Day 4: 27 October 2001 "To the mission fields"
Today, Toms Michael from Trivandrum and team led the Morning Prayer session. We began the praise and worship by wishing each other peace in the name of the Lord. The session went off beautifully and ended by 8.00am. >From 8.10 to 8.45 we listened to various speakers. Pradiba from Gujarat related her conversion experience. Her testimony inspired the whole crowd to pray in a special way for the state of Gujarat. This was a good introduction to the theme of the day 'To the mission fields' . Mathew Joseph, JOYnet ministry co-ordinator from Bangalore spoke about the virtual community of JOYneters. Giju George, the Jesus Youth web-administrator from Chennai spoke about the Jesus Youth web site. The site is the virtual face of Jesus Youth, he said. He described the Internet as a very powerful media to reach out to the younger generation of this world. He gave the JY website address and illustrated the different features of the JY website. Babychayan, the animator of JYNT (Jesus Youth National Team) spoke next. He travels extensively in India and he meets the struggling Jesus Youth in different parts of India to encourage them and to be with them. 8.45- Breakfast. Simultaneously, the Joynet members participating in the Conference gathered backstage. It was a lively and very friendly gathering. We introduced ourselves, shared our e-mail ids, and shared about how the JOYnet community has helped each one of us to grow in Jesus. Many shared their future plans to help the community grow. At 9.30 Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathiyous from Trivandrum . He spoke for forty-five minutes. He appreciated the efforts of the Jesus Youth Volunteers and the principal of St. Joseph's College, Sr. Vijaya without whose efforts the Conference would not have been possible. A short musical session followed. At 10.40 Fr.Dheeraj Sabu IMS started the session on Mission, he said that love is the origin and the reason behind mission work. The motivation behind the salvific mission of Jesus Christ is also love. The theme of Ecclesia in Asia is centered on the same topic "Jesus Christ the Saviour and His Mission of Love and Service". Mission is the essence of Christianity, he said. He led us through evangelistic history of the Church. He spoke about Neo Evangelism and its need to be rooted in love. This love means respecting another person's conscience and beliefs. 11.45 In the Acts of the Apostles we find the Holy Spirit warning them not to go to Asia, but now through the mouth of the Holy Father the Holy Spirit is prompting us to evangelise Asia. This is how Alicekutty chechi responded to the session by Fr. Dheeraj. 11.55 Kairose the Jesus Youth magazine is facing a financial crisis, and we need to help by subscribing to the magazine, this point was brought out well by Mr. Chackochan Njavally. 12.15 We celebrated the Holy Eucharist, the main celebrant was Fr. Dheeraj Sabu. In his sermon he spoke about how symbols are important in evangelisation, he stressed on the need for Incultration, for evangelisation to be effective. We had intercessory prayers in Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarathi, Kannada and Brahma. The offertory was very colourful. Gifts were offered by the representatives of all the Indian states together with the representatives of the zones of Kerala. 2.00 Lunch. 2.45 The participants gathered in groups based on their zones or states, to discuss and chart out the future plans for the zones and states. At 4.30pm Jomon, the Kerala Youth Co-ordinator summed up the content of the zonal sessions. He made it clear that it was important to grow in a small community. Every Jesus Youth has to be a part of a prayer group. 5.00pm We joined the parishioners of St.Thomas Cathedral for a grand procession in Irinjalakkuda, in honour of Mother Mary. After which Major Archbishop Mar Jacob Thoonkuzhy gave the concluding message. After supper we had the 'Grand Finale' animated by the Rex Band. In between there was an action song by all the children who came for the conference. Youth from the different parts of India can in their costumes and performed various artforms. The program ended with the mass at 11.30PM For detailed reports and photos visit: http://www.jesusyouth.org/jy_2001.htm **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************************
