June 4th – June 5th , (Semliguda – Orrisa)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John3: 16.
When the Lord calls us all we have to say is “Yes Lord”, for God has already planned everything for us. The same could be told about this mission that Jesus youth of Hyderabad had taken up. The call for the one and half day prayer camp in Orrisa came at such short notice that all we could say is just a yes. The Jesus Youth of Hyderabad were asked to commence the session in Hindi, which not many knew. So a team of three comprising of Shibu Devasia, Annie George & Prashanth Kumar started for Orrisa after many prayers on Jun 3rd.
“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Ephesians2: 10.

After a hectic journey, the team reached Semliguda, Orrisa – a town amidst mountains and hills, our destination. With everything surrendered to the Holy Spirit as it was the day of the Pentecost we the team were excepting for the presence of the trinity right from the beginning. We were expecting the grace of the Holy Spirit as not all could speak proper or fluent Hindi. We constantly reminded ourselves of what had happened 2000yrs ago to the apostles when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

When we reached Jeevan Jyothi School, the mother superior, Sr. Jhansi, received us warmly. Fr. Francis the Youth Director organized the camp along with Fr. Joy the dean of the parish and Fr. Pious the parish priest of Semliguda. Later on Pratap, a full timer of JY in Orrisa joined the team from Hyd.

June 4th, 12: 30 pm. Sunday

“Time for action for the Lord.”
The day was a special one as it was the day of Pentecost. The program started off with the Holy Mass. After the mass the lunch was served which was followed by,”Ice Breaking” where the team introduced themselves and some activities were done so as to introduce everyone to everyone. Then for sometime praise and worship was done. After which Shibu shared the word of God where in he conveyed the message of God’s abundant and everlasting love for his children that is we. He gave such simple examples that the youth anticipated it well. Of the many verses from the scriptures that he quoted was,

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”1John4: 9-10.

After the brief session with Shibu, the youth were assigned various tasks as part of games which had them on their feet all the time. Then they were asked to enact various situations in the gospels. The youth put in their ideas to make it very lively. A skit on Sin was performed with a few volunteers from the youth who were attending the camp. After which Shibu took a session on Sin and repentance. He showed them through examples how we turn away from God’s love and sin against him. Even though we sinned still God will forgive our iniquities if we ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart. For God’s mercies are so great that he allows nothing to separate us from him.
As the scriptures says,

“Nor heights, nor depths, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans8: 39.

The session ended with the importance of confession and the impact it has. After almost everyone had done his or her confession Annie & Prashanth led the youth in a touching adoration of “The Blessed Sacrament” where the presence of the Holy Spirit was overwhelming throughout the adoration. It was as if it had been on the day of Pentecost. Holy Spirit was filling everyone in the hall with his presence. The priest went around and prayed over all the youth anointing them. Everybody departed in silence for the day

June 5th 6:45 am. Monday.

The day started with praise and worship by Prashanth and Pratap in the native language and Hindi. After breakfast, praise and worship was done followed by a skit on the power of the Holy Spirit when He is with us. Then Annie inspired the youth by the session on how we could remain in the Lord without indulging in the ways of the world in our day-to-day lives. How by living in the word we can stay pure for it is written,

“I treasure your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.” Psalm119: 11.
Various scripture portions were quoted where in the marks of a true Christian are written. And if we are in the Lord how he would teach us everyday? How we all have been set free from the bondages of sin? Through the passion and crucifixion we have been released from the clutches of evil.
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5: 1.
And if God stands with us then there would be nothing to be feared. And that we can take Christ with us wherever we go, carrying him in our hearts everyday of our lives. That by walking in righteousness they could be a living example of Christ himself. We should all attain this attitude as the scriptures says,

“If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord.” Romans14: 8.
After the session there was Panel Sharing – Testimonies by the JY team (Pratap, Prashanth, Annie, and Shibu.) The day ended with the Holy Mass.

Every prayer camp has its own complaints about what should have been done and not done. Even this prayer camp had one. “Why had the camp been organized for such a short time only?”
This only showed their thirst for the word of God. Their beaming faces told their whole story that they carried Christ within them. Jesus Youth set afire all those who were present. And never again will the churches of Orrisa be the same after, “Pentecost –Outreach”. And God’s people said, “Amen”.

This retreat was a success entirely because of the constant presence of the Holy Spirit and the intercessions of our Blessed Mother Mary. All thanks be to God and His Son Jesus Christ who reigns forever and ever.

JAI YESU!

In Christ,

Annie George,
Jesus Youth, Hyderabad

Arising 2006,Growth Retreat for JY Hyd

In an effort to reach out to the thirsty youth of Andhra Pradesh. The Jesus Youth of the Twin Cities gave to them Jesus through ‘Arising 2006’ “he who drinks of me shall never thirst”. Arising 2006 was a long standing dream for the JY family which got materialized after months of prayers and intercessions of many. The final result was the three day retreat from 27th April ’06 to 30th April ’06.

Arising 2006 was a growth retreat for all the Catholics and a time for them to move a step forward in their spiritual lives. As the scripture says,“Therefore let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teachings about Christ…and we will do this if GOD permits.”(Heb 6:1-3) A team from the ministry of, “ Association of Crusaders for Christ with Mary” was kind enough to commence this retreat for Jesus Youth. The team of six led by Bro. Edmund were a blessing for all those who had attended this retreat. This was certainly a life changing experience for everyone present there.

From the day one after the welcoming team had felicitated the group, Bro. Edmund made it clear that they were here to witness Christ as the scripture says, ” You are the witnesses…” (John 24:49). All during these three days witnessed the presence of the Trinity among the people present. On 27th the session began at 6:30pm with the word of God and then followed by praise and worship. After dinner the day ended with the Rosary interceding to our Blessed Mother for her guidance for the next 3 days.


28th April ’06 – Friday 6:15 am

The day starts with a “Hail Mary” followed by praise and worship and then by the word of God shared by Bro. Edmund. He took us through various slides of our lives, which made us question ourselves where we stand as a Christian? Whether we are “Cold Christians”, “Lukewarm Christians” or “Hot Christians”? All were quick to realize that most of them present were “Lukewarm Christians” who partially obeyed GOD like “King Saul”. For as the scriptures says,” For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in ONE point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2: 10)

After the brief session by Bro. Edmund, Bro. Jose Mathew shared his testimony. The whole day’s events included lots of Praise & worship, the holy mass celebrated before lunch and again a brief session with Bro. Edmund from where he had left before. In between there were Counseling Sessions going on for those interested. The day ended with a Rosary interceding to Our Blessed Mother for her guidance and prayers. (But the counseling session went on late night till 11: 30)

The whole day was observed in silence. Everyone returned to their respective rooms for the night as the day ahead was an important one.

Day ended at 9:45pm


29th April ’06 – Saturday 6:15 am

The day began with a “Hail Mary” followed by praise & worship. Today was an important day. Bro. Edmund preached the word of GOD followed by the testimony of Musician of Bro. Edmund Team. Then Bro. Edmund told everyone the importance of Confession, quoting various scripture verses. “No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses them and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Proverbs 28: 13)

Bro. Jose gave a small talk on confession as well. As the scriptures says, ”If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” (John 14: 15) After which, “The Blessed Sacrament” was exposed in the chapel and was silently worshipped followed by a heart-felt confession by all present (The Priest themselves witnessed about the confessions later). This was followed by a Holy mass.

Anointing of the Holy Spirit:

Now came the most important part of the day’s session, “Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and for receiving the Holy Spirit’s grace.” The people were asked to split in groups of Fives and recite the Rosary, interceding to the Blessed Mother. Before each decade was recited one of the five knelt in the center and was prayed over by the other four for the Holy Spirit to descend on them. After the Rosary everybody entered the hall, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and adored, clippings from the, “Passion of Christ” were shown in between. Everyone was prayed over by the team members during the anointing session. Everyone was touched by the Love, grace and mercy of our precious Lord and master Jesus Christ. The session ended with a Hail Mary.

Everybody retreated in silence for dinner and later to their rooms.

Day ended at 10: 00pm


30th April ’06 – Sunday 6:00 am

The day began with the, “Hail Mary”, followed by praise & worship. Then another Bro. of the team shared his testimony. Today was the day to prepare ourselves not only to go out in the world and light every bush we come across but to face every temptation and overcome it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Bro. Edmund preached the Word of God after which Bro. Jose took a session on prayer and its importance.

After the testimony Bro. Edmund gave his testimony in which he poured out his whole life story. Everybody present there was all ears to all the testimonies. After lunch Bro. Edmund discussed the role of mother Mary in our spiritual growth. That Mother Mary was there to guide us always to her Son Jesus Christ. And anyone who sought her help was never left unaided. By the scripture passage from the gospel of Luke 1: 39-45 the grace with which the Lord bestowed Mother Mary is clearly stated. The Holy Spirit’s role was also made cleared. The difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit was explained with the scripture verse, ” Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.”(Luke 4: 1-2)

After being tempted and overcoming the temptations the scriptures says, ” Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit returned to Galilee.” (Luke 4: 14) Bro. Edmund even guided everyone as to how to consult the Lord in all circumstances. Then after praise & worship it was the time to give testimonies for the participants. One by one everybody shared their experiences throughout their stay. Though the experiences were different but there was one thing in common. There was no one present there in the hall who was not touched and was changed, a change only for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom we are all witnesses.

Now the last and the most important part of the retreat had come. This was to let everyone know about “Jesus Youth.” One of the members of Jesus Youth himself, Shibu Devasia commenced this session explaining its various aspects. What steps were being taken and done to reach out the youth for their spiritual growth and every other aspect was discussed.

The day ended with farewells to Bro. Edmund and his team by Bro. Adolph.
Everybody departed with prayers, commitments and thanksgivings.

After “Arising 2006”, Andhra Pradesh would never be the same let alone Hyderabad.
The retreat was a success and all the glory and thanks be given unto our Lord Jesus Christ.


Yours in Christ,

Annie Stephenson,
Jesus Youth, Hyderabad

Theme of the Programme:

"Promote the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare depends your own." Jeremiah 29:7

No. of Participants: 28 , Male: 19 , Female: 9 , No. of Days: 1
Region/Country: Andhra Pradesh
Venue: Sathyodaya retreat house, Secunderabad.
Programme Co-coordinators: Eabin Antony & Rodney Pereira

Main Sessions

Resources
100% commitment to Jesus and his kingdom - Tomas Michael

Fellowship groups - Rodney Pereira & Adolph Goldwyn

Jesus Youth in Hyderabad – initiatives, challenges and dreams
Rodney Pereira

Inspiring events/insights/incidents:We could feel God’s grace from the time when we dreamt about this program.

The way we got the venue, the resource person everything was a miracle…
We thought of a venue first which turned out to be expensive, in our search for a cheaper venue we got in touch with Fr.Pakiaraj S.J who helped us to get a venue at a cheaper rate than its usual rate. We gave him the International newsletter to introduce Jesus Youth; it was our news letter that helped us to introduce Jesus Youth.

Also we were in search of a resource person. We heard that Bro.Fritz is in the city for some other programme.So we dreamt about getting his help. But he was too busy those days so we didn’t get him. Then we came to know that Tomas chettan from Thiruvananthapuram is in the city for some official purpose. It was by the grace of God we got him. And his sessions touched all of us. He came and put the fire in our hearts to work for Kingdom of God.

Brief Description of the programme:

The aim of the programme was to bring the first line of Jesus Youth in the city together at one place, to dream, plan and pray for the Jesus Youth activities in the city. We aimed at spiritual nourishment at individual and group level along with it.

We started of with music on 2nd Friday evening at Sathyodaya, Secunderabad.After initial introductions and sharing Prakash gave the key note. Then we had a time of spiritual input from Tomas chettan. Slowly we were led to a mood of prayer followed by Eucharistic adoration.

On 3rd morning we started praising and worshiping our dear Lord, Vijay Anthony lead us.
Then Tomas chettan shared the message of 100% commitment to Jesus and his kingdom. He shared his own experiences. His testimony and message put all of us back on fire. We all could feel that we need to be more committed in building in His kingdom.

Then we split into Emmaus groups to share our personal God experience and our spiritual needs. Then we had a session on Fellowship groups, their importance and how do they work by Rodney Pereira. It was followed by a time of intercession before Blessed Sacrament for various needs of Jesus Youth in the city and state. Fr. Bhaskar celebrated Holy Mass for us, with the touching sermon on how important it is for us to be touched by our Master.

Afternoon we had a time of understanding the initiatives in the city and planning. Everyone felt a need of such family gatherings. We decided to focus on following areas in the coming months.
1. Intercession (Prashanth took the responsibility)
2. Fellowship groups
3. Ministry building
4. Formation of Leadership

We decided to have a retreat for all the Jesus Youth in the city soon as the next step towards achieving these goals for the Glory of God.

Venue: St.Peter’s Cathedral Auditoriam, Vijayawada.
Date: 5th February, 2006
No. of participants: 50

Programme:

Though the programme was meant to be a follow up for cultural exchange participants, it turned out to be a gathering of Jesus Youth of various parts of Andhra Pradesh. The presence of participants from Vijayawada, Gudiwada, Khammam and Hyderabad mad the event a beautiful time of fellowship. Key focus for the entire programme was on Jesus Youth spirituality and life style.

The programme started off with a powerful and anointed praise and worship session by Stella Maria College Jesus Youth members. Miss. Velankani, their prayer group coordinator was the mc for the day. Sanju, the fulltime volunteer for Vijayawada was the programme coordinator. Santhosh from Vijayawada Jesus Youth helped him in organizing the event.

After a warm welcome and a few songs there was a spiritual session by Prakash George from JY Hyderabad. This was followed by a wonderful group session were we had the presence of Jesus Youth leaders with different groups. It was wonderful to have the presence of people like Marina (National Campus coordinator), Vignandas Gangula, Rodney Pereira and Prakash from JY Hyd, Vijay from the National Campus team, Linto and Stephen (ex-full timers), Sr. Jacinta (Animator, Stella Maria’s prayer group), Sr. Sherlin (Youth coordinator, Khammam diocese) along with the various groups. After lunch we had an inspiring session on Jesus Youth by Mr. Rodney Pereira. It was followed by Eucharistic celebration led by Rev. Fr. Jayraj, the Youth director of Khammam diocese. Surprisingly he spoke on the constants and Jesus Youth lifestyle in his homily.Fr Jose helped us in confessions and gave us a motivating message. Leo Tom from JYNT and Maju from Full Time Volunteers Formation Team were also present during the programme.They conducted the screening for the upcoming fulltime volunteer’s training. We were also blessed by the hospitality, support and presence of elders like Mr.Pailee, Mr.Martin and Ruby (ex-fulltime volunteer - IIIrd batch).Vignan and Rodney Pereira helped with songs in Telugu and English respectively. Vignan helped in the translation of the sessions into Telugu very efficiently apart from the support in music.

On a whole the programme served many purposes:

A get together for Jesus Youth of various parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Follow up for the cultural exchange program participants
Full Time Volunteers Screening
Strengthening of Campus ministry in Vijayawada.
Spiritual recharging and formation for all participants and leaders.

This programme left us with dreams and hopes for similar get-togethers in future

No. of Participants: 120 , Male: 8 , Female: 112 , No. of Days: 1

Theme of the Programme:
Preparing the way for Jesus in our lives – A Christmas Preparation.

Region : Andhra Pradesh
Venue: JMJ Nursing School, Sanathnagar, Hyderabad.
Programme Co-coordinator: Besto Sebastian.

Brief Description of the programme:

The adoration and Christmas preparation lead by Rodney Pereira and the music ministry lead by Adolph Goldwyn was really touching. Everyone was spiritually touched by the one hour with Jesus.

Then we had a Skit which was prepared instantaneously. We thought of a skit based on a theme on how people would look at the birth of Jesus if he takes birth in our days.
We were few so we were about to drop the idea then we came to know that the students of the nursing school already are ready with a live crib(with a new born boy child acting as Child Jesus).We clubbed the skit and the crib and it was graceful to see how Holy Spirit co-ordinates the skit . J Eabin Antony and Shibu Devasia put their creativity on stage to make the skit more attractive and interesting.

All credit goes to Sr.Alosian, Sr.Rojamma and Besto who coordinated the entire programme.