Sandhurst’s ACYF pilgrims gathered in their Deaneries last weekend to celebrate Mass and gear up for their big departure this Saturday, 29 November.
In the Western Deanery, ACYF pilgrims marked the Feast of Christ the King with a “Hope is Alive” Day. Starting at Sacred Heart Cathedral, they joined a Liturgy focusing on St Carlo Acutis, led by Fr Stephen Bolling, and explored the St Carlo Acutis Eucharistic Miracles Exhibition. Then it was a walk to St Kilian’s Church, where the real fun began: a barbecue in the Community Garden, where sausages and onions were expertly grilled by seminarians Aaron and Jhunel. “We need to know how to barbecue if we want to be a priest,” laughed Aaron.
In small groups, pilgrims shared their hopes for ACYF; not surprisingly many of these hopes were similar. Young pilgrims were seeking to deepen their faith and to connect authentically with others. They wanted to ‘find their tribe’ and feel a sense of solidarity in the knowledge that living a Christian life, caring for each other, and caring for our common home, is super-cool and something to be celebrated.
Pilgrims were asked to reflect on what they would say to Jesus if He visited their home. Fr Junray Rayna, ACYF Pastoral Leader and Parish Priest of St Kilian’s, of course, said he would invite Jesus to go surfing!
The day culminated in a Youth Mass celebrated by Fr Rob Galea, who didn’t hold back. He warned against “Cafeteria style Catholicism,” where we pick and choose how and when we follow Jesus.
“Too often God becomes an accessory in our life, or just a part of our life,” he cautioned. “But that’s not how it works, because Jesus Christ is Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all!."
"God doesn’t want to share the throne of your heart with other things; with things such as anxiety and worry, with temptations of this world … Not because He wants to sit on a comfortable throne in our house, … but because He knows that when Jesus is the Lord of our lives, we are going to be the most fulfilled and the most happy, the most at peace, at the most, in a sense, authoritative in a spiritual world.”
Fr Rob invited young people to make a conscious choice: “Jesus, I give you permission to be the Lord, the King of my life.” Then, he prayed that ACYF Pilgrims "may receive everything that God wants to give them.”
After Communion, the pilgrims were blessed, commissioned, and sent out by Fr Junray, with hearts full of hope.
May every step of their ACYF journey be filled with joy, courage, and the overwhelming love of Christ.
https://www.sandhurst.catholic.org.au/item/2996-sandhurst-acyf-pilgrims-primed-and-ready-for-the-journey?print=1&tmpl=component#sigProId06b6e3f01b