Good Shepherd Sisters and youth in parishes and centers attended the overnight vigil at the Ateneo de Manila University from August 20-21. They were part of the thousands of participants who were in solidarity with the youth gathered in Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day 2011.
Photo: WYD at the Ateneo
Dubbed, "World Youth Day 2011: From Madrid to Manila," the overnight youth vigil had the theme, "Kabataang Pilipino, Nakaugat kay Kristo," taken form the Madrid WYD theme of "Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith."
Sr. Marites Mahinay RGS led the group of sisters from the 1043 compound in Quezon City. Good Shepherd Sisters from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kenya, Sudan also joined the vigil. The youth are from the Holy Family parish in San Andres Bukid and the Euphrasian Residence in Quezon City. They joined the 11,000 youth who registered for the celebration.
Instituted by Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day, held every two years, aimed to gather all Catholic Youth all over the world to address the youth. In 1995, WYD was held in Manila and drew more than 5 million people.
Photo: Youth with Sr. Pauline of Kenya
This year's ovenight vigil at the Ateneo was organized so that together the youth may listen to the Holy Father as he addressed the youth gathered in Madrid for the occasion. The celebrations that started at 2 p.m. featured:
1. Youth festival composed of concerts, exhibits and other cultural shows
2. Catechesis sessions composed of lectures by Bishops and other resource persons
3. Liturgical celebrations composed of the Mass and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
Photo: Goood Shepherd Sisters Lakshmi Fernando of Sri Lanka and Marites Mahinay of the Philippines
The Festival of Faith, held from 7 p.m. to 12 midnight had the following themes: At the Source of Our Deepest Aspirations (Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation); Planted and Buildt up in Jesus Christ (Various student dance groups and youth celebrities); Firm in Faith (Bukas Palad Ministry); Believing in Jesus Christ without having seen him (Hangad Music Minisry); Sustained by the Faith of the Church, in order to be witnesses -- in our Filipino nation today (Bishop Chito Tagle).
One youth, Jaya from the Euphrasian Residence, said that she liked very much the catechism part of the celebrations. Listening to the talks, she said, she realized how much she is loved by God and by her parents.
The youth also experienced Taize prayer and listened to the message of Pope Benedict XVI's WYD Message.
The vigil concluded with a Eucharistic celebration led by Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao.
The activities were spearheaded by the Diocese of Cubao and the Archdiocese of Manila, and held in collaboration with various dioceses in the country.
View:
Photo Gallery: WYD 2011
| FROM THE POPE'S WORLD YOUTH DAY 2011 MESSAGE |
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...Part of being young is desiring something beyond everyday life and a secure job, a yearning for something really truly greater. Is this simply an empty dream that fades away as we become older? No! Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. Nothing else will ever be enough. Saint Augustine was right when he said “our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you”. The desire for a more meaningful life is a sign that God created us and that we bear his “imprint”. God is life, and that is why every creature reaches out towards life. Because human beings are made in the image of God, we do this in a unique and special way. We reach out for love, joy and peace. So we can see how absurd it is to think that we can truly live by removing God from the picture! God is the source of life. To set God aside is to separate ourselves from that source and, inevitably, to deprive ourselves of fulfilment and joy: “without the Creator, the creature fades into nothingness” (Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, 36). In some parts of the world, particularly in the West, today’s culture tends to exclude God, and to consider faith a purely private issue with no relevance for the life of society. Even though the set of values underpinning society comes from the Gospel – values like the sense of the dignity of the person, of solidarity, of work and of the family –, we see a certain “eclipse of God” taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity... (Read Full Text) Pope Benedict XVI |