Youths urged to be strong in their faith

Apr 15, 2015

By Nicole Sin
The Church of St Thomas More, recently organized Youth Rally 2015. The event was held on March 28 after the sunset Mass for Palm Sunday. It was attended by 200 youths aged 13 to 40 from various parishes across the district. The event was held in commemoration with World Youth Day and offered a chance for the youth of the district to gather together to pray and worship as a community.

After Mass, the participants gathered outside the church to promote the Rally and their individual Youth ministries. This was followed by a simple dinner where the participants had the opportunity to get to know each other better.

The rainy night was filled with sounds of music as the three-hour session started with a Praise and Worship session led by the St Thomas More Teens Ministry. The youths had whole heartedly participated in the Praise and Worship session and were full of passion as they sang and danced loudly and cheerfully. The session was preceeded by a short skit which portrayed how society nowadays would frequently misuse their God-given free will to go against Jesus and his teachings, and yet Jesus is constantly there watching over us. The skit ended with the youth nailing “Jesus” to the cross as a sign that our sins were laid as a burden on Jesus which he willingly took on for us out of love.

Following that was a session with Fr Gregory Chan who spoke about World Youth Day 2016 which will be held in Krakow, Poland in the upcoming year. He said the youths who would be attending the international event would not only be representing their individual parishes but also all youths of Malaysia. Fr Chan also spoke on the importance for the youth to always be strong in their faith, whenever and wherever they may be. Some of the participants shared testimonies of their personal journey of faith with God and how it had changed many aspects of their lives.

Then there was the Exposition of The Blessed Sacrament. The youths were solemn as they sang hymns and surrendered themselves to the Lord. So ended the first ever Youth Rally, and after a short photo session, the participants began to head for home. “

The Praise and Worship session was good and interactive. I learnt a lot more about the importance of keeping my faith intact. The Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was emotionally changing for me and yes, I would definitely recommend it to all the other youths because it is a great way to interact with the youths of our parish and from other parishes. Also it was a way of knowing that as youths, we play an important part in the Church. I’m definitely looking forward to attending the next Youth Rally!’’ said one of the participants of the event.

In short, the Youth Rally was very successful. The information and details for the next Youth Rally and will soon be announced.