Hi everyone and for those enjoying a long weekend in Australia, I hope it's been a great one so far.
Well it's update time again and this time, I've decided to talk a bit about something that I've been experiencing a fair bit these last few weeks and a subject that will only grow more as the years go on in our faith journey.
For the last two years, I've been involved in working specifically in the 'New Evangelisation' with the work I'm doing with NET Ministries Australia. Most of you know what I've been doing by now but to put it simply, I have been involved in helping people, especially those of high school and young adult age, to realise the importance of the faith and Jesus in their own lives. It's been such an amazing experience and it is always a real joy to be able to get to meet a young person, talk to them about your experience and then over the space of a day or two to see how it can impact their lives to see God in you- not only in what you say, but in the witness that you are to them of what is being said about God's love and want for a better life for all.
The thing is though, that while the 'New Evangelisation' is super important there is another element that needs to be taken into consideration- and that is- how do we support these people who are so excited about their faith from their re-experience in Jesus and work with them to keep that faith alive and just as importantly, get them to share that with others.
The good news, is that our new Pope seems to have realised the need and is doing all he can to show the answer- he said it himself during World Youth Day 2013 in Rio when he said to the young people in attendance:
"Go and make disciples of all nations”. With these words,Jesus is speaking to each one of us, saying: “It was wonderful to take part in World Youth Day, to live the faith together with young people from the four corners of the earth, but now you must go, now you must pass on this experience to others.” Jesus is calling you to be a disciple with a mission! Today, in the light of the word of God that we have heard, what is the Lord saying to us? Three simple ideas: Go, do not be afraid, and serve."
This idea of discipleship is not new. We see it in the way that Jesus treated his apostles, not as his hired help but as people who he could support on their journey. We see it in youth movements across the country and we see it in the great work that our religion teachers and catechists do for our young people (but more about that later).
In the last few weeks, I've been able to very fortunate to be able to take part in some events where I've gotten to see how important it is to have discipleship alongside the 'New Evangelisation'. These include working with Year 11 students to create ministry tools that will help them to run retreat days for younger kids in the school and sharing advice to a men's group on the work NET does and how to keep supporting the young people in the Church.
Last week I was at a youth conference held in Canberra for about 70 young people who knew Jesus but wanted to experience him more.
At this conference were two young guys. One was a bloke who I met a week earlier at an event in Goulburn and wasn't quite sure about going to the conference while the other was a guy who I met a month ago at a school retreat day in Central West NSW.
For both of them, the conference was an amazing experience with plenty taken from what was being said and taught. The thing however that really connected with them was the chance to be supported by people who were also on the journey of following Christ. Whether it was the priests, the fellow participants, us leaders or just the speakers themselves, both these guys talked about how it was just so refreshing to be able to be around a place where there was so much support.
I also loved the fact that I was able to help the young people there as well in their continuing journey. Last year one of the hardest parts about the work we were doing was that a lot of it was fly-in fly-out type stuff, where you'd see the students once and you'd be lucky to see them again in a year.
This year however, I've had the pleasure of being able to see a lot of the young people we've met at high schools numerous times and that's been so cool as you get to see how the initial re-encounter with Jesus has changed their lives and then you also get to help them with any struggles they may be having or in a lot of cases, help direct them to people who can help them (I ain't got no degree in theology or social work!)
Yesterday I also got the chance to meet some amazing people at a catechists conference. For those who don't know what a catechist is- they are also known as scripture teachers and they teach the faith in government schools.
These people inspire me because they are in there week in week out with students helping them to have not only a better faith, but a stable support, an example of Jesus in their lives, especially those who are baptised Catholic but aren't really living or into their faith. The stories they were telling me yesterday of students who weren't Catholic who wanted to be after being in classes with these people were beautiful and reminded me of why we do what we do, it's not for accolades or awards or recognition- it's to bring people closer to Jesus and help them stay on the path to greater glory.
Not only was I reminded of why we do what we do- yesterday, as I sat on a panel and talked to this crowd of about 70 people about how personal experience and sharing vulnerably about your own struggles in the faith can at times be as powerful as knowledge from the catechism or faith teachings I also was given a bit of a wake up call into the fact that while sometimes the focus is on running good programs or creating amazing events, the key to inspiring young people has been and always will be, being there for them- giving them a hope. I'm so glad that NET is built around this relational idea as it's given me such a great training ground for this and I hope to take it into my everyday life.
I guess the reason I write all this is because I want each one of you to realise the role you play in the lives of others, especially their faith journey. I encourage each one of you to keep supporting those around you by being a living example of Jesus to them- especially those struggling to understand the faith- for this is not a journey to be taken alone and we can't just be going about experiencing Jesus and keeping it to ourselves- as it is well noted- the aim of our lives is to be as Christ like as we can be and to help others to do the same.
I'm super excited to say that the next few weeks we will be spending as support crew for a musician from Melbourne as she goes to Catholic schools to teach them about how to take traditional church music and make it relevant for today. There's a lot of travel involve but it will be a lot of fun and we're getting to go back to lots of schools we've visited this year so that's really exciting in regards to this discipleship idea.
Ok enough writing- stay well, prayers are with you all and till next time, remember to keep being disciples of Jesus in all you do :)
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