By Teresa M. dos Santos da Cruz “Macha”
Dili, Timor-Leste, 20 December 2021 -- On Sunday, 19 December 2021, the Salesian Youth Movement of Timor-Leste organized an advent recollection which was held in the Centro Tecnico community Dili, Timor-Leste. The objective of this recollection was to prepare the youth spiritually in order to celebrate Christmas. The preacher for this recollection was Fr. Nelson Soares Goncalves, SDB. It is a tradition in Timor-Leste to have recollections like this before Christmas and Easter. Usually, the participants are Salesian Youth animators and leaders. However, for this year’s recollection the organizers thought of making it an open recollection for the young people from various youth groups who might need to prepare themselves for Christmas. Thus, the invitation for the recollection was put online on the Facebook Page of Salesian Youth Movement of Timor-Leste. A good number of young people responded positively. There were around 50 young people who participated in this recollection.
The theme for this year’s recollection was taken from the Strenna of the Rector Major “Moved by hope” and drawing inspiration from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The recollection began at 08:30 with the registration of the participants. At 09:00 all the participants gathered in the audio-visual hall of Centek Community for welcoming remarks and singing Hymn to Don Bosco and then opening prayer which was led by Fr. Nelson. Soon after the opening prayer, Fr. Nelson proceeded with giving a reflection on the theme of recollection to the participants. The points that he emphasized were:
- Self-awareness in order to discover oneself
- Discovering and knowing oneself is the necessary condition in knowing God.
- God is our hope
After Fr. Nelson's talk, the participants were invited to watch a short film on the Bearers of Hope. After watching the film, the participants were divided into small groups in order to have group sharing. At 11:00, it was a time for prayer and silence in order to give opportunity to the participants to reflect and to approach the priests who were available there for the sacrament of reconciliation. After confession, at 12;30 the Holy Eucharist was celebrated by Fr. Nelson, SDB. The recollection ended with a photo session and lunch together.
