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How will they know? The older I get, the more I focus on the young people in my life, and the collective responsibility we have to help them see their faith a s a “gift” to be shared – see themselves daily as the “picture of mission.”
Those thoughts were in my mind in mid-November when I shifted gears from preparing MISSION to wear my Communications Director’s hat. I posted images and
news on our Facebook page from the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, where more than 20,000 young people came to celebrate their faith and to, at our invitation, “be the picture of mission.”
Young people stepped in front of a life-size image of children and teens in a procession to Sunday Mass at a rural parish church in Kenya, St. Joseph’s in Mutunguru (Spring 2011 MISSION). We took a photograph of them in front of that mission scene. Later, they were invited to download and post that image to their own Facebook pages.
As I viewed photo after photo, the celebration increased exponentially – smiles, laughter, movement; one group of students jumped for joy as the photo was snapped. All validated gratitude for the great gift of faith and affirmed our common mission to share it. Many of the young people even placed a donation in our “mission box” after their “photo op.”
As I returned to completing stories for MISSION, those images were a great backdrop for my writing about the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Pauline Jaricot, the heroic faith of our mission family in South Sudan, the life-saving work of priests and religious in East Africa, the legacy of a long-time missionary in Zambia, and the generous missionary hearts of a husband and wife in Florida. (How wonderful for the young people in my life — and yours — to see this issue of MISSION then?) Yes, indeed, we are all the “picture of mission” in one way or another – and in every moment, called to remember in prayer those who continue to bring Jesus’ love and hope to a world in need of Him.
P.S. To enroll your child or grandchild as a member of the Holy Childhood Association, send us an email – and we’ll also send them a copy of MISSION, reminding them they are missionaries
Monica Yehle, Editor
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