New York Catholic Youth Day 2015

As Salesians, we often say that faith and fun can happen as one to many of the young people that we work with and pray with daily. That was certainly the case this past weekend when 1,600 young people gathered together for prayer, music, fun, games, breakout sessions, a holy hour, and reconciliation service at the New York Catholic Youth Day hosted by the Dunwoody Seminary in Yonkers, NY.  Deacon Mike Eguino and I worked the vocation booth which was flanked by the Salesian Office of Youth Ministry Office booth and the Salesian Sisters Vocation Office. This created a welcoming presence to all of the participants to stop by and get to know the Salesian Family and what we do. Needless to say, there was a steady flow of participants that checked out the Salesian booths all day. It was reenergizing to see young people on fire for Christ and willing to spend their Saturday in learning and growing in their faith. Deacon Mike served as a great Salesian that day, speaking to everyone who stopped by and teaching them about Don Bosco with enthusiasm.

The Keynote speaker, Mr. Doug Took from the Diocese of Helena, spoke about how everyone was broken in some way and that God desires that we deal with that brokenness so that we can give more of ourselves to the saving plan of God. 

Presiding at the closing Easter liturgy for Divine Mercy Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan addressed the recent heroic martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded in Egypt because they would not renounce their Christian faith.  Each prayed with the same words “God save me” before they were slain by the jihadists.  In the aftermath, the jihadists snickered among themselves “Where was God to save them”.   Cardinal Dolan pointed out that God saved them through the blood of the Lamb in Jesus Christ.  In closing, everyone was encouraged to heed the psalmist’s words, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, his mercy endures forever” (Ps 118: 1).  As the day came to a close, it was a great reminder that the work that we do as Salesians is done in the name of our founding father, but also through Christ who gives us strength!