Holy Week Mission of Mercy sent students to become part of the story of redemption

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Continuing the tradition from last year, the diocesan Youth Ministry office held a Holy Week Mission of Mercy for diocesan youth, in partnership with the Regnum Christi Youth movement. Students were invited and challenged to spend Holy Week accompanying Jesus and taking their faith to the streets, sharing the love of Jesus with those who perhaps would not make it to church themselves.

The retreat featured prayer, fellowship and opportunities for evangelization. Seventy-five high school and 12 elementary students were joined by 12 young adult team leaders and 45 adult volunteers during the course of the three-day mission.

Included in the retreat was a Good Friday “Cross Walk.” During the Cross Walk, divided into eight groups, students were assigned with routes alongside adult chaperones — taking them into Covington and surrounding communities to pray for and with the people there.

Each group was equipped with a wooden cross and post it notes. As they met people on the streets, they invited them to pray with them and put their intentions onto the crosses.

“I do believe that because we’re walking and carrying a cross, it’s not just alongside of Jesus, but united to him,” said Father Andrew Gronotte, LC, a Legionnaire of Christ who joined students for the mission told youth prior to taking to the streets. “Our life is becoming one with his, and we’re part of the story of redemption. As we carry those crosses through the streets … we’re praying with others, we’re interceding for others. And that’s all the way in which Jesus is saying, ‘I want you to be part of me, be part of that redemption I’ve come to share with the world’.”

After the walk, students came together for the Good Friday liturgy at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, then set back out to pray the Stations of the Cross together while walking around the block. Friday ended with intercessory prayer by teams, recalling the many prayer intentions they had gathered throughout the previous two days, including a door-to-door mission inviting individuals to Mass the day before, on Holy Thursday.

“This was my second time participating in the Holy Week Missions and it has been a life changing experience,” said Dexter, one of the young adult volunteers. “From seeing high schoolers have the courage to pray with strangers, crying with people I just met or seeing how a simple smile can have such a positive impact on someone — it is evident that the Holy Spirit was all over Covington this Holy Week.”