Dear beloved Parishioners,
The Jubilee of Youth concluded after a memorable week, drawing nearly one million young pilgrims. Pope Leo XIV joined the gathering for the final night on 2nd of August 2025, leading a Vigil and Eucharistic adoration and celebrated Mass with them the following morning at Tor Vergata, on the outskirts of Rome.
At the opening of the celebrations, the Holy Father welcomed the young people to St. Peter’s Square, reminding them that they are “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” and emphasized that their voices, enthusiasm, and cries for Jesus Christ would be heard globally. The Pope also highlighted that the Jubilee of Youth was a beginning of a journey of hope, and that they should be a force for God’s grace and a message of hope to the world being torn apart with wars, violence, immorality, brokenness, division and a culture of death. Responding to a question as to how to truly encounter the Risen Lord and be sure of His presence even in the midst of trials and uncertainties, the Pope responded, ‘Seek justice in order to build a more humane world. Serve the poor, and so bear witness to the good that we would always like to receive from our neighbours.”
A story is told of a wealthy father who took his only child, a 12-year-old son, to a poor family’s home to teach him to appreciate his privileged life. They spent time with the poor family who were dressed in worn-out clothes and who could afford just one meal a day, and did not have even the basic conveniences in their dwelling place. Upon returning, the father pointed out to his son the differences between their lives, hoping that the boy had learnt a life lesson. However, he is taken aback by the son’s observation that, despite the lack of material wealth, the poor family was rich in many ways as compared to them. The boy said that he had noticed an abundance of love, caring, sharing and understanding among the family members, which was extended also to their neighbors.
This was an eye-opener for the wealthy father, who was speechless because the boy’s perspective challenged his preconceived notions about wealth and poverty. He recognized the greater poverty in his life and pledged to work towards eradicating it by changing his attitude towards his family and his neighbors.
God has blessed and created us in His image and likeness, bestowed upon us grace upon grace and empowered us with His Divine Spirit to fulfil the purposes of our lives.
Our physical bodies stop growing after a particular age, but our hearts can be enlarged, even till our last breath, by allowing them to be filled with more and more kindness and compassion. To possess such a rich heart is the biggest achievement of any human being on earth.
In his message to the youth, Pope Leo invited them to follow Christ more ardently, closely and faithfully, and encouraged them to be ‘beacons of hope’ and to announce a message of true hope and peace to our wounded world. He called them his children and prophets of the modern world.
Quoting St. Augustine, He said, “Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in You”. He exhorts the Church to be rooted in the sacraments of Eternal Grace, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation, being rooted in the Word of God and the Eucharist, which is the Divine Source of Fullness of Heavenly Joy and Peace. Follow in the footsteps of Christ as disciples who followed the way of the cross, witnessing His Everlasting Love by being the Salt of the Earth and Light of the world.
As we, as a Parish celebrate the Jubilee year of the Edifice-our new Church Building and the Jubilee of the formation of the Faith based Small Christian Communities, let us with grateful hearts thank God for the years past, where he has accompanied us in our journey of faith and for promising us of his constant and covenantal presence in the years to come.
Let us build our homes, our parish and our society as pilgrims of Hope by being the Salt of the earth and the Light of the World.
Fr. John Mascarenhas SVD
Parish Priest