Christmas and On the meaning of our existence

Pope Benedict’s homily on Christmas
http://zenit.org/article-24594?l=english

Benedict XVI: Let us rediscover the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit

In his Sunday greetings, the pope urges us to rediscover the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit!

Let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit; let us be aware again of our baptism and of our confirmation, sources of grace that are always present.
“Let us ask the Virgin Mary to obtain a renewed Pentecost for the Church again today, a Pentecost that will spread in everyone the joy of living and witnessing to the Gospel.”

You can read the full article here.

And if you want to read the Pope’s homily for Pentecost, you can find it in this page.

Benedict XVI and the Pentecost

In his Wednesday Audience, the Pope again prepare the Church for the solemnity of Pentecost. He teaches us about the Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit is “a power for the forgiveness of sins, for the renewal of our hearts and our lives. It renews the earth and creates unity where before there was division”. When it descended upon the Apostles they spoke in tongues, a sign that “the Babylonian dispersion, fruit of the pride which divides mankind, was overcome in the Spirit, which is charity and gives us unity in diversity”.

Moreover, he also spoke about the Church that is always in a state of Pentecost. Last SACCRE core leaders meeting, we met and discussed about the culture of Pentecost. So what is this “state of Pentecost” that the Church is experiencing all the time?

the Church is always, so to say, in a state of Pentecost. Gathered in the Cenacle, she prays incessantly to obtain ever new effusions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, … and is not afraid to announce the Gospel to the furthest confines of the earth.

I felt these two things came up from the words of the pope: 1) pray incessantly for an ever new effusion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and 2) to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

The Church doesn’t preach using human wisdom, or mere human eloquence. She preaches with the Holy Spirit, the power that bridges all languages and nations. It is the power to forgive from God (only God forgives sins), it is the power that can renew people’s heart and lives (only God changes people’s lives).

It is the power that Jesus spoke when he was about to ascend to Heaven:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth.” ( Acts 1:8 )

Many people thought that the power is just about healing and miracles. But St. Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest miracle is the conversion of the world.

Youth Ministry to Family Ministry

Uuuh, my heart is beating when I read what the Pope said. I think about a year ago I felt that the way to minister to youths is through their family as well. All this time, we simply minister “only youth”, or even worse, sometimes we take the youths from their family!

This is what the pope said to the Salesian:

Since the family should have an active role in the education of youth, it is necessary to expand youth ministry to family ministry.

full article:
http://www.zenit.org/article-22163?l=english

btw, St. John Bosco, the founder of Salesian, is one of the patron saints for youth.

What can we do then?