Today, over 10,000 English-speaking pilgrims from every continent packed into Palacio de Deportes for a catechesis session with New York City Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is currently the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
He lead us in prayer and we said "Praise be Jesus Christ now and forever!" He said that the result of being firm in the faith and rooted in Christ is to be His witnesses.
"How are we going to be missionaries and evangelists?" he asked us. "How are we going to be light of the world and salt of the earth?"
Archbishop Dolan said that there are four essential components: charity, joy, hope, and love for the Church.
Charity captivated people from the beginning of our Church. "The love that the followers of Jesus had for one another captivated the unbelivers' hearts," he explained. He addressed the canadian pilgrims and mentioned our devotion to Catherine Doroty because of her love for the poor. "We are at our best when we give ourselves in love to one another," he added.
Joy is the infallible sign of God's presence. When we're happy, people want to know why. JOY stands for "Jesus first, others second, yourself third."
In Haiti, after the earthquake, they gathered in front of the cross even though they had nothing because they had hope. When the world sees us never giving up, they want to know why.
Passionate love for the Church must be the passion of our lives. This is tough for us today because people want spirituality without religion and we answer "no" because Jesus and His Church are one and they cannot be seperated. Jesus is so close to the Church that the Church is His bride and His body because the two are one flesh. The nails of Jesus Christ are what holds our faith together because the human body died and that was when He was mostly God.
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