The Youth Pilgrim Cross was given as a gift by the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, Msgr. Oscar V. Cruz, DD, to the youth of the Archdiocese last 1999. The Youth Pilgrim Cross is about 8 feet tall made of old wood taken from the old St. John Cathedral church. It takes 4 people to carry it. Seven (7) youth usually carry it in a solemn liturgical procession. That is how heavy and big the Youth Pilgrim wooden Cross is!
The cross stays for one year in the Parish chosen to host the Archdiocesan Youth Day. The AYD, as it is usually called by the youth, is a gathering of the youth of Archdiocese. For four (4) days the youth from the different parishes of the Archdiocese celebrate the call of the Lord and their response; share their youthful idealism and proclaim their love and commitment to Jesus.
The Parish of St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, has been blessed by the Lord for having been chosen as the host for the AYD 2005! The AYD 2005 will be celebrated on 20-23 April 2005. Its theme is "We wish to see Jesus (Jn. 12, 21)". Since April of last year, the Youth Pilgrim Cross has been with the Parish of St. Fabian. Since June 2004, it has been going around the different barangays of the parish. It is now in Barangay Inmalog Norte. This is the 21st barangay that the Youth Pilgrim Cross has visited. This barangay visitation will go on until all the barangays will have been covered.
The youth accompany the cross to the barangays. For a week, the cross is carried to the different homes and houses in the barangays. There have been tremendous outpouring of joyful and grateful responses from the barrios! Almost all the homes and families welcome the cross. For a few minutes of its stay in a particular home, the family prays the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy after which, it is carried again by the youth to the next house until so many houses have been visited by the cross.
A two day "KALAKBAY" seminar is given to the youth of the barangay as one of the activities of the YPC visitation.
Yesterday, we were in Sitio Cosait, Inmalog Sur, to celebrate the Mass as a culminating activity for the visit of the Youth Pilgrim Cross in their barangay. The small chapel was filled with so many people, including the youth and little children. Bro. Tony spoke about the two Archdiocesan celebrations that the Parish will be hosting this year, the Archdiocesan Pentecost Celebration on 14-15 May 2005 and the Archdiocesan Youth Day. In all our masses in the barangays for the visit of the YPC, the mercy of God is always emphasized, manifested in the meaning of the Cross of Christ.
While we were celebrating the Mass, the lights went out in Cosait! It was already around 6:00 PM, and thus it was pitch dark! We had three small candles to light us. But the people stayed on, and prayed and celebrated God's gift of love and mercy!
The light of celebration in each of the peoples' hearts shone brightly in the darkness of the world!
