The Sunday Mail
Hamadziripi Chinhoi
IN July this year, 230 young people from Zimbabwe travelled to the World Youth Day Celebrations in Krakow, Poland. They were just a few of the three million young people who took part in the event. The celebrations are held once every three years where young Catholic pilgrims aged 18-35 from the world over fellowship together.
Prior to the World Youth Day we partook in exchange programmes in Germany and Poland as part of the Magis initiative. Magis is a Latin word meaning “Greater” — as in “To the Greater Glory of God”.
Other young Zimbabweans attended from their parish and other youth groups. The experience of meeting someone from Syria or China, and learning about the particular challenges and opportunities they have in their own countries, was a life changing experience for me.
One thing we are blessed with in Zimbabwe is the freedom we have to practice our Christian faith without fear of persecution. The thought of being persecuted for your beliefs, or fearing that today might be your last day, is unimaginable. Yet this is the unfortunate reality faced by many Christians in the Middle East among other countries.
Taking part in this World Youth Day helped me to realise that ours is the Pilgrim Church of Christ. A pilgrim is a traveller who has come from far away, journeying to a holy land. In Muslim culture, they require everyone to make a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca at least once in their lifetime. As young Christians we are also called to live our lives as pilgrims — not just once, but every-day. We are called to live as disciples and friends of Jesus Christ. We are called to responsible participation in the life, mission and work of the Christian faith community.
Our life in itself is a pilgrimage and we are called time and again to reach that holy place which is deep in the conscience of our hearts. To move out of our own comfort zone and reach out to those in need. Our lives must change the world to be a better place for others. During pilgrimage, this is a time when one realises that the journey is as important as the destination.
During our celebrations in Poland, Pope Francis encouraged us, the young people, saying, “It is time that we regain our space in the world.” He urged us to work hard using this space to create a better world; a world that respects human dignity, that has the fragrance of love, a world where all human beings are there for each other.
The Church in Zimbabwe has a lot of vibrant young people. Many have been baptised and incorporated into the body of Christ, the Church. The grace of this sacrament leads us to live in communion with others, witnessing to Christ through the different guilds and associations within the Catholic Church.
“These are different groupings, each inspired by a certain spirituality, a particular way of witnessing to Christ. Some follow the path of Simon Peter the fisherman, others of Mary the mother of Jesus. Some are inspired by the Uganda martyrs, others by Saints Alois or Agnes, and still others like myself follow St Ignatius, the converted soldier’s way to Christ. But together we seek to help each other to build and develop our relationship with God.”
In one homily, Archbishop of Harare Robert Ndlovu challenged us saying, “Being young is an opportunity to be holy. Young people cannot wait until old age to do good.”
It is now in our youth that we have the time and energy to use our different talents to serve God and his people.
A key aim of our Magis group is to be persons for others: to stop thinking only of ourselves, or praying and working for our own selfish ends. Our prayer strives to go beyond just asking God to solve our own problems. We ask him to tell us what he is asking us to do for him.
Many youths are working with marginalised communities of this country. We have young people helping out at the Mother of Peace Orphanage, others at the L’Arche Centre for the physically and mentally challenged. In the face of a needy and bleeding world, it is important for us to go beyond our family, our parish and our learning communities, to serve the wider community.
We must grow into leaders who reach out to other young people, inspiring them to being disciples bearing witness to the gospel message. My experience with Magis Zimbabwe has shown me that our networks are communities where we share and experience joyful giving, while being spiritually challenged to love others as Christ does.
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