Dear friends
The EYM is to live in friendship with Jesus. From the beginning Jesus chose friends to accompany him in his daily life and in his mission of announcing to the world the love of his Father. It was a beautiful mission that filled his heart with joy.
During these last one hundred years, as the Eucharistic Crusade and as the Eucharistic Youth Movement we also have been invited to share that joy and friendship. This is a great privilege that we celebrate with gratitude. One hundred years walking with Jesus, in so many countries and cultures, with numerous generations that have passed through our groups learning His way to live and love!
By this message we solemnly open the Jubilee Year of the Eucharistic Youth Movement. It will go from this coming June 22, the feast of Corpus Christi, the international day of our Movement, until the big World Gathering in Rome from August 4 to 10 2015.
The motto of our Jubilee Year and meeting in Rome is “So that my joy may be in you”, taken from the gospel of John 15:11.
What is the meaning of celebrating this Jubilee and Centennial? In the first place, we want it to help us to live the joy of Jesus’ friendship. We feel invited to come closer to his Heart and more committed to our service in the heart of the world.
We suggest two sources of inspiration for this year. As of now, we can start using them for our spiritual preparation of this important moment:
- The words Jesus said to his disciples in the context of the Last Supper, John 15,9-17, when he speaks of love and friendship
- The apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium in which our dear Pope Francis challenges us to live and announce the gospel (especially numbers 1 – 17 and 275 – 283)
The Jubilee Year has a calendar that has been announced and that we copy again at the end of this letter. We rely on your creativity and initiative to make these proposals a reality for your people.
Preparation for the big World Gathering in Rome next year has already begun. All EYM members over 15 are invited. We expect the delegations will be formed mainly by young people. We encourage the AP/EYM adults to financially support the participation of the youth.
The Italian EYM is working to welcome us in simple structures that will not demand housing fees on behalf of the participants: our operation base and sleeping place will be the Collegio Massimo, the Jesuit High School of Rome. There will be two registration fees: 80 Euros for those that come from outside Europe, and 150 Euros for the European EYM. We know the cost of the trip is very high for many of you. Unfortunately we will not have the possibility to sponsor any travel costs, so this means you should start getting organized as of now in order to be there.
We are working on the program of that week in Rome. Arrivals will be on August 4 and departures the 10th. There will be many moments to share and celebrate the rich multicolor diversity of the worldwide EYM. We are sure it will be an incredible week! We know you will do your best efforts to make it. As we write this letter, we still don’t know the Holy Father’s response to our request for a private audience. If we do not have it, we will meet him anyhow at Saint Peter’s Square together with the other pilgrims.
With this letter we send you the official prayer for the Centennial (see Annex 1). We kept the same prayer we used for the Congress in Argentina in 2012. Pray it in your meetings to warm up the heart for our big Gathering. We also attach the official logo.
A group of EYM artists are already working on the official hymn of the Gathering that should be ready in a few months. But just the same, in addition to our official hymn, we invite the EYM from all over the world to compose a hymn on the Centennial. We will have the chance to share and sing your songs once in Rome.
It will be wonderful to have you in Rome next year!
Warm Paschal greetings.
For the EYM,
Claudio, sj, former Director General Delegate
Frédéric, sj, Director General Delegate
Lourdes, rjm, international Assistant