When Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and See.”
John 1:45-46
This notion of taking the first step and accepting the invitation to ‘Come and See’ Christ was explored by our youth at the ACOY NSW 2022 Young Adults Retreat, held at the Antiochian Village in Goulburn last weekend.
In this contemporary society that we live in, the call to ‘Come and See’ can often be drowned out by the many earthly distractions that our youth are constantly grappling with. And so this retreat served to block out the outside noise, accept the call to come and see so that we could come and be with Christ and invite others to do the same.
The schedule of the weekend guided and inspired our youth from various parishes across the Archdiocese aged 14 to 18. The group was blessed to have His Eminence Metropolitan Basilios provide a keynote address on what it means to ‘Come and See’ and decipher between the call from Christ and the call from the world. The group were also joined by Deacon Theophan who provided a practical approach on how to answer the call and do as Philip did and preach to our neighbours. We are so grateful to Sayedna Basilios and Deacon Theophan for offering their time and wisdom enlightening and encouraging the youth.
Also, our youth were exposed to the life of one of our contemporary Saints namely St Joseph of Damascus whose feast day was on the weekend. St Joseph was canonised in 1993 by the Holy Synod of Antioch. The youth were given an illustrated book, with a brief overview of his life, published by our Archdiocese.
Glory to God for everything. We pray that it was a blessed weekend for all and that our youth continue to be like Philip asking others to come and see the wonder and the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ witnessing to Him with zeal and joy.
