#AriseandGo: like Mary, an invitation to the Youth to arise and go towards the poor
November 20, 2022, the Solemnity of Christ the King, XXXVII World Youth Day in the Particular Churches will be celebrated. The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life invites young people to experience it in tune with the World Day of the Poor
Since last year, the World Youth Day in the Particular Churches has been celebrated on the Solemnity of Christ the King, which coincides with the Sunday following the World Day of the Poor. In the Pastoral Guidelines for the Celebration of World Youth Day in the Particular Churches, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life points to the timely providential coincidence as an opportunity to promote initiatives to which young people donate their time, their resources in favor of the poorest of the poor, the marginalized, those who are excluded by society. In this way, young people are offered the opportunity to become “protagonists of the revolution of charity and service, capable of resisting the pathologies of consumerism and superficial individualism”.
“For your sakes Christ became poor ” (2 Cor 8:9) and “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39): are the themes of this year’s World Day of the Poor and World Youth Day. In the week from Sunday, Nov. 13 to Sunday, Nov. 20, therefore, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life is promoting and sustaining a series of initiatives that will take place in various parts of the world to accompany young people to fully live the Holy Father’s call to arise and move in haste to those who, poor as Christ, need an embrace of “new missionary fraternity” (cf. Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the XXXVII World Youth Day 2022-2023).
Among the initiatives, that of Caritas Internationalis, which includes launching a week-long program of reflection and action entitled ‘Growing Solidarity: from Prayer to Action’ is quite significant. It will begin with an online Mass for World Day of the Poor and conclude on November 20 with an online Rosary to celebrate World Youth Day in the Particular Churches. Each day, prayers and suggestions based on the Seeing/Judging/Acting methodology will be available on the Caritas Internationalis website to encourage reflection on the issue of poverty and inspire simple but effective actions to serve, accompany and advocate for the poor. This program was created and will
be animated by young volunteers and Caritas staff members, but it is aimed at all young people, who can also join through social media using hashtag #PrayActCaritas. The online prayer of the Holy Rosary, which will be part of Caritas’ proposals for young people, will be opened by an intervention by Fr. João Chagas, Head of the Youth Office of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
This afternoon, Saturday the 12th, young people from the San Lorenzo International Youth Center, nearby St. Peter’s Basilica, are inviting the poorest and most marginalized to experience a time of fraternity and prayer.
On the 19th and 20th, in Lisbon, where the international 2023 World Youth Day will be held in August 2023, the celebration will be dedicated to both adolescents and young university students, with the aim of offering them an experience of ecclesial communion and sending them on mission in parish communities. In Rome, The Diocese’s Youth Ministry invites young people to the Shrine of Our Lady
of Divine Love, where first there will be a celebration and then a night vigil that will conclude with the Holy Mass presided over by Card. Angelo de Donatis.
In order to share and create a network of testimonies, concrete actions, stories and spiritual communion, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, Caritas Internationalis and the Local Organizing Committee of WYD Lisbon 2023 are launching the hashtag #AriseandGo, which takes
up the theme of Pope Francis’ Message for World Youth Day 2022-2023, “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39).
A promotional video of the Nov. 20th celebration has been made available to bishops’ conferences, synods of major patriarchal and archiepiscopal churches, dioceses/eparchies, church movements and associations.
For more information:
Pamela Fabiano
Communications Office
Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life
Tel. 339.403163
[email protected]
