The Gifts We Will Bring

According to the Bible, three wise men from the East traveled far and wide to find Jesus by following a star. They brought with them three gifts and after giving them to Jesus they returned home changed men. According to tradition, the relics of these wise men are found in the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

Together with 35 other Filipinos, I am going to Cologne this Sunday not only to venerate the relics of the magi but also, and more importantly, to encounter Jesus Christ in the young people who will take part in the 20th World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations. The 36 of us will represent the Filipino Community of the Diocese of Rome, Italy.

Our journey to Cologne began many months ago. All 36 of us underwent a twice-weekly spiritual formation program divided into five modules, namely (1) The Search, (2) The Encounter, (3) Adoration, (4) Sharing, and (5) Conversion. The modules were meant to make the participants experience what the three wise men went through in their search for Jesus and how their encounter with Him led them to adore God, which they expressed by sharing with Jesus the gifts they brought for Him, and finally how this series of events ultimately led the magi to experience personal conversion.

The module that made a deep impression on me was the fourth – sharing. After the input, the facilitator gave each participant three different cutouts of colored paper. On each paper we were to write our answers to the following questions:

       What gold will you bring to WYD?
       What myrrh will you present?
       What incense will you offer?

We dedicated ample time for reflection before writing anything on the cutouts. The more I contemplated on the questions, the more intense my identification with the magi became. Like the three wise men, I wanted to intimately encounter Jesus and personally bring Him gifts. During a sharing with some participants I found out that we had almost identical answers. The gold that we wanted to bring was our lives, our faith, and our commitment to follow Him out of love. The myrrh that we desired to present was our personal response to His call to love Him by serving those in most need, our affection for mother earth, our friends and families, and our faithfulness to the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us. The incense that we chose to offer was our fervent prayers, our hope for a better world, our wish for an end to all forms of violence, and our praise for God’s glory.

I pray that the WYD will truly be an occasion for the delegates to encounter Jesus personally and that they will be transformed by that encounter. I also hope that they will return to their homes bearing gifts of comfort to the suffering, love for everyone and peace to the world.

Catholic Curiosity of the Day: The 1995 World Youth Day celebrations held in Manila, Philippines drew what is considered as the largest crowd in human history, estimated at up to 5 million!