The event was extremely especial, and it involved a significant amount of young people from different backgrounds and cultures. Youngsters from different parts of Finland were together in an environment that helped them to share their faith with new friends of similar age, talk about their experiences as Catholics in Finland, clear some of their doubts about the Church, and the most important reestablish their relationship with God or strengthen it. I am extremely thankful to God and all the people involved in this festival, since I never saw a Catholic event in Finland that would gather young people from all over the country. Moreover, this event was specially designed for youngsters, making the spiritual life easy for them.
Before coming to Finland I just knew that Catholics were a minority. To my surprise, this minority of Catholics in Finland was composed of many cultures and backgrounds, which was a beautiful reflection of the universality of the Catholic Church. During the summer of 2016 a youth festival took place in a Catholic center called Stella Maris. The idea of the festival came from a religious community guided by Father Gianni Sgreva CP, as the result of their continuous prayer for the youth of Finland.
The event was extremely especial, and it involved a significant amount of young people from different backgrounds and cultures. Youngsters from different parts of Finland were together in an environment that helped them to share their faith with new friends of similar age, talk about their experiences as Catholics in Finland, clear some of their doubts about the Church, and the most important reestablish their relationship with God or strengthen it. I am extremely thankful to God and all the people involved in this festival, since I never saw a Catholic event in Finland that would gather young people from all over the country. Moreover, this event was specially designed for youngsters, making the spiritual life easy for them.
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Finally, it’s the Day! Are you ready for His Birthday? I’m not asking about gifts or today’s dinner, but about your heart.
We are always busy, at the end of the year, with final exams, preparing gifts, cooking for special meals. But we may forget the Christmas real meaning. Yes, it’s true that’s time to be with families and loved people, but it’s also true that’s our Lord’s Birthday. We have only 14 days more of 2016, and I usually get quite emotional during this season every year. There is no way to explain it with my words properly all my feelings, but I would like to share this with you all some memories from 2016, and Finland.
I want to share first my parish life in Turku: I feel home here!
Welcome to 5&2, our new blog. We are young Catholics (young in age and in being a Catholic) around Finland. We would like to write down what we see and experience in the Catholic Church here. Then, maybe you would ask, what does 5&2 mean? We invite you to reflect on it and meditate before reading the next paragraph. Did any passage from the Bible come to you? Yes, the passage of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Do you remember who offered the food to Jesus? A boy (John 6:9). Finally, Jesus fed 5,000 people with “limited” resources. We found some similarity of our Catholic Church in this country with this passage. Our resources are limited, sometimes we don't have enough material, priest, parishes... Therefore, we would like to offer Our Lord, the limited resources that we have to let Him multiply and feed us. Another passage is related to when Jesus gathered the first disciples and started his ministers in Galilee (Mark 1:16). Do you remember how many disciples were there? 4, Peter, Andrew, James and John. That’s also the explanation of the 5. After that, Jesus went to a synagogue in Capernaum and cured a man with unclean spirit. Jesus makes a difference between the Good and the Bad, the light side and the dark side. There is nothing between this two sides, we should choose in order to have our unity of life. There is the meaning of 2. (Reflections from catechesis of Bishop Teemu and Father Gianni) So here is our blog, 5&2. With all our wishes and hopes to see the growth of our Church in Finland. If you want to write a post, please don't hesitate to write us and share your experiences, testimonies with all people around the world (preferably in English). About the authorYiran, or Maria Micaela. Born in China as a Protestant Christian but baptised in Spain (2015), being the only Catholic in the family. I came to Turku as an Erasmus exchange student and I stayed for my MSc studies. I'm also a participant of the Youth Weekends at Stella Maris. Cooking, running and photography are my hobbies. |
5&2This is a blog about being young and Catholic in Finland.
BloggersYiran ChenYiran, or Maria Micaela. Born in China but baptised in Spain (2015), student in Turku. Participant of the Youth Weekends at Stella Maris. Cooking, running and photography are my hobbies.
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