November 4, 2009 - God of this City Tour

5 Nights∙5 Regions∙1 Church United
All for the Glory of God

Monday November 30th – Friday December 4th, 2009
At a location near you!  

Braintree, MA – Beginning the first week of Advent, the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults (ONE) of the Archdiocese of Boston in partnership with Lift Ministries will be traveling to all five regions of the Archdiocese over the course of five consecutive nights, culminating at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, as part of the God Of This City Tour.  The Tour will include adoration, confession, dynamic speakers as well as praise and worship.  

Rev. Matt Williams, Director of ONE, said, “This presents a wonderful opportunity to rally our parishes in support of our young people, to a night of encounter with the Living Lord; through praise and worship, dynamic preaching, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession and fellowship.”

Following is the schedule

• November 30th, 7pm, Speaker Fr. Matthew Williams
  St. Joseph Parish|173 Albion St.| Wakefield, MA 01880
• December 1st, 7pm, Speaker Bob Gill
  St. Paul Parish|502 Washington St.| Wellesley, MA 02482-5907
• December 2nd, 7pm, Speaker Sr. Olga
  St. Thomas Aquinas Parish| 103 Center St.|Bridgewater, MA 02343
• December 3rd, 7pm, Speaker Fr. John Capuci
  St. Augustine Parish| 43 Essex St.| Andover, MA  01810
• December 4th, 7pm, Speaker Cardinal Sean O’Malley
  Cathedral of the Holy Cross | 75 Union Park St. | Boston, MA 02118

Fr. Williams added, “It is our prayer that this Tour will be an instrument of the Lord’s grace to breathe forth renewed hope and love in Him, and in our call to mentor young people in the faith.”

For more information or to register contact Danielle Olsen ([email protected] or 617-746-5750).

God of this City Tour

By Fr. Matt Williams  

The God of this City Tour flows from a belief that young people (youth and young adults) are “a special gift” who have the power to change and shape the future (Novo Millennio Inuente, 9).  The gift that they are, and the gift that they bring to the life of the Church is desperately needed today!  Our dream for this tour is to invite God’s people into a passionate encounter with Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Bread of Life, by rallying our parishes to come out in support of our young people.  There is great power in prayer, and we hope that this gathering will not only empower our young people with the love of Jesus Christ, but that all of us will be renewed and inspired to live more intentionally our call to be witnesses to that love.

Pope John Paul II stated that our Christian communities “must become genuine ‘schools’ of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly ‘falls in love’” (NMI, 33).  We believe that Lift’s monthly format of praise and worship, dynamic preaching, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession and fellowship, create an environment where hearts can be healed and renewed by the love of Jesus Christ.
 
In the thirty-seventh chapter of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the prophet is taken up in the Spirit to a valley of dry bones.  The dry bones represent the house of Israel, who had lost hope in the Lord and His promises to them.  The Lord instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones, that the breath of the Lord will enter them and bring them back to life. It is our prayer that this Tour, as it travels throughout the five regions of the Archdiocese, will be a prophetic sign that the Church is alive in her young people, and will breathe forth renewed hope and love in the Lord Jesus, and in our efforts to mentor young people in the faith.

We are excited that this Tour will culminate on Friday December 4th at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the mother Church of the Archdiocese, with Cardinal Seán as our speaker.  We hope to fill the Cathedral and raise the ceilings with our prayers and praises to the Lord.

The Tour will take place during the first week of Advent, and our prayers will be united with the Church’s universal prayer for the Lord to come and reign among us;  for He is our God, and the God of this City!