Discipleship Training Program (21st June, 2013 – 29th June,
2013)
“Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were
filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”” - Luke 5:26
The
Discipleship Training Program (DTP) was blessing to both the participants and
volunteers. The program was planned with an intention to enrich campus students
of Bangalore to live a life driven in Christ.
Crossroads
II had 12 participants from various colleges across Bangalore. Though the
program was intended for students who had some basic formation, the
participants who attended the program were mainly new to Christ. This though
became a challenge to the team, was not a hindrance in giving Christ. The program
team re-worked on the entire program and made it applicable to the crowd. Extra
effort was taken to inform the resource about the participants and to prepare
them to give their best to them.
The
retreat happened on the first three days of DTP (22 July to 24 July). It was
planned and handled by Alex Njavallil and the Bread of Life group. The key
speakers during the retreat were Cherian Ramapuram, Sunsun Jose, Rinu Thomas,
Liza, Zacharias Njavallil, Jude Francis, Mathew, Clifford Njavallil, Jose Antony
and Sharu. Fr. Roy helped the participants and volunteers by hearing their confessions
and supporting them with all the spiritual guidance that they required during
the retreat. The retreat ended with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Rinu and
Liza (from the retreat team) led the anointing adoration and were supported by
three sisters from the St. Theresa’s Novitiate convent and Fr. Roy. We were
blessed with the Presence of Alex Kuruvilla throughout the retreat and the Outreach,
specially in guiding the Volunteers, to be stronger in Witnessing the Love that
we have received, from Jesus Christ – our Lord and Saviour!
After
the retreat there was a training program for the participants, to equip them to
live a Christ centred life and to instil in them a desire to share Christ.
The
training program kick started with an outreach to Swanthana; an institute run
by Daughters of St. Camillus, which houses children with special needs –
arising out of physical conditions that include being mentally and physically
challenged. To equip them to live a true Christian life, we had sessions on Being
Made in the Image and Likeness of God and Discipleship. This was facilitated by
C.C. Joseph. These sessions were highly interactive with a lot of question and
answer sessions in between. On the last day of the training, Jacob Jose handled
the concept of living by faith, gifts and talents and Theology of the Body
(relationships and how to keep our body holy).
The
final day of the program was on introducing Jesus Youth – a missionary movement
to the participants. Kevin from the National Campus Ministry spoke to the
participants about JY and its six pillars. Sunitha from the Karnataka Campus
Ministry spoke about the importance of prayer meetings and fellowship and introduced
the various prayer meetings in Bangalore. Fr. Vinoy, pastor of the Bangalore JY
Campus Ministry celebrated the final mass and commissioned the volunteers and participants.
The
most anticipated (by participants and volunteers) part of the program would be
the adoration that happened every day. Zacharias Njavallil, Shibu Mammen, Rinu
and Liza, Alex, Pascal, Crispin and Sunsun led the adoration and made it a
cherished moment for everyone present. Another much awaited event during DTP
was celebrating the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Roy, Fr. John Chan, Fr. T.C. George and
Fr. Vinoy celebrated Holy Mass for the participants. During the training, we
had elders come and help the participants and volunteers in their journey with
Christ. Jessy (from the retreat team), Jacob Jose and Sunsun were the elders
who made themselves available, realizing the need of the people gathered for
DTP. In the words of a participant who went for Personal Sharing with an Elder,
“I feel light after Sharing with the
Elder. I feel so light for having shared everything that I could fly. Thanks
for arranging this Personal Sharing”.
Another
main highlight of the program was the 24-hour intercession that happened at the
venue. Thanks to the program intercession team who took various initiatives to
have constant intercession. The intercession team took an initiative to keep a
prayer request box in the chapel where both participants and volunteers dropped
in their prayer requests. The sister’s of the convent also used this
opportunity to share their prayer requests and the people sitting for
intercession read every request and interceded for it. A few people even came
forward and shared that their request had been answered. One participant had
put in a request to pass her engineering exams. She got her results during the
DTP and she shared that she had passed with very high marks.
The
entire DTP was time for miracles and blessings for all the people who were
attending the program as participants and volunteers. To list a few, there were
a few volunteers who were searching for new jobs and during the program they
received calls from various companies and one person even got the offer letter
from the dream company. There was a participant who had been a drug addict for
past three years. The participant was off drugs during the entire program and
after the program too. There were a few volunteers who were experiencing
difficulties at workplace. During the program the difficulties were sorted out
after a very long time.
Indeed
the entire DTP was a blessed experience to one and all present at the venue.
This wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the constant support of the
Bangalore Service team, under the guidance of John Joseph and Shibu Mammen; and
the support of the Karnataka Campus team, through the constant support from
Jims and Sunitha. I would also like to thank Rajesh Raphail who helped us find
priests to celebrate mass for everyone present at the venue and who made time
to interact with the participants and share their experience with one and all
present. Volunteers, the backbone of DTP – without them we wouldn’t have been
able to conduct the program. I want to specially thank the volunteers who made
it a point to come for intercession at night, after finishing a hectic day at
work. They would intercede in the night and go back to work the next morning. Truly
it was a blessed program where everything was controlled and executed by God.
With the help of the Holy Spirit we were able to re-work on the entire program
and tailor make it to meet the requirements. The Holy Spirit was a constant
source of inspiration, support and guidance to all the volunteers who worked to
make this program a grand success. I would take this opportunity to thank God
for blessing us abundantly, all through the program.
With
Love and Prayers in Christ Jesus,
Blesy
Paul & Sherry Jess Francis
CrossRoads 2 - General
Coordinators
The Teen’s Ministry, one of the most Vibrant ministries of Jesus Youth, always aims at the all-around development of Teenage students through various initiatives and sustained formation programs. Teen’s ministry has been growing in Bangalore. With a vision “To mould a generation of spiritually dynamic, socially responsible and intellectually alert teenagers for Christ”, this ministry in Bangalore has been providing a platform for teenager’s to exhibit their vibrancy in prayer. The recently concluded 6 Day Summer Campfor Teen’s was demonstrating this closeness to the Vision.
Since the break-up of
Christendom at the time of the Reformation ( 400 years earlier ) the Catholic
Church had become very inward looking, had become reactionary and had withdrawn
itself from the world. It had seen itself, referred to itself, as a ‘perfect
society’. In reacting to what had happened at the Reformation, it had become a
fortress Church – withdrawn, pulled up draw bridges, isolated.
If you re-image an organisation
– you end up redefining those who make up the organisation. So we saw in
Vatican 2 a new place for the laity. The Church was to be less clerical. All
are equal members by Christian Baptism. Roles may differ, but Baptism is the
key sacrament and makes all of us members of the Church. “All are called to be
holy.” Prior to the Council if you wanted to be holy you left the world, you
became a priest or entered a religious order. All can be holy in the world.
Perhaps the most obvious change
of all came about in regard to the way in which the Church goes about worship.
Prior to the Council, most saw the liturgy as the domain of the clergy or the
priest. Over time, the liturgy had become clericalised. The laity had become
passive spectators saying their prayers and devotions. The Council decreed in
that famous text, that in regard to its worship, the Church desired nothing
less ‘than the full, active and conscious participation of the faithful’. The
Council ordered a complete revision of the way that all of the sacraments were
celebrated. As a consequence – in 1970 – we finally got a whole new way of
celebrating the Eucharist.
One area in which the Council
brought about great change was in its understanding and relationship with other
Churches. Prior to the Council it was hoped that Protestants would return to
the ‘one, true Church’ and that the Orthodox schism would end. In the decades
before the Council, Protestants had become more and more involved in what had
come to be called the ‘Ecumenical Movement’. The World Council of Churches had
been founded and there had been many mergers of churches. All of these moves
expressed a hope for unity among the Christian Churches. But the Roman Catholic
Church remained aloof from all of this.