a message of hope THEME

Transcription

1 a message of hope My Dear Young Friends, What joy, what great hope, what grace, did the World Youth Day bring to us this last month! By now each of us has started to reflect on the experience and to see what it was in fact that God did for us and gave to us. And also what he asks of us. Many of you came to Sydney after a long preparation. You scraped and saved to be able to afford the trip from overseas or from distant parts within Australia. Others were able to decide to come quite late as your pilgrimage to Sydney began in Sydney. In either case it was God who led you, and through your groups and leaders and priests and the Holy Father the experience of the pilgrimage not always easy was made through the Holy Spirit (). What joy, what great hope, what grace, did the World Youth Day bring to us this last month! IN THIS ISSUE 3 Faith Foundations 4 Pilgrim Prayer 5 Inspired Writings 6 Testimony of Faith 7 Saints and Witnesses 8 Place of Pilgrimage 1

2 2 a message of hope Whatever was the content of your experience, whatever the joys and struggles, it is important to see in it the workings of grace. St Paul said All things work to the good for those who love God. He did not say many things, or most things, but all things. So, in this period which follows the pilgrimage to Sydney, and in which the pilgrimage of life continues on towards Heaven, our reflection on the event is a vital part of our WYD08 experience. In this reflection we can seek to see how in the midst of each and every moment God has been calling us, consoling us, healing us, pruning us, teaching us, challenging us, equipping us, and so on. This will have taken place through the wonderful words of the Holy Father, the catechesis, at the liturgies or other major events, in prayer or at confession. But also in the encounters with members of your group or with a pilgrim from another culture and language, as well as through setbacks that occurred, difficulties encountered, problems faced. The key is for us to respond, and to say like Mary at the invitation of the angel or like the denier Peter who encountered the Risen Christ on the shore of Galilee Yes I will follow you. Yes I do recognize that you Jesus Christ are not only a wise man but the Divine Son of the One True God. Yes I have seen that the Catholic Church is the one founded by Christ and built on Peter. Yes I know that you have created me and love me and laid down your life for me and for the salvation of all humanity. Yes I will commit to daily prayer and to listening to the Word of God. Yes I will give my life to you and follow you wherever you call. Yes I know I am a poor sinner but that you know this and you will give me your mercy and sanctify me with your Holy Spirit. Yes I will be your witness, in charity, hope, justice, mercy, truth and on mission. Dear friends, while the world runs on and business consumes us, and we return from pilgrimage to our daily lives of study, work, friends and family, I urge you to take some time to reflect on your experience. Ask God the Father Why is it that you have given me the Holy Spirit? Ask Jesus How can I best be a witness to you? Ask the Holy Spirit Fill me and lead me by your power! BISHOP anthony fisher op wyd08 coordinator

3 3 faith foundations The Gift of Self Many of us will have heard something of the phrase the gift of self. It was used often by Pope John Paul II to capture the heart of his most significant teachings about vocations, marriage, life in society and all human relationships. Although Pope John Paul II used this phrase in the striking and dramatic context of his personalist philosophy, the gift of self is central to Christian discipleship because it is central to the nature and dynamic of God as the Blessed Trinity of selfgiving divine Persons. We are made to give of ourselves because we are made in the image and likeness of God who is all free, loving and extravagant Self-giving. John Paul II reflected in his Letter On the Dignity of Women: To say that man is created in the image and likeness of God means that man is created to exist for others, to become a gift. Before and outside the marvellous and rich reality of time and the cosmos God the Father pours out his love and life in and to the Son and the Son gives Himself back to the Father, while the Holy Spirit is the plenitude of the Father and the Son s Love. The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope) says: Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for himself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self. (No. 24). Christians realise that human beings through sin and selfishness have often lost their way and given up on this goal. In order for us to give a sincere, whole, free, and faithful gift of ourselves we need the assistance of the Giving God Himself. What help did God give us? Not a magic solution, or a wonder drug or a secret technique, but the Gift of Himself as God made Man. Jesus gave himself to the Father in love, totally- and not in the calm ritual of gift-giving but from the heart of all the violence, cruelty and resentment that human beings can rally- from the Cross. He was stretched and broken so that He could re-unite us with the Father and to each other. The saints are those who live the pattern of self-gift out of love for God and their neighbour. Their gift of self-poured-out makes present down through history and within the life of the Church, Christ s own reconciling and healing self-giving love.

4 pilgrim prayer Prayer of Abandonment to Divine Providence Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; Do with me whatever You will. Whatever You may do, I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, And in all Your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into Your hands I commend my spirit; I offer it to You, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into Your hands, Without reserve and with boundless confidence, For You are my Father. Amen. 4

5 5 inspired writings Excerpt from The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux Manuscript B, Chapter IX, My Vocation is Love. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that if the Church had a body composed of different members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood it was Love alone that made the Church s members act, that if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places.in a word, that it was eternal! Then, in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love my vocation, at last I have found it.my VOCATION IS LOVE!

6 6 testimony of faith Caroline, Archdiocese of Perth Caroline Watson (L), Fr John O Reilly and Verity Goddard In 2005 I was privileged to attend World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany. I didn t realise at the time, but it was an experience that would change the way I understood my Catholic faith. I had begun to practice my faith again after some time away from the Church during high school, and had been practicing for a couple of years when the opportunity to attend World Youth Day (WYD) arose. It is not something I necessarily would have opted to go to normally, but a group of my friends were really excited about it, so I got caught up in the momentum. As part of the Perth group I had the opportunity to travel through Greece and Turkey on the pathways of St Paul on the pre-pilgrimage to WYD in Cologne. Once we reached Cologne, the price of all this fun was that I would get sick and find myself in a hospital towards the end of the week. Imagine that after nearly three weeks of running around, you re about to miss the climax because you have a bad cold. I was devastated. This is when I really learnt the magic of World Youth Day. I didn t realise at the time, but it was an experience that would change the way I understood my Catholic faith I was dropped at the hotel of a priest that was travelling with our group, as he wasn t going to be walking to Marienfield either. I spent the day with him resting and it was then that I realised what an opportunity I had been given. I was so upset that I was going to miss the Mass, and Fr John was so patient and kind, and just helped me to get well. I realised that this was what Jesus meant when he said to love our neighbour. Thankfully I was feeling much better the next day and Fr John and I were able to attend Mass. It was a pleasure to push his wheelchair to Mass and celebrate Christ s love for us with him. He still remains a good friend of mine today and big supporter of WYD. I hope that everyone attending WYD will have the opportunity to experience the love of Jesus through the people they spend July 2008 with.

7 7 saints and witnesses Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Born: August 26th, Skopje, Macedonia (modern capital of Republic of Macedonia.) Died: September 5th, Calcutta, India Patron of: outcasts, poorest of the poor Representation in Religious Art: Small, deeply lined woman dressed in white and blue sari habit of her Order Memorial Day: 5th September Mother Teresa of Calcutta remains among the most widely recognised Christians in modern times. She is revered in industrial and developing countries: Christian and otherwise. Pope John Paul II, the other mega-figure of modern Christianity, saw Mother Teresa in special relationship to his own mission. He called her the icon of the Good Samaritan. (Mass of Beatification, Rome 19th October, 2003) Mother Teresa was baptised as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Macedonia, her family being of Albanian background. At an early age she felt a call to serve Jesus Christ as a missionary. When she was 18 she joined the Sisters of Loreto, a missionary order based in Ireland. After her training she travelled to India to teach geography and religious education in the Sisters school in Calcutta. Sister Teresa was moved by the desperate need and sickness of the Calcutta children who could not afford to come to the school. With the support of her order, she began an outdoor school for the most poor of Calcutta. Mother Teresa s call was to take the presence and care of Christ to those people who were completely neglected, dying, hopeless, the unwanted and untouchable. She was sure that with Jesus grace and by simply being present with the poor - each person could know that he or she was loved, personally cared for and worthy of dignity. Taking on a life of complete poverty, going out into the rubbish heaps and slums, Teresa began the foundations of her community which would become the Missionaries of Charity. By the 1960s her new Order had grown to include thousands of lay volunteers (including helpers both Catholic and of different faiths or none), a branch of Brothers and a community of contemplative nuns. She directed the Order to establish houses and hostels, first all around India and then to the rest of the world: to war zones, under the gaze of repressive regimes; to famine zones, AIDS patients and refugee camps. Teresa and her vision were unstoppable and this drew her to the attention of the whole world and awardgiving bodies (eg Nobel Peace Prize). For many years, as Mother Teresa held fast to her mission and love for God and the poor, she experienced interior darkness or a sense of being abandoned even by God. She not only wore the sari of the outcasts she loved, but also shared in their desperation and emptiness.

8 8 place of pilgrimage The Tomb of St Thomas the Apostle Where: Chennai (Madras) India. The tradition that the Apostle Thomas (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15) preached in the West and South coasts of India is filled with mystery and yet is very enduring. The Church Fathers including St Ambrose and St Gregory of Tours call St Thomas, The Apostle of India, even though for Western Europe and the Middle East, India was seen to be on the borders of the known world. Many Indian Christian family histories and artworks from the region of Kerala suggest that Christianity was settled in these areas from a very early time and there are many places which claim a shrine or an association with St Thomas. Perhaps the largest and most official of these areas is the National Shrine of St Thomas which is situated in Chennai (a city once known as Madras.) This is the area in which Indian Christians believe that St Thomas was martyred by being pierced with a lance- as Jesus was. The place is called St Thomas Mount. Associated with this site is an ancient granite cross which is engraved with ancient Persian writing. There is a nearby spring called the Spring of Thomas. It is also a belief that his body was buried in a primitive church in the nearby village called Santhome. When in the 1500s the Portuguese arrived in Santhome, they found a very long established population of Christians and the shrine Ben Thuma (St Thomas). The Portuguese settlers to India built the Church which on the site of the present large Gothic Basilica which stands over the areas of the legendary Tomb. The Basilica also houses the much-loved painting of Our Lady of Mylapore which was brought to India by St Francis Xavier before he traveled to China. In 1986 John Paul II prayed at the Tomb and before the Our Lady s image while on tour of India.