Noah's
Ark reinvented by China Salesian Youth Services!
Salesian
Youth
Day 2012: Utilizing everyone’s strengths,
responding to
God’s invitation of life
HONG KONG -- The
annual
Salesian Family youth gathering for China Province – The
Salesian
Youth Day 2012 - was held on 25 February 2012. The theme
was
“Responding to the Invitation of Life”. The organiser assisted
participants in reflection on what kind of talents that God
had given
them through a series of activities and challenges.
Salesian Youth Day 2012 unfolded as a whole-day event by using
the
story of the ark. All participants were asked to board the
ark. Before
the ark anchored alongside the shore, the rainbow heralding a
hopeful
future guided crew members and passengers to equip and prepare
themselves to face the challenges after landing. This they did
by
singing, dancing and playing games.
After landing, their goal was to establish a new society on a
resource-insufficient wasteland. Through the co-operation of
different
teams, the five essential elements of society – clothing,
food,
housing, transportation and religion, represented by different
colours
of small houses, were exchanged among them. Their tasks were
classified
into ten categories, ranging from challenges to personal
ability to
team co-operation. They were required to finish as many task
categories
as possible in the shortest time available. At the end of the
event,
participants found out that it was impossible to build all
five small
houses with the ability of one single team. They needed the
co-operation of other teams in order to achieve the goal of
establishing a society. This showed that apart from utilising
their own
individual talents, Salesian youth need to co-operate with
others to
utilise and to develop their talents. As all talents are
granted by
God, we cannot live on our own without God.
Fr. Simon Lam, Provincial of China Province commented, “Today
we come
to celebrate life, to celebrate Jesus who offers his life to
influence
us.” Fr. Simon invited all Salesian youth to start with their
own
community, pro-actively involve themselves and adopt the
motto: “Let me
do it!” as their life style. He hoped Salesian youth would
become “The
Star” for others around them and would illuminate them. “We
should try
to influence others by our example and show others that being
a
Salesian youth or being close to a Salesian youth is a good
thing.”
This year, Salesian Youth Day concluded with a thanksgiving
mass which
was celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Zen. He commenced his sermon
by
saying that responding to the invitation of life was a very
attractive
theme. He said, “Life is like a capital that needs to be
managed
properly. Everyone is unique and should live his life fully.
By
allowing Jesus to come into our lives, we can together build a
community that belongs to the church.” Moreover, Fr. Antonio
Leung,
Leader of Salesian Youth Ministry, quoted the Cardinal Zen’s
words:
“God creates us as unique individuals.” and invited each one
of us to
be a true Salesian youth. “Let me become Salesian Youth No. 1,
and
build this world together with God.” At the end, after the
whole day’s
event, we left with an exhausted body but a fruitful heart.