VINCENTIAN MARIAN YOUTH GREECE
together in FAITH, together in HOPE, together in LOVE for Christ!
VMY Greece deals with Challenges as Excellent Opportunities
by Maria Crisalyn Serquiña
VMY GREECE members assembled once again last May 15, 2022 for its monthly session at the Miraculous Medal Center. The session was facilitated by its newly elected youth council officers.
Lifting up their spirits with the opening song which was 'Our God' sang by Chris Tomlin and a morning prayer led by Ate Julia, they began the session.
As the monthly session is never complete without greeting the birthday celebrants, they then proceeded with wishing joyfully 'happy birthday' to each one who celebrates their special day on the month of April and May and took pictures.
Afterwards, important announcements were made regarding the Crowning of Mama Mary and Flores de Mayo (an annual Filipino celebration referred to as ''Santacruzan''). The core leaders also encouraged both members and parents to participate on the fund-raising raffle draw and for the upcoming group meeting with Soeur Melanie on the 29th of May. The members were also informed about the upcoming celebration of the Holy Sacrament of Communion and Confirmation on June, the catechetical day in Loutraki on July and the trip to France on August. Later on, they shared about information about the Vincentian Youth Day and World Youth Day that will take place in Portugal in 2023 and with that, they showed pictures and talked about the similar events that took place in Madrid, Spain back in 2011 and in Krakow, Poland on the year of 2016.
In order to warm up a bit, there was a small ice breaker called ''Would You Press The Button?'' that consisted of questions where you had to pick a side but face the consequences. With the assistance of Ate Catherine & Ate Crisa to ask the questions, laughter filled the room as they were all debating about their answers.
After feeling energized, the session went on with the presentations of the study visit of Ate Crisa that was held at Belgrade, Serbia on the first week of April regarding employment to socially disadvantaged groups and Ate Ivy's study visit at Budapest, Hungary on the first week of May that focused on strengthening peace through human rights education.
Carrying on with the main topic of the session, they discussed about overcoming challenges. Separated into five groups, they all shared their personal experiences and conversed about their ways on getting the control of these problems.
A memorable quote from this topic was that 'CHALLENGES ARE EXCELLENT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES' and that a great stepping stone in overcoming these obstacles is by believing in yourself and your capacities.
To conclude this day-long session, they prayed in unison, took some memorable pictures together with the titas, and enjoyed the food that was cooked by the ever-supportive parents with music blasting on the background.
