollies that were shared with others :O Anyways, the quotes above were the quotes that were being given out (: Hopefully they would touch your heart just like how they touched the hearts of many others <3

Lots of love, 

COSDU

Discipleship

Hello everyone! We hope that your week has been great so far (: So sorry for the extremely delayed posts! We have been really busy these past weeks :/

The session on 31 August was on a talk about Discipleship, by Ramesh! For those who weren't there, don't worry for we will have that session summarized into this one post (:

So.... Discipleship... Have you ever asked yourself what being a disciple meant? Well, that was one of the first few questions that Ramesh asked us. We had a little while to buzz with the people next to us on what we felt the word "disciple" meant. And well, words such as "student", "laity" "follower of Christ" came up. But what does discipleship mean to YOU? Does it simply mean just following what Jesus would have done? Or maybe, following what the bible teaches?

Ramesh touched specifically on what we could do as disciples of Christ. In particular, what we as lay people could do! According to the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church), we are all "the faithful, who by baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the people of God". We are also "made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World". - LG 27, CCC 897.

Doesn't that make you feel really really important and amazed at how huge a role you can play as a Christian in today's world? We really hope that that message reminded you of how special you are in God's eyes and in the eyes of the world that He has so beautifully created. Now, never forget that you too play a part in spreading the Word of God to others. You have the role of permeating Christ through the social, economical and political realities of life.

But are you willing to take on that role and be a faithful disciple in Christ?

Love,
COSDU (: