A time for everything

A Time For Everything…

My granddad had a favourite prayer that he passed onto his grandchildren before he passed away a year ago. Every Sunday when we gather to pray the rosary we recite this prayer in our Samoan language since the day he gifted it to us – today it is a tribute to all that he stood for. My faith and my culture are the cornerstones of what makes me the person I am today, and I thank him for the gift of showing us the importance of prayer in our lives today.

It is the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, and it holds much meaning in my life. It reminds me of the constant challenge to bring about peace, love and hope into the world today. It is a challenge that we may all attest to everyday.

A time for Lent…

For me Lent has always been the time when you give up your lolly quota for the month, or when soft drinks and takeaways are put on hold, as we strive to sacrifice for the entire 40 days and 40 nights. It is a time to seek change, whether it is in lifestyle and what we choose to eat or in other aspects that require more work.

I like to think of Lent as a time to renew – to replenish and remind ourselves of the love that God has always given to us, yet we choose to turn away from and forget at times.

Lent is also a good time to renew and refocus our values of WYD2008 and what World Youth Day is all about for us as pilgrims. The underlying purpose of what we are called to do as young people in our church and in our world today – and how we can change and renew our lives for this mission.

A time for WYD2008…

With the pressures of fundraising (and trust me, we are all feeling this pressure!) and the stresses of having to get groups together or motivated, we must never forget the true values that Pope John Paul II called such an event to be held – that is for us to celebrate being young and being Christian in our world today! How privileged we are to have this invitation, and how great it is going to be for us to witness it together.

A time for pastoral preparation and retreats…

Much of this renewal and change requires reflection. In Wellington the last of our pastoral preparation retreats run by the Archdiocese Committee Youth Office has just ended, and what a joy it was to experience one of them. Each of the five retreats run over the months of December and January gave all pilgrims a chance to reflect on the nature of ‘pilgrimage’ and a glimpse of what we could expect on our pilgrimage to Sydney this year.

A time for finding ourselves…

Every pilgrim must be going through their own sense of change and growth. I am so humbled when I see another person deepening their faith through the gift of WYD2008.

Last weekend I had the privilege of spending time away with my fellow Sunday School Teachers from the Wellington Samoan Chaplaincy at our annual retreat. Our theme was based on the World Youth Day theme, particularly on the last sentence “You will be my witnesses”.

(Myself with L-R: Michael, Agnes, Letitia and Sarah – Sunday school teachers for the Samoan Chaplaincy also pilgrims to WYD)

I wish to take this opportunity to thank Fr. Mareko Tufuga and Sr. Pesio Iosefo for renewing and replenishing not only my calling to be a teacher, but reminding me of how each parish or branch of each diocese may use the theme of WYD2008 to the best of their ability. By choosing this you not only place emphasis on the importance of the teachings from the theme, but also validating that this year WYD2008 is a focus for not only young people but for everyone! Fa’afetai fa’afetai lava!

A time to get excited…

I have a great friend who is currently teaching in Japan, and who is at present visiting home for a few weeks. When I showed his some notes of what I was thinking to blog, he curiously asked “Since when did blogs become homilies?”, I guess this is the trouble when you don’t blog for so long that you have so much to write about (hehe). So, well done on making it this far! J

Let’s use this Lenten season to reflect on the purpose of our pilgrimage, to deepen our understanding of the theme and to seek change and growth in ourselves and in the world around us. Wishing you all well for the upcoming few weeks – GOOD LUCK WITH THE FUNDRAISING!!

LET’S GET EXCITED!!

God Bless,

Soifua ona o Iesu Keriso

Josie