By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News
Faith testimony from two young adults was part of a Sunday evening celebration of the Eucharist at the Cathedral of the Holy Family Nov 24 in Saskatoon.
Bishop Mark Hagemoen presided at the Mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King, which has been designated as World Youth Day in Catholic dioceses around the world.
The celebration began with a number of young adults carrying a diocesan World Youth Day cross in the opening procession for Mass.
In his homily, Hagemoen reflected on the Solemnity of Christ the King, which marks the conclusion of the Church Year.
“The Kingdom of God in one form or another has been around the Scriptures since the beginning of time,” the bishop said, reflecting on the “struggle with kingship” in the Old Testament and the need to understand what God’s Kingdom is really about.
Hagemoen pointed to the life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was the focus of a recent diocesan “To The Heights” event with Dominican Priest Fr. David Belusci, OP. The young Italian Catholic man died in 1925, at the age of 24, having lived his faith in the years following the horrors of the First World War. The soon-to-be-canonized saint wrote about the importance of “moral regeneration,” grounded on Christ the King, noted the bishop.
“It is when we get to Jesus Christ that we truly behold the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords,” said Hagemoen. “No wonder Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati had this conviction that the answer to the world’s problems – especially after the terrible war, the so-called ‘war to end all wars’ – rested in recognizing the way of Jesus Christ, and the kingship of Jesus Christ, the kingship of God. That is the Salvation of the World.”
The bishop added: “I look forward to the Jubilee year of hope: this is a great time for renewal and reconciliation and penance. It is a time when we ask the Holy Spirit to bless and infuse us, so that we may realize God’s vision for us, because he has a much bigger vision for us than we have for ourselves.”
Addressing young adults present at the celebration, the bishop noted that Sr. Marta Piano of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, along with other diocesan leaders, are planning special initiatives for marking the Jubilee, which officially begins with the opening of the Holy Door by Pope Francis on Christmas Eve at the Vatican.
“But for now, let us be renewed in what it means to celebrate the true King, Jesus Christ, the King of the world and let us dedicate ourselves to all that means, not only in the renewal of the world, but that it starts with us — the renewal of our own hearts, and our own journey of reconciliation and healing.”
Young adult faith testimony
At the conclusion of Mass, Hannah McIntosh witnessed to the gift of prayer in her life. “Our relationship with Jesus goes through times of both consolation and desolation,” she said. That directly co-relates with how her prayer life goes, she added.
“In the season of consolation, my prayer is full of joy, praising, excitement, longing for more time with Jesus always, to keep filling me up,” McIntosh described. “But then in seasons of desolation, my prayers to Jesus consist of desperate cries, doubts, fears, and broken words.”
She said that her prayer life changes througout the seasons “because it truly depends on how I can enter into communication with him.”
Hannah McIntosh
For years, intercessory prayer — “charismatically led by the Holy Spirit” — is a kind of prayer that McIntosh says helps her feel close to Jesus. “This is through receiving words, scripture, and images during prayer time.”
As a member of the Holy Family Cathedral parish, McIntosh noted that she loved to attend the Beloved prayer nights every month at the parish, where she leads the prayer ministry team. “There have been amazing intercessory prayer experiences here at Beloved, where Jesus … speaks so clearly to me when I pray over others. Those are moments when I feel this warm precense and clearly hear his voice speaking to me when I am praying over other people.”
She described times when God granted her the exact words to speak.
“However in times of desolation, I have to use other weapons of prayer in battle as I seek Jesus’ counsel. So this is where I lean on structured prayers from the Church: such as St. Michael the Archangel prayer, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet,” she said. “They help me seek Jesus even when he feels so distant from me. Practices such as fasting, going to daily Mass, receiving the sacraments and spending time in Adoration has made my prayer life more substantial in these times of desolation.”
She shared the impact of prayer in her life, when her mother was ill, or in her job as a nurse. “Overall the benefits of prayer that I have realized, is that it opens my eyes to see Jesus’ goodness.”
The impact of a diocesan vocation formation program was the focus of a presentation by Jarrod Daunheimer. He reflected on the Solemnity of Christ the King and World Youth Day, and shared how his time at Sts. Benedict and Scholastica Formation Program has impacted his faith.
Jarrod Daunheimer
Daunheimer looked back to the last international World Youth Day held in Lisbon, Portugal, and looked forward to how Christ is working in lives today, and to the time of the upcoming Jubilee Year.
He cited words of Pope Francis for the celebration of World Youth Day on Christ the King Sunday, in which he talks about the “Pilgrimage of Life” and how the troubles of life bog us down, like walking through wet concrete. “The way to get over this is not sitting still and resting, but actually to get up and go.”
Daunheimer noted how the Holy Father writes about the difference between tourism and pilgrimage — with pilgrimage involving “encounter” — a deep encounter with places and with people, but most especially, a moment of genuine, personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
Daunheimer then related his own encounters, experienced through the Sts. Benedict and Scholastica formation program in the diocese.
The program includes a house of formation for men, and another for women. “It has been a time of great spiritual growth for me,” he said. “The program itself is built on the foundations of prayer, community life, service, and intellectual formation and growth.”
These foundations are deepened through structures and rhythms of community life, including morning prayer, group prayer, formation every week, and ongoing opportunities to grow in faith, in knowledge and in practice, he said.
“If I could sum up the experience of the house: every day it calls you higher,” he said. “I definitely, firmly believe that Christ, in my life, has given me this opportunity, and convicted me through my brothers at the house, and through the (Verbum Dei) sisters, and through all the people that have come into my life through the program, that it is calling me higher every day.”
Photo gallery:
Video of young adult testimonies:
Kiply Lukan Yaworski is the communications coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon – rcdos.ca
Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Diocesan Communications, and Catholic Saskatoon News are supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca/baa.