Youth Ministry, Nuestra Señora de la Carrodilla (2nd part)

Originally Published on OMIWORLD.ORG

Click here to see the post en Español

In response to the request of the Provincial Superior, Fr. Antonio MARIANGELI, the JOMI (Young Oblates of Mary Immaculate) group in Argentina has sent us a long report on their various missionary activities. In number 579 of OMI Information, we published the first part of this report. Here is Part 2. 

Our greatest mission and task as Young Oblates is to make known the charism through our way of acting, in the parish groups, with our friends, in our families, at work, at the high school and at the university. This is the image that we bear and thanks to it, the group has grown in number and in spiritual treasure.

Currently we are thinking about the organization of Oblate youth days. It would be would be the revival of the ones that used to be celebrated annually. We need to continue planning and to see what qualities of the charism could help us to focus on ways to serve different kinds of young people today. We are putting our plans in His hands so that He may guide us.

Let us also talk about our present experience in the second edition of the MYM (Mendoza Youth Mission), a mission organized by the Archdiocese of Mendoza involving young lay missionaries, religious men and women, and priests from all parishes in the archdiocese by Archbishop Carlos María Franzini. This event is in response to the invitation of Pope Francis to “Make a mess in the dioceses” at the last World Youth Days in Rio de Janeiro. It consists of a weekend mission, with various types of programs, hosted in schools and parishes in and around Mendoza City. There is the street program (bringing the mission to those we meet in the streets and plazas of the city); the artistic program (bringing the mission through music, theater and the visual arts); the program for the sick (bringing the mission into clinics, hospitals and homes for the elderly); the prison program (visiting the penitentiary, both men and women inmates); the nighttime program (bringing the mission to people sleeping in the streets, in the bus stations and the plazas); the sports program (bringing the mission into the parks and the cycling paths); and the mission 2.0 (through the communications media).

As JOMI and together with many other youth of the parish at the Saint Eugene chapel, we were about 30 who took part in this experience. We took part in three types of programs: some went to the street program; others to the artistic programs; and others to the program for the sick. In all of them, the mission was to share with others the joy of being Catholic, young lovers of Christ. In the street program, the idea was to tell the people walking down the street or in the plazas who we were and ask them to share with us what they would like to ask of God today or what they would like to thank God for in a special way. As for the arts, the idea was to express the joy of bearing Jesus in our hearts through our dancing in the streets and radiating our joy to all who passed by. Finally, with the sick, we visited the largest hospital in Mendoza and two nursing homes, bringing the people faith, joy, companionship, and listening to them and giving them gifts such as key chains, bracelets and necklaces.

On Saturday night, we shared with the rest of the youth and with the religious of the diocese a youth night, with bands such as Metanoia and times for prayer and adoration.

Once again, it was a very enriching experience to be part of such a big activity, together with the whole diocese. Being able to communicate Jesus, as young people, together with many others, was a source of great strength for us.