The International Youth Ministry Conference was held at the University of Manila, Philippines, from April 13-15. The event brought together over 700 participants from 30 countries to explore the relationship between the church and young people, the importance of pastoral care, and the ways the laity and the church hierarchy can best serve them. The conference emphasized the need for constant monitoring and attentive accompaniment of young people.
“When trials and disillusionment occur, no matter whether we are newly baptized or ‘old Catholics’, that is the time to gather in the community, to re-read our life in the light of the Scriptures and to break the bread together. It will take time, but I guarantee that eventually everything will fall into place” writes Fr Paolo Consonni in this Sunday Reflection.
The disciples on the way to Emmaus resemble those of us who expect the spectacular from God. We are cowed down by the evil of the world and fail to recognise that the Messiah accompanies us in the greatest miracle on this journey through life – the Eucharist.
Keeping our hearts pure is an ongoing struggle that requires discipline, self-control, and constant reliance on the grace of God. We can achieve purity of heart through prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments, and by cultivating modesty in our interactions with others.
Following Jesus is not easy, especially in today’s world, where there is a frontal opposition to Christian faith and life. However, with God’s grace and love in us, we can do many good things. If we get lost, Jesus will look for us, find us, and heal us.
Only when we see in Jesus’ wounds the reflection of our own inner wounds, and also the wounds of our brothers and sisters which await to be nursed and tended with the Mercy flowing from the Cross, then healing is possible, and life can have a fresh start. That is the way we concretely experience the Resurrection.
Thomas has, unfortunately, been given the epithet of the “Doubter.” But Thomas the Apostle stands for all of us, who at some point or the other have to make that leap of faith, to go beyond human understanding to believe in the resurrection of our Lord and all that we are promised as Easter people.
Amidst the wave of violence and discrimination faced by the Christian community, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goodwill gesture during Easter at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Delhi has been seen as a positive step towards promoting unity and harmony in a country plagued by communal tensions. Whether Modi’s Easter visit will bring a turnabout in events, remains to be seen.
In our digital age, social media should serve the common good by providing true and honest information. The search for beauty is also a moral duty, as it is intertwined with truth and goodness. The eighth commandment not only requires that we live by truth, but also with charity. Why? Because charity is the greatest of the commandments.
To strengthen our faith in Jesus’ Resurrection, we have most credible witnesses: the apostles. How the Resurrection experience impacted them! The book titled ‘The Lord’ by philosopher and theologian Fr. Romano Guardini discusses two key differences between Jesus before and after the Resurrection: Jesus no longer comes and goes, but ‘appears’ and ‘vanishes’ without barriers of time and space, and the evangelists emphasize that Jesus after the Resurrection is the same Jesus of Nazareth with visible wounds, not a mere spirit.