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THE NEW LIVING THE BRAND GLOBAL 7 EVANGELIZERS 10 JY SPIRITUALITY 12 NEW TEAMS 13 NEWSWATCH RY 2012 RY A U AN J REFLECTIONS ON NEW EVANGELIZATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MOVEMENT IT WAS A COOL OCTOBER NIGHT IN 1978. ENTRUSTED WITH THE TASK OF MOBILISING YOUTH FROM ALL OVER KERALA, I WAS RETURNING WITH OUR ANIMATOR TO COCHIN AFTER A MEETING WITH FR. FIO MASCARENHAS, THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL IN INDIA. His vision for the follow -up of the large youth Conference we recently held in Kerala rang clear in our ears. “So many youth have already come together,” he said. “Communities of formation reaching out with a sense of mission”, he A MISSIONARY MOVEMENT AT THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH THE SERVICE AT MOVEMENT A MISSIONARY added, “must be your vision”. CONTD. ON PAGE 3 HEART TALK “Christian leadership begins from going down on one’s knees.” This is the great conviction that drives every Jesus Youth missionary. It is from prayer on bended knees with hands lifted up that every JY receives strength for a life of service. Prayer is the hallmark of Jesus Youth who are most often described as ‘people of prayer’. Indeed formation and activities that arise out of prayer are key traits of Jesus Youth. Prayer is the first fundamental requisite and constant that every JY is required to necessarily practise and adopt as a way of life. Of the many forms of prayer, personal prayer holds great importance for it sustains JY in the most trying circumstances and especially in places where it is not possible to receive the Sacraments regularly. I believe that a day begun with a time of personal prayer turns out to be specially beautiful and blessed. I have been influenced by many JY leaders who never miss out on their personal prayer and often get up early to pray at the appointed time even after hectic days and sleepless nights. That God provides personal convictions and stimulus to service most often during times of personal prayer is an experience shared enthusiastically by many a Jesus Youth. The many varieties of community prayers existing in the movement such as the weekly prayer meetings, Night Vigils, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Intercessory prayer meetings, Taizé prayers, Rosary, Praise & Worship and other forms of communal worship THE NEW EVANGELIZATION followed by Jesus Youth from the very beginning have all gone a long way in raising ‘‘DEPENDS LARGELY ON THE the standards of spiritual life of JYs and in sustaining them. The ‘Jesus Youth Prayer’, DOMESTIC CHURCH. IN OUR which was the fruit of many years of prayer and planning by some JY leaders, has been TIME, AS IN TIMES PAST, well received and put to practical use in the movement over the last 5 years. This THE ECLIPSE OF GOD, THE prayer “combines the rich heritage of Christian prayer with the contemporary modes of SPREAD OF IDEOLOGIES spontaneity and Spirit-led dynamism” (Introduction to Jesus Youth Prayer), and is useful CONTRARY TO THE FAMILY for personal as well as participative prayer as testified by young and old, newcomers AND THE DEGRADATION and veterans alike. OF SEXUAL ETHICS ARE Intercessory prayer is yet another of the movement’s strengths and that this is the INTERTWINED. AND JUST responsibility of every Jesus Youth is a strong conviction of the movement. I recognised AS THE ECLIPSE OF GOD this great responsibility as a student when I inadvertently happened to hear and see AND THE CRISIS OF THE three of my seniors kneeling on a rock-strewn floor, praying for my repentance! The FAMILY ARE LINKED, SO Intercession retreats that used to be held to impart awareness and training for the same THE NEW EVANGELIZATION have been reintroduced of late, with similar retreats being preached in several places IS INSEPARABLE FROM across Europe and India. A deep conviction and recognition of the intercessory needs of individuals, the society and the Church has led to a resurgence of intercessory prayers in THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. Jesus Youth involving penance and sacrifice. THE FAMILY IS INDEED THE WAY OF THE CHURCH Night Vigils as a way of intercession are a widespread phenomenon in Jesus Youth BECAUSE IT IS THE today and are being organised in many countries on a monthly basis. On a recent visit “human spAce” of our to a Gulf country, I was privileged to attend one such Night Vigil and was surprised and ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST. inspired by the lively participation of youth and elders, with many families bringing all their children, even infants. I recently heard that some young people in Auckland, New ... THE FAMILY FOUNDED Zealand walk up the winding road to the top of Mount Eden every Thursday, reciting ON THE SACRAMENT the Rosary and praying for the land stretching out on every side of the mountain. I OF MATRIMONY IS A remember how many years back, leaders in India walked for miles around cities, praying PARTICULAR REALISATION for the evangelisation of their residents. Similarly, Jesus Youth leaders in places without OF THE CHURCH, SAVED religious freedom such as the Gulf countries, regularly drive around cities praying for AND SAVING, EVANGELIZED the nation. Such intercessory prayers have wrought wonders and changes in the world AND EVANGELIZING and also increased the faith and missionary zeal of the participants. COMMUNITY. JUST LIKE THE Yet another means of intercession is the prayer before the Blessed Sacrament such as the CHURCH, IT IS CALLED TO one that has been going on for the last 8 years in Delhi - the capital of India, the one held in WELCOME, RADIATE AND the Vatican Youth Centre during the 50 days of Lent in 2010 - the JY Jubilee Year, and the 24- SHOW THE WORLD THE hour Adorations and intercession prayers organized last year in several countries. LOVE AND THE PRESENCE I now call upon all my brothers and sisters in the movement on every continent to prepare for OF CHRIST. and hold 50 days’ Adoration this year too in their respective countries, either during Lent or in the days between Easter and Pentecost. Let me also remind you of the International Team’s request to all the countries to celebrate 1st to 8th September 2012 as a special Intercession Week. May all these endeavours help every JY missionary to live a life “distinguished above HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT’’ XVI at THE PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF THE all in the art of prayer” (John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 33). PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE FaMILY, 1 DECEMBER 2011. Raiju Varghese Jesus Youth International Co-ordinator CoveR STORY Contd. from page 1 The New Evangelization THE NEW EVANGELIZATION IS NOT A MATTER OF REDOING SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN INADEQUATELY DONE OR HAS NOT ACHIEVED ITS PURPOSE, AS IF THE NEW ACTIVITY WERE AN IMPLICIT JUDGEMENT ON THE FAILURE OF THE FIRST EVANGELIZATION. NOR IS THE NEW EVANGELIZATION TAKING UP THE FIRST EVANGELIZATION AGAIN, OR SIMPLY REPEATING THE PAST. INSTEAD, IT IS THE coURAGE TO FORGE NEW PATHS IN RESPONDING TO THE CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES AND coNDITIONS FACING THE CHURCH IN HER CALL TO PROCLAIM AND LIVE THE As our bus reached a quiet town at dawn, the GOSPEL TODAY. voice of a newspaper boy woke us at dawn. “The new Pope is elected, a young Pope from Poland!”. After the confusion and dark rumours that followed the death of the short- is the New Evangelization taking up the first lived Pope John Paul I, this new promise was evangelization again, or simply repeating exciting. the past. Instead, it is the courage to forge new paths in responding to the changing Years later, looking back, I would see a divine circumstances and conditions facing the Church Providence in this coincidence. A seed of in her call to proclaim and live the Gospel the vision sown on the 16th of October 1978 today” (5). would grow up to be a world-wide movement, and the great man elected on the same day The New Evangelization requires new skills would inspire this movement to follow a new and habits. It is always the fruit of a new refreshing approach to mission, the New discernment, something like the triple-step Evangelization. reflection at the first path-breaking Conference of the movement: (the life of) Youth Today, The New Evangelization: (the vision of) Jesus Today and (the mission What is it? of) Jesus Youth. And mission discernment happens always in a Christian community. The resounding call of Pope John Paul II From the initial days when the movement stirred up the movement deeply: “Look began to take shape, the call of JP II to the to the future with commitment to a New New Evangelization has been a guiding light. Evangelization, one that is new in its fervour, During the third weekend of every month, the new in its methods and new in its expression” ‘first liners’ would come together to fan the (Haiti, 1983). By his example and through fervour, to seek new methods to approach much of his exhortations this call to a fresh youth and form novel expressions of faith and awakening to Evangelization was repeated. mission. And its fruit? The gradual formation In the Lineamenta of the forthcoming Synod of a culture and a mission. A defining moment this concept is reflected on in detail: “...the came in the call of JP II to observe 1985 as New Evangelization is not a matter of redoing the International Year of Youth (IYY) and something that has been inadequately done the movement’s response was a year-long or has not achieved its purpose, as if the preparation culminating in ‘Jesus Youth 85’ that new activity were an implicit judgement on gave the community a name and outlined its the failure of the first evangelization.

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