Campus Students' Gathering 2013

Campus  Students' Gathering 2013 was held on 21st-24th August (Wed-Sat) at Pace Bene FSIC Center, Papar, Kota Kinabalu. We ended with the Eucharistic celebration. Herewith is the homily: 

On this feast of St Bartholomew the gospel says, "come and see" and "what good can come from here!"

We have come and seen (experience)  this campus students' Gathering 2013 and so what good can come from here?

a) Thank you for having the courage to say yes to come for this Catholic Students' Gathering 2013 (CSG 2013). We are forever grateful and will never be able to repay you. We’re also grateful for your energy and enthusiasm you have for us as young Catholics.

b) We have completed two-third of our journey in The Year of Faith, which is an important opportunity to strengthen our friendship with the Lord and our journey as a Church that invites us to preach the Gospel with courage. 

In the past three days we have come to realise that one of the strong statements was a lack of faith to practice the Catholic faith.

Faith -  it needs our personal response, the courage to take our Christian commitments to live his love and be grateful for his infinite mercy.

Faith is God’s precious gift, which opens our mind to know and love him. The strength of our faith, at a personal and community level, can be measured by the ability to communicate it to others, to spread and live it in charity, to witness to it before those we meet and those who share the path of life with us (cf. Mission Sunday 2013, Pope Francis)

Faith is a precious gift. It is a gift, not reserved for a few but offered with generosity to all. Sometimes we lack the passion, the joy, the courage or the hope in proclaiming the Message of Christ to all and in helping the people of our time to have an encounter with him.

But as you are well aware, times are tough especially for our current generation of Catholics in Malaysia.

The common questions which the young people raise to the priests and Church are:

1) Firstly, the number of weekly Mass attendees is small these days.  Some studies show that only 20% of young adults in the college/university are attending Mass regularly. This is very concerning, to say the least.

Only few love the traditions of the Church – the practices that make us distinctly Catholic – like frequent confession, adoration, the Rosary. But these things help build up our identity as Catholics in the world.

2) Secondly, prayer is tough for us. We don’t remember a time without the Internet in our homes. Our attention spans are embarrassingly short, and silence is almost non-existent in our day-to-day lives. We never learned how to just sit and ‘waste time’ with God.

Teach us the prayers of the Church, like the liturgy of the hours, adoration, and the countless novenas. We are thirsty for this stuff, and truly desire to make our parishes houses of prayer.

3) Thirdly, we need help dealing with porn, pre-marital sex, and relationships. The culture of death is here. it’s winning in a lot of our lives right now. We need help, and we need it fast.

More than confession, we need more resources and support to combat the slavery of porn. Let’s be honest here: a majority of guys n gals in our generation are hooked on it.

It’s not enough to tell us in confession that we need to pray more or do something nice for somebody else as a penance. Those are great, but the problem is still getting worse.

Who will help us fight it. It’s embarrassing to ask for help, or to talk about this outside of the confessional, so please start organising programs, groups, and mobilising men and women who are steadfast to engage our generation for mentorship and spiritual direction. If you don’t, who will?

4) Fourthly, don’t be afraid to teach and preach Natural Family Planning (NFP) and Theology of the Body (TOB). The Church’s teaching about sex and sexuality is good news. A recent study showed that a majority of Catholic men and  women still don’t agree with the Church about certain aspects of the teaching on artificial contraception. We’re used to hearing about sex, but from all the wrong sources. The Church’s wisdom is saving grace, and we want more of it.

5) Fifthly, preach more about Jesus, and let us know that he is alive.  So many of us went to Catholic schools and Catechism but so few of us realise that Jesus is actually, really alive. This is concerning, because this is why we are Christians.

This basic fact about our faith is not known. Given the fact that most Catholics even the young people learn about God from the ten minutes homily, which often leave more to be desired in terms of content, we can see why.


I hope this does not happen to you. If you invest your time in prayers for a profound dialogue with God and Sacred scriptures, participating in the Mass, and spiritual formation then you will experience the grace of God that shines on you.

I hope that when you return, you will become a part of the great mission of the Church and make a great difference!

How are you going to make better use of this experience? 

The Church needs “your commitment and your witness” to bring the Gospel of Christ wherever you find yourselves.

Pope Francis  during  the WYD  MASS said, "put on faith". When we prepare a plate of food and we see that it needs salt, well, we “put on” salt; when it needs oil, then you “put on” oil. “To put on”. And so it is in our life, if we want it to have real meaning and fulfillment.  “Put on faith”, and your life will take on a new flavour, it will have a compass to show you the way; “put on hope” “put on love”.

How are you going to make better use of this experience?

“My dear young people: “Put on Christ” in your lives.” Don't not be afraid to "put on CHRIST" and He will bring the freshness and enthusiasm where you will live the faith, a faith that renews life and gives hope.

God calls us in a mysterious way. When God asked, "whom shall I send?" Prophet Isaiah answered, "Here, I am Lord, send me."

Whereas Mary responded, "Let it be done to me according to your word."

In the Gospel "what good can come out from here?" and what good can come from your heart especially from this gathering? I hope our heart will say to God: "Here I am Lord, work through me too!" so that we shall respond to the theme of this Campus Students Gathering, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28, 19).