The confreres spent the day in the Redemptorist community of Saint Alphonsus was in a certain way a historic moment for the RYVM in Italy, since for the first time the two Italian groups (Roman and Neapolitan) participated in the meeting of the young people of Youth Ministry.
The theme chosen for the meeting was “FULL JOY”. It could not have been any other way, precisely because we are in the third Sunday of Advent, we wanted to reflect the strong meaning of this word.
The day, as usual, began with a moment of welcome, where groups from the Redemptorist communities, met in a fraternal embrace. There was the moment of prayer organised by the young people of Pagani.
The Provincial Superior welcomed and honoured all the participants, first thanking the Fathers and the young people who had come from the communities and then thanking the team that has animated the RYVM in recent years, wishing good work to the new Italian Team coordinated by Father Daniela Carta.
In relation to the chosen theme, a young man, Pietro, who we could define as anyone, from Bussolengo (VR), was called to give his testimony, and he told us about the experience he lived during the Camino de Santiago, a moment that strongly marked his spiritual and human life. By telling us about his experience he helped us understand the true meaning of the word joy, understood as fullness of freedom, awareness of being unconditionally loved by God.
Pietro gave us important elements of reflection on how we can live our daily lives with joy, reminding us that “we choose what life to live and how to live it.”
After the testimony, there was the so-called workshop, where we were able to share what we heard through a fun activity.
Before lunch we had the Eucharistic celebration, presided over by the Provincial Fr. Gennaro Sorrentino, who during the homily reminded us that “only by looking within can we discover joy, but only by helping others will we know true happiness.”
Moments of participation such as lunch and entertainment were characterized by sharing. It was very nice to see how the young people present shared the specialties of their countries.
At the end of the day there was a video presentation of the groups and the work that young people have carried out in recent months in the various groups of RYVM in Italy.
Days like these bring back to us the true meaning of the word joy. Before we say goodbye, we agreed to meet again during Lent, precisely on Sunday, March 30.
Fantino Ferrentino
