ARCHDIOCESAN

YOUTH DAY 2016

PREPARATORY
MODULE
 ARCHDIOCESAN YOUTH DAY 2016
PREPARATORYFORMATION PROGRAM
Theme

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” [Mt 5:8]— This is the heart of the Message of His
Holiness Pope Francis to the youth on the occasion of the 30th World Youth Day (WYD) 2015.

Over-all Vision and Objectives of this Preparatory Formation Program:

The AYD 2016: A Christ-centered celebration of happiness and blessedness by the Church and her young
people.

As a revolutionary experience of happiness brought about by purity of heart, the AYD2016 aims to offer
its participants:

1. A deeper understanding on the teachings of our Lord on true happiness and purity of heart

2. An encounter of God in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, also in personal and
communal prayer

3. Reflection on their relationships and situations of unhappiness, bringing the light of the pure in heart
in these

4. Commitment to become “Christian revolutionaries” of true happiness and purity of heart in their local
churches

At the end of the AYD 2015 Preparatory Session, the participants are expected to have:

1. Read and reflected together on the Scriptural basis of the theme; WYD2015 message of Pope Francis
as spiritual guide in preparing for the event

2. Acquired a shared knowledge and understanding about the AYD 2015

3. Committed to actively and faithfully participate in the AYD2015 celebration.

FLOW:

OPENING PRAYER

Coming from the prayer, begin the session in a welcoming spirit and in an effort to come to a shared
conviction regarding the importance of the gathering. If you will use the liturgical text provided here,
then you will see it includes this segment.

The bell/gong maybe rung to signify the beginning of the prayer. Then, the leader, after a brief silence,
invites everyone for the prayer.
1. Opening Exhortation

Leader: Let us remember that we are always in the loving embrace of God, our Father. The Lord reigns,
let the earth be glad.

All: We praise Your presence among us.

Leader: By Your word all things were created, each in its allotted space and time. You breathed life
through Your Spirit, and in the whisper of the wind, we are reminded of Your Spirit's continual presence.
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad.

All: We thank You for Your blessings.

Leader: The whole of creation declares Your glory, Lord. A symphony of sound and color surround us, if
we will for a moment stand with eyes and ears attuned. The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad.

All: We worship You forever.

Leader: The whole of humankind declares Your glory, Lord. Each precious son or daughter a unit of love
in the currency of your family. The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad.

All: Direct our feet to You.

Leader: Now in our worship, we declare Your glory, Lord. Proclaim Your Kingdom to the ends of the
earth, Your love to the highest mountain, Your forgiveness to the depths of the sea. The Lord reigns, let
the earth be glad.

All: Direct our lives to Your Son Jesus.

Leader: God of creation and blessings, we see You both in the spectacular and in the ordinariness of life.
In the beauty of a sunset and in the selfless giving of time to one in need; in the tranquility of the dawn
chorus and the roar of a lion. Open our eyes…

All: That we might see.

Leader: Our skills, our knowledge, our wisdom: All have their origins with You. Open our minds...

All: That we might understand.

Leader: Our creativity, our art, our poetry, our visual expressions are reflections of Your creativity, Your
Spirit working in us and around us. Open our imaginations...

All: That we might explore our own creativity.

2. Enthronement of the Bible

The Bible carried by the Prayer Moderator/ Gospel Reader and accompanied by candle bearers will now
be brought in procession and enthroned at an altar designated at the stage. While this happens, a
suitable hymn is sung. After having enthroned the Bible, the priest stands at the ambo to preside the
prayer.
Enthronement Hymn: Everyday God

Everyday God…
Oh Jesus…
Oh Spirit…
Come be with us…

3. Proclamation of the Word

The Prayer Moderator takes the Bible, raises it in procession until he reaches the ambo and proclaims the
reading. A suitable hymn is sung:

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. When I feel afraid, I think I lost my way,
still You’re there right beside me. And nothing will I fear, as long as you are near. Please be near me to
the end.

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of the Lord.

All: Praise to You, Oh Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Silent Reflection

5. Group Dynamics

5.1. Introduction

“As we prepare ourselves for the upcoming Archdiocesan Youth Day celebration, it is very good and
fitting that we begin reflecting and taking to heart the theme of this celebration.

The Scripture theme, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’, is taken from the Gospel of
Matthew, chapter 5, verse 8. This is the Scripture theme chosen by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, for this
year’s World Youth Day. We have all been touched by his visit to our country early this year, right? He
already proposed that the WYD themes starting last year until next year be taken from the Beatitudes, as
a way of guiding young people to attain blessedness or true happiness in life. Thus, let us allow our God
to guide us spiritually in our journey towards the AYD 2016 as we read and reflect on this Gospel from
Matthew.” The participants shall be grouped accordingly

5.2. Reading of the Gospelin Small Groups

The following will be observed as flow of the activity, which may run for 15-20 minutes:

a. The participants divide themselves into small groups, with around 4-5 in a small group so that the
sound to be generated from the reading will not be too loud. They are invited to do brief self-
introduction as necessary.

b. In their respective groups, they take turns in reading aloud, in a reflective way, each paragraph of the
Gospel of Matthew
c. As they listen to their group mates read the Gospel, they are invited to highlight or underline the
striking words/ phrases/ sentences in the reading. It will be better to highlight intelligently, i.e. omitting
the spaces or non-essential words; otherwise, we might fall into the unhelpful fate of highlighting a
whole lengthy paragraph or even page!

5.3. Reflection and Sharing

After the group reading, the facilitator invites everyone to a period of reflection, using the following
questions:

+ How did you feel while reading the Gospel?

+ What part of the Gospel struck you most?

+ How does the Gospel encourage you to prepare well for the AYD 2016?

After some time of quiet, ask everyone to turn to their small groups and invite them to share their
answers there. Provide around 10-15 minutes for this.

5.4 As a fruit of their personal reflection and sharing, participants are invited to create, by small group, a
prayer expressing in 1-2 sentences what they commit themselves to do as part of their spiritual
preparation for the AYD 2016. Heart-shaped strips of paper will be given them where they will write
their group prayer.

When all groups are ready, the facilitator invites everyone to form one big circle.

5.5. The Lord’s Prayer

Leader: Animated by the Spirit, trusting in God, we lift our intentions to God our Father, in the prayer
Jesus himself has taught us.

6. Closing Prayer

Leader: Let us pray. Creator God, may we join with the whole of Your creation in praising You, our
Creator, through the fragrance and melody of our lives. We thank You for this world, Your creation, a
gift-wrapped in love given to us. We meet together bound together by Your love. May this be a time of
joy, a time for growing, a time for strengthening, a time for loving, quality time together. Grant this
through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit one God,
forever and ever. R. Amen
INTRODUCTORY SESSION: ARCHDIOCESAN YOUTH DAY?

Before going through the main sessions, it will be helpful to provide an introductory session where the
participants get to know one another, to receive orientation about the Archdiocesan Youth Day, (Its
rationale, origin and history) and to motivate them towards active participation.

Time Frame: 1 Hour

Materials:

Handout: What is the Archdiocesan Youth Day?

Pilgrim Guide of AYD 2015
PowerPoint: Input/Presentation
Manila Papers
Markers
1. Animation (15 minutes)

The whole day formation program starts with an animating activity, e.g. animation of the AYD 2016
Theme Song, NYD 2015 theme song or of another song everybody already knows, which primarily aims
to enable participants to know one another and make them comfortable with one another. This activity
should also set the proper mood, i.e. a relaxed atmosphere conducive to learning for the participants.

2. Getting-to-Know each other Game: Dating Game (45 minutes)

An animation activity which can set a joyful and excited mood can be done before the start of the
session. (e.g. Happy, When you’re happy and you know it, etc.)

Provide a worksheet with a circle and ask the participants to place the numbers inside the circle to make
a clock. Each number will correspond to a “date”, i.e. for each number, they will have to choose their
“date” (12 dates). Their chosen date should agree to the time the participant assigned to him/her as to
avoid having two dates at a time. To avoid having many dates, they should write in the clock the names
of their dates. For example, as you call out a time, the participants will go to their corresponding date.
For every hour/date, one question will be asked.

Encourage participants to go to those they do not know much/ yet.

12 Questions (These may be changed/modified)

1. What excites you about today?

2. What is your involvement in the church?

3. What is the true meaning of “Forever” for you?

4. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you happy?

5. What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

6. What is your happiest moment?

7. What is the best gift you have ever received?

8. What are the things that make you happy?

9. What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?

10. What do you think is the key to finding happiness?

11. Why did you decide to join theArchdiocesan Youth Day?

12. Who is your favourite Saint? Why?

For each “date”, allow some time for the participants to get to know one another.

Sample clock with “dates”:

3. What is Archdiocesan Youth Day

Facilitator: What is the ultimate reason why we are all gathered here today? That is to prepare ourselves
for a bigger celebration---the AYD. We will be watching a Video, and somehow this video will help us to
understand what AYD is. (The promotional video of AYD 2015)

Definition - AYD is the coming together of young people from the different parishes of the Archdiocese
of Lingayen-Dagupan for reception, recollection and renewal, recreation, and re-commissioning.
Premised in the Word of God, this encounter enables the young people to gather in formation programs
and path their future spiritual lives. At the same time the gathering provides them the opportunity to
interact, create friendship, share their own culture and heritage, discuss issues that concern them and
the rest of the society, and identify solutions that could affect changes. AYD is a four-day experience of
being Church-praying, celebrating, caring, serving and witnessing.

History - In 1995, scores of young hopefuls from the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan trooped to
Manila and partook in the international gathering and journey of faith of young pilgrims, the 10th World
Youth Day. After experiencing the joy and the meaning of the event, the Archdiocesan youths present in
that occasion saw the need to extend home the ardor of the celebration, along with the desire to foster
the gathering’s message “As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you.” (John 20:21).

This noble desire was encouraged by Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz which then gave cause for the founding
of the annual celebration of meaningful spiritual gathering for the youths of the Archdiocese,
theArchdiocesan Youth Day!

In 1996, the Archdiocesan Youth Apostolate Committee (AYAC), composed of priests and youth leaders
who are in the 1995 WYD, organized the celebration of the first AYD in the province’s capital town,
Lingayen. It gathered young people from the parishes of the Archdiocese, making them experience the
vitality of Christ’s Church to be awakened and renewed to their commitment to evangelization and to
communicate in youthful unity a message of hope, faith and love as envisioned during the World Youth
Day’95 in Manila.

Journey of AYD from 1996-2015 (pls. refer to AYD 2015 Pilgrim Guide)

4. Group Dynamics: Expectations and Contributions. The service facilitators will distribute the
“AngPaladngmapalad” Hand outs. They will write their answers on each finger of the hand
image.

Sharing: Each member of a group will share his/her answer to the following questions after writing:
Thumb: When did you give your “Two-thumbs up Yes” to God that you will join AYD 2016?

Pointing Finger: Who are those persons who pointed out AYD to you?

Middle Finger: Why do you feel that you have to participate in this Archdiocesan Youth Day?

Ring Finger: What are those things that you can commit as a symbol of your solidarity to your fellow
youth and parish for the success of AYD 2016?

Pinky Finger: What are your expectations for the coming AYD? What are you looking for in this coming
AYD 2016?

- Each group shall be given a 1 whole manila paper and a marker and the group secretary will
sum-up the answers from his/her group mates.

SESSION ONE:@AYD #Happing-happy

Time Frame: 1 ½ hour

Materials:
Square-cut outs Coloured papers
Audio system
Projector

Procedure:

1. Spring Board:

1.1Give each participant5pcs.of coloured squares (each set should have the same number of squares and
the same number of each colour).

1.2. Announce that each square has a different “point value” but the young people will not know the
points until the end of the game.

1.3. Ask the young people to begin exchanging their squares of paper according to what they think each
is worth. Keep an eye on the young people who are not exchanging very much and listen to reasons why
some colours are being exchanged and others are not.

1.4. After about three to five minutes, stop the exchanges. Give the values for each square of paper and
ask the young people to add up their points. The person with the most points wins. Black- 8 points Red-
2 points Green- 3 points Yellow- 4 points Orange- 10 points Pink- 1 point Purple- 6 points Blue- 9 points
1.5. Ask: Why did some people not exchange a lot of colours? What are some of your reasons for
exchanging certain colours? Make the following points:

• Some people were content with what they already had so did not exchange.

• Some people valued certain colours more than others.

• Sometimes the values of items were not what we expected.

• Most of the time we cannot appreciate our own giftedness because we always focus on what others
have that we don’t have and we wish we have.

Ask: How many of you would like to be happy? What types of things make you happy? How many of
you would like to be content? What types of things make you content? Is there a difference between
these two words? We can find happiness and contentment by being the people that God wants us to be.
One of the ways to know what God asks is by reading the Bible.

2.Key Ideas. Make points about the Beatitudes such as:

• Part of the Sermon on the Mount- Jesus was teaching people on a mountainside
• In the Bible, an event that takes place on a mountain usually represents important contact with God
• Jesus is speaking to a crowd of his followers and decides to give them some tips on how to become
closer to God
• Beatitude means “supreme blessedness or exalted happiness”
• The Beatitudes are divided into two parts: verses 3-6 focus on our relationship with God and verses
7-12 on our relationship with others
• Not a list of don’ts but challenges for us

Divide the group into smaller groups of two or three. Give each group a copy of ‘What is happiness?’
Ask the groups to circle all of the words that they might not know or want to know more about in the
verses e.g. righteousness, blessed. Explain that you will make a note of the words and will discuss them
later on in the series.

3. Ask: What repetition do you notice in the verses? Discuss the word “blessed”. Make points such as:

• Blessed means “bringing happiness, pleasure or contentment.”

• the Greeks thought that the blessed were those that had no cares in the world- either the gods,
the dead, or the rich but Jesus is saying the opposite
• Jesus wanted people to turn their lives upside-down and live radically
• We might want to call them “attitudes to be” instead of the Beatitudes 5. Make the point that
God wants us to be truly content with our lives and Beatitudes help us to see how that can
happen.
• The meaning of “happiness” as taught and lived by Jesus in the Gospel
• The desire for happiness is inherent in every person, who is a child of God.
• Sin breaks our relationship with God, with others, with nature, and with ourselves; it blinds us
from seeing Him, and consequently, we see everything else in a distorted fashion.
• Encourage the young to build their happiness in our Lord, who alone fulfilIs every desire for
happiness.
 4. Group Dynamics
4.1. Give each group a marker pen. Ask the group to think about how/what they have been blessed with
(what they are thankful for) in their lives. Ask them to think about even the little things that they take
for granted.

4.2. While a reflective Christian song is playing, ask the young people to write the blessings on the sheet
of paper and share it to their group mates. One should consolidate the answers of each member.

4.3. Say ‘Thank you God for….’ And challenge each group to present their answers through a simple
presentation and to shout out the things they are grateful to God for.

5. Conclusion:

The session helped us think, be aware, of what made us very happy! We also saw how we all value
happiness; it is something very dear to us. So far, we have shared our own experiences and
understanding of happiness coming from personal reflection, assessment and sharing; now, let us go
deeper into the meaning of happiness—this time, along with the perception of other young people, and
then through and in the light of our faith. Carrying our realizations and insights so far, let us now try to
discover how do other young people find happiness? Then, if we look at Jesus, what does He teach us
about happiness? And more importantly, how did He live and experience it, setting a model and
inspiration for us?

SESSION TWO: PURITY

Time Frame: 1 ½ hour

Materials:

Pens,
Freedom wall
Heart-shaped Post-it notes
Projector,
CD: Your Heart Today.
CD player
Small hearts with pictures of saints
Coupon size Pictures of Saints
Pictures of Sinners

1. Spring Board: Gallery Walk

1.1 The facilitator will give a recap regarding the last session. Then he will use these lines or similar: “You
will reap what you had sown. True happiness will transform us for the best that we can be.” Then start
to give the instruction.

1.2 They will go around the venue for a gallery walk. On the walls they will see coupon size pictures of
different Saints and sinners (eg. Chain smoker, gambler, drug addicts, adulterer etc.)

1.3 Each should bring a pen and piece of paper and they will enumerate on the right side of the paper the
name of the saints that they recognized from those pictures and on the left side the sinners.
1.4 After the gallery walk the facilitator will introduce briefly the Saints on pictures and the different sins
that those pictures depict.

Processing: Almost all our Saints have undergone this stage of being unfaithful and dryness or winter of
Faith until God chose and appointed them. They also passed to a purifying process we can call it as Paschal
Mystery: Passion, death and resurrection. Sometimes we have walk around and observe that our world is
just compose of two kinds of people

2. Key Ideas:
 According the Compact Oxford English Dictionary pure means “not mixed or adulterated with
any other substance or material, free of impurities, innocent or morally good, complete.”

 “Positively stared then, ‘pure’ is represented by the words focus, absorption, concentration,
sincerity, and singleness”

 “Here in the sixth Beatitude it means a heart that does not bring mixed motives and divided
loyalties to its relationship with God”

 The purity of heart that Jesus is talking about here stands in sharp contrast to the supposed
purity of the Pharisees whose purity was only outward in nature, not of the heart.

 The gospel’s emphasis is the heart. The heart was the whole focus of Christ’s teaching. The Lord
undoubtedly meant the heart when He condemned the Pharisees for having only the outside
clean (Matthew 23:25-31). The heart is involved in every act of rational man, and God must be
enthroned in your heart!

2.1 The heart has three components.

1. The intellect.
a) The heart thinks (Genesis 6:5), believes (Romans 10:10), and understands (Matthew 13:15).
b) It is converted by faith (Romans 1:16; 10:17; Acts 15:9).

2. The affection.
a) The heart desires (Romans 10:1-3), loves (Mark 12:30), and trusts (Proverbs 3:5).
b) It is converted by repentance (John 14:15; James 4:8; 2 Corinthians 7:10).

3. The will.
a) The heart intends (Hebrews 4:12), purposes (2 Corinthians 9:7), and obeys (Romans 6:16-18).
b) It is converted by baptism (Romans 6:1-5, 17-18).

3. Be Attitudes

3.1. Comment that Christian values are different from those of the world around.
Read out the following and discuss how different these values are to the ones that Jesus was talking
about.
Title: Beatitudes of Man
Happy are the self-centerd: for they get on in the world.
 Happy are the arrogant: for they never let life hurt them.
Happy are they who complain: for they get their own way in the end.
Happy are the proud: for they never worry over their sins.
Happy are the slave drivers: for they get results.
Happy are the knowledgeable men of the world: for they know their way around.
Happy are the troublemakers: for they make people take notice of them.

3.2. Ask the group to think about what radical changes they might like to make in their lives, in their
school, or in the world for Jesus.
3.3 While a reflective Christian song is playing, ask the young people to write these radical changes on
Post-it notes and place them onto the Freedom wall. Signifying that they will free themselves from those
Be Attitudes.

4. Prayer Ativity: Totoo—itoangpusoko!

1. Read or distribute a copy of a part from the WYD 2015 messages of Pope Francis.

2. Explain the important points that Pope Francis wants to impart to young people of the world. Ask the
group to think for a moment about how often they desire to meet with God.

3. Invite them to Reflect on the messages they have heard. Then you will passed a box to everyone. Inside
the box are smaller pictures of Saints pasted in a heart-shaped paper cut-out and a pen. (The number of
Saints should be equal or more than the number of participants)

4. Participants will pick a heart from the box: “What you have picked from the box is a heart with a
picture of a Saint. Surely, God has His reason why he let you picked that Saint.”

5. Ask them to write out a prayer to God on the other side of the heart asking him for a desire for
meekness, righteousness, purity or a desire to spend more time with him.

6. Play the song “Your Heart Today by Himig Heswita” while the young people are writing prayers.

7. Pray for the group when the song is finished.

8. After the praying session: “This session will leave you with a task. First, you have to search about the
life of your Saint. Second, by what you had searched; what significant part on his/her life you want to put
into practice little by little. That is your covenant with God. Third, you have to download his/her picture
and use it as your profile picture until the last day of AYD 2016.

4.Conclusion:

This earth is only here for a short time, but the standing of a pure heart lasts forever. Please note that we
are not talking about a perfect heart. Everyone has sinned. Also, there are Christians who, having been
forgiven, do not live perfect lives (1 John 1:8). I cannot purify and cleanse my heart in an absolute sense,
but I can stay out of the gutters of life and have my heart in tune with the love, grace, goodness, and will
of God (Colossians 3:5; 1 John 3:2-3). The time is short and we do not have long to prepare. This life is so
fleeting. Are you looking forward to the feast? Are you preparing for it? Does it scare you to think that
you may be spending your time on what will not be of any value to you at the moment? Have you set the
Lord before you? If you have not and want to change, then we have the perfect opportunity now.
 Session Three: To See God’s Face
Time Frame: 1 ½ hour

Materials:

5 blind folds

Pens,
Projector,
CD: Your Heart Today.
CD player
Small hearts with pictures of saints
Coupon size Pictures of Saints
Pictures of Sinners

In the heart of each man and woman, the Lord’s invitation constantly resounds: “Seek my face!” (Ps
27:8).

1. Spring Board: Your Face looks Familiar!

1.1 All the delegates are asked to form one big circle facing inside. Then the facilitator will call 5
volunteers.
1.2 The 5 volunteers will stay on the center of the big circle and each of them will be wearing a blind
fold.
1.3 Once they already wearing the blind fold they will walk around inside the circle trying to touch the
face of their fellow delegates.
1.4 Then they will guess whose face they are touching.
1.5 After guessing the five caught participants will be the next to be blind folded.
1.6 Processing:
 There are lots of blind folds that hinder our eyes to see the face of God.
 You can see His real face to the person beside you, to your family members and to everyone that
you encounter.
 The goodness that you see in your neighbour is exactly the face of God.

2. Short film Viewing: The Butterfly Circus.

Activity: Pat on the Back Each participant will be given a piece of paper and a ball pen.

1. The paper shall be carefully taped at the back of each participant.

2. With their pen in hand, they will be given the chance to go around the room and write on the paper
taped on the back of every participant.

3. They shall be instructed to write only what they feel will uplift, affirm or encourage others.

4. Songs about friends may be played throughout the activity (such as Count on Me by Mariah Carey, At
your Side by The Corrs)
5. At most two songs can be played. This would limit the activity for only 10 minutes.

6. After the time given for them to write, allow them to read their own papers.

7. Ask one or two participants to share how the feel after reading the things written on their paper.