The postponed volume and "The Breaking of Dawn":

Introduction to “the breaking of dawn”

          It’s a surprise as to wonder, why I cancelled the release of my previous effort “Light” for a more subdued volume I now call,” the breaking of dawn”. Indeed one would ask, why the concept and complete departure from my previous ideas?

All interesting and will be answered in this new volume.

          Indeed, I am not one to just cancel and leave things undone, as such, I am a disciplined person and disciplinary in such a way, I always finish what I started; this new volume is no different. In terms of concept, innovation and execution, “the breaking of dawn” is my most accomplished volume to date.

          The amazing thing is that in order for me to realize this volume, I had to cancel my current volume. Because I felt the direction, the theme and the written materials were going in a different way than anticipated. The difference about writing a book and a volume of poetry, is that in books, you have pre-thought story lines whilst, that you can plan ahead and adjust according to whatever situations or plots in the story line. For poetry it isn't as rigid, yet more creative and in many cases spontaneous which a lot of people may not be as flexible, as when writing normally.

         Poetry is no laughing matter in writing and though patterns of styles in writing have a habit of inhibiting writers from exploring their true potential. Poetry is still a new focus of concentration in certain countries and it is indeed a worthy area of study, due to it's rich historical significance and heritage with which it has given to writing and entertainment in the past. Even today, poetry written centuries ago, have profound influence on modern culture, writing and understanding. 

          I spent the last couple months writing, since the release of “Embrace” and was inspired to come up with another volume. I read, thought, created, wrote, drafted and tried to finalize so many pieces. It would inevitably lead people to think I was crazy. But I am not, as in this aspect, I wanted to push my own boundaries and write like never before. To be free, but to focus on a specific person or subject, in this case God. A volume of poetry, which would be different from my entire efforts in the past, for I believe it is always good to something different from previous efforts. So I came out with so many drafts of poetry themes, front covers and in cover photos. I chose from a huge array of different angles, styles, fonts, colors and even went as far as talking to people about ideas for a volume. But nothing seemed to work. Even “Light” my supposed release would eventually be scrapped. Because the direction within the coming months of my work, would go in a completely different direction.

          Writing and coming up with “the breaking of dawn”, would be tough and a daunting task, because I wanted to make sure that it was somewhat different from “Embrace” and that it would stand out on it’s own. A task, I can assure was not easy to accomplish, but a very enjoyable experience to go through.

          “The break of dawn” would stretch the boundaries, tear the norms and open up new paths to writing and literature. Especially in today’s world where so much of culture is drawn from the media, TV and the Internet. I wanted to write a volume that would return us back to the days before the Internet. When there was appreciation for simplicity, acceptance for one another and our differences. And for simple truth.

          So as you can read, this volume is a fresh new start and a brand new entry into a new realm of poetry as an art. The difference is my work is that, it is not meant to paint beautiful pictures; those days of writing are long gone. But to write about life and in doing so, I try to give life, by empowering people with the chance to choose for themselves and therefore liberating them from the world’s so called “modern culture”.

          We are human and as such, should be treated like humans. We are not mere robots and we should never hold ourselves back. Have no fear and take my hand. Let me take you on a journey that touch bases about God and that discovering a life in faith, hope and love is an enjoyable one. Of course I do not deny any hardships and tribulations, what I can promise is that you can live a life of your own. As physical wealth is not everything. For sustenance maybe, but it cannot to give life to others as what faith, hope and love can. It's all about sharing and this volume is my sharing to you guys!

          I hope you enjoy this volume and most certainly hope you will share it, love it and live it in your own ways. It is time for us all to realize our true potentials; “the breaking of dawn” is for us all! God bless everyone!

Prayer (Dedication to World Youth Day, Madrid, 2011)

prayer

Come sit with me,

Stay a while,

Do not fear,

You will come to no harm,

I want to share something you,

I want to show you what love is,

Let us kneel together,

For though much time has passed,

It is only right,

Now of all times,

Is to utter a prayer,

For what you are about to receive,

Hold my hand,

Listen to with your mind,

Listen with your heart,

Reach out with your entire mind,

Feel with all your soul,

Understand with your heart,

Sit with me and pray,

The power of prayer,

A simple minute of silence,

To daily hours of solitude in contemplation,

Are said throughout the world,

Echoing through all time,

Feel the voices,

The hopes,

The love,

The faith,

The belief,

The reconciliation,

And the sharing in prayer,

In unity, heart, mind, body and soul,

So listen with me,

In sweet silence,

Of a simple prayer,

Uttered not just for us,

But for mankind,

For in prayer,

We are united in divinity,

We are powerful,

And we are doing something to change,

The heart and mind of change,

Is rooted in the beliefs of a life in prayer,

So sit with me and pray,

Utter for me a prayer,

I'll utter for you one,

Famillies come together,

Communities around the world come as one,

In union of belief,

The power of a prayer has won,

With all the love we bear,

For all the trials life throws at us,

For tribulation that stirs and threatens us,

For all the sorrows, grief and woe of thorns,

Fear not,

Sit with me and pray,

Because I love you,

I care for you,

Let me be your step,

Let me sacrifice myself,

So that you might believe,

That you might hear my prayer,

To a path in the light,

Can you see it?

My family,

Your care, patience and sacrifice,

My friends,

Your love, dedication and sacrifice,

God,

Your unflailing love and dedication,

Jesus Christ,

Your unfailing love and sacrifice,

Our Mama Mary,

Your loving grace as a Mother's love for her children,

Come sit with me,

Stay a while,

Let me share with you,

An awesome power,

Untold throughout history,

Unmatched in simplicity,

Pure as light,

Has battled the darkness to take flight,

For as I am now to you,

We bear witness now and forever,

The love of a life in prayer,

Is the love that lasts past the edges of time,

For love and prayer go hand-in-hand,

So do you hear it?

The sweet silence,

Of prayer,

Hear,

Feel,

Understand and be aware,

So come with me,

Sit and stay a while,

Let me share a little gift with you,

Give me some of your time,

Your precious time,

Kneel with me,

Let me show,

The power of a prayer.

the end

“Put on love, which is the bond of perfection”

(Colossians 3:14)*

* Dedication to World Youth Day, Madrid, 2011 - from 16th - 21st August 2011

A Walk Through The Night

a walk through the night

Washing away,

All the tears inside,

So many years,

Scarred by memories,

Feeling of tears help deep inside,

But you came along,

My friend,

You taught me to look at the stars,

Even in the night of my life,

You helped me to embrace that part,

A part of myself was left outside,

Alone and in the rain,

Many would have had a doubt,

Many came to save my life,

Even one of them died for my love,

A walk through the night,

As I drive my car in Camerons,

Feel the wind in my face,

The sun in the sky,

Oh God I'm glad I'm still alive,

That I might live another day,

But in the instance I would face,

Everything I had had been taken away,

Even the life inside my eyes,

This road I'm going without a trace,

I had to die within myself for grace,

Part of myself was left outside,

Alone and in the rain,

It's okay to have doubts,

Many came to save my life,

Even one of them gave theirs for mine,

A walk through the night,

It's not so easy to forget,

All the trauma left,

Inside myself,

All the marks left inside my heart,

And people don't know,

Yet they only see me smiling,

Inside I was a wreck,

That’s why I just keep silent,

At the very end,

God was in my life till this day,

He took my hand,

And led me the way,

That it would be okay,

He walked me through the night.

the end

Story Board (The ROCK Project)*

Story Board (The ROCK project) 25^th of May 2011

Background

A ‘successful’ young women goes through life, completing the motions like a robot without fully understanding the significance of life. She fails to realize the church’s important role in nurturing and developing her spiritual life. Until one day when a life changing conversion experience occurs.

Structure of the story

This story is divided into 3 distinct parts:

Part 1: The typical Monday to Sunday life. It begins from the standard activity of going to church on Sunday.

Part 2: The activities of the ministries of the church in full form. Full of life and excitement by the active participants of the church members.

Part 3: Achieves enlightenment and the life begins hence fourth.

Part 1 (Forms 70% of the story)

Scene 1- It starts on a Sunday in church. She passes through church service (Holy Mass) as a chore without much significance in her life. She ends her obligation by the signing of the cross. And subsequently leaves the church in a ‘hurry’. As she was leaving there were some youth distributing a questionnaire form. She takes it hesitantly with an intention of not hurting the young boys. She then places the form into the bible, as a natural act of discarding it.

Scene 2- Her working week begins. Monday 6:00 AM, is the date and time she wakes up to. This information is indicated on a digital clock with a piercing buzzer. She puts the buzzer on snooze in hope of silencing it. She gets up and heads straight to the bathroom. After taking her bath, she goes to the dressing table and puts on her make up. This is a representation of her putting up a mask to begin her day. She puts on a fake smile with the reflection seen on the mirror, before leaving for work. She shuts the door with a ‘thud’ and leaves for work.

Scene 3- At work, she engages in a successful presentation in front of her colleagues. She is good at her job and has full ownership over it. Her team mates applauses in credit and appreciation for her. Her day ends, when she returns home and goes to bed.

Scene 4- Tuesday begins at 6:00AM. Standard buzzing of the alarm continues. Gets up hesitantly and prepares for work. Work in the office is a disaster because she goes through a frustrating ordeal in a team review. She throws the documents as a sign of dissatisfaction of the work of her colleagues. (The documents are thrown unto the camera)

Scene 5- A flash from Wednesday to Friday on the time and day of the alarm clock. This flash represents that her life is only but passing events with no specific significance. The following are the regular activities done on the specific days:

Wednesday: Goes out for dinner with a group of close friends. They share great laughs and stories together over dinner. But she is still not happy, because companionship is not what she is looking for.

Thursday: Goes out shopping alone. She tries on sunglasses and shoes, in hope of finding a ‘fit’ to her need. She carries many shopping bags as a sign of unnecessary baggage in her life.

Friday: (Important scene) She gets a massive shelling from her superior over a lack of commitment to her job. As a result she expressed her frustration to her superior. This resulted in great hurt and pain in her. (video zeros into her back)

Scene 6: (from previos scene, it zeros back out) She is in the club and having a ‘good time’ with club scenes reflected all around her. After an ‘amazing’ night she heads home alone and sad. She enters a dark room with a spotlight lamp filling the sad ambience. She breaks down and starts to cry. She is depressed of the empty life she is living. She walks to her desk in search of the answer. She saw the bible, and opens up to the part where the questionnaire was kept. She then, takes the time to fill the form.

o Do you have a good job (check)

o Do you have a good car (check)

o Do you have a good house (check)

o Do you have good friends around you (check)

o Do you have a good family (check)

o Do you have good health (check)

o Do you have Jesus in your life – PAUSES and left it (uncheck)

Scene 7: It is on a Sunday. She goes to church as her normal routine, but now with an open heart to the invitation of the church. As soon as the service ends, she does the sign of the cross. This time she takes time to look at the cross. Jesus dying on the cross now means a lot to her. As she walks out, engaged in deep thought, she suddenly realize a change in her. She pauses and turns right, attracted to the singing of the choir.

Part 2

Scene 8: Conversion story. It begins with the capture of the Priest lifting up the Eucharist at consecration followed by receiving Holy Communion. From there grace is received and this permeates life into the ministry. Video captures of life in people participating in activities of the:

a) Youth

b) IHD

c) Senior Citizen

d) Choir

e) Sunday school etc

Here the ministries’ are seen as full of life, real bond among members, laughters, reaching out, smiles, real satisfaction from giving of oneself to the community.

Scene 9: As soon as the flashes of the various ministries in full action are complete, she finds achieves full satisfaction and life. She immediately whips out the form, and with the use of a big marker pen she ticks of the last item:

o Do you have Jesus in your life (check)

The story ends in scene 9. It will follow with flashes of conscious prompting statements today like:

1) Have you found Jesus in your life today?

2) Are you the Eucharist in the world today?

3) Are you participating actively in the ministries of the church?

Principles of the video

1) The life changing experience of receiving Jesus in your life freely and realizing this leads you to active participation of life. Not living a life like a ROBOT but a free HUMAN BEING.

2) The courage of a human spirit in search for enlightenment

The Reflection of Christ Kingdom (The ROCK)

The Reflection of Christ Kingdom (The ROCK)

Introduction

The ROCK is an awareness campaign to promote the Catholic Church’s role in the lives of the people. The vision we are achieving through this event is to encourage the congregation to be involved actively in the various ministry of the church. For example the Liturgical Ministry, The Parish Integral Human Development (PIHD), Parish Ministry of Ecumenical and Inter Religious Affairs (PMEIA), Youth, etc. Statement to ponder: Imagine the change and impact that the Catholic Church will have on the world if all the various ministries are performing at full capacity.

Objective

1. To create the awareness among the children, youth, single adults, married adults and senior citizen the importance of playing an active role in the ministries of the church.

2. To instill the reality to the target groups that worshipping God in Holy Mass is purely a ceremonial activity if does not result in social action.

3. To instill an understanding within the congregation that the Catholic Church is conducive in responding to the various faith development levels of an individual.

a) Recognizing the Church as a source of Salvation (Level 1)- Catholic Church

b) Growing in love for the Eucharist (Level 2) – Liturgical Ministry

c) Our strength in Christ propels us to Social Action for the greater of the community (Level 3) – PIHD, RCIA, Youth, etc

d) Enhanced level of consciousness. Cultivating openness of ones’ mind to see Jesus in other faith traditions. For example Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism etc (Level 4) - PMEIA

Event Mechanics

The events will be conducted in 2 phases over the period of 9 months. The start date is June 1^st 2011 and end date is 29^th February 2012. The first phase marks the first 4 months of the project and the following 5 months is the second phase.

1^st Phase (June – September 2011)

1. Promotion of the reality through a 2 minute advertisement.

2. Selling of Father Cyprian’s ‘Echo of Your peace’ album.

These activities will be conducted within the churches of Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese.

2^nd Phase (November – February 2012)

1. Promotion of Father Cyprian’s Concert in February (18^th & 19^th of February 2012)

The existing activities in Phase 1 are continued in phase 2 alongside the established activities.