Feast Day Celebrations At The Chapel of Immaculate Conception, Sg Batu

The wet, gloomy weather on the Sunday morning of 11th December 2016 mercifully gave way to sunshine by lunchtime. Parishioners from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and the Church of Divine Mercy, Penang, set out on a comfortable chartered bus at 3pm, reciting the Divine Mercy chaplet and sang hymns to Mother Mary along the way to Sungai Batu for the celebration of Holy Mass at 5.30pm, in observation of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (which falls on 8th Dec annually).

There were already buses from Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Bukit Mertajam when we arrived. Thankfully, the new housing estate beside the Chapel provided ample parking. The by-road leading to the chapel was neatly decorated and the stage for mass was beautifully done up, with the procession statue of Our Lady resting at the base.

The celebrations started with the recitation of the rosary. Mass was celebrated by Father Nelson Joseph who in his homily, stressed that everyone of us had a role in building bridges in our relationship with others.

At the end of the mass, much to everyone’s delight, rosaries were distributed to a representative of each family present.

The procession statue of Our Lady adorned with multi-coloured roses, was taken in candle lit procession to the recitation of the rosary from the chapel to the public road. Fireworks added to the grandeur of the occasion.

Fellowship followed and once again we witnessed the generosity of the parishioners of the Church of Christ The King, Sungai Petani (the chapel comes under this parish).

This year’s feast day celebrations must have seen the largest crowd at the chapel to date. An estimated 2000 people were present almost double the number in 2015. The organizers rose to the occasion bringing in extra chairs at short notice. There was more than adequate seating space and even the distribution of food was well organized with more serving areas which meant shorter queuing time.

Plastic bottles filled with holy water were also distributed to the pilgrims for free and there was also a light performance by parishioners.

At the end of the celebration, as the crowd still lingered, a very brief hardly noticeable shower sprinkled its wet drops on those outside the canopy. With that shower of blessings, we all headed for home and arrived, joyful and safe.

Thank you Our Lady and Jesus. 

Amen.