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| Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C. |
The youth flocked from different countries to the
Divine Retreat Centre in search of life. The Ninth International Youth
Conference was celebrating as its theme the grand offer of Jesus, “Have Life in
all its fullness” (John 10:10). In fact the Lord describes this as the very
purpose of His visitation: “I have come that you may have life in all its
fullness.” The promises of Jesus had always this tone – the generosity of God
inviting us to graces in full measure. While speaking of joy He said, “I say
these things that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (John
15:11). The peace He offered again was something that would completely dispel
all anxieties and unrest of the heart. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give
you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). He came indeed in the form of man
to fill us with Himself as St John writes, “Out of His fullness we have all
received grace” (John 1:16).
“I Have Called You By Name” (Isaiah 43:1)
This offer of the fullness of life was a great
revelation for the new generation. It was indeed beyond their asking and
imagination for they had settled for the minimum in their practice of
religion.
For many young people, though Christian by
upbringing, God was an abstraction or a vague power that was distant and
irrelevant. Though they habitually prayed, it was mostly an exercise done out
of a sense of obligation. They could not imagine that God was there to listen
to them. It was at the retreat that they were led to the experience of God as
someone real in their lives – God had become for them a love that touched their
hearts, transforming their lives to give them a new purpose.
When Serena, an engineering student, heard Jesus
calling her by name during the Eucharistic Adoration, she was thrilled by the
revelation that she was not one in a crowd but very special to the Almighty
God. She observes, “Though I was a cradle Catholic and I observed all the
obligations, for me God was too distant to be considered. Even when I went to
church, I felt I was there as part of that big congregation. I never imagined
that I could be of any consequence to God. I lost my interest in God. I even
lost the sense of the sacred. I never even considered that God was there. It
was at the retreat that I was drawn to the reality of God at the altar. I
realized that He knew me by my name and that His eyes were upon me. That sense
of love filled my heart and it is for this love that I wish to live.”
The marvelous experience of the Spirit was
unmistakable as the one effect was the revelation of a God of compassion,
closely following the concerns of His children.
Virgil from Goa described that he had come for the
retreat with a heavy heart. “I doubted God cared for me. I took it for granted
that my name would never be called out. My despair was mounting when I started
to think on these lines. This was during the Inner Healing prayer service. I
could not concentrate and I was doubtful if Jesus would hear me. That was when
Father called out my name and the message went thus, ‘Hand over your heavy
heart to Jesus’. I felt a fire pass through my body and I cried out aloud. I
could not be worried what those around me would think of me; for at that very
moment I realized that Jesus cares for me and that He has not given up on me. I
started believing in the Presence of Jesus and would love to experience this
over and over again!”
“Our High Priest Understands Our Weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15)
Lewis, a medical student, was born and brought up in
a traditional Catholic family. Though he was by nature very intelligent and
hard-working, when he came for the retreat he was a man suffering from a
tortuous sense of shame and self-contempt. In the first year of his medical
studies, his friends had introduced him to watching pornography. He resisted
the pressure in the beginning but soon thereafter gave in and found himself
addicted to the evil. He could not concentrate during the lectures and lost interest
in his studies. He was not able to sleep either because the pernicious images
that he had seen during the day on the computer would return to haunt him when
he lay down to rest. He started on sleeping pills and would wake up in the
morning more tired than when he had gone to bed. He felt desperate and lost. He
could see no way out of the crisis. He knew no one could help him.
He came for the retreat in his desperation. From the
start of the retreat, he prayed in tears as he was reasoning to himself that
God would not answer his prayers for he did not deserve God’s favour. However
something very beautiful happened! During the Offertory at the Holy Mass, he
confessed in earnest prayer to his helplessness in this habit of his addiction.
He placed his wretched state of mind on the altar alongside the bread raised up
on the paten. He had almost given up on his medical studies - yet as he prayed
he began to sense a new hope that God would intervene and set him free. He
continued to look at the altar and offer with the Host, the filthy images that
were stuck in his mind - residues of the evil habit that had enslaved him.
At the very moment of Consecration, when the
celebrant raised the piece of bread and prayed the liturgical words of the
Consecration, an awesome fear gripped him, for he saw behind the altar not the
priest any more, but Jesus in the garb of the High Priest and the words were
coming from the lips of Jesus, “This is my body.” He was still more shaken for
the realization dawned on him that the bread Jesus was holding up was what he
had offered with the ugly memories of his past. It struck him that all the mess
that he had made by his sinful indulgence was now being taken up by the Lord.
The Lord was taking responsibility for his licentiousness. The Lord was being
broken in his place. Great love flowed into his heart and with ineffable joy,
he began to repeat the Name of Jesus! His life choked by the ugly mess of sin
was now purified in the Heart of Jesus. During the distribution of the Holy Communion,
when he received the Sacred Body of Christ, he felt a flame of fire burn into
his tongue. This soon developed into a pleasant burning sensation that filled
his heart and seemed to take over his entire being. As he was describing this
to me, he turned and said, “I knew I was made a new creation.”
I remembered the account of the experience of the
apostles on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended upon them in the
form of tongues of fire. In that burning sensation, they were created anew to
be the pillars of the Church proclaiming that Jesus is the Lord and Saviour!
As Lewis was describing this life-transforming
experience, he shared with me that he was taking on the mission of bringing
over the very friends who had led him astray - for them to experience the
liberation Christ was offering them from their despoiling addiction with its
destructive effect. “I am praying for them. When I return, I will meet them
personally and I know God will be merciful and save them as He has been so good
to me.”
“Proclaim The Praises Of Him Who Called You From Darkness” (1 Peter 2:9)
Year after year, God is leading His children to the
International Youth Conference to a deep and life-transforming experience and
through it moulding them as His witnesses! The gospels describe in detail how
Andrew and John pursued Jesus, being directed by their Master John the Baptist.
Jesus turned and asked them “What do you seek?” They said, “Rabbi, where do you
stay?” Jesus invited them to “Come and see.” St. John concludes this encounter
saying, “We went and saw and stayed with him” (cf John 1:35-39). That was the
beginning of a new life of discipleship. This intimacy grew into surrendering
their lives totally to Jesus and it matured into a great desire to bring the
whole world to the same experience that they were blessed with. Much later St.
John would begin his letter declaring, “We proclaim to you what we have seen
and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is
with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy
complete.” (1 John 1:1-4).
In their search for life in all its fullness, the
youngsters came to a realization that there were many factors that stifled the
flow of life. In the milieu of education and work, they were often associated
with friends who were so secularized that God did not mean anything to them.
The media has brought in a very materialist set of values that focused on
momentary pleasures and luxurious living. All the time the talk of the youth was
about the latest brands of clothes, cars and mobiles. Their preoccupation was
to find time to hang out in malls and pubs. It seemed that money was all that
one needed to make it in life! Relationships had become fragile and were seen
as dispensable, with no perspective on the future. Any talk of religion or
religious values was considered as obsolete and offensive. The youth has been
sucked into the new, nefarious culture devoid of vision and values.
All these trends perpetuated by peer pressure had led
the youth away from the foundations of their faith. They were doing things
against their own will because they were not able to resist the compelling
influence of their friends. They had to hide much from their own parents
because they knew their behaviour patterns would not be acceptable. When the
youth experienced the Power of God’s Love liberating them from the clutches of
their addictions and deceptive thinking, it was clear that all along, deep in their
hearts, they resented the slavery that peer pressure had come to mean for
them.
“I Will Declare Your Name To My Brothers” (Psalm 22:22)
During the counseling and in the feedback notes many
of them expressed their great desire to share their newfound love of Jesus with
everyone around. This enthusiasm is a clear revelation of how they wanted to
fight back against the evils of peer pressure by becoming agents of life to the
very culture that led them to death.
This expression of their new mission was not mere
wishful thinking but evolved as clear decisions that the youngsters had settled
for. Mary Claire writes that she is determined to speak about Jesus at least to
one person a day. Derrick’s decision is to get all his friends for the Power
Conference next year. Stenisa has taken it as a vow to “help my friends to
experience Jesus as I have experienced Him.” The youngsters are charged with a
new mission in their life, a reason to live for! The mission of evangelization
that the Popes are recently speaking about has come into their hearts in a
powerful way. The Church is enriched with a fresh batch of warriors whose heart
beats for the Love of God!
Reading through the feedback forms, I am reminded of
the cry of St Augustine, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever
new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was
there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely
things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created
things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not
been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You
flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance
on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger
and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”
The grand finale of the Conference was marked by the
solemn High Mass officiated by the His Eminence Cardinal George Allencherry,
the major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. There was an emotional moment,
memorable to every participant. The Cardinal at the end of the Mass, came in
front of the altar and knelt down in his priestly vestments before the
multitude of the youth, and sought their prayers. He was suffering from
unbearable pain in his shoulders. It had become acute with the monsoon season.
The youth moved by an affectionate and filial response, prayed with great
fervour for their Shepherd! Later the Cardinal joyfully shared during his
breakfast with the Vincentian Fathers that he was completely relieved of the
pain! The youth were already becoming channels of the fire of God’s Healing
Love. The love and prayerfulness in their hearts is bound to bring healing and
life to the Church and to this world.
Let Us Pray:
Thank you Lord for bringing Your children to
experience the Loving Promise of Your Son that they would receive “Life In All
Its Fullness” (John 10:10). They have gone back to their educational
institutions and workplaces with the thrill of this Promise being fulfilled in
them. Let your Holy Spirit continue to fill them to be the torchbearers of Your
Kingdom. Let the whole world know that the fullness of life that every heart is
searching for is in You.
Amen.
