Asian Youth Day 2009

Dates: November 20-30, 2009

Place/Country: Tagaytay City, the Philippines

Theme of the Conference: Yasia Fiesta! Come together, Share the World, Live the Eucharist!

Website: http://www.asianyouthday2009.com/index.php?page=theme-song

New Season of Grace AYD5 Theme Song

Words and Music: Fr. Mimo L. Perez

 

For many and different roads

Now converged as one

We stand as witnesses

For both the old and young.

There is a world we know,

A world that breaths and hopes

But a world we wish to build still together with you...

There is a reason why we are here today

There is a voice that’s calling us to lead the way.

Gathering around the table of the Lord

Living in communion as we share the Word

For the love that save us

Is the love that drives us

Young Asians, take this dance

To proclaim, to sing and dance…

YASIA FIESTA!

Come together and celebrate!

Through us, God’s Living Word

Will renew and recreate!

YASIA FIESTA!

Come and sing songs of praise!

Through us, the Bread of life

Brings a new season of Grace!

We can’t afford to be indifferent anymore

We can’t pretend there’s nothing

We can do at all.

For we can make a difference

If in His presence we believe

Generated by the Word we share and live.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Dan. 12: 1-3. The prophet’s vision of the end of times.
2nd Reading: Heb. 10: 11-14, 18. Christ’s sacrifice was perfect and made once for all.

Gospel: Mk 13: 24-32. Jesus uses poetic language to describe the fall and judgment of Jerusalem.

Points for Reflection-From Fr Carlo Tei

• This Sunday’s Gospel is Mark’s description of the fall and judgment of Jerusalem, not of the end of the world and the last judgment.

• The coming on the clouds of the Son of Man (Dan. 7: 13) in the New Testament indicates Christ’s Resurrection and enthronement as Lord of the universe, events which have inaugurated the last times, the new and definitive era of mankind’s history. “The day of God”, therefore, indicates the time intermediate between the Paschal event and the banquet in God’s Kingdom. It is the time in which the Church has to play an important role in the salvation history. In a word: it is the time of the Church.

• The Church was wanted by Jesus Christ to succeed Israel as assembler of the nations. We are the “angels”, the messengers Jesus is unceasingly sending in order to gather the nations until the day He will come again in glory. Jesus, in a way, had already started reassembling mankind into God’s family. He started a movement of universal love, by loving all people and all different categories of people, especially the lowly, the most neglected and despised, thus revealing to us that we are all called to be children of the Father and members of his family. This prompted him to lay down his life for those he loved. And his sacrifice, according to the Letter to the Hebrews (Second Reading), was perfect and made once for all. Yet, it was like a seed, which had but to grow. Jesus did not bring fulfillment ready made. He planted the living seed: the accomplishment will eventually come from on high; but, before then, there must be a process of growth. This is the task of the Church, our task: to reassemble all the nations “from the four winds”.

• But, in performing this task, we must always remember that there is only one leader in the process: the Son of Man, the crucified and risen Jesus. So, we contribute to the gathering of all the nations into the family of God only if we imitate Jesus Christ, through a brotherly love as universal as his love for us. The greatest obstacles to our work of evangelization and, therefore, to the reassembly of mankind into God’s family are the man-made barriers of separation among peoples and individuals, such as egoism, selfishness, nationalism and racism.

• If we let Christ’s universal love take root deeply in our hearts, it will blossom in our daily lives and make us “the angels sent by him to gather his elect from the four winds”.

Bible Study

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

Gospel of St. John

Here, I Am Lord

I, the Lord of sea and sky,

I have heard my people cry.

All who dwell in dark and sin,

My hand will save.

Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

I, who made the stars of night,

I will make their darkness bright.

Who will bear my light to them?

Whom shall I send?

Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people’s pain.

I have wept for love of them.

They turn away.

Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

I will break their hearts of stone,

Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my words to them.

Whom shall I send?

Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame,

I will send the poor and lame.

I will set a feast for them.

My hand will save.

Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

Finest bread I will provide,

‘Til their hearts be satisfied.

I will give my life to them.

Whom shall I send?

Chorus

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

Dedication of St. John Lateran

Most Catholics think of St. Peter’s as the pope’s main church, but they are wrong. St. John Lateran is the pope’s church, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Bishop of Rome presides.

The first basilica on the site was built in the fourth century when Constantine donated land he had received from the wealthy Lateran family. That structure and its successors suffered fire, earthquake and the ravages of war, but the Lateran remained the church where popes were consecrated until the popes returned from Avignon in the 14th century to find the church and the adjoining palace in ruins.

Pope Innocent X commissioned the present structure in 1646. One of Rome’s most imposing churches, the Lateran’s towering facade is crowned with 15 colossal statues of Christ, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and 12 doctors of the Church. Beneath its high altar rest the remains of the small wooden table on which tradition holds St. Peter himself celebrated Mass.

Comment:

Unlike the commemorations of other Roman churches (St. Mary Major, August 5; Sts. Peter and Paul, November 18), this anniversary is a feast. The dedication of a church is a feast for all its parishioners. In a sense, St. John Lateran is the parish church of all Catholics, because it is the pope's cathedral. This church is the spiritual home of the people who are the Church.

Quote:

"What was done here, as these walls were rising, is reproduced when we bring together those who believe in Christ. For, by believing they are hewn out, as it were, from mountains and forests, like stones and timber; but by catechizing, baptism and instruction they are, as it were, shaped, squared and planed by the hands of the workers and artisans. Nevertheless, they do not make a house for the Lord until they are fitted together through love" (St. Augustine, Sermon 36>).
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1194#tagAudio

Words of Wisdom: ABC Poem

Although things are not perfect

Because of trial or pain

Continue in thanksgiving

Do not begin to blame

Even when the times are hard

Fierce winds are bound to blow

God is forever able

Hold on to what you know

Imagine life without His love

Joy would cease to be

Keep thanking Him for all the things

Love imparts to thee

Move out of "Camp Complaining"

No weapon that is known

On earth can yield the power

Praise can do alone

Quit looking at the future

Redeem the time at hand

Start every day with worship

To "thank" is a command

Until we see Him coming

Victorious in the sky

We'll run the race with gratitude

Xalting God most high

Yes, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but

Zion waits in glory... where none are ever sad!
----[Author unknown]

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: 1 Kings 17: 10-16. A poor widow is ready to give all she has to feed a stranger.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9: 24-28. Jesus Christ offered himself to take away our sins and he will return to reward those who wait for him.

Gospel: Mark 12: 38-44. Jesus praises the poor woman who gives generously in spite  of her poverty.

Points for Reflection-- From Fr Carlo Tei

1. Today’s First Reading and Gospel present two widows as examples of faith and generosity.

• The widow of the First Reading is not afraid of jeopardizing her last chances of surviving, in order to meet the needs of Elijah; therefore, a handful of meal and a little oil are the sign of an unlimited generosity.

• In the Gospel episode the two small coins that the widow puts into the treasury are regarded by Jesus as having much more value than the great deal of money offered by the rich.

2. Jesus values our generosity not by the amount of our offerings, but by our commitment. Jesus’ words, attributing the value of a gift to the disposition of the giver, are expressive of that common sense which is witnessed by wise persons of all religions and times. For Jesus, however, it is not a simple affirmation of a principle; his way of judging is witnessed by all the happenings of his life. He is the One who offered himself for us in his life and in his death.

3. And by so doing, Jesus not only became our Saviour, but also revealed to us who God is. God is not One who gives us something out of the abundance of his richness, but He is One whose nature is to give Himself. Jesus reveals God to us as the Self-giver. “God so loved the world as to give his only Son.” To save us, that is, to lead us back to God, Jesus had only one path to walk: the giving of himself, the total commitment of himself to God and to us.

4. This is the way, which is also indicated to us by today’s Gospel. We cannot be reconciled with God; we cannot share in Christ’s salvation unless we, too, like Jesus and like the two widows of today’s Scripture Readings, make the giving of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters the programme of our daily lives. Our salvation does not depend on the good deeds we perform or the amount of material help we give to others, as much as on our conviction that everything we are and have does not belong to us, but to God and to others, and, out of this conviction, we share our lives (our time, our energy, our happiness, our wealth) with others. May the Spirit of the Lord guide us and the Eucharistic Body of Jesus give us the strength we need to give ourselves to others.

November 1 Sunday Reflection

---From Fr Carlo Tei

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of all Saints.

• And we celebrate it to commemorate not only those saints whose names are written in the Church’s calendar, but also all those humble men and women who followed Christ faithfully during their life time and whose names are written in heaven.

• Moreover, while other feast days celebrate only others, today in the celebration we include also ourselves. St Paul used to call Christians like us “the saints”, so we are not presumptuous in saying that we, too, are saints, meaning that we are in the process of sanctity.

Today’s feast, therefore, invites us to realize that we have been called to be saints, that is a call to live in holiness, and that it is fitting to celebrate our communion with all the saints.

First of all, we should never forget that we are all called to be saints. There is no exception. Once we grant that God became man to redeem us, it is unthinkable that he would do the job halfway. Jesus himself said: “You must become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. One little catechism asked the question: “Can we be like God”? It answered: “Yes”, and quoted the very Scripture passage we have in today’s Second Reading: “We shall be like him for we shall see his as he is”. In view of these clear statements in God’s word, it is not surprising that Vatican II taught that every single one of us is called to holiness.

What is holiness?

It is what God is. Only God is holy. We can become holy only by sharing God’s holiness.

Through baptism and confirmation we were made a new creation, given a share in the divine nature, made children and friends of God, given the Holy Spirit and made members of the Church of Christ. In this way, we were given the call and the power to be saints.

What is a saint?

• In the First Reading John describes the saints as those who survived the great time of trial and washed their robes white with the Lamb’s blood.

• In the Second Reading, he describes the saints as the little children of God who grew up and have now become full-fledged sons and daughters of God.

• In the Gospel, Jesus describes the saints by the way they live. In the beatitudes Jesus spells out the way to holiness.

How many beatitudes did we identify with? There is nothing in them we cannot do or be. If we imitate Jesus, we will be able to practise them all, for he is the beatitudes in the flesh. Is there anyone of us who doesn’t want to be like Jesus? That’s what the Father wants of any of us.

What best defines our call to holiness is that it is a call to be great lovers. Pope Paul VI said that what most identifies the uniqueness of a human being is his “capacity to love, to love to the end, to give himself with that love that it is stronger than death and extends to eternity”. He pointed out to the martyrs as the sublime expressions of this quality. Theirs was the noblest of all loves, not only in the way they gave, but in Him to whom they gave it, the God who died for them.

Our way to holiness shares more with the martyrs than we realize. The word martyr means witness. To live a life of holiness is to give that witness to God in a kind of living martyrdom. In some ways it is even harder. We feel al times that to be faithful to God we have to shed the very blood of our souls, and that it would be easier to lie down and die. Only our deep love for Christ sustains us on this journey to holiness.

We, the family of God the Father, are in three stages of progress. We are the Church militant on earth, the Church suffering in purgatory and the Church triumphant in heaven. We are all for one, and one for all.

• The saints in heaven strengthen our faith by their lives; intercede for us obtaining for us the divine graces we need to live holy lives.

• The saints in purgatory need our prayers and good works to hasten the day of their final purification and entrance into heaven. We will remember them especially tomorrow on All Souls Day. They in return will be interceding for us.

• We on earth are still fighting the battles of love and faithfulness. We should never lose sight of the nobility of our struggle. We are fighting for something, for which God created us and Jesus, his Son, gave his life.

In this Eucharistic Celebration let us renew our determination to follow Christ, enlightened by His Spirit, strengthened by the Sacrament of His Body and Blood and through the intercessions of His Mother and all the saints.

Meditation- The Solemnity of All Saints

---from John Paul II "Prayers and Devotions"

Let us all rejoice in the Lord on this Solemnity of All the Saints! Ours is a sheer, limpid joy, a strengthening one, like that found in a big family, when it is teh kind having its roots there, drawing the new blood of its own life and its own spiritual identity form there.

With our spirit today we are immersed in this numberless host of saints, of the saved. They offer us courage and sing together a chorus of glory to Him whom the psalmists call teh God of my gladness and job (Ps 43:4). At the center of this communication is God himself. He not only calls us to holiness but he gives it to us in Christ's blood as well and so overcomes our sins. We should always sing a hymn of thanksgiving to the Lord. as Mary did, so to give joyous proclamation to he bounty of the Father "for having made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light" (Col 1:12). So the Feast of All Saints call upon us never to fall back only on ourselves, but to look to the Lord so as to be radiant (cf. Ps 34:6). Not to presume oon our own strength but to trust as sons in him who has loved us, never to grow weary of doing good.

All the Saints have ever been, and are, poor in spirit, meek, afflicted, hungry and thirsty for justice, merciful, pure of heart, peacmakers, percecuted because of the Gospel. They have been these things in varying degrees. We have to be like them. "God's will" is our sanctification (1 Thes 4:3).

The Lord will not abandon his people--Psalm 94

God has never rejected his people.

God, you are so mysterious to me. I do so want to have a sense of how you are present to me, how you call me, and what you really promise me.

Today I read Paul on how you love the Jewish people completely, never revoking your choice, but still extending your love through Jesus to me. I feel that I can only really find you through Jesus: ‘Whoever sees me, sees the Father.’

And Jesus constantly tells his disciples that they will find you through humility. Perhaps I try too hard to find your face, operating out of what I think I know for sure, instead of letting you find me in my humility. That’s what this parable of the wedding feast seems to be about.

Lord, only you can heal me in my yearnings. Teach me to hope more strongly in you.