MISSIONARIES; NOT VISITORS OR VOLUNTEERS

We live in a world where volunteerism is becoming fashionable. In any poor place, we can see hundreds of volunteers serving in that area. I have seen youngsters staying in a Catholic centre - helping children living on the streets. These youngsters are Catholics by birth but don’t practice their faith - they don’t go for Holy Mass even on Sundays - but they are whole heartedly involved in the work of charity. Is this the kind of charity that the Church looks for? I recently came across a few people from one of the parishes in Kerala who had made a visit to a mission centre in North India - their Facebook pages were full of photographs of them posing with helpless, struggling faces. I thought then that their compassion might last for just a few days. In the Jesus Youth movement, we have been using the phrase ‘Every Jesus Youth, a Missionary’ for the last two years. How can we distinguish between a visitor, a volunteer and a missionary especially in the context of the beautiful Lenten reflection written by our Holy Father on faith and charity?

First of all, a missionary’s work flows out of his relationship with God. It is not a project that needs to be completed; it is not for his satisfaction that he works; the fundamental reason is the love of God - as St. John states, “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1 Jn. 4:16). “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction… Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn. 4:10), love is now no longer a mere command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us” (Deus Caritas Est, 1). “Faith is knowing the truth and adhering to it (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4); charity is ‘walking’ in the truth (cf. Eph. 4:15). Through faith we enter into friendship with the Lord, through charity this friendship is lived and cultivated (cf. Jn. 15:14ff). Faith causes us to embrace the commandment of our Lord and Master; charity gives us the happiness of putting it into practice (cf. Jn. 13:13-17). In faith we are begotten as children of God (cf. Jn. 1:12ff); charity causes us to persevere concretely in our divine Sonship, bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22). Faith enables us to recognise the gifts that the good and generous God has entrusted to us; charity makes them fruitful (cf. Mt. 25:14-30)” (Lenten reflection by the Holy Father for Lent 2013).

A volunteer is often more concerned about providing for the physical needs of the people, bringing a temporary solution to their sufferings. But a missionary is concerned first of all about the souls of the people that he is serving. Being with the poor and caring for their physical needs are means to fulfil this genuine concern of love. That is where the Holy Father warns us in his Lenten message, “Sometimes we tend, in fact, to reduce the term “charity” to solidarity or simply humanitarian aid. It is important, however, to remember that the greatest work of charity is evangelization, which is the “ministry of the word”. There is no action more beneficial – and therefore more charitable – towards one’s neighbour than to break the bread of the Word of God, to share with him the Good News of the Gospel, to introduce him to a relationship with God”.

For a missionary, the mentality is not “us and them” but only “us” because we are the Body of Christ - we share the brotherhood of Christ with them.

Volunteering often brings satisfaction to the self that comes from serving others - the self satisfaction of doing good for others. Often, this can happen without truly getting involved in the sufferings of the poor. On the other hand, for a missionary, work involves suffering and a painful stripping off of vices.

Once, during the course of a meeting I was attending, a young man who had just returned from a mission trip told us of the beautiful ways in which God had used him to touch the lives of the many poor and suffering people there. When his sharing was over, an elderly gentleman in the group who had been working for decades as a lay missionary said, “Son, I’d like to hear about the change that has come about in you as a result of this mission experience”. In the brief silence that followed, when the young man was struggling for words, I was convinced of an essential characteristic of a true missionary. For when a missionary returns home, his reflections mainly focus on how the trip transformed him internally. A volunteer, on the other hand, is more prone to talking about how the people and place changed as a result of his/her service.

The Holy Father beautifully shows how the relationship of faith and charity resembles the relation between the two fundamental Sacraments of the Church: “Baptism and Eucharist. Baptism precedes the Eucharist, but is ordered to it, the Eucharist being the fullness of the Christian journey. In a similar way, faith precedes charity, but faith is genuine only if crowned by charity. Everything begins from the humble acceptance of faith (“knowing that one is loved by God”), but has to arrive at the truth of charity (“knowing how to love God and neighbour”), which remains forever, as the fulfilment of all the virtues (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13)”.

I am sure that the Jesus Youth movement is looking only for missionaries – knowing that the journey can begin with a visitor who becomes a volunteer and then proceeds to the real call as a missionary. This, then, is the question we should all ask ourselves - “Am I a visitor, a volunteer or a missionary?”

Manoj Sunny

Lenten Reflections '12: Week 7

Reflection: Holy Week  

The Church raises her thanksgiving to the Father in this week of intensive recollection and celebration of the saving passion and the glorious resurrection of our Lord. Lent, as preparation for and leading into the celebration of the sacred Paschal Triduum, is likened to traversing through the desert of thirst, hunger and dearth in order to enter the green pastures and quiet waters gained by the Lamb that was slain and raised to life again (cf. Revelation 5:6-13). Just as Lent is a period of walking towards baptism for those disposed to embrace the gift of salvation, it is also a time for the baptized to deepen their incorporation into Christ.

 

The healing and life-nurturing water of baptism welling up from the side of Christ on the cross (cf. John 19:34;Ezekiel 47:1-12, Revelation 22:1-5) is the fountain for a new and grace-filled life. The banquet of the Risen Lord, which the Holy Eucharist is, enlivens the Christian with holiness and vitality. “As we eat his flesh that was sacrificed for us, we are made strong, and as we drink his Blood that was poured for us, we are washed clean” (from the Preface of Mass of Lord’s Supper in the Roman Missal).

 

The true fruit of Passover is new life, which is Christ-like and animated by the Spirit. St. Paul understood baptism, by which a Christian partakes in this new life in Christ, as a symbiosis with Christ in His death and glory. “… Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the death by glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4). The idiomatic Greek expression baptizein eis Christon, to baptize into Christ, in these verses, signifies baptism as a dynamic and continuous journey of participating in the life of Christ and as a metamorphosis of becoming Christ. Christian growth and maturity consists of becoming “a perfect human being, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (cf.Ephesians 4:13).

 

Jesus’ victory over death ushers in the birth of a new life for the world. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). The apostle’s magnificent vision of God as the closest neighbor of humanity is explicated as victory over all wails of woes. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with human, and God will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4). Literally,the Hebrew word for tabernacle, mishkan, means one who dwells as a neighbor; indeed it is a spousal closeness (cf. Revelation 21:2) of God with human beings!

 

The Christian communities understood from the very beginning the novelty of Easter faith as an invitation to immersing themselves in the life of the Risen Lord through celebration of the mysteries of faith and by sharing their possessions with one another, particularly with those in need, in a bond of communion. The utopia of not having anyone under dearth among the brethren sprang from the abundance of life in Christ, who made others rich by His life of poverty and humility (cf., 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:5-7) and a new sense of unity that they are the Body of Christ. In this they even earned the envy of their contemporaries. Tertullian (ca. 160-250), a renowned Christian writer noted: “Each one puts in a small amount on the monthly day, or when he wishes, accordingly as he wishes and is able. No one is compelled, and it is given freely. These are, as it were, the deposits of piety. For they are not expended there from on feasts and drinking parties and in thankless houses of gluttony, but for the support and burial of the poor, for boys and girls without parents and destitute of means, for the aged quietly confined to their homes, for the shipwrecked; and if there any in the mines or in the islands or in the prisons… But it is mainly the practice of such a love which leads some to put a brand upon us. ‘See’ they say, ‘how they love… and how ready they are to die for one another’.” (Apologia 39, 6-7).

 

The Holy Bible repeatedly teaches that the worship of God and practice of justice and charity are closely knit virtues. The destination of Exodus is twofold: liberated from the servitude of Pharaoh, Israel walks first to the Mountain of God to receive in their hearts the Torah of God in order to become the very treasure of YHWH, a chosen, holy and priestly nation (cf. Exodus 19:5-6). Guarded by the Law, Israel walks to possess the Land of Promise. Sinai is the destination of Exodus just as the Promised Land. Law is central to the Covenant between YHWH and the People of Israel. It constitutes their true relationship with Him and one another. Leviticus 19:1-20, 27 almost occurring at the centre of the Pentateuch is a clear illustration. Israel is invited to imitate what is distinctively God’s, namely holiness. What is all the more interesting here is that the Torah expounds holiness as a way of life marked by concern for the poor, personal integrity and moral uprightness. The juxtaposition and interspersing of cultic and civilian laws in a single file evince the inseparability of religious life from the secular and that they are of same rank.

 

The perfection which Christ expects of His disciples is practice of justice with an extravagance of charity towards others (cf. Matthew 5:17-48; 7) and loving trust in the heavenly Father (cf. Matthew 6). Any form of piety without justice and charity is a lie or self indulgence (cf. 1 Corinthians 13). Religion without genuine concern for the poor and honest commitment to building up of a sharing and caring society is idolatrous and anti-Gospel. Worship without justice is rebellion against God.

 

An over-consumerist culture is spewing a winter of individualism and indifferentism. Sundered from the past and the future, it is also overweighed by its fast frustrating, boring, and ultimately suicidal bents. The vanquishing of human values from institutions of learning and tending, even those belonging to Christians, plunges the society into the dark of egoism. The benign fruits and resiliency of traditional culture is being washed away by an avalanche of competitive and profit values spun in these centers. A fattened ambition for “excellence and success” today has become an easy mantra for keeping the poor at bay; and thereby these institutions themselves have degenerated into self-catering clubs.

The injustice and evil are in no way limited to the sphere of the world of humans only; their sinister effects are visible in a fast extinguishing of flora and fauna, pollution of water, land and air and endangering of the life of the planet with poisonous emissions. The glaring truth is that it is not the poor or undeveloped nations, but the rich, the developed and greedy nations who have a major stake in ruining the ecology. It is a gospel truth that the health of a society is always in peril in the hands of the greedy.

 

Easter faith can serve as antidote and catalyst for a new society of communion and justice. Symbiosis with Christ inexorably leads to a witnessing to the Gospel, to its message and values. Empowered by the Spirit and illumined by the Gospel, a Christian can stand up to the villainies and vices that mar human dignity and plunge the world into a terrain of gloom and helplessness. The Gospel unleashes a power that can transform, bring about conversion of heart and fill it with a longing for the Lord, the Sun of Justice, to rise over the valley of dearth and death.

 

Spirit of poverty ought to be the hallmark of Christian disciples in our time. It is both a sign of their belonging to Christ and a hand tool for fighting greed which is dehumanizing and a pathogen of all social evils in any society. Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est (where there is charity and love, God is present there). Charity is the sacrament of the presence of God.

 

The Ganges streams of Passover are eternally surging and, as they flow, they revitalize people and places to a civilization of life in plenty for all. The Maranatha, “Come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), is a vivid cry of the Easter faith, both as an expression of our blessed hope and sincere commitment to prepare ways for His coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.

 

Fr. James Anaparambil

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WORLD YOUTH DAY 2012

World Youth Day is an annual event that takes place every year on Palm Sunday at a local level - and every 2-3 years at an international location (such as Sydney, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro). This year, World Youth Day was celebrated on Sunday 1 April 2012, and thousands of young people gathered at St. Peter's Basilica, to take part in the Holy Father's Palm Sunday Mass. Here is the full text of the annual World Youth Day messsage of Pope Benedict XVI

“Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4)

Dear young friends,

I am happy to address you once more on the occasion of the 27th World Youth Day. The memory of our meeting in Madrid last August remains close to my heart. It was a time of extraordinary grace when God showered his blessings on the young people gathered from all over the world. I give thanks to God for all the fruits which that event bore, fruits which will surely multiply for young people and their communities in the future. Now we are looking forward to our next meeting in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, whose theme will be: “Go and make disciples of all nations!” (cf. Mt 28:19).

This year’s World Youth Day theme comes from Saint Paul’s exhortation in his Letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). Joy is at the heart of Christian experience. At each World Youth Day we experience immense joy, the joy of communion, the joy of being Christian, the joy of faith. This is one of the marks of these gatherings. We can see the great attraction that joy exercises. In a world of sorrow and anxiety, joy is an important witness to the beauty and reliability of the Christian faith.

The Church’s vocation is to bring joy to the world, a joy that is authentic and enduring, the joy proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born (cf. Lk 2:10). Not only did God speak, not only did he accomplish great signs throughout the history of humankind, but he drew so near to us that he became one of us and lived our life completely. In these difficult times, so many young people all around you need to hear that the Christian message is a message of joy and hope! I would like to reflect with you on this joy and on how to find it, so that you can experience it more deeply and bring it to everyone you meet.

1. Our hearts are made for joy

A yearning for joy lurks within the heart of every man and woman. Far more than immediate and fleeting feelings of satisfaction, our hearts seek a perfect, full and lasting joy capable of giving “flavour” to our existence. This is particularly true for you, because youth is a time of continuous discovery of life, of the world, of others and of ourselves. It is a time of openness to the future and of great longing for happiness, friendship, sharing and truth, a time when we are moved by high ideals and make great plans.

Each day is filled with countless simple joys which are the Lord’s gift: the joy of living, the joy of seeing nature’s beauty, the joy of a job well done, the joy of helping others, the joy of sincere and pure love. If we look carefully, we can see many other reasons to rejoice. There are the happy times in family life, shared friendship, the discovery of our talents, our successes, the compliments we receive from others, the ability to express ourselves and to know that we are understood, and the feeling of being of help to others. There is also the excitement of learning new things, seeing new and broader horizons open up through our travels and encounters, and realizing the possibilities we have for charting our future. We might also mention the experience of reading a great work of literature, of admiring a masterpiece of art, of listening to or playing music, or of watching a film. All these things can bring us real joy.

Yet each day we also face any number of difficulties. Deep down we also worry about the future; we begin to wonder if the full and lasting joy for which we long might be an illusion and an escape from reality. Many young people ask themselves: is perfect joy really possible? The quest for joy can follow various paths, and some of these turn out to be mistaken, if not dangerous. How can we distinguish things that give real and lasting joy from immediate and illusory pleasures? How can we find true joy in life, a joy that endures and does not forsake us at moments of difficulty?

2. God is the source of true joy

Whatever brings us true joy, whether the small joys of each day or the greatest joys in life, has its source in God, even if this does not seem immediately obvious. This is because God is a communion of eternal love, he is infinite joy that does not remain closed in on itself, but expands to embrace all whom God loves and who love him. God created us in his image out of love, in order to shower his love upon us and to fill us with his presence and grace. God wants us to share in his own divine and eternal joy, and he helps us to see that the deepest meaning and value of our lives lie in being accepted, welcomed and loved by him. Whereas we sometimes find it hard to accept others, God offers us an unconditional acceptance which enables us to say: “I am loved; I have a place in the world and in history; I am personally loved by God. If God accepts me and loves me and I am sure of this, then I know clearly and with certainty that it is a good thing that I am alive”.

God’s infinite love for each of us is fully seen in Jesus Christ. The joy we are searching for is to be found in him. We see in the Gospel how the events at the beginning of Jesus’ life are marked by joy. When the Archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of the Saviour, his first word is “Rejoice!” (Lk 1:28). When Jesus is born, the angel of the Lord says to the shepherds: “Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a Saviour has been born for you, who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:10-11). When the Magi came in search of the child, “they were overjoyed at seeing the star” (Mt 2:10). The cause of all this joy is the closeness of God who became one of us. This is what Saint Paul means when he writes to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near” (Phil 4:4-5). Our first reason for joy is the closeness of the Lord, who welcomes me and loves me.

An encounter with Jesus always gives rise to immense inner joy. We can see this in many of the Gospel stories. We recall when Jesus visited Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector and public sinner, he said to him: “Today I must stay at your house”. Then, Saint Luke tells us, Zacchaeus “received him with joy” (Lk 19:5-6). This is the joy of meeting the Lord. It is the joy of feeling God’s love, a love that can transform our whole life and bring salvation. Zacchaeus decides to change his life and to give half of his possessions to the poor.

At the hour of Jesus’ passion, this love can be seen in all its power. At the end of his earthly life, while at supper with his friends, Jesus said: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love... I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:9,11). Jesus wants to lead his disciples and each one of us into the fullness of joy that he shares with the Father, so that the Father’s love for him might abide in us (cf. Jn 17:26). Christian joy consists in being open to God’s love and belonging to him.

The Gospels recount that Mary Magdalene and other women went to visit the tomb where Jesus had been laid after his death. An angel told them the astonishing news of Jesus’ resurrection. Then, the Evangelist tells us, they ran from the sepulchre, “fearful yet overjoyed” to share the good news with the disciples. Jesus met them on the way and said: “Peace!” (Mt 28:8-9). They were being offered the joy of salvation. Christ is the One who lives and who overcame evil, sin and death. He is present among us as the Risen One and he will remain with us until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28:20). Evil does not have the last word in our lives; rather, faith in Christ the Saviour tells us that God’s love is victorious.

This deep joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit who makes us God’s sons and daughters, capable of experiencing and savouring his goodness, and calling him “Abba”, Father (cf. Rm 8:15). Joy is the sign of God’s presence and action within us.

3. Preserving Christian joy in our hearts

At this point we wonder: “How do we receive and maintain this gift of deep, spiritual joy?”

One of the Psalms tells us: “Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart's desire” (Ps 37:4). Jesus told us that “the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Mt 13:44). The discovery and preservation of spiritual joy is the fruit of an encounter with the Lord. Jesus asks us to follow him and to stake our whole life on him. Dear young people, do not be afraid to risk your lives by making space for Jesus Christ and his Gospel. This is the way to find inner peace and true happiness. It is the way to live fully as children of God, created in his image and likeness.

Seek joy in the Lord: for joy is the fruit of faith. It is being aware of his presence and friendship every day: “the Lord is near!” (Phil 4:5). It is putting our trust in God, and growing in his knowledge and love. Shortly we shall begin the “Year of Faith”, and this will help and encourage us. Dear friends, learn to see how God is working in your lives and discover him hidden within the events of daily life. Believe that he is always faithful to the covenant which he made with you on the day of your Baptism. Know that God will never abandon you. Turn your eyes to him often. He gave his life for you on the cross because he loves you. Contemplation of this great love brings a hope and joy to our hearts that nothing can destroy. Christians can never be sad, for they have met Christ, who gave his life for them.

To seek the Lord and find him in our lives also means accepting his word, which is joy for our hearts. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote: “When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart” (Jer 15:16). Learn to read and meditate on the sacred Scriptures. There you will find an answer to your deepest questions about truth. God’s word reveals the wonders that he has accomplished throughout human history, it fills us with joy, and it leads us to praise and adoration: “Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us kneel before the Lord who made us” (Ps 95:1,6).

The liturgy is a special place where the Church expresses the joy which she receives from the Lord and transmits it to the world. Each Sunday at Mass the Christian community celebrates the central mystery of salvation, which is the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a very important moment for all the Lord’s disciples because his sacrifice of love is made present. Sunday is the day when we meet the risen Christ, listen to his word, and are nourished by his body and blood. As we hear in one of the Psalms: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” (Ps 118:24). At the Easter Vigil, the Church sings the Exultet, a hymn of joy for the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death: “Sing, choirs of angels! ... Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour ... Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!” Christian joy is born of this awareness of being loved by God who became man, gave his life for us and overcame evil and death. It means living a life of love for him. As Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a young Carmelite, wrote: “Jesus, my joy is loving you” (P 45, 21 January 1897).

4. The joy of love

Dear friends, joy is intimately linked to love. They are inseparable gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:23). Love gives rise to joy, and joy is a form of love. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta drew on Jesus’ words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) when she said: “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls; God loves a cheerful giver. Whoever gives with joy gives more”. As the Servant of God Paul VI wrote: “In God himself, all is joy because all is giving” (Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete in Domino, 9 May 1975).

In every area of your life, you should know that to love means to be steadfast, reliable and faithful to commitments. This applies most of all to friendship. Our friends expect us to be sincere, loyal and faithful because true love perseveres even in times of difficulty. The same thing can be said about your work and studies and the services you carry out. Fidelity and perseverance in doing good brings joy, even if not always immediately.

If we are to experience the joy of love, we must also be generous. We cannot be content to give the minimum. We need to be fully committed in life and to pay particular attention to those in need. The world needs men and women who are competent and generous, willing to be at the service of the common good. Make every effort to study conscientiously, to develop your talents and to put them at the service of others even now. Find ways to help make society more just and humane wherever you happen to be. May your entire life be guided by a spirit of service and not by the pursuit of power, material success and money.

Speaking of generosity, I would like to mention one particular joy. It is the joy we feel when we respond to the vocation to give our whole life to the Lord. Dear young people, do not be afraid if Christ is calling you to the religious, monastic or missionary life or to the priesthood. Be assured that he fills with joy all those who respond to his invitation to leave everything to be with him and to devote themselves with undivided heart to the service of others. In the same way, God gives great joy to men and women who give themselves totally to one another in marriage in order to build a family and to be signs of Christ’s love for the Church.

Let me remind you of a third element that will lead you to the joy of love. It is allowing fraternal love to grow in your lives and in those of your communities. There is a close bond between communion and joy. It is not by chance that Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4) is written in the plural, addressing the community as a whole, rather than its individual members. Only when we are together in the communion of fellowship do we experience this joy. In the Acts of the Apostles, the first Christian community is described in these words: “Breaking bread in their homes, they ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:46). I ask you to make every effort to help our Christian communities to be special places of sharing, attention and concern for one another.

5. The joy of conversion

Dear friends, experiencing real joy also means recognizing the temptations that lead us away from it. Our present-day culture often pressures us to seek immediate goals, achievements and pleasures. It fosters fickleness more than perseverance, hard work and fidelity to commitments. The messages it sends push a consumerist mentality and promise false happiness. Experience teaches us that possessions do not ensure happiness. How many people are surrounded by material possessions yet their lives are filled with despair, sadness and emptiness! To have lasting joy we need to live in love and truth. We need to live in God.

God wants us to be happy. That is why he gave us specific directions for the journey of life: the commandments. If we observe them, we will find the path to life and happiness. At first glance, they might seem to be a list of prohibitions and an obstacle to our freedom. But if we study them more closely, we see in the light of Christ’s message that the commandments are a set of essential and valuable rules leading to a happy life in accordance with God’s plan. How often, on the other hand, do we see that choosing to build our lives apart from God and his will brings disappointment, sadness and a sense of failure. The experience of sin, which is the refusal to follow God and an affront to his friendship, brings gloom into our hearts.

At times the path of the Christian life is not easy, and being faithful to the Lord’s love presents obstacles; occasionally we fall. Yet God in his mercy never abandons us; he always offers us the possibility of returning to him, being reconciled with him and experiencing the joy of his love which forgives and welcomes us back.

Dear young people, have frequent recourse to the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation! It is the sacrament of joy rediscovered. Ask the Holy Spirit for the light needed to acknowledge your sinfulness and to ask for God’s forgiveness. Celebrate this sacrament regularly, with serenity and trust. The Lord will always open his arms to you. He will purify you and bring you into his joy: for there is joy in heaven even for one sinner who repents (cf. Lk 15:7).

6. Joy at times of trial

In the end, though, we might still wonder in our hearts whether it is really possible to live joyfully amid all life’s trials, especially those which are most tragic and mysterious. We wonder whether following the Lord and putting our trust in him will always bring happiness.

We can find an answer in some of the experiences of young people like yourselves who have found in Christ the light that can give strength and hope even in difficult situations. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) experienced many trials during his short life, including a romantic experience that left him deeply hurt. In the midst of this situation he wrote to his sister: “You ask me if I am happy. How could I not be? As long as faith gives me strength, I am happy. A Catholic could not be other than happy... The goal for which we were created involves a path which has its thorns, but it is not a sad path. It is joy, even when it involves pain” (Letter to his sister Luciana, Turin, 14 February 1925). When Blessed John Paul II presented Blessed Pier Giorgio as a model for young people, he described him as “a young person with infectious joy, the joy that overcame many difficulties in his life” (Address to Young People, Turin, 13 April 1980).

Closer to us in time is Chiara Badano (1971-1990), who was recently beatified. She experienced how pain could be transfigured by love and mysteriously steeped in joy. At the age of eighteen, while suffering greatly from cancer, Chiara prayed to the Holy Spirit and interceded for the young people of the movement to which she belonged. As well as praying for her own cure, she asked God to enlighten all those young people by his Spirit and to give them wisdom and light. “It was really a moment of God’s presence. I was suffering physically, but my soul was singing” (Letter to Chiara Lubich, Sassello, 20 December 1989). The key to her peace and joy was her complete trust in the Lord and the acceptance of her illness as a mysterious expression of his will for her sake and that of everyone. She often said: “Jesus, if you desire it, then I desire it too”.

These are just two testimonies taken from any number of others which show that authentic Christians are never despairing or sad, not even when faced with difficult trials. They show that Christian joy is not a flight from reality, but a supernatural power that helps us to deal with the challenges of daily life. We know that the crucified and risen Christ is here with us and that he is a faithful friend always. When we share in his sufferings, we also share in his glory. With him and in him, suffering is transformed into love. And there we find joy (cf. Col 1:24).

7. Witnesses of joy

Dear friends, to conclude I would encourage you to be missionaries of joy. We cannot be happy if others are not. Joy has to be shared. Go and tell other young people about your joy at finding the precious treasure which is Jesus himself. We cannot keep the joy of faith to ourselves. If we are to keep it, we must give it away. Saint John said: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; we are writing this so that our joy may be complete” (1 Jn 1:3-4).

Christianity is sometimes depicted as a way of life that stifles our freedom and goes against our desires for happiness and joy. But this is far from the truth. Christians are men and women who are truly happy because they know that they are not alone. They know that God is always holding them in his hands. It is up to you, young followers of Christ, to show the world that faith brings happiness and a joy which is true, full and enduring. If the way Christians live at times appears dull and boring, you should be the first to show the joyful and happy side of faith. The Gospel is the “good news” that God loves us and that each of us is important to him. Show the world that this is true!

Be enthusiastic witnesses of the new evangelization! Go to those who are suffering and those who are searching, and give them the joy that Jesus wants to bestow. Bring it to your families, your schools and universities, and your workplaces and your friends, wherever you live. You will see how it is contagious. You will receive a hundredfold: the joy of salvation for yourselves, and the joy of seeing God’s mercy at work in the hearts of others. And when you go to meet the Lord on that last day, you will hear him say: “Well done, my good and faithful servant... Come, share your master’s joy” (Mt 25:21).

May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany you on this journey. She welcomed the Lord within herself and proclaimed this in a song of praise and joy, the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:46-47). Mary responded fully to God’s love by devoting her life to him in humble and complete service. She is invoked as “Cause of our Joy” because she gave us Jesus. May she lead you to that joy which no one will ever be able to take away from you!

From the Vatican, 15 March 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Lenten Reflections '12: Week 6

Evangelisation

Today we live in a world where we are bombarded with confusing values. We encounter a ‘school of thinking’ that considers money as the highest value in life. We also witness many people, especially the young, being pulled into the rat race for money. When this school of thinking is pushed to the extreme, it even leads to the violation of the first commandment - money, and all that can be bought with money, becomes God. This displacement of God from the hearts of individuals ultimately destroys the society.

On one hand we can attribute these problems of the modern society to socio-economic and political reasons. On the other hand, a deeper analysis will reveal that the root cause of most of the problems - whether it is the ‘widening gap’ between the rich and the poor, or ‘global warming’ due to the ruthless exploitation of our planet - is the displacement of God to the margins. This displacement of God from the center of our lives results in unlimited greed, corruption, irresponsibility, violence and so on. If we look back to the days of Jesus, socio-economic and political action was even more relevant then. Given his value system and popularity, Jesus could have easily led a campaign against corruption or even a campaign for food security, health for all, for peace amongst others. However, in addition to His ‘redeeming work’ Jesus led a different campaign – ‘back to the Father’ campaign. Why? It is true that we need socio-economic and political interventions to sort out the problems of today’s society. However, I believe that such interventions will remain as symptomatic treatments if we do not strike at the root cause and bring God back right into the hearts of individuals and societies (back to the Father). This is one of the reasons why Evangelisation is so important.

There is another reason too. I have listened to the stories of many young people. Some of them find their emotional settlement in human relationships, movies, novels, sports, work, food, travel, etc. These are, in a way, healthy means for emotional settlement. However, there are many youngsters who find emotional settlement in alcohol, tobacco, drugs, pornography and the like. From experience we know that these means ultimately destroy them. All of us are aware that we are not supposed to find emotional settlement in unhealthy means. Therefore, I would like to focus on the so called healthy emotional settlements. Of all the above mentioned means of emotional settlement, ‘human relationships’ is considered as one of the most important and common means.

Here I would like to bring two characters from the Gospel. The first one is the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus initiates a discussion with her and in the course of that discussion He talks about the ‘living water’. From her basic need for water, Jesus leads her to her deeper thirst. Finally she had to acknowledge that ‘human relationships’ could not really satisfy her deeper need for belongingness and love. Even her relationship with her current ‘husband’ was not helping her to quench her deeper thirst. Finally, in her interaction with Jesus, she discovers that only God can permanently satisfy her deeper needs.

Another character that I would like to bring to your notice is Zacchaeus. This man had everything; a good Job with the Roman Empire (in today’s context it is like being employed with an excellent Multinational Company); plenty of money; big house, servants and all other comforts. However, he doesn’t seem happy. When he meets Jesus he discovers that beyond all the above mentioned superficial needs, he had a deeper need. Only God could satisfy that need. When Zacchaeus and the Samaritan woman allowed God - Jesus - to enter the core of their lives, they experienced joy and peace that nothing until then had given them. Wasn’t that the beginning of salvation? It is in a way going back to the Father; to the first commandment - giving God the prime place, the first place in one’s life.

Most of us have seen how even the most loving married couples have to finally go to God to quench their deeper thirst. No husband, no wife can fill the ‘bottomless abyss’ that is within each and every one of us. Some people dare to call this ‘bottomless abyss’ the ‘God shaped hole’ in us, which can be filled only by God. This is probably the same ‘restlessness’ that St. Augustine talked about - “our hearts are restless until we rest in you O Lord”. Therefore, evangelisation is important to quench the deeper thirst of every human being as well as for the stability and progress of the society.

The Church always believed in Evangelisation. She inherited it from Jesus. In fact Jesus is THE Evangeliser. Church, being the extension of Jesus in this world, continues His mission. During the Second Vatican Council, Church rediscovered that she exists for evangelisation. On 8 December 1975, Pope Paul VI published his Apostolic Exhortation: ‘On Evangelisation in the Modern World, Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN)’. It was inspired by the Synod of Bishops of 1974 and is considered to be the “watershed” document for contemporary evangelisation. I would like to highlight some of the key points of this document that could be meditated upon, for each day of this week and even beyond.

1. What is Evangelisation: “For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new”. (EN 18)
2. The core of the Good News of Christ: It is “liberation from everything that oppresses man but which is above all liberation from sin and the Evil One”. It is “the joy of knowing God and being known by Him, of seeing Him, and of being given over to Him”. (EN 9)
3. The importance of ‘proclamation by witness’: “Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization”. (EN 21)
4. The importance of proclaiming Jesus: “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed”. (EN 22)
5. The importance of the Holy Spirit: “Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones cannot replace the gentle action of the Spirit. The most perfect preparation of the evangelizer has no effect without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the most convincing dialectic has no power over the heart of man. Without Him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psychological basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless”. (EN 75)
6. The importance of authenticity: “Do you really believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you really preach what you live? The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effectiveness in preaching. Precisely because of this we are, to a certain extent, responsible for the progress of the Gospel that we proclaim”. (EN 76)
7. The importance of love for those whom we evangelize: “The work of evangelization presupposes in the evangelizer an ever increasing love for those whom he is evangelizing... What is this love? It is much more than that of a teacher; it is the love of a father; and again, it is the love of a mother… A sign of love will be the concern to give the truth and to bring people into unity... Let us add some other signs of this love… Respect for their tempo and pace; no one has the right to force them excessively. Respect for their conscience and convictions, which are not to be treated in a harsh manner. Another sign of this love is concern not to wound the other person, especially if he or she is weak in faith... Yet another sign of love will be the effort to transmit to Christians not doubts and uncertainties born of an erudition poorly assimilated but certainties that are solid because they are anchored in the Word of God. The faithful need these certainties for their Christian life; they have a right to them, as children of God who abandon themselves entirely into His arms and to the exigencies of love”. (EN 79)

“Jesus Youth is a missionary movement at the service of the Church”. “Every Jesus Youth, a missionary”. These are some phrases at the heart of our movement. For those who believe in these words, how important is evangelisation! As a Jesus Youth we can be proud that we consider evangelisation as one of the important ‘pillars’ of our spirituality.

We are called to be in this world and minister to those around us. Being in the world we constantly come across aggressive campaigns that push people ruthlessly into ‘empty cisterns’ that aggravate their deeper thirst. Maybe some of them push people for their own financial gains. Maybe some of them do it sincerely because that’s all they know to do to help people satisfy their deeper needs. In this context, it is also important to remember that there is an invisible enemy, the ‘father of lies’ behind these aggressive campaigns to drive people away from God - the source of true life, the living water.

If we are called to be evangelisers, to lead others to God, we have to first learn to quench our own deeper thirst; we have to learn to find our emotional settlement in God, more than in the created things. We are fortunate to be part of a movement that urges us to be rooted in the six pillars of our spirituality, so that as evangelisers our ‘ministry’ will flow from our deep ‘inner life’. This is also one of the reasons why we give so much of emphasis on ‘formation’ in our movement.

Let me conclude with the following questions: How do we begin our day…? How do we end our day…? With TV/internet/mobile phone…? To be a fulfilled Jesus Youth; to be an effective Jesus Youth, we need to direct our ‘deeper thirst’ in such a way that we begin and end each day with the ‘living water’… the source that quenches our thirst forever and ever… May God bless you 

Fr. Mathew Abraham C.Ss.R

Animator, Jesus Youth International Team