Thirty four married and single
youth, five couples, a boy and I went from Holy Family Church to Maria Rosa
Mystica Sanctuary 玫瑰山庄 (Mei Gui Shan Zhuang) Fuzhou on May
28 9.00 p.m. by bus. Fr. Lu gave blessing before we left. It took around 13.5 hours from Shenzhen to
the sanctuary including three hours rest in a resting area because it was
prohibited to drive at 2.00 – 5.00 a.m. Upon
arriving, Ms. Lin assigned everyone’s room.
I discussed the agenda with Sr. Zheng before lunch.
Fr. Chen,
who is working in Fuqing, visited me before the group and I walked up for
station of the cross led by Mr. Liu and Mrs. Zhang. Two young women from Shantou came by high
speed train to join our pilgrimage. A group from Handan was praying when we
arrived in the Church so we prayed together with them. Sr. Zheng gave
explanation about the Sanctuary to both groups and then we walked to the statue
of Our Lady of Rosa Mystica and then had dinner. We gathered in the class after dinner for self-introduction
and ice breaking games, followed by praying the rosary in the chapel led by Ms.
Zhuo. Several youth expressed their appreciation
for this pilgrimage and wish there will be more youth gatherings in the future.
I
asked Fr. Meng through Sr. Zheng to celebrate the Mass according to the Prayer book
prepared by Hong Kong Diocese for World Day of Prayer
for Church in China. In a letter to Chinese Catholics in 2007, Pope
Benedict XVI expressed his hope that the liturgical feast of Our Lady, Help of
Christians on May 24, might “become an occasion for the Catholics of the whole world to
be united in prayer with the Church which is in China.”
I invited a youth group from Fuzhou to join
our program on Saturday morning. Ms. Lin
of Fuzhou led our morning prayer according to Breviary, which
is available on the application of cellphone and then Mr. Lin gave introduction about their
group followed by introduction about our youth group by Mr. Wu. Ms. Luo read the message of Pope Francis for the
49th World Communications Day https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/communications/documents/papa-francesco_20150123_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html, while showing the closing Mass of Asian
Youth Day 2014 in mute mode. I asked Br.
Stephen to translate it to Putonghua as no Chinese version is available on the
internet. Then the group watched a Putonghua
version of short video “Look Up” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY. Mr. Liu
led the small group sharing, followed by big group sharing including showing
the drawing of their small group sharing. I arranged their sitting arrangement upon entering the classroom so that couples would sit together and there would be one Fuzhou youth and
four-five Shenzhen youth in one table and then two tables had the small group
sharing together. I also gave short summary followed by praying together prayer to the Holy Family composed by Pope
Francis. Before having lunch, several of Shenzhen youth picked up holy water
while several others and I had conversation with the youth from Fuzhou.
It’s
heavy rain around 11.30 a.m. Thanks be
to God it’s stopped around 12.30 p.m. and we left for Ningde, around 2 hours by
bus, followed by 20-30 minutes on a van going up to mountain. We prayed for a while in the Church and then walked
up to pray and pick up holy water in one of the cave led by two sisters and a
guide. It’s known as Bishop Peter Sanz
and Jorda’s cave (白主教洞 Bai
Zhu Jiao Dong, http://translate.google.com.hk/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.santopedia.com/santos/san-pedro-sanz-y-jorda&prev=searcho, he was one of the 120 Martyr Saints of
China canonized on 1 October 2000).
One
of the sisters gave explanation about Bishop Peter Sanz and Jorda before going down
for dinner. We arrived in Xiamen around
midnight.
After breakfast,
we left for the pier to go to Gulangyu Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulangyu_Island. We were on the 10:30 a.m. ferry and had free time upon arriving on the
island. Several youth and I had lunch together
and then went to the Church, which was closed. We went back to Xiamen around 2.30 p.m. We
prayed the rosary and sung several praise and worship songs on the way to
Shenzhen and arrived in Shenzhen around midnight.
It’s a
blessing to plan and join this youth pilgrimage to see their devotion,
their youth spirit, their joy, and their care for one another. Mr. Wu did a lot of things before and during
the pilgrimage including making sure nobody will be left behind by dividing the
group into small groups and set up a group chatting
in we chat which is still continue till now. Here
is the link of the pictures (from several cameras and not in order): http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbuWrFm4ZM2Re
Here
is sharing from two participants of the pilgrimage:
这次活动我觉得非常好！因为前几年一直工作的原因，错过了好多好多的教会一些活动，团体的交流。天主对我们每个人的召叫不同，然而天主用特别的方式召叫了我，让我又能重新认识祂；可是我的信仰并没有多坚强，也没有多深刻的认识，所以我需要更多的去聆听他人的分享，以及亲身的体验；朝圣就是最好的方式。因为朝圣能加深我们，或者更好的说能够让我们寻找到内心的信仰。我一直都希望能去朝圣，因为朝圣真的能坚固自己的信德，加深我们对主耶稣基督的认识；因为我的信仰一直都在原地，没进也没退，所以我更加渴望；我感谢天主，让我有了这一次，也是第一次亲身的体验这次朝圣之旅，是的，我的收获真的好多好多。而且在今年我也有了更多的机会参加教会的活动和跟其他弟兄姐妹交流分享，这就是天主美好的安排。当然也希望能参加更多的朝圣啦！ 下一次的朝圣之交流希望去看望麻风病人，在周六和周日。
《爱的见证》
我曾经像一只小小飞鸟，飞跃在这蓝天海上，穿梭在这城市之中，我无时无刻彷徨无助，找不到可以倾诉的地方，在这里（玫瑰山莊，白主教洞）有一双慈爱的双手正等着我，来拥抱我，让我的内心一切得到释放，让我的心不在受外面的世界干扰，在这里安静，慈祥，柔和是一般人无法想象的，主我要走向你给我预备的地方…………………
天主的恩典无处不在，天主的爱时时充满着我的心，来到玫瑰山莊已经是第二天的早上10点多， 经过800多公里的长途跋涉，坐了十多小时的路程终于到达我们第一站，山莊的美丽优雅的情景早已洗去我的疲惫和劳累。我们找到了修女，在修女的安排下我们各自找到房间暂时休息。玫瑰山莊的招待所，简朴，整洁，每个房间挂着天使塑像，安静，和谐接待我们远道而来的客人。吃过午饭后我们稍作休息，下午3点30分开始进入玫瑰山莊天主的圣殿，此时我心情很激动很期待也很敬畏。我们如约来到玫瑰山莊的大门口，出现在我眼前的先是一栋楼房，上面写着天主是爱的字样。门口旁边有个块石板记录着玫瑰山莊的发展史、
我们顺着门进去，开始拜苦路，一处，二处就这样一处一处往上走，我们要走向天主的圣殿，我们要重新纪念耶稣为我们受苦的历程。当我走到第四处时，我忽远忽近听到圣母温柔的声音，听似歌声非似歌声在这安静的山谷回荡着，小信德的我开始还不相信这个是不是真的，我又用心听，当我第二次听到这个声音时，我不在疑问了，只是在心里默存着继续往前走，走到第六处：圣妇为耶稣拭面时我的心很痛，不是因为我们顶着强烈的太阳照射而痛，而是想着耶稣为我们的罪过，情愿被钉死在十字架上，而我们还不知悔改，为了自己的私欲无情的一步一步逼着一个无罪的人走向死亡，走过每一处，我的心像荆条鞭打着一样痛，历历在目，深深伤痛，想想我们的耶稣何等的痛苦，罪人啊，悔改吧，这个强有力的声音一直触碰着我的灵魂深处…..悔改吧…….
回忆耶稣的苦难，我们走完了十四处，经过耶稣受洗的约旦河（大水池）我们也像重新洗礼一样获得重生的感觉，迈向教堂，玫瑰山莊外形是欧式风格的形式，庄严，美丽，肃目在山的中间，门前布满各种花种的玫瑰花，迎面清香扑来，使人顿时清新精神。我们有序进入教堂，我首先看到的是头顶上的大十字架，它诉说多少爱，多少恩典，多少人间的沧桑，见证着这里一个又一个奇迹，主，我爱你，这是发自内心的声音。感恩赎罪的天主交流的工具（祭台）呈上我们一个个祈祷，呈上我们的喜怒哀乐，呈上我们的生命。见证着爱在这里，在这里你遇到主了吗？领受主的恩宠了吗，体会到圣母妈妈代祷的力量了吗？这时我献上的是：主，我在这里，你来指导我的一切，我要在你内生活，在你爱内生活。修女带着我们祈祷，天主，圣母，这时与我们同在，圣母显示了自己，祭台旁边的圣母塑像后面出现了一个似手的形态张开手臂护佑着整个教堂，我又开始小信德了。心想着这又是什么，我时不时抬头仰望着，不敢想太多。 修女开始讲解山莊的来历和经历着各种考验，发展成今天的规模，修女说她在等我们上来的时候，她感觉到有一股强大力量从下面上来，有圣神一直护佑着上来，而她在教堂里面等的时候，也有困惑，有个意向就是等一下，等一下，原来天主都有安排，人不能随便揣摩天主的意念。了解山莊的由来，深深感觉天主的伟大，圣母的伟大，耶稣为了我们的罪过死在十字架上，圣母不辞万里，历尽艰难来到我们中国，把救恩带到中国，把恩宠分给我们中华每个子民，我们却怀着各种心态来回应天主的爱，还继续着伤害天主的爱，何等罪过。当修女讲解结束后那双大能的手消失了。天主要与我们同在不需要太多的语言，用我们的心神来领受天主的恩宠。
爱不需要语言，用行动释全天主给我们的爱。万福玛利亚，你充满圣宠主与你同在……
愿主的名何其伟大，何其伟大。愿你的慈爱保佑中华大地，愿你大能手臂保佑我们信友
阿门！
Hong Kong, June 3, 2015
Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M.
Let’s
do simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible
