“The most beautiful and stirring adventure that can happen to you is the personal meeting with Jesus, who is the only one who gives real meaning to our lives.”
-St. John Paul II
On the 22 of February, we brought some of the young adults from our Voces Verbi group together with the young adults from the Voces Verbi group from Philadelphia, and made a pilgrimage to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Anne Seton in Emmitsburg, MD. For all of them it was the first time they had ever visited these beautiful places. We arrived for noon Mass and after sharing a picnic lunch together, we started the prayer walk to the Grotto. Once we were in front of Our Lady, we prayed the Holy Rosary and sang a song of consecration to Her.
After our time of prayer at the Grotto, we headed to the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton where we were able to pray in front of her tomb and venerate her relics.
We ended our day with a great meal and time together at a Chinese Buffet. Here, everyone had the chance to introduce themselves and to share a little bit of their thoughts about the trip. Everyone agreed that it was a wonderful day, and a blessing to have been able to visit the Shrines. We decided that the groups should definitely meet together again.
On the 29th of February, we had a youth retreat to begin the Lenten season. Over 40 youth attended this retreat which was meant to help them to grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We began with the first talk on getting to know Jesus Christ, followed by the Stations of the Cross, giving them an opportunity to meditate on how Christ loves each one of us and sacrificed His life for us.
Later we had competitions which the youth enjoyed very much, and lunch followed by the second talk about how we can live our lives as men and women of God. The last activity we had was an hour of Eucharistic Adoration where the youth had the opportunity to speak with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The retreat ended with them writing their resolutions of what they will do in order to get closer to Jesus this Lent and finally a group picture.
Let us pray for all the youth entrusted to our missionaries throughout the world, that they may grow in Faith in Jesus, the Incarnate Word, this Lenten Season.
Please pray for the mission here at St. Rocco Parish!
In Jesus and Mary,
Sr. Mary Faithful Virgin Missionary in Avondale Pennsylvania
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