ADVENT PROPHETS NOT PROFITS

My wife, my daughter and I were out Christmas shopping yesterday afternoon. All the Malls have beautiful Christmas decorations. There is a hive of activity in the shops. The cash registers are ringing and everyone is buzzing.

As we looked around, we were flabbergasted at the cost of the products on offer. Toys are ridiculously expensive. Retailers are reaping the profits on material goods that will probably be lost, broken or abandoned in a few short months.

The very first Christmas had prophets! Nowadays Christmas is all about profits! I’m not saying “don’t go shopping” or “don’t spend your own money” What I am saying is that beside all the gifts under your tree this year, leave a space for the gift that God gives to us all.

Be a prophet for our time and prepare in your heart and your home a space for the Lord. That’s the only profit worth benefiting from.

TGIM- Thank God its Monday!

Thank God its Monday!

I don’t know about you but my weekends are pretty full on. Its starts off with Mass at 8am on Saturday then we clean the Church afterwards. On Saturday afternoons/evenings there’s always a function happening at Church or with family and friends. On Sunday we have two Masses one at 9am and the other at 11am. My wife and I are often doing something at either Mass so we usually are both present at both Masses. Then two Sunday afternoons out of four we have our Senior Youth Group gatherings. The other two Sunday’s my wife and I are on committees that meet on those days. And so, come Monday we’re pretty exhausted!

I arrive at my office on Monday mornings and just sit a bit and answer emails. I’m luckier than most people in the world because my office is right next to our Church and so I can just scoot over there and spend a few minutes with the Lord and offer up my thoughts, my goals for the week, my struggles and my joys. Whenever the photocopier breaks down or an issue just keeps bugging me. Guess what I do!

Now you may not be able to get to a chapel or church quite so easily but that doesn’t mean you can’t stop and spend just a minute catching up with an old friend. Your week will be more enjoyable if you do.

So don’t just thank God for Monday’s and Friday’s – TGFT “Thank God for Today” – it’s a gift; that is why it’s called ‘the present’ hehe….

Fr Stan...the rapper

Blog 6 12 07:
Hey!!! The Christchurch Diocese had a great youth mass on Sunday evening, and afterwards the fifteen minutes of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament provided us all with an opportunity to stop and just adore Jesus. Hopefully we can all realise the importance of adoration and the enormous benefits and graces that God can give us when we stop our lives to spend time with him.

Click here to check out this video of Fr Stan Fortuna CFR, who is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in America and recently did a tour through Australia to generate enthusiasm for WYD. He will be at WYD08, and I know a few people who are already looking forward to seeing him perform!! I count myself among them.

Check out his website by clicking here.

Here are the lyrics of the chorus, and click here to go to see the rest of them:

School of the Eucharist
Refrain
At this school when I sit
even just a little bit
I get hit with the power
that made the veil in the temple split
when I submit
fall on the floor and adore
can’t get enough
got to come back for sa-more
every prostitute and sinner
every fool and hypocrite
can benefit in this school
repent and commit
as the incense rises up
in adoration of the throne
somethin happens
to my wounded heart
from all the love revealed and shown
bright light Shekina
comes to my aid to assist
to change and sustain
the way I think and exist
to feel the bliss because my name
is in the book of life’s list
that’s what happens when you sit
in the school of the Eucharist

I challenge you to make time to attend the School of the Eucharist!

WYD prep!!!

Hello folks

Sorry it’s been so long! I hope all your preparations for World Youth Day next year are going well. I am a little out of touch with the preparations in Hamilton city now that I have come home to Piopio for the summer holidays so I will just fill you in a little on what I have been up to…

A few months ago, I went into an evening mass at St Josephs in Te Kuiti and spoke to the Parish there. It was incredible to see how keen these elderly people were to help out it whatever way they could. The youth going to World Youth Day will be in their prayers and they are keen to donate to the fundraising effort also.

On the 13th of November I spoke for the Catholic Women’s’ League in Morrinsville. Some of the senior students from St Joseph’s primary school came too. The women were really responsive and asked lots of questions about World Youth Day. Some of them even wanted to know whether they could come! We also asked at the end of the slideshow how many of the students would be keen to go if they were old enough and all of them put their hands up. The women are supportive with their prayers and look forward to hearing all about WYD when we come back next year.

On the 17th of November I spoke at the Youth Service in the Piopio Co-operating parish. They were all very supportive too and keen to hear what we are up to. Subsequent to this service my brother received a donation to his World Youth Day fundraising effort by one of the people he works with who heard me speak that morning!

What I have learnt over the past few months is that there are so many people out there willing and able to support you towards World Youth Day and also people out there ready to help you out just generally in life. It is only a matter of asking them and sharing what an amazing event this is going to be.

I also want to encourage you to keep praying for World Youth Day. The majority of the people I have met over the last few months are not going to WYD because they are older people but they are still supporting us immensely with their prayers.

Keep up the good efforts with fundraising, keep enthusiastic, and most importantly keep praying!

Adoration

As the campaign for Eucharistic adoration is about to be launched in Christchurch I thought that I would write a little something about it on this blog…

Our Catholic faith tells us that the Eucharist we receive in the mass IS the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know, both through the Church’s teaching and our own experience, that the host we receive is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, the son of God and second person of the trinity. With our human eyes we can sometimes fail to see and believe this, and doubt can invade our minds. Yet, I urge all of you to have faith!! Have faith in the Church, have faith in God and have faith in the Eucharist.

So we have the body of Christ with us. Adoration is when we gather before the exposed Eucharist, which is placed in a monstrance, and simply adore Jesus. Adoration is what it says it is!! We know what it is to adore people, for example we adore our girlfriends, boyfriends, parents, grandparents. Perhaps the easiest people to adore are little babies, who in their innocence, purity and beauty are impossible not to love! Sometimes it is hard to express this emotion towards Jesus, mostly because we don’t know him! But when you spend time with him in prayer and in adoration and reflect on what he did for us upon the cross, you do get to know him. Then it is hard not to adore him!

“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). Upon going to adoration this verse should have a profound new meaning. We go to adoration to sit or kneel in the presence of Christ, who is the bread of life. Being in his presence changes us. It transforms us. I have heard it likened to spiritual sunbathing – the Eucharist is the sun and we sit and get a healthy tan from the sun’s rays. “God is love” as St John and Pope Benedict put it, so if the Eucharist is God then it is also pure love!! If we sit in the presence of this love then naturally we are affected.

When we adore Christ we are in very good company. Think of the nativity scene – Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men – all adoring the word made flesh, baby Jesus. As Christmas gets closer you will see this scene everywhere from your local parish to shopping malls!! And every time you see it make sure you realise what exactly is going on – Adoration. There are also the Angels. They, like us, are created to adore God, and do so (Hebrews 1:6).
Adoration is the best preparation you can make for WYD. It will prepare you soul for the journey ahead and draw you closer to Jesus. They are calling it the “Holy hour of power” because that is what it truly is. When you give your time to Christ in this way don’t be surprised to see changes in your life.

I will post another blog after the launch of the adoration campaign this Sunday. All are welcome to come: 7pm at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch. See you there!!!

Any questions, send me a comment!!

We NEED to pray!!

Well things have certainly started progressing with WYD preparations!! Registrations are completed, deposits are being paid, fundraising is in full flight and air beds are being ordered!!

All this preparation is over and above our normal lives, which are already jam packed with full time work, part time work, school, university, and sports. Deeper still is our family lives where we are busy with family, children, brothers, sisters, parents and friends. But at the deepest level is our faith. It is the foundation for all we are and all that we do, even if we don’t realise it, and it is essential that it be what our WYD preparation is based on.

If faith is the car we drive, prayer is the petrol. We NEED to pray, we NEED to lift up our hearts to the Lord. If we don’t have this “petrol” for our faith then it will soon break down. Cardinal George Pell, who is the Archbishop of Sydney, has recently urged all those involved in WYD not to put other preparation before spiritual preparation. It would be the most unwise thing for us to do as our faith is the very reason WYD exists.

Cardinal Pell made his appeal, saying that World Youth Day is not just a multicultural encounter, or a chance to make new friends it is “above all a moment of conversion and encounter with God, living the experience of sharing, and announcing the good news.”He cautioned against getting caught up in practical preparations and organizational challenges."The most important challenge is the spiritual preparation," by way of prayer and sacraments, the cardinal said. "One of the blessings we will receive from World Youth Day," the cardinal affirmed, "is that it will give us the one true God, remind us of the teaching of Christ, the only Son of God, and it will bring spiritual values onto the public scene."

So prayer is pretty important. If you have a WYD prayer card make sure you use it!! I hope and pray that all your preparations on a parish, diocese and national level are going well and people are getting more and more enthusiastic!! The other day I realised that sometimes what WYD is actually going to be like escapes us, and as the cardinal warns us against, we see WYD as just a big event, in the not too distant future. Then I was talking to someone who had just registered for WYD and didn’t know much about it and all he said was “imagine what it’s going to be like sleeping – or not sleeping! – outside with all those other young Catholics. Its going to be CRAZY!!” And when I started to imagine it, it really blew my mind. Over 500,000 young people. Together. Waiting for Pope Benedict. How literally awesome is that going to be?!
Keep up the good work!

My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice. They can move hearts far better than words. St. Therese of Lisieux

The WYD Fundraising Ball

The World Youth Day Ball

On August 25 approximately 120 people, gathered at the Masonic Hotel in Palmerston North for the World Youth Day Ball. The theme was Arabian Nights.

As Dave put well – “You know it must be a Catholic event when it has an Arabian theme, held at the Masonic Hotel!”

Entertainment included the live jazz band Thieves of Time, followed by belly dancers from the Donna Bliss belly dancing troupe.

There was a wide range of ages – parishioners turned out to support World Youth Day as did the young pilgrims themselves.

The All Blacks lost!!!

The All Blacks lost!! For me, that's all that really mattered in the past month, and getting past the grief of losing yet another World Cup campaign. No matter how meticulous their planning was they still suffered defeat to the French in the quarterfinals. On their return home there was a feeling of disappointment and sadness, but for many others there was also a sense of pride and hope. Now the question is what then lies for the future of the All Blacks?

Of course, the Rugby World Cup is distinctly different from the events of World Youth Day. For one, WYD2008 is not a sport, nor is it a competitive tournament. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but draw parallels between the two.

At the moment Group Leaders are working tirelessly to plan their group's travels and see that each member is registered. (Just as a side note – A big THANKS to all Group Leaders! It's not an easy job but you are all trying your best and playing your part!). We will travel to Sydney and take part in the biggest gathering of young people known in modern times – WYD2008. We will then return home filled with a sense of excitement, joy, and filled with the Holy Spirit. So then the question is for us too as to where lie our futures?

What legacy do we want to lead upon our return home after WYD2008?
Obviously, this is a question that might not even be appropriate to ask at this time. We are still in the planning stages and still fundraising diligently. However, with registrations well under way, and deposits for airfares due, there is confirmation for many pilgrims that the dream of WYD2008 in Sydney is being realised.

So, the All Blacks will have to wait another four years for glory. But, there will still be a boy aspiring to be the next Dan Carter as he kicks his football in the backyard. There may well a young man aspiring to be the next parish priest or even the next Bishop of his diocese upon his return from WYD2008.

WYD2008 is more than an event in July 2008; it is the beginning of a legacy of change. It is a chance for us young people to make our mark to better the future of our Church. Pray that all preparations and planning are going well for each diocese, parish, group leader and pilgrim. May our Lord guide you all in the journey to WYD2008. May our legacy for World Youth Day begin now and continue for years to come!

Go the A.B's!!

God Bless you all. Soifua ma ia manuia.

Place God in the centre and all will orbit in order

Take God away from the centre, and you will suffer disorder

Moving through the end of July and the month of August, this beautiful quote personifies my journey over these past few months. What I have found, and learnt, is that ones journey or pilgrimage is not always easy or straight forward. There have been moments of stress, frustration, struggle, and conflicts of interest. Looking back in retrospect, and in reference to the quote above, these times have usually been when God has not been placed in the centre. But I am grateful because it makes me appreciate times when I have seen God at work.

Take fundraising as an example. We all have the outrageous task as pilgrims to raise the funds needed to travel to Sydney. At times it has been a struggle. What’s enviable about standing in blistering cold conditions selling sausages? Or cleaning Westpac Trust Stadium and picking up soggy eaten fries off the ground? As cliché as it sounds – it’s more than about raising money. I have had the privilege of getting to know more about my group, in it’s strengthens and weaknesses. Fundraising, with God in the centre, can be an opportunity to build team spirit and break barriers within the group. I have witnessed this in my group over the past few months – and I thank them dearly for the progress and growth we have experienced.

A highlight of my journey as Ambassador has been the amazing people I have encountered, and the friendships that have been forged. The month of August saw my good friend Jane (Palmerston North Ambassador) visit Wellington for our interview together as Ambassadors for our diocese paper Welcom. I was honoured to host Jane over the weekend, and was please to have the opportunity to share my family, community, and parish life with her.

If anything, it’s given me a taste of what a blessing we will have during Days in Diocese next year, where we can all have the opportunity to share our lives with other people and cultures. To all pilgrims, and those who will stay behind and support from these shores, my prayers are with you as you moves through the month of September.

Whether its fundraising, registering online, or having a group meeting, whatever you are doing on your journey towards WYD2008 always keep God at the centre – you’ll find everything will just orbit in order.

God Bless you all, Soifua ma ia manuia.

Handing over the Cross and Icon

The other ambassadors have really captured the experience of the hand over of the C and I in their blogs so check them out and read up!!! Here are a few of my photos of the amazing experience...