EVERY
JESUS YOUTH
IS A
MISSIONARY
(a 7-week reflection material)
Prepared by
Jesus Youth International Team
April 2011
Introduction
“One can be identified as a Jesus Youth only if one is a missionary” - this has been a pivotal conviction in the Jesus Youth movement and these days following the Silver Jubilee, this very conviction calls us to reflect on this more deeply.
In this context, the Jesus Youth International Team has prepared this reflection material based on the important documents which came out during the Jubilee Year (‘Looking beyond the Jubilee’, ‘Fostering the graces of the Jubilee’, ‘At the threshold of the Jubilee’, ‘Jubilee Conference Preparation Material’, etc). This material is intended to be used in all the JY groups - prayer groups, cells, small groups, fellowship groups - during the period from Easter to Pentecost. Through the 7 weeks, Jesus Youth worldwide shall have prepared themselves for a fresh anointing when we celebrate Pentecost Day and Missionary Commitment Day 2011.
This is also an attempt to gather together the strands of reflections that have emerged in the last few years, with the Spirit guiding us in the specific context of our future mission. May this reflection material help us to make the 50 days a time of recommitting & reorienting ourselves and that of surrendering our lives to the Church, the Jesus Youth movement and its mission.
This resource is a compilation of Scripture readings, reflections from various Jesus Youth documents, teachings of Pope Benedict XVI on SaintPaulthe Apostle and those given by him during general audiences in the last few years. There is also a set of reflection activities for each week which the participants can do to live out the Gospel.
St. Paul - Patron of Evangelists
Let us pray to St. Paul to be our model, companion and intercessor in our journey to grow as a zealous missionary in the days to come. Seek Paul's intercession to be a more vibrant missionary in this world. Respond to the Universal Call to Holinessand theUniversal Call to Mission. Our devotion to St. Paul will bring us closer to the crucified and risen Saviour. The graces we receive will exceed our greatest expectations.
“Lord, illumine us, grant us an encounter with Your presence in our world, and grant us a lively faith, an open heart and great love for all, which is capable of renewing the world.”
How do I use this material?
There are 3 parts in a week’s reflection:
Part 1: Reflections from various Jesus Youth documents along with a few questions for discussion in groups which will help us to reorient our life as a missionary
Part 2: Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI focused on understanding the missionary heart of St. Paul the Apostle
Part 3: Activities for the week
Depending on the person facilitating the group, and the number and age of the participants present, it can take anywhere between one to two hours. Each member of the group has to go through the reflections and questions, personally and with the group. Remember-
1. This reflection material can be used in any Jesus Youth group – 4 to 5 people in each group is an ideal number
2. The group is expected to meet once a week (for 7 consecutive weeks)
3. You can start with a song/prayer/ice-breaker (5-10 mts)
4. Continue with a Jesus Youth Prayer (30-40 mts)
5. Complete the preparation/reflection material (30-40 mts)
6. End with a song/prayer (5-10 mts)
The members can also spend some time after the session sharing about the previous week’s activities.
Using this material
• Plan the session. Each session includes the theme for the week supported by Pope Benedict XVI’s teaching, Scripture reading, reflection questions and ‘Praying with St. Paul’. There is also an active component to the resource with suggestions of what the participants can do during the coming week. So the leader of the group needs to plan and prepare well before the meeting.
• Be prepared. Make sure you read through the programme and appropriate resource materials before you go and run it! Resource persons need to be booked earlier.
• Create an enjoyable and relaxed environment so that when group members arrive, they feel right at home.
• Set up a central focus to set the mood. This may include things like a Bible, a cross, a candle - anything! Be creative but also mindful of the mood you are trying to create.
• The leader sets the tone in the group. The energy of the leader is vital to setting a good mood within the group. If the leader isn’t passionate about the topic, why would the participants be?
WEEKLY THEMES
Week 1: “To remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence” – Pope John Paul II
JY Document 1: Call to put my house in order
Teaching 1: St. Paul’s encounter with Christ
Week 2: Identifying and growing in my personal mission
JY Document 2: My personal mission
Teaching 2: Apostle’s response to God’s call
Week 3: “I would like to be a missionary, not just for a few years, but ’til the end of time!” - St. Thérèse of Lisieux
JY Document 3: My missionary zeal for the Lord’s Kingdom
Teaching 3: Urgency for Mission
Week 4: ‘Jesus Youth is all about losing and giving’
JY Document 4: What holds us back?
Teaching 4: Centrality of the person of Christ in St. Paul’s life
Week 5: For greater fidelity to the life in the Body of Christ
JY Document 5: Finding fullness in the Church
Reflection 5: ‘A little light brightening the wider Church’
Week 6: Be cautious not to become content here
JY Document 6: Beginning another Exodus
Teaching 6: Developing disciples like Timothy
Week 7: A time of renewal of my Missionary Commitment
JY Document 7: Praying for a New Pentecost
Teaching 7: ‘Here I am, send me!’
Week 1
Theme: “To remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence” – Pope John Paul II
Reflection 1:
Call to put my house in order
Jesus Youth has been for most of us a challenge towards a deeper walk in the Spirit that followed a very personal encounter with the Lord. That new start opened me up to a whole new heaven and earth, a fresh joy of living and a transforming novel purpose in life to live for and even risk my life for. Maybe I have abandoned this love I had at first (Rev 2:4). This is a time to renew and relive my encounter, especially to put off the old nature which belongs to the former manner of life and instead be renewed in the Spirit (Eph 4:22,23). When I gave up what was mine, the Lord filled my emptiness with His riches. My walk in the Spirit has been enriched by these gifts of the Spirit that made me a joyful and fruitful Child of God. Today the Lord invites me to renew the once found yet lost riches in the spirit in my life.
(Taken from ‘Jubilee Conference Preparation material’)
Reflection questions for group discussion:
Q1. Gratitude, enthusiasm and confidence in my relationship with Christ - how am I growing in my active walk with Christ? What are the major areas of my life (not only spiritual) which need to be put in order so that I become a more ‘disciplined’ follower of Christ?
Q2. Do I have a deep conviction that I am chosen and called by God, from the first moment of my existence? This is also a time to check and mend my fidelity to the six pillars.
Teaching 1:
St. Paul’s encounter with Christ
Calling to mission and "conversion" are closely connected in St Paul. This is why it is interesting to study the nature of this spiritual transformation in order to better understand his calling to be a missionary…
The Risen Christ appears as a brilliant light and speaks to Saul, transforms his thinking and his entire life… His encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus was the source of all his preaching and theology… Thus St. Paul was not transformed by a thought but by an event, by the irresistible presence of the Risen One whom subsequently he would never be able to doubt, so powerful had been the evidence of the event, of this encounter. It radically changed Paul's life in a fundamental way; in this sense one can and must speak of a conversion… His was a conversion in the deepest sense of the word, an opening of the heart to God, the eruption of grace and the transformation of a person.
Paul describes his encounter with Christ in these words: "when God, who had set me apart from the time when I was in my mother's womb, called (Jer. 1:5) me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I should preach him to the gentiles" (Gal 1:15-16). The Apostle perceives this interior shock as the fruit of a long maturation which began from the first moment of his existence: since birth he had been guided by God, slowly, patiently, until the decisive moment when Christ took hold of him and made him His own forever (Phil 3:12).
(Based on Pope Benedict XVI'sTeaching on St. Paul's Conversion, General Audience, 3 Sept. 2008 & Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations 2008)
Activity for Week 1
Try to write down specifically the peculiarities of your call. Enlist your areas of gifts and strengths and thank the Lord for them.
Like Jesus did, spend time in prayer as you make this preparation. It could be:
· Spending at least 30 mts with God each day of this week
· Wearing an attitude of appreciation before leaving the house today
· Setting up a Bible reading/study plan
Praying with St. Paul
St. Paul, from your place in heaven we ask you continually to pray for us in the manner you prayed for the Romans. May our faith and love of the Gospel bring light into our families, parishes, community and the entire world. May our witness even be a cause for increasing the joy of the angels and saints who surround you. We, however, are surrounded by unbelievers and are assailed on every side. May you come to us with some spiritual gift in order to strengthen us. May we on earth encourage one another in the faith. May we be strong even though we feel so weak and inadequate. So often we know the right thing to do but find ourselves doing just the opposite (Rom 7:20) yet you assure us that ultimately nothing can separate us from Christ (Rom 8:35). When you were in this world you sought to address the human as well as the spiritual needs of people… We ask you to draw us closer to Jesus, crucified and risen who is the way, truth and life for the world. In this way, we will be filled with peace, joy and that hope that comes from God, which the world can never understand or destroy.Amen.
Week 2
Theme: Identifying and growing in my personal mission
Reflection 2:
My personal mission
This is the primary, basic call that springs up from one’s charisms, strengths and talents. Hence this call varies from person to person. Some examples include personal intercession for others, follow-up of new entrants to assist their integration into the movement, nurturing of leadership, making personal visits to the needy and discipling of others. Although expressions of this call vary from phase to phase, one’s personal mission continues throughout one’s lifetime…
To be able to discover the actual will of the Lord (personal mission) always involves the following: a receptive listening of the Word of God and Church, fervent and constant prayer, recourse to a wise and loving spiritual guide, and a faithful discernment of the gifts and talents given by God, as well as of the diverse historic and social situations in which one lives (CL 58).
(Taken from ‘Looking beyond the Jubilee’)
Reflection questions for group discussion:
Q1. Have I been faithful to the Spirit-given gifts and talents and nurtured them in me?
Q2. Do I have a personal mission in my life? How can we identify our personal mission?
Teaching 2:
Apostle’s response to God’s call
That conversion was being born again. That event brought radical newness. Paul is blinded by the revelation of Christ. Baptism restores his sight (Acts 9:18), a most powerful symbol. The old man cannot see well before he is born to new life. A new world is revealed to the Apostle. The whole thought of Paul is based on that experience. It was not simply a vision of Christ. Instead it was a revelation of the profound transformation of the world achieved by the Risen Christ. Paul insists, in his writings, on the distinction between the old world and the new world. He experienced this distinction in his flesh…
But we too can encounter Christ in reading Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church. We can touch Christ's Heart and feel him touching ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we truly become Christians…
(Based on Pope Benedict XVI'sMessage for World Day of Prayer for Vocations 2008 & Pope Benedict XVI'sGeneral Audienceof 3 Sept. 2008)