Dear OWLS participant,
We write to you at the end of OWLS project, a project whose aim is to strengthen the relationships between young people within Catholic Action in Europe in service to the Church and the world.
You took part in this project along with more than 100 members of Catholic Action from 10 different countries.
First of all, we would like to thank you for accepting the invitation made by the Catholic Action in your country to participate in this project! Everything starts from our “yes” to challenge ourselves, to continue learning, to strengthen our faith and our service as young people of Catholic Action towards other young people and towards everyone. Thank you because your participation built and made this project more beautiful!
We hope that this was an enriching experience for your life and for your personal and Christian formation. We also hope that the questions raised were more than the answers found. In the meeting with other cultures, we discover ourselves better, adding a different richness to our personal story. It is not easy at all to challenge ourselves, to go out from our comfort zone, leaving our certainties and our daily habits. Taking the first step is not only a brave action, but it is an essential act we are called to as daughters and sons of God who is Love.
We have arrived at the conclusion of this project, in reality this is only the beginning! We have received the gift of Catholic Action in our countries, parishes, dioceses, at school and in the family: what reunites us in our realities which are different needs to be constantly regenerated by revolutionary actions in our ordinary lives by moments such as the ones we lived together. Every day we are called to be missionary disciples, witnesses of the Love we received which we have to multiply. Our service with the people of God never ends so that the world believes! We are sure that the relationships you built during the various parts of this project help you to be faithful to your vocation, encourage you to never give up in challenging moments, help you to see and recognise what is motivating you to continue working, especially in the moments when you cannot see immediate results.
As Pope Francis writes in Christus Vivit:
The Lord is calling us to enkindle stars in the night of other young people. He asks you to look to the true stars, all those varied signs he gives us to guide our way, and to imitate the farmer who watches the stars before going out to plough his field. God lights up stars to help us keep walking: “The stars shine in their watches, and are glad; he calls them and they say: ‘Here we are!’” (Bar 3:34-35). Christ himself is our great light of hope and our guide in the night, for he is the “bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16). (CV 33)
Remember that you are never alone in this mission that God is calling you to, and the experiences we shared through OWLS in these months remind it to us. Many Catholic Action witnesses precede us and accompany us on the way to sanctity, we entrust to them our desires, our labours and our dreams.
Thank you once more for your active participation. Let us accompany each other with prayer. May God Bless you
Luisa and Michele (IFCA Youth Coordination)
Codruta, Emanuela, Josef, Marija, Fr. Reuben, Maria Grazia (OWLS leaders team)
Below are 10 short interviews on the OWLS Project by Azione Cattolica Italiana
