Group celebrates strength in Christian unity
The B.C. Catholic
SURREY
The voices of more than 2,100 participants roared in unison through the Chandos Pattison Auditorium as Grade 7 students proclaimed their unity in the Lord.
“Hope! In Him! Strength! In Him! Alive! In Him!”
The 13th annual Spirit Day, held at Surrey’s Pacific Academy, is the largest archdiocesan youth event. The Nov. 5-6 rally was held to prepare students for their upcoming confirmation.
“Spirit Day is designed to celebrate the Grade 7 students of our archdiocese and has grown tremendously since the inaugural event in February 2005,” Erwin Fung, consultant for the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry (OYYAM), said. The event is designed to “get participants excited about receiving the sacrament of confirmation, and awaken the Holy Spirit in young and old alike.”
The event was centred on the theme, “In Him.”
“We find joy in Our Lord Jesus Christ,” explained Fung. “At Spirit Day, we discovered that, with hope and strength, we are alive in Him.”
“We want (the students) to grow closer in their faith and get excited by it,” said Clayton Imoo, the OYYAM director. “We celebrated the idea of finding hope, drawing strength, and coming alive in Him!”
The youth event was designed to foster fellowship among the students, but also to help explain aspects of the Catholic faith. “In addition to an experience of the wider-church community in the archdiocese, the participants will experience the joy and love we have in our faith, our tradition, and our Church,” Fung said.
At Spirit Day 2016 the students joined in prayer, dance, and various skits, all while enjoying music performed by the band WAL (We Are Loved). “How does God see us?” asked Matthew Leon, the lead singer. “God sees all of us, wonderfully made, and wants us to know that we are loved.”
The band, which returned to Spirit Day for the sixth time, sang a mixture of pop songs and Christian themes. “This love is what propels us to share His love with other people, through music,” Leon said. “
APeX Ministries’ Brad Farmer and Gene Monterastelli were the keynote speakers at the event. They utilized their own experiences, sketch comedy, and a whole lot of juggling to spread the Gospel message.
Farmer shared how moments of stress tested his faith in the Lord. His sister passed away from cerebral palsy, but even as she was dying she continued to show her faith in the Lord, he said. She continued praying and loving everyone without judgment until the end of her life, which inspired him to follow her example by embracing the sacraments.
“When you let the Holy Spirit into your life, you receive the flames of baptism,” he said. “You fan the flames every time you receive the Eucharist.” Confirmation increases the gifts already granted by the previous sacraments.
APeX Ministries and WAL “bring the message of Christ and share their faith through their programming and music,” said Fung. “Our hope is that participants will see that with hope and strength we are alive in and with Christ, Who is our Saviour.”
