World Youth Day and What The Jesuits Are Up To


 My previous post on World Youth Day is here and I will be adding my favourite updates as the time unfolds and draws nearer to the main event. 

The side bar now has the official site for World Youth Day posted for the duration so you don't have to keep looking for this post and also the Jesuit Magis site ( more on what this is below.)

The Jesuits are sponsoring an exciting programmed for pilgrims to World Youth Day this year in Madrid.  So says Fr James Martin SJ in an article earlier this week in America Magazine   and below:
 Monochrome version of the IHS emblem of the Je...Image via Wikipedia
  "The Society of Jesus, along with other religious institutions and laypeople throughout the world who follow Ignatian Spirituality, invite us to find Christ at the center of our lives," reads the description at the Magis website. 
(Magis is a rich Ignatian term meaning the better, the more, the higher, for God.  The motto Ad Majorem Die Gloriam captures some of the flavor of the idea.) 

"This initiative was started in 1997 (World Youth Day Paris). In 2005 in Cologne, it was called Magis for the first time. 




In 2008 it was celebrated in Sydney and in 2011 it will be celebrated in Madrid in the days leading up to World Youth Day.

The motto for this Magis is 'With Christ at the heart of the world.'"  Essentially the programs, run by Jesuits (and this year spearheaded by those in Spain and Portugal) along with members of other religious orders, helps to introduce youth to Ignatian spirituality and deepen their experience of WYD. 

You can learn about Magis on Facebook, Youtube, Flickr and Twitter, or on their homepage here. "

                                                   Beautiful Graphic from Magis site above

Magis is a very packed well organised and busy site with numerous hyperlinks .

 Well worth a look.

This explains what they will be doing in the run up to the big meeting of World Youth  in Madrid.
From August 5 to the 21 of 2011, MAGIS will unfold in three stages with various activities:
  • Loyola: from August 5 to the 7 we will all be together in the Sanctuary of Loyola to start this Ignatian adventure.
  • Experiences: from the 8 to the 14, we will be split up around cities in Spain and Portugal in groups of 25 people. There we will participate in experiences of pilgrimage, social service, art, spirtuality, ecology, faith and culture.
  • We will arrive in Madrid the 15 of August and we will have another day together to incorporate ourselves into the program for WYD, from the 16 to the 21.

I especially loved this flashmob video in front of the basilica of St Ignatius at Loyola.
 which ties in well with this little gem of Wisdom received in my inbox today from the World Community for Christian Meditation.

After Meditation, from Sufi Narrative, noted in Willigis Jager, SEARCH FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE

"Ask them," the abbe begged me once more, "how they prepare to come before
God. By fasting?"
"Oh no," answered a young dervish, laughing. "We eat and drink and praise
God."
"Dancing," answered the oldest dervish, with a long white beard.
"Dancing?" asked the abbe. "Why?"
"Because dancing extinguishes the ego," said the old dervish. "When the ego
has died away, there is no obstacle to union with God."
Great fun !

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