World Youth Day 2023: After the experience of World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, the Catholic Church is preparing for another edition of this event, this time in Portugal. In Brazil some confreres reflected on this event.
Some SCJ confreres were asked about the movements in the parishes and houses of formation, in which we are present as a Congregation, with the World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 as their objective. It is clear that the current moment of society, with emphasis on Brazil, is going through moments of instability regarding the faith of young people. A movement of spiritual renewal is necessary in order to rekindle in the hearts of these young people the fire of the love of the Heart of Jesus. With the motto: “Mary got up and left in haste” (Lk 1:39), young people are invited to leave their reality and set out on a journey.
This great event of the Catholic Church is a favorable moment for meeting people of other nationalities and cultures, under the maternal protection of Mary, venerated in Portugal under the title of Our Lady of Fatima. It is an opportunity for an encounter with Jesus through the intercession of His Blessed Mother. We can say that Jesus is at the door of our being. We need to allow Him to love us. One way of living this love is through the dynamics of encounter with our neighbor, which is a greatly expected moment of WYD.
This will be the first WYD after the COVID-19 pandemic. After a time of uncertainty and fear generated by this pandemic, hope, which is a characteristic so typical in the heart of the youth, can be vividly renewed. The sharing of beliefs and values will certainly be of great help in this process of revitalizing hope. At the end of this special meeting, the proposed motto, taken from the Gospel of Luke, should arouse in young people the desire to set out again, this time towards their homeland, with the intention of sharing the moments lived and the experiences learned through dialogue and prayer in common.
In Brazil, some groups from the parishes assisted by the Congregation are moving to participate in WYD in Lisbon, but it can be said that these groups are still very timid and few in number. However, there have been moments of prayer for the intentions of all the organizers and participants from around the world.
