First Sunday of Lent
Gospel: Luke 4:1–13

Reflection

So often, we want “to see” Jesus on our own terms. We enjoy the infant Jesus of the Christmas season. A cuddly baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Even as we watch him grow through his presentation in the Temple, the Epiphany, and the Finding in the Temple, this Jesus is one who seems manageable; after all he returned to Nazareth with his parents “and was obedient to them” (Lk 2:51). How we appreciate it when Jesus is only obedient to our own whims and needs.

Seeing and meeting Jesus during Lent is not as tidy. The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent (Lk 4:1-13) reports of the penitent Jesus fasting for forty days in the desert and being tempted by the devil. Later in his ministry, when Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the final time, John’s Gospel tells of Philip and Andrew mediating a visit between Jesus and some Gentiles who would like to see him. Their request—“Sir, we would like to see Jesus” (Jn 12:21)—is the focus of World Youth Day 2005 and this time of parish preparation for and with youth during Lent.

The request of the Gentiles to see Jesus is met with the essential message of discipleship: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me” (Jn 12:26).

For teens and young adults—any of us—to see Jesus, the Christmas card images of him must be put gently aside for now. Seeing Jesus today, in the practical sense, means taking his words to heart by being of true and meaningful service to others. For example, in:

• reaching out to excluded and sometimes bullied peers or co-workers;
  
• humbly sharing our material possessions with those who need them more;
  
• praying for an emptying of our own souls so that we can truly “lose” our lives for him.

• Pass out art supplies (e.g., paper, and markers or colored pencils). Ask the participants to draw their images of Jesus. (Alternatively, allow the option of writing a short description of Jesus or poem to describe Jesus.) Display the work randomly around the meeting space. Allow time for the participants to browse the display. Call on volunteers to put adjectives to each depiction of Jesus (e.g., “helping” Jesus, “sorrowful” Jesus). Invite the person who created the image to comment to the accuracy of the description.
  
• Introduce the theme of World Youth Day 2004: “We wish to see Jesus” and the context of the gospel passage from John 12:20-26.
  
• Discuss the idea of “giving one’s life up” and what that can mean for the participants in a practical sense. For example, children whose parents divorce must give up one life for another and recent graduates must adjust to either a new school experience or life in the workforce. Point out the necessity of emptying oneself for Jesus, as he did for us through his saving death.
  
• Refer to the gospel reading for the first Sunday in Lent (Luke 4:1-13). Ask: “How did Jesus ‘lose his life’ by spending forty days in the desert?” Look for responses that mention Jesus’ total dependence on his Father’s graces for all of his needs.

• Give five small strips of paper and a pencil to each participant. Ask them to write down five talents or qualities of their life, one to each strip of paper. For example, “good baseball pitcher” or “excellent saxophonist” or “great sense of humor.”
  
• Next, have each person meet with a partner. Tell them to put the five strips in front of them, blank side up.
  
• The exercise goes as follows: The participants take turns choosing one strip from their partner. The person who wrote it must tell about that personal talent. Then, he or she must share what life would be like to live without that talent. Continue the exercise through all five strips.
  
• Generate a discussion with the participants on what their lives would be like without these talents and qualities. Relate the message to Jesus’ charge to lose our lives for his sake. Ask: “In emptying yourself, how can you come to see Jesus?”

• Encourage the participants to discover Jesus through visits with their own grandparents or other older adults in the parish. Arrange for the participants to visit (maximum groups of 4) grandparents of the participants, homebound parishioners, or residents of a nearby board and care facility.
  
• The younger people should be prepared to talk with the older adults giving the following information: their names and family history, school or work situation, interests, what they are learning in youth ministry or religious education, and why they are looking forward to participating in some way in World Youth Day activities.
  
• The visitors should also have some prepared questions rehearsed for the adults. For example: How long have you lived in the parish? What was life like for you at our age? What are some ways you have come to know Jesus in your life? What do you think Jesus expects from us in this life?
  
• Follow-up with a social for participants and facilitators in which all can share their favorite parts of the experience.

Peter, John, James, and the other apostles knew what it was like to see Jesus in the flesh. These three were hard at work fishing the Lake of Gennesaret when they first met him, then left everything they had, and followed him. The gospels don’t really explain why they followed Jesus other than that he told them “from now on you will be catching men” (Lk 5:10). This was a rather obscure charge that only became clearer as the apostles proceeded on.

Finally, Jesus revealed more of himself to Peter and the others. When Peter answered Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with “The Messiah of God” Jesus rebuked Peter and told him to “not tell this to anyone” (Lk 9:20-21). As Jesus would explain, to be the Messiah, or Chosen One, meant that he would suffer greatly, be rejected by his own people, arrested, killed—and then rise in glory three days later.

This teaching was difficult for the apostles to understand and accept. Their view of Jesus changed. How could this wonder worker they had come to know be subjected to such suffering at the hand of others? In seeing Jesus in this new way, they also came to see themselves differently. If they were to continue to follow him, they, too, would have to give up their lives and suffer in a similar fashion.

More surprises were in store for Peter, James, and John. Eight days after he first predicted his passion to them, Jesus took them to a mountain where he was transfigured before their eyes. In the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Lent, these apostles saw Jesus in yet another way they might not have imagined. His face changed appearance and his clothes “became dazzling white” (Lk 9:29). They had now seen him in his glory.

In the midst of Lent’s journey of penance, it is important to remind teens and young adults that Jesus’ passion and death ends in his glory. The sufferings of today have their reward in the glory of the resurrection. While we now see Jesus in the suffering of our impoverished neighbors, in God’s time our everlasting view of Jesus and our fellow pilgrims will be of a dazzling variety. We will see him as he is, our Lord and God. And he will see us as we are meant to be, his much loved creation.

Instruction

• Review the Sunday Gospel reading on the Transfiguration from Luke 9:28-36. Point out that Luke’s account of the transfiguration is the only one in which the topic of conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah is revealed. Using bibles, have the participants look up what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah talked about (see Lk 9:31; they discussed the “exodus” he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem, that is the events that make up the Paschal mystery).
  
• Explain that while the story of the Transfiguration is read on the second Sunday of Lent, the feast of the Transfiguration is on August 6. Traditionally, it was believed that the Transfiguration occurred forty days before the crucifixion. But rather than marking the feast during Lent, the day is a full forty days before the feast of the Holy Cross on September 14.
  
• Peter says to the transfigured Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here.” Have the participants brainstorm a list of their favorite places. Record these on newsprint. Next, have them share with a partner or record in writing how Jesus is present to them in their favorite places.

• Call on a participant to sit before the group and be “on the spot.” (A person who is on the spot must answer one or more questions related to the lesson. He or she should be granted a “pass” option on any question, but must eventually answer at least one question for the group.)
  
• Use some or all of the following questions related to the transfiguration experience and seeing the glorified Jesus:
  
  • Peter suggested building tents on the mountain in honor of the appearance of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. What did Jesus say about this idea?
    
  • Why do you think people want to build memorials for famous people and events?
    
  • Peter and the apostles originally followed Jesus without a clear sense of everything discipleship would entail. Why do you think they did this?
    
  • Do you think you blindly follow Jesus?
    
  • Why do you follow Jesus?
    
  • Jesus offered Peter, James, and John a glimpse of heaven. When you have been given a glimpse of heaven? What was it like?
    
  • What does it mean to see someone in his/her “glory”?
  
  
• Choose other participants to be on the spot. Repeat the same questions. Ask some questions of your own. Also, allow the rest of the group to ask questions of the person who is before the group.

• Remind the participants that in John 12:26, Jesus’ disciples were approached by some Greek Gentiles with the request to “see Jesus.” This desire to see Jesus and his response to meet him by emptying ourselves and serving others is the theme of World Youth Day 2004. The Gospel reading from the Second Sunday of Lent reminds us that eventually we will see Jesus in his full glory.
  
• To celebrate Jesus’ glory, collect or raise money as a group to purchase white carnations. Also provide small cardboard tags, markers, hole punch, and white ribbon.
  
• Have the participants work individually or on their own to decorate and neatly print on one side of the carnation tag parts of verses from Luke 9:28-36. For example,
  
  • “his face changed in appearance”
    
  • “his clothing became dazzling white”
    
  • “they saw his glory”
    
  • “Master, it is good that we are here”
  
  
• On the other side of the tag, have the participants print their own message of greeting. For example, “Remember, Easter will come! Love, Name(s).”
  
• Instruct the participants to punch a hole in the tags and tie them to the stem of the carnation with white ribbon.
  
• Arrange for the participants to make a surprise delivery of the carnations to a group of people who might benefit the most. For example:
  
  • workers in an office building;
    
  • teachers in a school;
    
  • residents of a nursing home;
  
  The flowers can be left as a surprise or delivered personally.
  
• If a common group for delivery is not possible, have the participants take a flower with message and give it to a person of their own choosing.

One of the ways that we see Jesus is in his loving example of patience and compassion. In the Gospel reading from the third Sunday of Lent, Jesus tells the parable of the barren fig tree to teach this example. After giving stern warning about the need for repentance, Jesus shares the story of the tree the farmer finds without figs. After three barren years, he wants to cut it down. A gardener offers to fertilize and care for the tree for a year in the hope that it might bear figs in the future. If the tree has still not born figs after a year, the gardener agrees it should be cut down.

The parable is a lesson to those who have not yet repented, changed their lives, and sought out the Lord. Because God is patient and compassionate, there is still time to change our ways. But Jesus’ other message is that God’s patience is not permanent; eventually punishment will be handed out to those who do not repent.

Help the participants discover Jesus in three key ways described in this reading:

1. Seek repentance and conversion. It is difficult to meet Jesus in our sinfulness. Encourage the participants to pray for the grace to be sorry and accountable for their sins as they search out new life in Christ.
   
2. Be patient with yourself and others. Jesus doesn’t expect immediate perfection from us. As we work to amend our lives, remind the participants that change does not occur over night, either in ourselves or in others. Also, Jesus is not just with us when we reach the end of the journey; he is with us in the struggle as well.
   
3. Understand that Jesus is our judge. Life is full of times when we feel we have been judged unfairly. What a relief and a comfort to know that ultimately our lives will be judged by Jesus. We can come to understand this kind of justice when we, too, judge others (and ourselves) fairly. While patience and compassion are central to the Gospel, passage, remind participants that they also need a sense of urgency. Today is the day to seek out the Lord!

• Call on four volunteers to act out the parable of the barren fig tree (Lk 13:6-10). Parts in the pantomime are the farmer (person who planted the fig tree), gardener, the fig tree, and the narrator. Choose two different sets of characters. As the narrator reads the parable the first time, the fig tree character can act accordingly from barren to still unfruitful after one year. The pantomime concludes with the tree being cut down. The second reading can have the positive ending with the tree bearing fruit after one year.
  
• In triads, ask the participants to discuss the two possible endings. Print the following questions on a board or newsprint to use for discussion: What is surprising about the parable? What lesson is Jesus’ teaching? What can be learned from the parable about encountering Jesus in our own lives?
  
• Summarize the discussion by sharing the three ways described above for knowing Jesus: (1) seek repentance and conversion; (2) be patient with yourself and others; (3) understand that Jesus is our judge.

• Distribute a strip of light-colored cloth (3” x 20”) and dark-colored fine-tipped marker to each participant. Ask each person to print one thing they can do in the next year to amend their lives in order to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus.
  
• When completed, ask the participants to sit in a circle. Dim the lights in the room. Play reflective, instrumental music.
  
• Re-read the parable of the barren fig tree. Then, go around the circle and have each person read what he or she wrote on their cloth strip. When they are done sharing, they should tie their cloth to the end of the cloth of the person next to them. That is the cue for the next person to share.
  
• When everyone has shared, ask the group to stand (the cloth strips should now form a wreath). Say something like: “Everyone has his or her own way to reform their lives and seek Jesus. But the thing that connects us all together is that Christ connects us all to his Body.”
  
• Conclude by having a participant read Ephesians 4:1-6 (unity in the mystical body).

• Continuing the theme of the parable of the barren fig tree, arrange for a large group project to beautify a neighboring park, beachfront, playground, or other natural resource area.
  
• * Optionally, contact homebound parishioners and othercitizens of your community. Arrange for groups of four or five teens and young adults to spend a Sunday morning and early afternoon working around their homes doing chores like leaf raking or snow shoveling, or simple painting and home repair projects. Begin the day by attending Mass together.

Jesus is the storyteller in the parable of the Lost Son, the Gospel reading for the fourth Sunday of Lent, but in each of the characters we are given more of a glimpse as to how we can find Jesus in our lives.

The father in the story obviously represents God’s unconditional love for the repentant sinner. His example should be a reminder to teens and young adults to look out for those who have offended them yet seek their forgiveness and reconciliation. They should be reminded of friends and acquaintances from the past who have drifted from their lives over incidents that can barely be recalled and then seek ways to reconnect.

The younger son has reached the pits of his life. It is in this hopelessness that he again seeks out the good: a return to his father’s house. Often teenagers and those in their early twenties become so absorbed in their perceived faults—whether in the areas of sexual behaviors, drug or alcohol abuse, cheating at school or work, or many other situations typical to their age—that they are afraid to pray again, ask for God’s help in conversion, and renew their lives in him. The story of the prodigal son’s return can inspire them to do the same.

Meanwhile the older son is envious of his brother’s return and newfound relationship with their father. Encourage participants to reflect on how well they welcome back the repentant sinner to their midst. Do they judge too harshly the peer who has made amends in his or her sinful behaviors and now seeks to rejoin the group or the liturgical communion of the Church? In what ways can they welcome the repentant sinner back? Answering this same question can be applied to relationships within their family as well.

The fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday, from a Latin word that means “rejoice.” As the Gospel for the day proclaims, your group of pilgrims should rejoice in their participation in this process as they invite and welcome others in the parish to participate in more fully in the formation process.

Instruction

• Provide bibles for the participants. Choose four participants to read aloud the parable of the lost son (Lk 15:11-32) in parts (narrator, father, younger son, older son).
  
• Profile each character as described in the reflection piece above. Ask the participants to consider which characteristics they have of both the younger son and older son which prevent them from seeking a better relationship with Jesus. Allow them to share their reflections with a partner. When the discussion is complete, call on volunteers to share a sampling of their conversations.
  
• Divide the participants into three groups. Ask each group to discuss and develop a short role play related to the parable (the groups can choose how many actors are needed) for what happened next in one of the following relationships:
  
  • between the father and the younger son;
    
  • between the father and the older son;
    
  • between the two brothers.
  
  After preparation time, call on each group to present their role play for everyone.

• Ask the participants to re-write the parable of the lost son in their own words, using contemporary situations and characters. The story can be fictional or based on real-life people and events.
  
• When completed, have the participants share their parables with a partner. Ask each person to note for the other how he or she recognizes Jesus in the new parable.
  
• Arrange for each contemporary parable to be proofread (e.g., by fellow participants), typed, and printed. Collect and make copies of each parable. Bind together and give a copy of the set to each person.

• Offer the opportunity for the participants to celebrate the sacrament of Penance. One of the best options is to arrange a time on a Saturday afternoon with the parish priest when the participants can meet at church for the sacrament of Reconciliation.
  
• Prior to the date, review with them the procedures for celebrating the sacrament. For example, 1) examination of conscience; 2) greeting with the priest; 3) confession of sins; 4) act of contrition; 5) absolution granted by the priest; 6) dismissal; 7) penance.
  
• As an option, encourage the participants to invite a peer, family member, or parishioner not participating directly in these World Youth Day activities to join with the group for the sacrament. This person might be someone who has not been to confession in quite a while and would appreciate an invitation to return to the sacrament.
  
• Arrange for a trip to a pizza or ice cream parlor, coffee shop, or other place for socializing following the group’s celebration of the sacrament.

How often do we try to put someone on the defensive? Do we do it to show off our “superior” knowledge, to belittle another person, to deflect attention away from our own faults, or perhaps a mixture of all the above? In truth, most of us have put someone we know on the defensive for these very reasons. And we, too, have felt put on the defensive by others.

This is what the scribes and Pharisees did when they brought a woman accused of adultery to Jesus. Not only did they hold the “superiority” of the Mosaic Law over her, they also attempted to trap Jesus into a debate on the Law in order to bring a charge against him. What can we learn about Jesus and how we are to behave in such situations from this Gospel reading of the fifth Sunday of Lent?

For one, we can learn that when we falsely test the Lord, he may not even acknowledge us. Jesus’ response to the charge was to bend down and write in the ground with his finger. This message of passive resistance, another example of Jesus’ “turn the other cheek” declaration, is one that is worthy of emulation in situations when our accusers do so unfairly and without substance.

Also, Jesus spoke the truth. He did not have to retort with elaborate comebacks or say anything else to put the Pharisees down. He simply told the truth: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn 8:7). The truth is the best remedy for any false charge.

Jesus also had a message for the woman: “From now on do not sin any more” (Jn 8:11). Again, to know Jesus, is to know a Lord who speaks the truth with clarity. Neither the woman nor the Pharisees before her had any response to his words.

The message of this Sunday’s Gospel is to avoid sin and to speak and act truthfully. A special focus of the lesson may be in the area of sexual morality.

Instruction

• Share a reading of the Gospel from the fifth Sunday of Lent (Jn 8:1-11).
  
• Provide a hand-held chalkboard slate and piece of chalk. Call a participant to the front of the group. Ask the person to print what he or she thinks Jesus was writing in the dirt and then to hold up the slate for all to read. Discuss the message printed by the participant. Call on a few more people to complete the same exercise.
  
• Print on a chalkboard or newsprint what participants learned about Jesus from this Gospel. For example, he doesn’t get into a “war of words” with his accusers, he acknowledges that all are sinners and that adultery is a sin) he seeks repentance from us; he calls us to sin no more.
  
• Optional: Present a lesson on chastity appropriate to the age-level and maturity of your group. Base the presentation on material on chastity from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2331-2359).

• Have the participants prepare and enact role-plays that express attitudes of chastity and care for their bodies and the bodies of others. For young adults, this may involve a discussion of the best reasons for saving sex until marriage (e.g., sex in marriage is an expression of the couple’s commitment to one another and to a real-love relationship; it is also a sacrament of love that deepens their relationship with God).
  
• Pass out strips of paper. Ask the participants to write an expression of sorrow for a sin on the paper in the following form: “I am sorry for . . .” with one sin on each strip of paper. They can use more strips if they wish. When completed, have the participants fold the strips and put them in an urn. Turn out the lights and burn the sins as they offer a prayer of forgiveness, for example, the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

• * Supporting the Right to Life effort is a way for teens and young adults to show their support for chastity. There are several ways for your group to participate in these efforts. Some of these are:
  
  • peacefully demonstrate support for life. For example, organize a demonstration at a well-traveled street intersection in which they hold up homemade posters with Right to Life slogans. Arrange such a demonstration through the city government. If possible, find out if the group can collect monetary donations from passing motorists to be turned over to local agencies that support pregnant teens.
    
  • organizing a blood drive for the Red Cross.
    
  • gather and bring school assignments home to pregnant teens.
    
  • volunteering at shelters for battered or homeless women.

As young people undertake a deeper journey to honor the desire of their hearts to “see Jesus” they will soon come to the realization that one of the clearest pictures of Jesus they will see is of him on the cross. In fact, it is probably possible to survey the group to find out how many of them are wearing a chain with a crucifix. Imagine if the government in our times executed Jesus. Would it be hard to imagine disciples wearing an image of Jesus strapped to an electric chair?

The Palm Sunday and Good Friday readings of Jesus’ passion remind all Christians of the injustice and brutality of his death. Teens and young adults are likely to ask the perpetual question: “Why did Jesus have to die?” One of the answers comes as he prays in the garden on the night before he was crucified: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42). Jesus dies because it is his Father’s will for him. There were other reasons for why he died. From the standpoint of his human enemies, Jesus died because of the envy of certain religious leaders, the profit (30 pieces of silver) to be gained by Judas, and Pilate’s desire to avert a riot. Ultimately, in God’s plan, Jesus died to redeem mankind from sin and to bring salvation to the world.

The story of Jesus’ passion provides many ways for teens and young adults to see him. They can see him alone at prayer in the garden, scourged by the soldiers, speaking the truth before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, on display with Barrabas before throngs of his accusers, carrying his cross through the streets of Jerusalem, and finally dying an agonizing death while his mother wept at the foot of his cross.

The occasion of Holy Week offers many opportunities for those participating in these pre-World Youth Day activities to join in Christ’s walk to death, both as participants in parish liturgies and in the penitential actions they can do individually or share with the group.

Instruction

Lead the class in singing the African-American spiritual “Were You There”

• Go around the group. Call on several volunteers to tell what they recall and how they imagine each of the following scenes surrounding Jesus’ passion and death. After each scene is discussed, fill in more of the details from Luke’s gospel, the Palm Sunday reading from Cycle C.
  
  • Jesus shares the Last Supper with his friends (Lk 22:7-23).
    
  • Jesus prays in the garden (Lk 22:39-36).
    
  • Jesus is denied by Peter (Lk 22: 54-62).
    
  • Jesus is betrayed, arrested, and judged by the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin (Lk 22:63-71).
    
  • Jesus is judged by Pilate and condemned to death (Lk 23:1-21).
    
  • Jesus carries his cross and is put to death (Lk 23:26-43).
    
  • Jesus dies and is buried (Lk 23:44-56).
  
  
• Play as much of Part 3 of the video Jesus of Nazareth as time allows, focusing on the scenes leading to Jesus’ crucifixion and death.

• Divide the participants into groups of two or three. Assign each group to enact one or more of the Stations of the Cross. When prepared, pray the “living stations” with the entire group (Option: invite peers, family, and other parishioners to pray with the group.)
  
• In addition or in lieu of the living stations, have the group work together to form a collage of contemporary magazine photos that represent each station. These can be glued on a large piece of newsprint under the appropriate headings of each station. Arrange to display the completed collage in a common area at the parish during Holy Week.

• Have the participants decorate paper bags with the names of those in the parish who have died in the past year. Next, have them make luminaries by placing votive candles in sand in the bags. The luminarias can be used to light an outdoor procession to the altar of repose after the Mass of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. Or, they can simply be used to light the path into the church on Holy Thursday evening.
  
• Arrange for a facilitator from a local food bank or homeless shelter to offer a presentation to the group of the agencies needs. Pledge the commitment of the participants to collect a needed amount of non-perishable food items that can be donated to the proper source.

The resurrection is not about “seeing” Jesus, at least in the same way as before.

Jesus told his disciples what was going to happen to him. In Jerusalem, he would be handed over by some Jewish leaders to the Romans who would mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death. Jesus had also told him that he would rise again after three days. Personal resurrection was difficult for the Jews in Jesus’ time, including his first disciples, to fathom. It was more commonly believed that the people of Israel would live on in their ancestors.

Certainly, unbelief in what took place was part of the first Easter. Luke’s Gospel tells of Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James finding the empty tomb and hearing from two men in dazzling white clothes that Jesus has been raised. When the women report this news to the apostles, “their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them” (Lk 24:11). When Peter did run out to the tomb and find Jesus’ burial clothes, he “went home amazed at what had happened” (Lk 24:12).

Jesus eventually appears to his disciples after the resurrection. The risen Jesus was different from the earthly Jesus, not merely the earthly Jesus resuscitated. While the risen Jesus had a body and ate with the disciples (Lk 24:42-43), he was able to pass into a room through locked doors (Jn 20:19). But Easter Sunday was not so much about seeing the risen Jesus as it was about beginning to learn to recognize him in new ways. The empty tomb is the first powerful sign of the risen Jesus’ presence. The faith of the men in dazzling white clothes and the women who spoke to him are other signs. As the Easter event continues, Jesus’ will be present to his followers in new ways, especially in the breaking of the bread shared with the disciples after encountering him on the road to Emmaus.

The pilgrim’s journey to World Youth Day 2005 is one steeped in the charge to see and know Jesus. The ways they will look for and discover him are many of the same ways the Church came to see and know Jesus in the days, weeks, and years after the first Easter. The teens and young adults from your parish who join with others from their diocese and nation in looking for Jesus will soon find that one of the simplest yet most exciting ways to see and know Jesus is in one another.

Instruction

• Lead a discussion about death and resurrection. Choose four or five participants to sit on a panel in front of the group. Ask the following questions (and some of your own) one question at a time. The panelists speak individually, but more than one person can address the same question. Before moving on to the next question, allow members of the “audience” to respond to what was said, ask clarifying questions, or briefly present a related issue.
  
  • What do you think will happen to you right after you die?
    
  • Have you ever been with someone who has died or was near death? What did you learn from him or her?
    
  • What do you find most frightening about death?
    
  • How do you imagine your life after death?
    
  • What do you think heaven will be like?
    
  • How will you know Jesus in heaven?
  
  
• Have the participants recount everything they recall about Jesus’ resurrection. Note all the responses on the board or newsprint. After the discussion is exhausted, divide the participants into four groups. Assign each group one of the gospels and have them look up the resurrection accounts and appearances of the risen Jesus and discuss any incidents that were not covered in the discussion. Reconvene the entire group and add the missing details. Also, take out responses that cannot be located in the gospels.
  
• Read the answers to St. Paul’s questions: “How are the dead raised?” and “With what kind of body will they come back?” from 1 Corinthians 15:36-49.

• Print the names of the participants on small slips of paper, one name per slip. Pass out the slips to each person, making sure that no one gets his or her own name. Have the group sit in a circle. Go around the circle asking each person to describe how he or she recognizes Jesus in the person named on their slip. Encourage the participants to tell an example to illustrate their description.
  
• Encourage the participants to begin a journal titled “We wish to see Jesus.” If possible, print this title on the cover of a hardcover journal. Then, in calligraphy or other neat printing, have the participants print the following question headings on blank pages throughout the journal:
  
  • When did I first come to know Jesus?
    
  • How is my life different now that I follow Jesus?
    
  • How do I communicate with Jesus?
    
  • When did I see Jesus in another person?
    
  • When did I experience Jesus in the sacraments?
    
  • How does Jesus challenge me?
    
  • How do I expect my relationship with Jesus to change?
  
  Add other questions as you wish. Also, tell the participants to write and answer their own questions about Jesus. Tell them that keeping the journal is part of their ongoing preparation for World Youth Day 2005.

• Arrange for the youths or young adults to sponsor a “mini-reunion” gathering of the recently initiated parish catechumens (neophytes). This event should be held two or three weeks after Easter. The youths and young adults should provide refreshments. Allow for a time of discussion between the two groups. You may also wish to lead a general discussion with the neophytes using the journal questions above.
  
• Use the mini-reunion as an occasion for the youths and young adults can work with the neophytes work together on a service project to benefit either the parish (e.g., a penny carnival for young children or a 5K race for the entire parish) or community at large (e.g., recycling project or clothing drive).

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