Nostra Fides

Our Faith
A Publication of SMU Fides Catholic Community
For Internal Ciruclation Only
Vol 2 2008
In communion with the Catholic Church headed by the Pope and in conformity with the teachings handed down to us from the Apostles, Nostra Fides aims to cover
Catholic events on campus as well as other events that members of the community are involved in. Recent developments within the Church will also be covered.

What the Pope Said During World Youth Day 2008

“Grounded in the Apostles’ teaching, in fellowship, and

in the breaking of the bread and prayer (cf. Acts 2:42),
the young Christian community moved forward to op-
pose the perversity in the culture around them (cf. Acts
2:40), to care for one another (cf. Acts 2:44-47), to de-
fend their belief in Jesus in the face of hostility (cf Acts
4:33), and to heal the sick (cf. Acts 5:12-16).”

World Youth Day 2008 (Sydney, Australia)

by Geraldine Kuah

‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you will be my witnesses.’ Acts 1:8

In life, we have several unforgettable experiences –

“Walk in Christ’s light daily through fidelity to personal birthdays, graduation, wedding and the list goes on.
and liturgical prayer, nourished by meditation on the in- During my recent four-month school vacation, I have
spired word of God. ... The Fathers of the Church loved found another event to add to the list – Word Youth Day
to see the Scriptures as a spiritual Eden, a garden where (WYD) 2008.
we can walk freely with God, admiring the beauty and
harmony of his saving plan as it bears fruit in our own WYD was established by the late Pope John Paul II in
lives, in the life of the Church and in all of history. Let 1986 to reach out to the youth of the world. It is a pilgrim-
prayer, then, and meditation on God’s word, be the lamp age where young people from all over the world meet
which illumines, purifies and guides your steps along and experience the love of God. WYD 2008 was held in
the path which the Lord has marked out for you.” Sydney, Australia. It was an eventful week, packed with
numerous activities and workshops and culminated in a
“And in obedience to Christ’s own command, they set Final Mass celebrated by the Pope.
forth, bearing witness to the greatest story ever: that God
has become one of us, that the divine has entered human
history in order to transform it, and that we are called
to immerse ourselves in Christ’s saving love which tri-
umphs over evil and death. Saint Paul, in his famous
speech to the Areopagus, introduced the message in this
way: “God gives everything – including life and breath
– to everyone … so that all nations might seek God and,
by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding
him. In fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him
that we live and move and have our being”
The theme of WYD 2008 can be found in Acts 1: 8 and
the various events, workshops and catechesis sessions
we attended served as constant reminders of how we,
as pilgrims of peace, should open our hearts to the Holy
Spirit so that we will be able to be God’s witnesses and
carry out His will.
I remembered attending the Opening Mass at Baranga-
roo, where I was greeted to a magnificent sight – hun-
dreds of thousands of youths from all over the world,
with their nations’ flags flying high, all gathered togeth-
er to worship one God. Indeed, the Church is alive! One
of my fellow Fides friend even commented that perhaps
this is but a small glimpse of heaven.
With the huge turnout at Barangaroo, it was a perfect op-
portunity to meet people of different nationalities, lan-
guages and races. My friends and I exchanged souvenirs
with pilgrims from Australia, America, Brazil, Canada,
France, Poland, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, East
Timor and even Myanmar! I truly enjoyed the little time
I had to get to know my new friends, to know more of
their culture and lifestyles and to exchange little words
of encouragement and greetings.
Apart from attending official WYD events, my friends
and I had the privilege of having daily sharing sessions
within our group and even masses celebrated by our
Spiritual Director, Father Damian DeWind. I will like
to take this opportunity to thank Father Damien for his
spiritual guidance that made this pilgrimage so mean-
ingful and enriching. Thank You Father D!
My greatest take-away from WYD 2008 has got to be
the great lesson in humility.
Being one among the hundreds of thousands of pil-
grims attending WYD, there were many instances when
I felt very “small”. I recalled the night before the Fi-
nal Mass when we had to camp outdoors at Randwich
Racecourse (the Australian equivalent of our Turf City).
I walked past the Burmese contingent and saw that they
had marked out their sleeping area using raffia strings.
Several placards were attached to these strings with the
following messages, “Please pray for freedom in Myan-
mar” and “Peace in Myanmar”.
At this moment, I began to wonder why did I get myself
all worked up over school and several other seemingly
trivial matters when here, there are people worrying for
their lives, their freedom, their safety. I felt embarrassed
at how selfish and undeserving my prayers were com-
pared to these people.
I also learnt about humility through the daily cateche-
sis sessions where we were challenged to listen more
and talk less. Bishop Peter Ingham of Wollongong, Aus-
tralia, highlighted during one of the sessions that to re-
ally listen to people is a courageous act because there is
a chance that one might be transformed! When I heard
this, I was reminded of the many times, when I had cho-
sen not to listen to the advice of my family members and
friends because I thought I was right, that I assumed I
had the answers.
I am sure many of you are familiar with the beatitude,
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. I was reading a book, Reason To Believe by
Ron Tesoriero, purchased during WYD and was deeply
touched by one excerpt. In the words of the Lord,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit. Actually the meaning of
these words in Hebrew is blessed are those who lack
arrogance. The significance of this phrase has been mis-
interpreted. These words are meant to imply not that I
praise solely those unattached to earthly goods but in-
stead, to exalt the humble.”
Once again, another great lesson in humility!
Although WYD has ended, its Spirit lives on. The end
of WYD marks the beginning of our mission. The mis-
sion to be God’s witnesses and to go out to the world and
proclaim his word, just like how the apostles did two
thousand years ago.
My World Youth Day Experience
by Winfrid Wong
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you will be my witnesses ” (Acts 1:8)
This had very little meaning to me before I left for Syd-
ney. The week before I flew of was met with numerous
challenges with faith and the question of life and our
existence here. I attended the Days in the Diocese (Wol-
longong) and the actual World Youth Day itself.
Wollongong is a 2-hour train ride to the south of Sydney.
I was with Mustard Seed Community from St Francis
Xavier’s Church. In exchange for nothing, the people
who hosted us gave us nice rooms (some of with heated
blankets!!), nice-home-cooked meals, brought us around
Wollongong and even patiently waited for us while we
took photos and participated in the carnival that was or-
ganized by the Diocese for 1500 WYD pilgrims from
around the world. At times God’s love is simply in the
small things.
One of the most memorable things that struck me during
World Youth Day itself, was the people and the flags.
There is simply a sense of awe and wonder for God and
I recalled a line from Psalm 116, “O praise the Lord, all
ye nations: praise him, all ye people.”
At the final mass, Pope Benedict said that the “Holy
Spirit is God’s way of giving his love to us”. These final
words and the messages pieced together from the Days
in the diocese, made up the story of my World Youth
Day journey:
“The Holy Spirit is love and it is God’s way of giving
his Love to us through the people that we meet and only
by letting go, opening our hearts and consciously mak-
ing an effort to seek God can we fully ‘…receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will
be my witnesses...’ through our acts of kindness.”
We must muster the courage to Correct the Course
The following are extracts from a a 25 August interview with Archbishop Malcom
Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.
It is precisely the extraordinary rite liturgy which re-
flects some Asian values in all their depth. Above all the
aspect of Redemption and the vertical perspective of hu-
man life, the deeply personalised relationship between
God and the priest and God and the community are more
clearly expressed in the old liturgy than in the Novus
ordo. The Novus ordo by contrast stresses more the hori-
zontal perspective. That does not mean that the Novus
ordo itself stands for a horizontal perspective, but rather
its interpretation by different liturgical schools, which
regard the Mass more as a community experience. If es-
tablished ways of thinking are called into question, how-
ever, some react discomfitedly. Holy Mass is not only a
memorial of the Last Supper, but also the Sacrifice of
Christ and the Mystery of our Salvation. Without Good
Friday, the Last Supper has no meaning. The Cross is the
marvelous sign of God’s love, and only in relation to the
Cross is true community at all possible. Here is the real
starting point for the evangelisation of Asia.
Mass must have moments of silence, of inwardness and
personal prayer. Where there is ceaseless talking, man
cannot be deeply penetrated by mystery. We are not to
talk uninterruptedly before God, but to also let Him
speak. The liturgical renewal has been affected, how-
ever, by the experimental arbitrariness with which Mass
today is being freely performed as “do-it-yourself lit-
urgy”. The spirit of the liturgy has, in a manner of speak-
ing, been abducted. What has happened cannot now be
undone anymore. The fact is that our churches have be-
come emptier. Of course there are also other factors: the
unbridled consumerist behaviour, secularism, an exces-
sive image of man. We have to muster the courage to
correct course, because not everything which happened
after the reform of the liturgy was according to the inten-
tion of the Council.
 Freshmen
Orientation
Camp 2008

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the Publications Secretary at fides@smu.edu.sg