10.02.2014

“The Cross of Love” – MYO at our Convent

The Maronite Servants of Christ the Light hosted the monthly MYO meeting for the teens of Our Lady of Purgatory Parish on Friday evening, September 26, 2014, at the Mother of Light Convent presenting the topic of the Christian virtue of chastity and Jesus’ cross of love.


A short excerpt of the movie, “Seventeen Again”, was shown to kick-start our discussion on the Christian values surrounding chastity. The protagonist of the movie, played by famous Hollywood actor Zac Efron, is standing up for saying “no” to pre-marital relations, and is going against the tide of his fellow teen classmates.

Sr. Therese Maria explained that in today’s modern culture and media, we are often bombarded with assaults against the virtue of chastity, it being portrayed as “old-fashioned” or “puritanical”. However, Sr. Therese Maria explained that chastity is much more than abstaining from pre-marital relations. Chastity is respecting the dignity of all people by not reducing them to an object to be used for one’s selfish pleasure, because this is not true love. True love seeks the good of the other, and sacrifices for the other. Chastity is therefore a virtue that paves the path for true (sacrificial) love to flourish. The kind of love we see Jesus demonstrate on the Cross for all of us.


Teens competing in a messy game challenge.
This discussion on true love was a beautiful segway into the Feast of the Exaltation of the Glorious Cross, celebrated liturgically in our Maronite Church for seven weeks after Pentecost. The Feast of the Glorious Cross is a beautiful reminder all of Jesus’ enduring and infinite love for us, demonstrated in his words and actions.  In the prayer service that followed, the teens were presented with a cross styled wristband to remind them of Jesus’ love for them and their call to witness.