date: 06.08.2019.
On the last night of the 30th Youth Festival, youth presented at the altar 100 meters long banner with all of the prayer intentions written in the previous days. Medjugorje parish priest, Fr. Marinko Sakota, thanked Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, who had catechesis that afternoon, while morning catechesis was given by the Archbishop HenrykHoser, the Apostolic Visitor for the parish of Medjugorje.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella celebrated Holy Mass with 714 priests concelebrating and there were 2.856.000 live stream followers, with hundreds of thousands of those who watched live broadcasting on TV networks.
Msgr. Fisichella, in his homily, referred to the story from the Gospel on miracle of breads and explained what Jesus wanted when He performed this miracle.
-Above all, we need to see that Jesus did this miracle after He was told that John the Baptist was killed. This death was additional reminder to Him, that He would have also such death, but He is not afraid! Jesus is not afraid of the power of the people, He knows that He is to fulfil the mission entrusted to Him by the Father and there we have the first point for us – not to be afraid!We always need to observe the mission God gives us with great responsibility and assurance.
There is another point for us…It is the evening…Just like here, we are all together. Jesus sees thousands of those who followed him, He is worried, but He does not stop there. Jesus, also, takes care of His people. We too, we should not stop before the difficulties and challenges of our lives. We are called to share those difficulties with our contemporaries and we have the responsibility to take care of them, too, said Msgr. Fisichella, and added how disciples in the Gospel said to Jesus to dismiss people and to send them home.
-Jesus, however, does not think like that. Jesus is teaching us not to think like people, but to seek for God’s thought, and that is what St. Paul, the apostle, reminds us – for we have God in us – let us allow to be formed by the Spirit of God within us.
-In order for something to happen, we need to offer something. In order for a miracle to happen, disciples need to offer five loaves and two fish. The same is with us, we need to present and offer our poverty, our misery, our boundaries, our controversies, but God is going to transform all that for God does miracles. God multiplies little bread and little fish so everyone would be fed. Surrender to God your poverty and God would transform you. We can see that in our lives each day, said Msgr. Fisichella, and explained those great changes that take place each day.
-It is just enough to poor few drops of water on the head of one child for it to become the child of God; it is enough to pray over the sinner and his sins are absolved, it is enough to anoint the forehead of the young person and he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit in the confirmation. My words transform a piece of bread into the Body of Christ. The same is with our words, even though we are weak, they are transforming wine in the Blood of Christ. Once we give the sacrament of the sick to a dying person, we give him strength. Once I extend my hands over the young person, he becomes a priest in the service of the Church or when two young people exchange the vows for the whole life, we can see Christ’s love there. Give God your poverty and God will transform that. God will transform your life. God transforms and renews the world, said Fisichella and invited us not to say like Moses, who complained that the burden was too heavy for him.
We took the joke of Christ because He told us to take that and that is love – kind and gentle love that changes us. Let us believe that all these prayers, wishes, obligations, plans we placed before the altar would be transformed at the altar. Let us come to Him with the trust so we could receive His Body and His Blood, just like the ancient scholars were saying ‘take the power from above and this would transform your heart’!
After the Holy Mass, the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament followed and then all priests prayed over the people. The representatives of the countries each received a symbolic gift, a Rosary and a walking stick from Msgr. HenrykHoser and Msgr. Rino Fisichella.
Fr.Marinko thanked all the youth and all those who participated in the organisation and said: “We came to the end of the 30th Youth Festival and there is only one word – Thank you! Thank you God, thank you Gospa, the Queen of Peace. We thank all who participated in the organisation of the entire programme. These were the days of many graces!” Finally, he invited all the youth to be there on the top of Cross Mountain for the Holy Mass at 5 am on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the end of the 30th Youth Festival. (PHOTO)
