“Hope never fails” A Lenten Outreach

Last March 27, 2021, the VD Youth of Tagaytay together with Sister Rachel, had a Lenten outreach to abused girls in one Center located at Gen. Trias, Cavite.

On this outreach we had a one whole day recollection with our theme "HOPE NEVER FAILS."  A total of 37 teenage girls participated this event accompanied by two social workers of the Center.  We started at 8 am until 4 in the afternoon.

As a team we worked together putting our part to make the whole day recollection a worthwhile experience for all the teens.

My part was to welcome the participants and with an enthusiastic spirit, I introduced them to our theme sharing to them that HOPE has a face! And we need this HOPE in all the different situations we encounter in life. This HOPE we are going to experience is already in us, it has been poured out to us since ever before. “Romans 5:5.

The whole day was packed with different surprises like creative dynamics and moment of silence to pray and a fun-filled games. All the teens were very participative and expectant in every moment waiting what will come next.

We listened to a video recorded testimony of one teen from Cebu about what is our hope and why we need hope, and Sr. Rachel gave a catechesis on "Jesus is our Hope, we need to connect with Him!”

What was very helpful on this day was the penitential rite we had. It was a moment to go deeper on ourselves recognizing our sinfulness and entering to an experience of God’ mercy and loving embrace. This moment had a strong impact to all of us, some of the teens shared it helped them to be reconciled with God and they recognized his unconditional love and unfailing hope is always ready to welcome them back.
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We end the recollection with a very visual symbol of hope that gives new life and this hope needs to be nurtured and taken care. The teens with their respective groups planted a plant in a pot and were very happy to realize from this symbol that Hope is ever present in them and they need to give time to nurture and let it grow and flourish. Our Hope is Jesus and he promise to remain with us until the end of time and he never fails on his promise!