17th Regional Youth Meet- 2024
AP & TS Region of Bangalore Province
“Dreamers and Doers for a better world”
The beautiful Hills of Maria Nivas, Nandigama, warmly welcomed the youth from our communities of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana states. The campus lit bright with the presence of 100 vibrant and energetic young people on the evening of 14th January. The theme drawn from the Strenna-2024 as “Dreamers and Doers for a better world” was the guiding axis of all the planning and preparation.
The youth were thrilled to see the big campus amidst the beautiful nature, hills and felt assured for exciting events. The youth meet began with the hoisting of the flag by Rev. Sr. Panem Madhuri the Vicar of the house. Sr. Sri Murva Mary Deepthi, the regional delegate of AP & TS, declared open the Youth Meet. As the flag was fluttering in the sky, gracefully the youth added rhythmic feet to the AYM Anthem with glee. The resource persons of the meet were Rev. Fr. Arji Prakash, Parish Priest, Gajuwaka,Vizag Archdiocese; Rev. Sr. Prameela Sundari Pulapati, the animator of Yelewaram and Rev. Devamani Gummadi, the principal of Auxilium, Gavaravaram. In the evening,Sr. Priyanka Pallipam and Sr. Laura Albena led the icebreaking session and made the young feel at home. It was a fun filled beginning with lots of cheers and chuckles.
The first day of the meet, 15th Jan, bloomed with the Trekking and Nature Meditation amidst the fog and misty weather. The youth were thrilled to spend the early hours of the day in foggy weather and pearly dew. They spent fervently in the nature meditation and were immersed in prayer. Thanks to Sr. Kiran Jupudi who gave the good start of the day with her vibrant animation.
The very first talk of the day was by Rev. Fr. Arji who dealt with the topic “God’s love and dream for young people” vivifying with engaging videos and clippings. “He motivated them to live as God’s children without having the need to run behind the world. He interestingly explained the term LOVE with an acronym – Longing Openness Valuing Embracing and said any love that doesn’t include these values is filled with lust and is a destructive one” This genuine message reached the hearts of young.
We had solemn mass at 11 am by Rev. Fr. Philomen Raj, the parish priest of Siluvagiri concelebrated by Rev. Fr. Balamala Thambi, the youth director of Vijayawada Diocese and Fr. Arji. The liturgy meaningfully and symbolically was animated by Yeleswaram Community led by Sr. Prameela. During introduction the youth came in procession carrying the cross and a red fabric flowing from the cross symbolizing Christ’s love along with virtues displayed on heart shaped placards. The essence of the introduction was “To build a better society with these virtues and with the help of God’s love” In his sermon Rev. Fr. Philomen specified to the young “the kind of selection they need to make in life and choices included in it. He clearly stated that their hard work and convictions will pave way for their bright future, happy and dignified life”. The prayer of the faithful was another creative highlight of the liturgy. The youth from different houses carried the intention stuck to the images of the lambs along with the image of Good Shepherd symbolizing the dream of Don Bosco at the age of 9 and placed it near the altar. The creative animation definitely was a feast to the souls of youth present there and all of us. After the mass we felicitated the fathers and expressed our gratitude.
The afternoon session was taken by Rev. Sr. Devamani on the topic “Education to Love”. She shared convincingly and openly about the ill effects of erotic love. She dwelt vastly on the subject with the bold and insightful videos. She challenged the young to sense the conditional love and unconditional love. The youth were greatly benefited by this session as it directly caters to their age related issues and were motivated to choose unconditional love. In the evening we had Youth Café another interesting event of the day. This session is a chat over a snack. The youth were divided into five groups and were seated for a small tea party. Sr. Madhuri, Sr. Swarnalata Marneni the animator of Waranagal, Sr. Nirmala Rodda the principal of Mittapally, Sr. Kiran Jupudi the principal of Chandur, and Fr. Thambi were present at each table. The topics animators discussed with the young while snacking were, ‘Positive Attitude – Self Love’, ‘Impacts of a family in the society building’, ‘Benefits of instruction media’, ‘Life skills – Goal setting’ and ‘Building virtuous youth’. Every 5mts the animators took turns and completed this highlight. The youth thoroughly enjoyed this Youth Café.
At 6.30 pm all of us gathered for the ‘Taize prayer’ the one near to the hearts of the young. The settings and the prayer was well animated by Sr. Devamani with all her expertise and aesthetic touch. It uplifted their young hearts and opened their consciences to get attuned to the voice of God. Their thrill and excitement grew wider and wider for their favorite event “The Camp Fire”. It was led by another competent personality Sr. Nirmala Rodda. She planned creatively and animated the campfire the best way possible, involving the young with yells, dances and acts. The joy of the youth knew no bounds as they danced along with the sisters for the upbeat and lively music. This was the zenith and highest of all events. The young were dancing out their heart and soul. After the event Sr. Swarna gave a good night talk on the story of Socrates, encouraging the young to desire anything with all their might and to give their best to achieve it.
The final day 16th Jan, we had morning mass celebrated by Rev. Fr. Balamala Thambi who shared with us his experience of World Youth Meet at Portugal. He dwelt mainly on the theme,
“Like Mary hasten to help” and narrated an incident where young people walking to reach the place were confronted by a non catholic person abusing openly the Catholic Church. But to his surprise none of the youth retaliated or fought back but just held rosaries, knelt in front of him and prayed, which resulted in many more young people joining in prayer and ultimately the troublemaker left without any further commotion. He encouraged the youth to bring out that kind of power, unity and spirit to fight with the evils working against the Church.
The morning session was taken by Rev.Sr. Prameel on the topic ‘Team Work”. She explained with activities, games and captivating power point presentation to build unity and to work in team. The youth were motivated to benefit from team work rather than being aloof from individualistic attitudes. After this session we had short evaluation for the youth and they all expressed their gratitude for gathering them for the youth meet and catering to their needs. They expressed their desire to be part of AYM and promised to render their services for this movement. Everyone said that they are grateful for the values taught to them in the past because of which they are standing in the society as beacons of light. This encouraged all of us sisters.
Thereafter, we had cultural and Valedictory function compeered by Mr. Sudarsha from Yeleswaram and Miss. Kavya from Warangal. The youth prepared, prerecorded the program on the theme and presented well. It was feast to our eyes and they touched the hearts of each of us with their performances. At the end of the day they all forgot their differences and became one family, helping and reaching out one another in need. This is the value leant from being part of this youth meet and we felt proud to have such Auxilians. There were felicitations for all the sisters who worked their heart and mind for this Youth meet. All the participants were given mementos and certificates as a sign of appreciation. Sr. Deepthi proposed the vote of thanks appreciating each and everyone for helping and being part of this youth meet.
The day has dusked and we concluded the youth meet with the lowering of the AYM flag amidst hymns raised in honor of our Blessed Mother. The youth were grateful, happy and were unwilling to leave the campus. We could see their twitters with new friends made in this meet and busy taking snaps and selfies.
We thank Almighty millions and millions for leading us to cater to the young physically, psychologically, spiritually and morally. We express our immense gratitude for our Mother Provincial and her team for encouraging us and for acting as radar of hope. Special note of gratitude to Sr. Maria Rajeswari, the delegate of youth pastoral of our province, for her wise guidelines and timely suggestions. Our gratitude to hosting community Maria Nivas, the animator Sr. Geetha Matthew and Sr. Madhuri the vicar who gave themselves unconditionally beyond our imagination. Finally thanks to each of you dear sisters, our virtual prayer towers, for being with us spiritually.