College Chaplain
Friends,
Welcome back to the 3rd term. May the Lord bless you all and protect our nation and the world from the scourge of the COVID-19.
Do you know that we have a new Bishop for our Diocese of Wagga Wagga?
Last Wednesday we had a great liturgical reception for our Bishop Mark Stuart Edwards at St Michael Cathedral in Wagga Wagga. Let us keep him in mind and pray for our Bishop, the shepherd of our Diocese of Wagga Wagga.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
(John 14:6).
Have you ever heard the Word of God saying to you? Let us respond the question and the invitation of Pope Francis to the youth.
‘Do you read the Gospel every day?’
“How many of you read the Gospel for two minutes every day?” That was the question and invitation Pope Francis posed to the young people of Argentina.
The Holy Father sent a fifteen-minute video message to the participants in the II National Youth Meeting taking place in Rosario on May 25th to 27th.
He invited them to carry a small book of the Gospels with them and to read it when they’re on the bus or sitting at home. It will change their lives, he said. “Why? Because you will encounter Jesus. You are encountering the Word.”
Pope Francis also reflected on the importance of presence, communion, and mission in the life of a young person.
Presence: ‘Jesus is with us’
Reflecting on presence, he said Jesus is always with us. “Jesus made himself our brother, and he invites us to make ourselves incarnate, building together that beautiful ideal of a civilization of love, as his disciples and missionaries in the here-and-now.”
He said this can be done in situations that daily life presents us. But, he said, we must be with Jesus “in prayer, in the Word, and the Sacraments. Dedicate time to him. Be silent so that you may hear his voice.”
Communion: ‘Walk as people of God’
Turning to the second word – communion – Pope Francis said history is made by a people, not ideologues. “We are a community; we are Church.”
“The people of God is the Church, which includes all people of goodwill, young people, the elderly, infirm, healthy, and sinners, which all of us are!... Walk as a people.”
The Holy Father also mentioned the upcoming Synod of Bishops on Young People, saying the Church is living through “a special time”. He invited Argentina’s young people to participate wholeheartedly. “The Pope wants to listen to you. The Pope wants to dialogue and seek out together new paths of encounter to renew our faith and revitalize our evangelizing mission.”
Mission: ‘Reach out as a Church’
Pope Francis went on to speak about the universal call to mission.
“We are called to be a Church reaching out in mission: A missionary Church; not shuttered up in our comfortable lifestyle and outlooks, but one which goes out to meet the other.”
Jesus, the Pope said, “convokes, sends, and accompanies us as we draw near to all the men and women of our age.”
Build a future based on past roots
Finally, Pope Francis told young people that they are the future and that they must be “a solid, fertile future, one which has deep roots.”
“Return to your roots,” he told them, “and build your future out of the roots from which you draw your lifeblood: Do not deny the history of your homeland, your family, or your grandparents.
Seek out your roots; find your past. And from there, build your future.”
Let us say this prayer together.
Come Holy Spirit of this Great Southland
Inspire our entire faith community,As we prayerfully discern new horizons for spreading joy
in the lives and communities of the People of God.
Come Holy Spirit of Youth
Fill the hearts of young people with the hope and love of Jesus Christ.
Enliven our community with the creativity, energy and joy of youth.
Guide us together, as we strive to offer God’s mercyto those who feel abandoned or outcast.
Come Holy Spirit of Faith
Empower our community to be courageous.Unite your people as witnesses of love.Walk with us, as we blaze new trails of discipleship,
Accompanying young people as we renew the Church together.
Come Holy Spirit of Vocation
Stir within young people an awareness of God’s call.
Reveal to us the graces of young people.Guide us all, in finding our place and raising our voices
To build a civilisation of love. Amen
Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, friend of the young, pray for us.
Fr Paul
College Chaplain