To:
Members
Catholic Nurses Guild of Malaysia

1st September 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters

You Did Not Choose Me: I Chose You

Peace be with you all!

In a short while you will be gathering together for your Annual General Meeting in Sabah. As I have had occasion to stay previously in Pace Bene in Papar, I can say that is a very conducive place for the meeting. The atmosphere and surroundings are sure to facilitate a prayerful and contemplative spirit.

The theme for this year’s retreat is “You did not choose me: I chose you” (John 15:16). I hope that it will encourage us to consider how God has called each one of you to your special vocation as Catholic nurses. This is a very unique and challenging call but God will equip and sustain you in this special role.

Of course we try to understand that we are first of all called as disciples of Jesus. This means to be with the Master and to learn from him how to be like him as the model for our way of life. We will be encouraged to reflect on our journey thus far and seek enlightenment on how to continue in the future.
God is always near to us. He constantly reaches out to us as his beloved though we need to be reminded often about it. At times, this becomes mixed up with other messages from our society, creating confusion and distress within us. Hopefully our retreat will refresh our memory and give us new energy for our mission.
Let us therefore entrust this precious time to the Lord who is generous beyond measure to all his children who seek him with a sincere heart. May your time together strengthen your bond as brothers and sisters who encourage and support each other in appreciating your vocation as healers and caregivers.
God bless you all and reward you richly for your faithfulness to him and his people.
Yours sincerely in Christ

+ Cornelius Sim
President
Commission for Health Care
Catholic Bishops’ Conference
Malaysia Singapore and Brunei

I would like to thank the organizing committee for coming up with this program book.

I was wondering what would be the theme of our retreat for this year, I attended an Advent retreat in November last year, it was there that this inspiration came to mind. I shared with the group that I was having the retreat with, “that our association the Catholic Nurses’ Guild Malaysia is also in need of pruning in order that the Christian orientation is maintained”.

It is important to understand that we as Catholic Nurses are not in this profession by chance, we are chosen, chosen to be God’s instrument in healing. Thus in line with this, we have chosen the Theme: taken from John 15 : 16, “ You did not Choose me I chose you, go and bear much fruit”.
I hope that this retreat will help us better understand our calling as Catholic Nurses. Catholics must be spontaneous to the call of Christ. We must live up to certain catholic values and be well rooted in our faith because the vitality of our association depends on the intensity of faith of our members.

We are not members of an exclusive club where everyone is expecting some benefits from one’s membership. It is what we can offer to the association to help and encourage members to have the opportunity to be God’s instrument in His ministry of healing.
It is a great privilege for us healthcare personnel to be in contact with the sick in our daily lives. Members must be updated professionally and religiously inclined in order to be able to give professional and spiritual care to the communities that we serve, be it our patients, be it our members.

I thank His Lordship Bishop Cornelius Sim for being the Retreat master for this 46th AGM of the Catholic Nurses’ Guild Malaysia. I also applaud the organizing committee for their hard work in making this AGM / Retreat happen.

Francisca Malantin.