"MISS ME?": an online “reunion” between Christ and our campus youth, inspired by “Come home with me and refresh your soul.” (1 Kings 13:7)
KUCHING — Kuching Campus Ministry (KCM) organised an event entitled “Miss Me?” on 30 October 2021 from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm. It was an online ‘reunion’ between Christ and campus youth in order to value more deeply the Sacraments of Holy Mass/Communion and Confession amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This KCM programme was done in collaboration with the Kuching Archdiocesan Youth Commission (KAYC), with seven seminarians from St Peter’s College, Kuching (SPC) and with Sr Clothilda Delicia Francis Xavier Klumai, SSFS, from the Congregation of Sisters of St Francis Sarawak (SSFS).
Around 70 young people took part in this event. Most of them are campus youth from ILKKM Kuching, IPGK Batu Lintang, IPGK Tun Abdul Razak, Politeknik Kuching Sarawak, SEGi College Sarawak, UiTM Samarahan, and UNIMAS. Campus youth from campuses outside Kuching such as Politeknik Metro Betong, UiTM Mukah, IPGK Rajang, UPM, and Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alam also participated. The event also welcomed youth from different parishes in Kuching as well as from Sibu and Miri Dioceses.
As an introduction to the event, while welcoming participants in the Zoom event, KAYC presented two videos, one on the Holy Mass and one on confession. They helped the participants to get ready and deepen their understanding on the session’s topics. The videos showed tips on what Catholics should do during Holy Communion and what makes confession very important.
At 2.00 pm, the emcee of the programme, Azellecrystal Jok, greeted everyone warmly and introduced the theme and objectives of the programme. And that was to ENCOURAGE and to MOTIVATE our campus youth for them to feel eager to go back to Jesus through the Sacraments (Eucharist and Confession especially) as we are probably going back to the ‘old normal’ of going to Church for Holy Mass and confession, hopefully soon, but with certain health protocols in place.
After that, Br Canisius from St Peter’s Seminary led the opening prayer. Icebreaker activity followed, led by Matthaiz Risob and Arcelia Sheira. Two questions were posed to the participants throughout the ice-breaking session, namely: the first question, “What do you miss the most during this pandemic?”; and second, “In one word, what does Holy Mass mean to you?”.
The youth participants gave their views and as the results have shown, the top three things missed most during this pandemic were having “praise & worship”, “in person gatherings” and being with their “friends”. And for question number two, Holy Mass for most of them was a “connection with God”, “love” and “feeling peace”. How young people think and feel towards Holy Mass and confession is worth pondering on indeed.
The first session, then, was held. It was about the Sacrament of Confession and presented by Br Jonathan Rao from St Peter’s College. His sharing helped the participants understand the purpose of this sacrament and the need to do confession the way Catholics do. He also explained what ‘general absolution’ meant and shared some quotes from some saints about confession that show how valuable this Sacrament truly is.
To add spice to his session, he also gave the participants an online quiz about the topic and rewarded the top students who answered all questions correctly. And the winners from this quiz were Claudia binti Jephari from ILKKM Kuching and Jessica Lee Yu Li from IPGK Tun Abdul Razak. Congratulations to these two!
The second session was held next. It was presented by Sr Clothilda Delicia Francis Xavier Klumai, SSFS. She heartily reminded the young people to always be in communion with God, and that God loves us all as we are. She shared that as we eat the Body of Christ, God offers us His very self, as our spiritual food, and this gives us strength. Truly, God is the source of all strength and grace.
After each session, participants were divided into small groups through Zoom’s breakout rooms. There they had the chance to share with their peers answering some guide questions for them to deepen their awareness and appreciation of the themes and for them to inspire and get inspired by one another.
After each session, during the ‘question and answer’ parts, both Seminarian Jonathan and Sr Delicia shared from their hearts how they have felt God’s call for them to enter the seminary/convent and how they generously and gratefully responded with love. Their honest and heart-warming sharing must have touched the hearts of the youth participants for them to also discern God’s beautiful plans for them.
Lastly, as a fitting conclusion, the celebration of the Holy Mass was held, with Fr Ramon Borja, SDB. He took the chance also to share some explanation on some of the elements of the Holy Mass. During the homily, he stressed that “to love is to listen”, and that “the more we listen, the more we love”.
We are very thankful for the organisers of this programme. And we give our praises and thanks to all the campus youth who offered their time to partake of this enlightening event. Below are some of the testimonies shared by several youth who had joined this “Miss Me?” reunion between Jesus and the young:
- “The ‘Miss Me?’ event was both interesting and eye-opening as I was able to learn many new things from all the sharing. It was a brand-new experience for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.” [ Jessica Lee Yu Li, IPGK Tun Abdul Razak ]
- “This event that I attended intently, meant a lot to me because it gave me a lot of knowledge in knowing more about the meaning of repentance and how to receive the Eucharist. I am also grateful for this programme. I hope that such events will still be organised in the future. In fact, I hope many more interesting events like this will come from all of you, KCM and KAYC teams.” [ Ramles Manggoi anak James Brook, SEGi College Sarawak ]
- “I can forgive the sins of others, but I cannot forget them. When it comes to Jesus, He forgives and forgets all our sins whenever we confess to Him. For me, that’s very striking!” [ Karen Bulan Jeffrey, UNIMAS ]
- “For me, this programme has helped in deepening my faith especially during this post-pandemic time. As we know, this pandemic made us unable to gather like how we used to during the ‘old normal’ days. Therefore, through this programme, I learnt about Confession as shared by Br Jonathan. I learnt things I never knew before. And, Sr Del’s sharing touched my heart and opened my eyes to not be afraid in replying to God’s call. Finally, I was also touched by Fr Ramon’s homily: “The more we listen, the more we love.” Hence, I hope that there will be more programmes like this in the future. [ Yoviyana Donattela anak Pait, Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam ]
- “Shalom and thank you for inviting me to the “Miss Me?” virtual event. In my experience throughout the whole programme, I learnt a lot from the sharers to understand a deeper meaning of confession and Holy Communion, which was very interesting and exciting as well. I really miss a lot of things we used to do before lockdown/COVID-19. I am looking forward to another event like this and hopefully I can make it. Also, I hope we can gather again in person after the situation gets better. Overall, in my opinion, there was no problem at all throughout the event. Thank you and God bless.” [ Adrian Mark, St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching ]
“Miss Me?” Truly, we miss going to Church, receiving Communion and going to confession. As we miss such intimate moments with Jesus, Jesus surely misses us too, misses us even more. May Jesus and the young get closer even more through the Sacraments amidst the challenges of the pandemic.
Arcelia Sheira anak Duat
Catholic Campus Leader, IPG Tun Abdul Razak
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