The northern part of Bangladesh's ethnic Catholic youth celebrated Easter at St. Joseph’s Church, Bhutahara in Naogaon district from April 14 to 17, 2022.
The program had the theme ‘To Know the Easter Sunday Mystery of Our Risen Lord’.
As many as 55 youths from different villages of the parish participated.
Father Sushil Louis Pereira, the parish priest, was the chief guest, to open the event along with a special guest Father Nabin Pius Costa, youth coordinator of Rajshahi diocese, and Father Anil, assistant parish priest.
The main aim of this program was to know about Easter and the mystery of Risen Jesus through the faith formation of the ethnic Catholic youth of the diocese.
In his opening remarks, Father Pereira said, "Be a witness of what you have seen. Be a witness yourself and you are a witness to the truth.”
"Be a good Catholic youth in society, family, and country by your good works and deeds. You will make a good example for youths of other religions," he added.
"Go to Risen Lord, go to the Cross", surrender yourself and rise from the human condition. Gove the witness as you experienced the Risen Jesus,” said the parish priest.
Easter is the most important feast of Christianity. It marks the Resurrection of Jesus after three days of his crucifixion. Easter is preceded by 40-days of Lent, which is observed by works of charity, penance, and prayers.
In Christian tradition, the Resurrection represents Christ's victory over death and the promise of eternal life for those who follow him.
Father Costa, the youth coordinator of the diocese, quoted the words of Pope Francis and said, "Today, we are going to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. He is alive. We, the youth are also alive and our Church must be alive to love and serve Jesus through our life witness.”
“It is your responsibility to keep the Christian faith alive in love. You must preach the word of God to people who still do not know Jesus,” he added.
Father Costa also inspired the youth to determine their goal in life and face the challenges of the present realities.
He also said, “Embrace all the challenges of life to be strong, resilient, and hopeful to contribute to the common good in society.”
Formed by the Christian faith, youth is to know the Catholic teachings and witness the faith in and through life, he added.
Several participants said the event was meaningful and enriching.
“We are an ethnic Catholic youth generation. We are happy to join this Easter program. This is the first time our parish priest arranged it for youth,” said Biplob Murmu, a participant.
“I am glad because I learned many things in this program, especially the meaning of Easter, teaching of the Church that we are called to serve the church. This will be effective in my life,” he added.
Another participant Ronika Soren said, "I am overjoyed to join at this celebration with fellow ethnic Catholic youth.”
“I learned many things, especially how to understand the Holy Week liturgy. Increase deep faith within and I filled with the inner joy of Easter,” he added.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
Latest News
