‘PLANTED AND BUILT UP IN JESUS CHRIST, FIRM IN THE FAITH’ (cf Col 2:7)
By Sr Ashwena Apao SSC
Sister Ashwena is a Columban Sister from Jimenez, Misamis Occidental, which has one of the oldest Spanish churches in Mindanao and was a Columban parish for many years. She gets her name from the fact that she was born on Ash Wednesday. Sister Ashwena is based in Myitkyina, northern Myanmar.
This was the theme of World Youth Day (WYD) 2011, held recently in Madrid, Spain, in which 1.2 million persons participated. WYD was a time when young and not so young people from all over the world gathered together to pray and share experiences coming from within the cultural richness of each one. Everybody went with their own agenda, searching for truth, longing for a deeper meaning in their lives. Everybody wanted to encounter the truth of Jesus Christ, which they believed would set them free.
Have faith! With God nothing is impossible . . . These are the words that I
hang on to when I start to dream and hope for something that is way beyond me.
8 May 2009 was a day of joy, a day of wonder, a day of celebration of a dream
come true. On that day many youth from the different parishes came to celebrate
the official opening of our new Diocesan Youth Centre in Myitkyina Diocese,
Kachin State, Myanmar. Priests, Sisters and neighbors also joined us. Bishop
Francis Daw Tang of Myitkyina blessed the Centre and we celebrated the Eucharist.
Afterwards we were entertained by the youth who sang their own musical compositions
before partaking in the traditional meal that followed.