Lasallian Youth Link

An Official OSA publication

Volume 1

Issue 15

OCTOBER 2003

 

 

100 YEARS

NEVER GIVING UP

SAINTHOOD

A THOUGHT

SONG

FEATURED WEBSITE

FINAL WORD

 

 

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--- 100 YEARS

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The Brothers of the Christian Schools (Freres) will this year be

celebrating the 100th Anniversary of their Educational Mission in Malta.

 

A special Centenary Committee was set up in April 2002, with the aim of

organising various activities throughout the Centenary year to mark this

event.

 

The activities being organised by the various sub-committees within the

main committee include:

 

Press Conference October 2003

Pontifical Mass at St. John’s Co-Cathedral 3rd. November 2003

Concert /Soiree 19th. March 2004

Art Exhibition Mid March 2004

Special Founders Day Celebrations 14th. May 2004

Pilgrimage Ta’ Liesse 28 May 2004

Gala Dinner Mid July 2004

Conference Mid July 2004

Various sports activities and tournaments throughout the Centenary Year.

 

We will keep you updated on the above events over the next few months.

 

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--- NEVER GIVING UP

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Frail Pope still shows strength of soul

 

 

More than 1 billion people helped Pope John Paul II on Thursday 16th

October celebrate his 25th anniversary as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

His longevity alone makes John Paul noteworthy. He is the

fourth-longest-serving pontiff, and more people have seen him than have

seen any other person in history. His appearances in Mexico and Latin

American countries routinely draw as many as 1 million people, and more

than 17 million pilgrims have attended his weekly general audiences.

 

But his accomplishments - and an unbending stance on some church and

social issues - during his 25 years as pope are what will define the

legacy of the former Karol Wojtyla, archbishop and cardinal of Krakow,

Poland.

 

It is a history that even non-Catholics should know, because John Paul

will be remembered as one of the most significant men of the 20th century.

 

Wojtyla was a student at Krakow's Jagiellonian University when Nazi

occupation forces closed the school in 1939. He then worked in a quarry

and a chemical factory to avoid being deported to Germany while studying

for the priesthood in an underground seminary.

 

Those years under Hitler's rule, and the experience of Nazi persecution

of Jews and other minority groups, clearly made an impression on Wojtyla

- evidenced later in his tireless fight for human rights and an end to

tyranny.

 

He was elected pope Oct. 16, 1978, a former citizen of a country then

locked behind the Soviet Union's Iron Curtain. In 1979, he returned to

his home, and church bells rang across the land when his plane landed on

Polish soil.

 

He went on to deliver 32 sermons during nine days in the country,

speaking of human dignity, religious freedom and spiritual revolution.

He brought the Polish people together as nothing else had during

communist rule.

 

It was that visit that began the erosion of the Iron Curtain. The Pope

demonstrated to the Kremlin and the world that the upheaval rumbling

through Eastern Europe was as much a spiritual as a political revolution

- that an iron fist, no matter how tightly clenched, could not crush the

soul. It strengthened the budding Solidarity movement and helped in the

election of Mikhail Gorbachev, who credited John Paul with making the

fall of communism possible.

 

That alone would ensure his place in the history of the Catholic Church.

But John Paul also has departed from the papal tradition of focusing on

Europe and reached out to embrace members in Latin America and Africa.

He has been critical of Western materialism and the erosion of social

consciousness.

 

 

 

John Paul, 83, is in declining health now. History will determine where

John Paul ranks among leaders of the Catholic Church. He already has

secured a place as one of the most influential figures of our time.

 

 

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--- SAINTHOOD

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Mother Teresa of Calcutta: a modeled sainthood

 

 

Three decades ago, a 5-foot-tall Roman Catholic sister in her early 30s

was walking among the street people of Calcutta, and came upon a dying,

unconscious woman lying in filth, her body half wasted by feasting rats

and maggots. The sister took this helpless woman to her own flat, bathed

and cared for her, the woman managing only a smile of gratitude before

she died.

 

That event began Mother Teresa’s extraordinary ministry to the world’s

“poorest of the poor,” and later bestowed her with the Noble Prize for

peace.

 

Born Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje, Yugoslavia, to an Albanian grocer and his

wife, she was baptized Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhier. At 18, she joined the

Irish Sisters of Loretto to become a missionary to India. For the next

20 years Sister Teresa taught affluent Indian girls at St. Mary’s school

in Calcutta.

 

Responding to a second call from God in 1948, she won the Vatican’s

permission to leave her comfortable life at St. Mary’s to start a new

order of sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to the diseased

and dying street dwellers of Calcutta. She adopted as her habit the

rough cotton sari worn by India’s poorest women. Today, her community

numbers 4,000 sisters and 1,200 co-workers who maintain an international

network of hospitals, orphanages, schools and leprosariums. There are 93

branches of this community in India and 60 others around the world.

 

In spite of their hard way of life, or perhaps due to God’s providence,

the Missionaries of Charity are said to have more vocations than any

other women’s religious order. They also are prospering through gifts

and donations even with a strict vow of poverty. “God is my banker and

he provides whatever I need at anytime,” said Mother Teresa.

 

She had a great sense of humor. On one occasion, while speaking with a

group of seminarians, she told a joke. She said, “The other day I

dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven, and St. Peter said, ‘Go back

to earth, there are no slums up here.’” And then she laughed.

 

Everybody who knew Mother Teresa in Calcutta, was impressed with her

prayer life and faith in God. One could see that her life, words and

deeds went hand in hand with God’s will. She taught what she believed

in. Her joy in serving the poorest of the poor inspired a large number

of people.

 

Mother Teresa once said, “What you can do I cannot do, what I can do you

cannot do, but together we can do something beautiful for God.” In

serving the very poor and abandoned children she said, “I see God in the

life of these people whom I serve.”

 

Mother Teresa lived the Gospel as Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the

least of my brothers and sisters, you have done unto me.” (Matthew

25:40-41).

 

 

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--- THOUGHT

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Never Forget

 

Your presence is a gift to the world,

You're unique and one of a kind.

Your life can be what you want it to be -

Take it one day at a time.

 

Count your blessings, not your troubles,

And you'll make it through what comes along.

Within you are so many answers,

Understand, have courage, be strong.

 

Don't put limits on yourself,

Your dreams are waiting to be realized.

Don't leave your important decisions to chance -

Reach for your peak, your goal, and your prize.

 

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying -

The longer a problem is carried, the heavier it gets.

Don't take things too seriously -

Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

 

Remember that a little love goes a long way -

Remember that a lot goes forever.

Remember that friendship is a wise investment,

Life's treasures are people... together.

 

Have health and hope and happiness,

Take the time to wish on a star.

And don't ever forget for even a day...

How very special YOU are!

 

 

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--- THIS MONTHS' SONG

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Runaway Train

 

Soul Asylum

 

Call you up in the middle of the night

Like a firefly without a light

You were there like a blowtorch burning

I was a key that could use a little turning

 

So tired that I couldn’t even sleep

So many secrets I couldn’t keep

Promised myself I wouldn’t weep

One more promise I couldn’t keep

 

It seems no one can help me now

I’m in too deep; there’s no way out

This time I have really led my self astray

 

Runaway train, never going back

Wrong way on a one-way track

Seems like I should be getting somewhere

Somehow I’m neither here nor there

 

Can you help me remember how to smile?

Make it somehow all seem worthwile?

How on earth did I get so jaded?

Life’s mystery seems so faded

 

I can go where no one else can go

I know what no one else knows

Here I am just a-drownin’ in the rain

With a ticket for a runaway train

 

And everything seems cut-and-dried

Day and night, earth and sky

Somehow I just don’t believe it

 

Runaway train, never going back

Wrong way on a one-way track

Seems like I should be getting somewhere

Somehow I’m neither here nor there

 

Bought a ticket for a runaway train

Like a madman laughing at the rain

A little out of touch, a little insane

It’s just easier than dealing with the pain

 

Runaway train, never going back

Wrong way on a one-way track

Seems like I should be getting somewhere

Somehow I’m neither here nor there

 

Runaway train, never coming back

Runaway train, tearing up the track

Runaway train, burning in my veins

I run away, but it always seems the same

 

 

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--- FEATURED SITES

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www.lasalle.es/ciano/conocerls/

 

International Contest entitled "Knowing De La Salle": Given the success

of the first International Contest entitled "Knowing De La Salle," the

pastoral ministry team of San Antonio-La Salle College in Ciaño

(Asturias region of Spain) has begun its second contest.

 

The contest hopes to achieve three things:

To open links between persons who are close to the Lasallian movement

throughout the world.

To approach the person of the Founder, the life of Districts, the

history of the Institute, in a way that is fun for participants.

To bring up to date all those who wish to know about current events and

news as regards the institution.

 

You may sign up to participate during the month of October and the

questions will be given in November.

We look forward to your participation! Greetings from Ciaño!

(Adolfo José Hernández Martín)

 

http://www.ialu.net

Keeping you informed about La Salle Universities: The International

Association of Lasallian Universities (IALU), which was started five

years ago with the objective of coordinating the activities of all the

La Salle centres worldwide.

 

 

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--- FINAL WORD

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Hope all of you enjoyed this edition of the Lasallian Youth Link.

We welcome any suggestions, comments or articles and experiences you

would like to share.

 

If you are going to change your e-mail address kindly inform us of your

new details.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Ivan , Mark and David.