‘A DAY WITH THE LORD’ – DYC
This Christmas, when many of us are usually preoccupied with the external hype, the Diocesan Youth Centre, organised a \’Day with the Lord\’ to help youngsters understand the true meaning of the season & how we could make the best of it for our spiritual growth. The event was held on 18th December, 2022 at the Holy Cross Shrine, Bambolim wherein around 300 youth from all over Goa made it for the same, showing their keen interest in wanting to make sure that they had a fruitful Christmas this year.
The theme for the event was \’It is in giving, we receive\’. In the day’s session, Fr. Savio D’souza elaborated upon the theme by talking of the 3 important giving’s – namely, we give & we receive, we give without any intention of receiving but know that we’re blessed for the same and finally the epitome of it all, the sacrificial or the unconditional giving. The DYC team conducted the praise and worship at regular intervals and one could see the youngsters enthusiastically partaking in the same. Later, the Eucharistic celebration focused on an empty manger wherein youngsters were made to write down a promise they would want to gift to the Lord so that on Christmas day, they could, like the three kings, be blessed to see the Lord in the Manger. It was a beautiful moment to see the youngster spending time in silence introspecting on their lives.
After Lunch, the youth were made to prepare a gift box individually & in the box they were invited to put their name along with their phone number. It was one type of a giving wherein the exchange happened among youngsters with a little exercise of drawing a star on their badges for which they had to go and keep on exchanging the box with different youth. Finally, whichever box they were left with was the person they had to pray for this Christmas and wish him/her on Christmas day.
It was indeed a beautiful & a fruitful day, wherein youngsters were seen praying, singing and also making new friends. The programme was a great success with the collaboration of Fr. Herculano Correia, the priest in-Charge of the Holy Shrine, Fr. Leonardo Souza, the Parish Priest of Our Lady of Bethlehem, Bambolim and the Dyc Team with the blessings of the Almighty. It was indeed a memorable day for every youngster who participated & without a doubt the Lord must have been smiling. Praise His Holy Name, Amen!
Neshvillie Faleiro
Navelim Parish Youth