A spiritual awakening is what the youth of today require. They have had their share of fun and frolic and now being the season of Lent, was the right time to turn to our Lord. This was identified as the need of the hour by the Forane Youth Executives of the Powai Forane. Keeping this in mind, and under the leadership of the Forane Director, Rev Fr Shinto, ‘Ignition’ – a night vigil for all the youth of the Forane – was organised on the 4th of March, 2017 at St Joseph’s Forane Church, Powai, which was attended by close to 70 youth of the Forane.
The evening started with the exposition of the blessed Sacrament by Fr Shijo, the Parish Priest of Bhandup Parish. Post this a small introductory talk and rosary was led by Miss Sophia. The session was highly appreciated by all, more so as Sophia herself being a young youth from the Thane Forane, conducted a powerful session for the youth. This was followed by a talk by Rev Fr Jinto, who spoke very strongly on why staying as close to Jesus as possible is critical for all the youth of our diocese. His session was fullof bible stories, interesting anecdotes from his personal life as well as life stories of saints. Fr Shaiju also gave a talk on how understanding and accommodating Jesus is, and how he is willing to forgive us and help us – but only if we allow him to do so for us. One strong take away from his session was “Jesus is willing to accept us for how we are – if we are willing to cooperate with Him, He will take us to great heights”.
At 3 am, the Divine Mercy was recited. This was followed by writing the intentions and tying of a ribbon on the Crucifix. This signified that along with the ribbon, every youth was also tying his and her wrongdoings, sins, temptations and perplexities to the cross, thus separating himself and herself from all those negativities. The net activity conducted was the exchange of candles among the youth with the message – “You are not alone, Jesus will rise you”. Post this,the youth were led outside the church for the releasing of hydrogen balloons into the air. This activity signified the youth letting out and freeing themselves from all the sufferings and turmoil and offering it all unto Jesus. The event concluded with the final blessing followed by the holy mass which was led by Fr Shinto and Fr Shijo. At 6am, theevent concluded with the prize distribution ceremony to felicitate all the winners of the DYSM.
In conclusion, the Night Vigil – Ignition, was a well organised event, highly appreciated by all – the youth and well as the parents and religious who attended it. The efforts put in by the choir of Bhandup, Vikhroli and Mulund parish was commendable as it gave the night a melodious and heavenly feel. Under the guidance of Fr Shinto and Fr Shijo, the executive did a great job of organising a successful Night Vigil for the youth – which was a first of its kind for the Powai Forane.
