The kingdom of God has come…
let’s live the Gospel!
After a long wait, the time has come to celebrate the D’Alzonian Youth Meeting 2023. Since 1997, the Assumptionist lay alliance together with the religious in Mexico had the initiative to hold a youth event with the aim of celebrating the Feast of our founder, Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, and to present the charism of the Assumption to young people specially those who would like to know more about their vocation. At the encounter there are several moments that have characterized the d’Alzonian since the beginning and have been updated over the years. There is a role of workshops according to the motto, a rally, a moment of adoration, a talent show and a vocational panel where testimonies of the different vocations are presented and the young people have the opportunity to ask each panelist about their experience in the vocation they have chosen.
The theme of the d’alzoniano 2023 was: The Kingdom of God has arrived… Let’s live the Gospel! This theme gave us the opportunity to share some topics such as Unity in St. Augustine and Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon, the Kingdom of God in today’s youth, etc.
This year the big difference was the pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, since the venue for the meeting was the parish of San Andrés Totoltepec, which is forty minutes away from the Basilica. On the second day of the meeting, instead of the traditional rally, we decided to go on pilgrimage to the Basilica to make the Assumption family present in the most important shrine of our country. About sixty people, including teenagers, young people, religious men and women, and the presence of the lay-religious alliance could not be missing. Several came from Veracruz, Puebla and Mexico City. It was also a great joy to have the presence of almost the entire Assumption family, since our Religious Sisters of the Assumption, Oblates of the Assumption, the Orantes of the Assumption and the Augustinians of the Assumption were present.
The d’alzoniano involves effort and a lot of work to achieve the goal, to buy t-shirts, materials, transportation, and various necessities, so we are very grateful to our brothers, Father Jesus parish priest of Emperatriz and Father Roberto parish priest of St. Andres for their support and attention to make possible the d’alzoniano. Moreover, it is the Assumptionist youth ministry that is in charge of organizing these events. The Assumptionist youth ministry has been called FRAS, which stands for Fraternidad Asuncionista (Assumptionist Fraternity) for seven years now. They are in charge of various events throughout the year, mainly focused on the youth. During this d’alzoniano 2023 the members of FRAS renewed their desire to continue belonging to the Assumptionist youth ministry. Now the Assumptionist Fraternity is international, since there are young people from Veracruz, Puebla and Mexico City who joined the FRAS group.
Now FRAS in communion with the religious in formation are on their way to the national pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Christ the King in cerro del Cubilete in the state of Guanajuato. This will also be an opportunity to make the Augustinians of the Assumption known at the national level, since there are many places where the Augustinians of the Assumption are not yet known. It is also an opportunity to promote vocations for the Church in general and for the Assumption.
This D’Alzonian encounter was a beautiful experience, we shared the joy of following the footsteps of Fr. d’Alzon. It was a moment to remember that we are called to transform our lives with the help of God’s grace in order to be witnesses of His Kingdom. We young people also want to be witnesses of God’s Kingdom in us and around us!
