28 July 2016
www.therecord.com.au
2016
WORLD
Edition #92
YOUTH
DAY
ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE DELIVERS POWERFUL MESSAGE TO PERTH YOUTH By Marco Ceccarelli
AT THE threshold of World Youth Day and the meeting with Pope Francis, Perth pilgrims could not have received better words of encouragement than those recently spoken by Archbishop Costelloe at Our Lady of Mercy Parafia Rzymskokatolicka NMP Matki Miłosierdzia in Warsaw on Friday, 22 July. During a special Holy Hour as part of a two-week pilgrimage to Poland for the 2016 World Youth Day, which began with a blessing of a fire and a candle procession inside the Church, the Archbishop made reference to the soon-to-be-exposed body of Christ and strongly encouraged pilgrims to enter into communion with Jesus ahead of World Youth Day. “Our faith,” the Archbishop said “before it is about rules to follow or doctrines to believe or moral values to defend, is about a person, Jesus, who calls us to come to Him, especially when we are weary and overburdened, and allow Him to give us rest.” The Archbishop reminded those present how St Pope John Paul II, who was of Polish origin, would often encourage the faithful to contemplate the face of Christ and stressed how important it was to be united with Christ in order to live wholesome, authentic lives in which we live as “our best selves”. Tapping into that burning desire, often particularly alive in young people, to be authentic and to be real, Archbishop Costelloe invited the pilgrims to see Jesus Christ as the key to this authenticity. As someone who frees men and women from sin, from that which imprisons them, the Archbishop explained, He is the road through which one can truly be himself or herself. “We see it all the time in the Gospels.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe lights a candle during a special Holy Hour held on Friday, 22 July 2016 at Our Lady of Mercy Parafia Rzymskokatolicka NMP Matki Miłosierdzia in Warsaw. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
There are so many stories in which Jesus reaches into the lives of people who, in one way or another, are anything but free, and brings them the gift of life. “Sometimes, it is a freeing from physical
suffering. A great example is the story of Jesus curing a man who was blind
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