The International World Youth Day this year will be celebrated in Lisbon, Portugal from the 1 st to 6th August. The commemoration is centred on Mary’s ‘yes’ after the Annunciation, who “arose and went with haste.” (Lk 1:39) Through this gathering, the Holy Pontiff calls upon all to model Mary, the new Eve, who shows us the path of proximity and encountering ourselves and most importantly, our neighbours amidst different trials and tribulations. The lessons that we can draw from this gathering as the pilgrim Church are varied. We note from the Holy Father that a healthy haste drives us always upwards and towards others. Yet there is also an unhealthy haste, which can drive us to live superficially and to take everything lightly.Reflectively, it is worth asking ourselves what kind of news we carry each day of our lives. Thus, what kinds of “haste” do we have? What leads us to feel a need to get up and go? Is it news of Salvation, love, resurrection and Jesus, or notably, is it something worth sharing with our neighbours? If these are not what we carry each day of our lives, then they are not part of the things that should make us arise in haste. Thus, we must hasten our steps to spread God’s love, the good news and His resurrection to each and every one; getting up from our slumber and waking up to the life all around us. Going forth towards that great Other, who is God and towards others. In the troubling times, with corruption all around us, racism, nepotism, betrayal, violence, refugee crisis, materialism, unanswered deaths and killings, sexual immoralities, poverty and hunger raging in our country and all heartaches you can think about.….,the call is simple, ‘arise in haste and act.’ You will read in this issue the challenge of Food Insecurity in Karamoja and the call to arise and save the lives of the poor in this region. Likewise, the situation of sexual immoralities affecting the youth has become a normal story, even the situation of migrants and refugees is not a fresh tale. These might affect us directly and indirectly. However, these bitter experiences are for us a call to be social economic change agents; to arise and experience the most genuine of all “connections”: the one that comes from encounter, sharing, love and service. This is through none but Jesus, who is God’s response to the challenges facing humanity in every age.We pray with the Holy Father that the Holy Spirit may kindle in our hearts a desire to “arise” and the joy of journeying together, in synodal fashion, leaving behind all false frontiers. Like Mary, may we become a temple of God, an image of the pilgrim Church, a Church that goes forth for service, a Church that brings the good news to all! We will be able to remember like St. Augustine of Hippo that; “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
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