Things to Bring to the Festival!

By the Youth 2000 Festival Team

A notebook

'Inheritance' is going to be 5 days of seriously good input - talks, conversations and workshops. There are going to be a lot of moments and pearls of wisdom that you're not going to want to forget! We'd really advise you to journal your spiritual journey over the retreat. It's a great way to enhance your prayer life and when the retreat's over, you'll have all your memories right there.

... and a Bible

They say when you go on holiday that you should take a good book. Well, on retreat, you want a really good book, perhaps the good book. We're going to be delving into Scripture over the festival because the Bible is one of the major places in which we hear the voice of Jesus and where we find the promise of our Inheritance. 

'Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.' St. Jerome

... and a Torch

If you're a fan of staying up late chatting, you're probs going to want a torch especially if your phone is prone to running out of battery just at that tragically timed moment. Leaving our brand new cafe tent, you're going to want to be able to see the way back to your tent, nobody wants to be the person tripping over the guy ropes in the dark. Ain't nobody got time for that. And who knows, maybe you could indulge in some torch art like the above...

... and a Rosary

'The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence 
and you'll be amazed at the results.' St Josemaria Escriva

The rosary has been a big part of this prayer festival since its inception, with each new generations taking it up and championing it. If you don't have one, don't worry, you'll be able to get one free at the festival, but if you do, bring it along!

... and some Money

You're going to want to bring some cash to be able to buy some of the sweet, sweet Youth 2000 merch! Everything from clothes to albums will be up for grabs and all funds raised go straight in to paying off the festival. A bit of money would also be useful for the occasional coffee or snack in between meals, because there's nothing better than a boiling pot noodle on a cold camping night.

... and Warm clothes!

We're looking forward to some beautiful days of camping in the sun, but please do bring warm clothes too! The temperature can really drop in the evening, so that old hoodie or extra jacket can come in really handy as the night draws in. Wellies are a good shout too, both practical for mud and a classic staple of festival fashion.

We can't wait to see you guys! There's only 3 days to go but there's still time to invite a friend too. Safe travels & see you guys soon.

'We have a promise of an Inheritance that can never be spoilt or fade away, 

kept for you in the heavens.' 1 Peter 1:34

Eat, Pray, Walk: the 800k Journey closer to the Soul

By Isaac Withers

The journey is the great metaphor of life. There. Done. The cliche is down, now we can talk.

Yesterday, I came home after 34 days of walking the pilgrim way to Santiago de Compostella, the city in which the body of St. James, the apostle of Jesus, is said to be held. In Spanish, this way is known as the Camino, it's a near 800 kilometer stretch, starting at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France, before it crosses the whole of northern Spain, and continues to the coast. It has been walked by pilgrims for well over a thousand years and is up there with Rome and Jerusalem. Ok, so there's your facts down too.

Now that I'm home, people are asking me, 'how was the Camino?' and really, it's hard to put the experience of a month's adventure into one answer. You can give the cliche and the facts, but what was it actually like? I've got about 70 pages of notes in a book, but I want to try to answer that question here, of what walking the Camino every day does to a person. It should be said as well that most don't walk it for religious reasons, but I think so many of the lessons I learned from it would have been the same for anyone who takes on the Camino.

The Simple Things

The first things are obvious: the thought, 'oh, I really can carry all I will need for a month, in one bag'. You realise that so much of what we see as necessary, just isn't.

On day 10, I said to a Danish woman I was walking with, 'I'm really excited for dinner and to sleep', and as I said it, I realised how I would never say that in normal life. On the way, Sleep and food were big highlights. They were usually totally to do with alburgues too, which were the Spanish hostels that put pilgrims up all along the way, some times asking only for a donation. On a bad day, I could have a pretty big emotional reaction to seeing the word 'alburgue' on a sign.

Sleep was complete physical shut down, and yet, we were always up at 7am. We would remark at how we had had 'an 8am lie in', and then laugh at our student selves. I could nap anywhere. Our bodies needed it. It was the same with food, my appetite had never been so big, but you knew it was all going into building muscle and energy for the next day (except for the pulpo - octopus - that was more for fun). On the Camino, these simple things came to the forefront, and we valued every bit of them.

Splinters

Before I set off, I knew that I wanted to use some of my time everyday to pray and read scripture. I thought I'd tackle one gospel chronologically, something I've never done before. Really, this was because I wanted to get to know Jesus better. I went for Matthew's gospel, it's 28 chapters, I had 34 days, easy. I got to chapter 14. But, something really amazing started to happen the more I read, that I hadn't really experienced before. You often hear Christian's talking about scripture talking to them as if Jesus were speaking straight to them. I had never had this as strongly as on the Camino, and sometimes, it could be pretty funny.

One of my big lessons on the way was about weird people (yeah, they've made it to the camino too). I had just left the company of a really cool, young, multinational crew, and I was soon walking with people that I just found it really hard to get along with. So I was really praying with this. Did I just outwalk them? Would I only walk with certain kinds of people? That afternoon, sat in the square of a small town with a coffee, I opened up Matthew 7. It's title was literally 'Do not judge'. I laughed out loud. Jesus proceeded to be pretty blunt. 'Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own?' (Matt 7:3).

This sounded like Jesus saying, 'why do you do this?' to me. And so, I tried to take this as my approach to the people I met, whoever they were, whatever they were like, I was going to try and treat them like anybody else. I was actually surprised at how difficult I found that to live. I think a little of my high school conditioning is still there, in terms of who I accept, how well I try not to react to their splinters, and how well I am mindful of my own.

'Why are you doing this?'

 

When I set off, I really went with the mindset 'I want my own spiritual journey, I don't want to be leading other people much'. This has become a big part of my faith over the years, helping other people to know the Church and Jesus, and I was starting to feel that my own seeking was taking a back seat.

And yet, the conversation among pilgrims would quickly come to the question 'why are you doing the Camino?' or 'how did you find out about this?' My answer would be, 'my family's really Catholic, my sister and brother both did the Camino at uni, and I wanted to do it too before I start work'. This was all true, but my real reason was to encounter Jesus again, however like I say, I didn't want to freak them out with all my Jesus stuff yet. And yet, even this would perk up follow on questions. 'So you believe in God?' or 'So you go to Church? Why?' I realised fast that the people on the Camino are really seeking, and they're really interested in anyone who thinks they've got an answer.

On my 21st birthday (day 18)  I got into a big God and the universe chat with a Dutch cyclist that went on for hours. I also walked with a young German guy, who had had totally different life experiences to me, and we talked about relationships a lot. I really believe the Camino puts you back together with people you need to continue conversation with too, and 4 days from Santiago, the same guy just asked me very earnestly, 'can you teach me how to pray?' It was amazing. People don't ask that question often, and it was just how Jesus gets asked in scripture by the disciples, 'Lord, teach us how to pray' (Luke 11:2). And so, I told him that Jesus had already answered his question, and we just talked about the idea of calling God father and that closeness. So even though I had set out reluctant to get into the conversation of faith, I really felt like I was being built in my ability to help people who are sincerely seeking. All because on a daily basis, people were asking the question, 'why?'

Faith
 

Foncebadon, 1440 meters above sea level.

Reading scripture often also started to give me a real sense of the person of Jesus. It was funny how pilgrim life was actually super close to how he and his twelve friends lived. One day, me and a friend got to a corn field and he pulled some corn off and took it apart, it wasn't ripe. That night I read 'His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them' (Matt 12:1). And then there was, 'Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head' (Matt 8:20). That's life without even alburgues. Unthinkable.

But beyond this similarity in style of  living, I started to realise what was really important to Jesus, mainly because he said it all the time after every major thing he did. Before he heals this centurion's daughter, 'nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this' (Matt 8:10), before the calming of a storm 'why are you so frightened, you men of little faith?' (Matt 8:26), after healing someone else, 'your faith has restored you to health' (Matt 9:22), I could give you loads of these.

I think as a Catholic, I like the pairing of reason and faith a lot, but I definitely lean a lot more on reason because it's safe. Jesus never mentions it. He was constantly calling people out into faith in him. That was what he always said saved people. When I got to the end of my journey, to Fisterra, so called because it was believed to be the end of the world, I climbed down the rock face and was surrounded by a rough sea. There was no further to go. And as I got more than a little emotional, I wanted to know what Jesus would say that day. I opened up Matthew 14. 'Jesus walks on water and, with him Peter'. My prevailing thought was, 'no thanks, I'm good'. But again, when Peter falls in, 'Man of little faith, why did you doubt?' (Matt 14:31).



Really what I want to say is : do the Camino. It's making the choice to put yourself, your history, all of your relationships, under the microscope for a month, to have all the time to think you could want, and at the same time to enjoy an ultimate adventure, amongst the most welcoming group of strangers in the world. Pilgrim existence lies somewhere between tourist and homeless person, and yet somewhere in there is how we were made to live. I'm still trying to figure out what that was.

Roll credits.

Thanks to: Billy and Dan (Colerado), Max (Germany), The Captain (Hungary), Devin (California), Eddy (Italy), Jonas (Denmark), Guilia (Italy) and Joy (South Korea) and Ana (Hollande) and the rest of the Funkcoolo crowd,  Duncan (Boston), Helene (Denmark), Toni (Australia) and Paul (Italy), Merlin Wolfe (Germany), Yilmaz and his scooter (Germany), Will (Australia), Rosie (New York) and Selina (Scottland) and Manuel (Germany), Eoghan and Ciara (Ireland), Christophe (Hungary), Madalene (Australia), Freddie (Germany), Rosio (Italy), Simon (Germany), Marjin (Holland), The Danes with the Impossible Names, Martina (Holland), A.J. (U.K.), Ania (London), Alexi (Russia), Jong and O (South Korea), Constance (France) and Loula (Spain), Clemence (Germany), Viet (Canada) and Julika (Austria), Daniel (Germany) and Julia (Germany), Pablo (Spain) and his dog Rohan (also Spain), Naomi (Jersey), Jean (USA) and Antonio (Italy). Think that covers everybody. Buen Camino.

Science vs Faith: Can we have both?

By Paddie Denton

I have a confession to make; I love science and I love Jesus. The tension between science and The Church, the struggle between reason and faith, got re-sparked recently over the debate regarding genetic ancestry tests. It's been discovered, through the use of these tests, that there are descendants of the Canaanites (you know, the ones God commanded were wiped out) and some argue that thus, this disproves the bible!!!!!! 

However, what these arguers fail to mention is that the Canaanites turn up in later passages of the Bible. But what these findings really do prove is that there is still a lack of openness and understanding between science and faith among many even today. So let me try to break to some of the myths and stigmas of the science and faith debate. 

(Disclaimer: I am no expert researcher, but I adore science and what it has done for my faith.)

Myth 1: If you believe in Scientific theories and practise you have to be an atheist.

So let's get one thing clear first: Science belongs to no one group of people, it belongs to humanity. I Think the best way to show this is to point out who has contributed so much in science... People of faith! The Big Bang was thought up by the Catholic Priest, Fr Georges Lemaître, Origin of Genetics come from the monk and Priest Fr Gregor Mendel. A Franciscan, Friar Bacon (yes, that is really his name) developed the scientific method of theorising then experimenting that is still used to this day. And it's not just the Catholics, Medieval Muslims charted the stars, exceptionally. Even today there is men and women of faith who continue to contribute and teach the amazing world of science.

Myth 2: I have a bible, I don’t need anything science offers.

Well….. you could follow this school of thought, for it's true that in scripture God does provide everything, including Psalm 110:2 - “Great are the works of the Lord; to be pondered by all who love them”. The bible has everything, but God has given us even more than that. God made us human, and it is innately human to want to discover and understand, and if you need more proof that God wants us to keep understanding more and more and more as we become able to, just look at the bible in how God revealed the Truth, over time, and slowly unpacking and fulfilling it more and more and more.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. 

-      Albert Einstein

Myth 3: OK, but doesn't what science offer contradict what the bible teaches?

No. Moving on. In all seriousness though, no it doesn’t, the Big Bang for example, doesn't contradict the creation narrative, ‘Let there be light’ sounds like a massive explosion to me. And then you throw at me that science believes it took million of years for people to exist, but the Bible says 6 days!!! What?! But the reality is this, we must always remember that much of the Bible is not meant to be taken literally. Just like how Jesus taught through parables, a lot of the Bible's writings are to be taken as philosophical thought. So, with this in mind, day becomes a period of time. And fun thing: if you look, the order of both Genesis and science are the same, not bad for 6th century BC dessert nomads.

 Myth 4: Yeah but EVOLUTION!! It's only since Pope Francis that the Church is open to it.

Yeah, it is true that Pope Francis did make a statement about the beauty of Evolution.

“and I do not see that 'the accidental evolution of organic beings' is inconsistent with divine design—It is accidental to us, not to God.”

- Blessed John Henry Newman, 1868

But the church has shown an openness to the theory for a long time, and as Pope St John Paul II stated, the Church’s position on the theory was to accept modern scientific development, but not forget to stop, think, and ask who? And why? Which brings you to God. Evolution provides the how, while God provides the why. 

Q: But then why does the debate exist?

One of the problems I find with how the debate is shown in the media is that the debate falls between the science community, people such as Richard Dawkins, and fundamental Christians, think Westborough Baptists, and us, as the Church, get paired up with them, when, and you will not hear me say this in any other situation, the Church has more in common with Richard Dawkins (shudder). But this is what the argument often comes down to: creationists versus those who are not.

Q: So how do faith and science fit into the same world then?

Science and faith are meant to compliment each other! When either one tries to answer questions outside their discipline, that is when problems start to occur. Science can never answer the miraculous (by VERY definition of the word) nor can it answer the spiritual. While faith cannot answer how the reality of the world works, nowhere in the bible does it explain planes and how they fly. And when either over step their remit is when problems occur.

Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. 

- Pope St John Paul II

And neither can hold the other back. It's been seen throughout history that when both are working and striving together, great understanding is achieved; just look to the renaissance!

So, let's wonder about The Wonder!

Creation is amazing. It is one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring gifts God has given!! And yes, we want to, and should, strive to learn more about it and understand it better; that is amazing! And as you learn more and more and more about creation, unless you're trying not to, you can not help but see God at work in the world! It is just so wonderful. We are encouraged so often through scripture to have child like hearts, to live simply and truly, but for me it also means to live being amazed by what is amazing. To see something and think ‘Oh,WHAT?! How does that work?! THAT'S BRILLIANT!!’. So please with child like hearts go out and wonder about the wonder. 

Walsingham Highlights: 6 Reasons why we love our Summer Festival

With our annual Summer Prayer Festival, Inheritance 2017, just around the corner, we reached out to a few Festival Builders for their Walsingham Highlights, asking them to share what makes the festival the best part of their summer and why they're coming back to that miraculous field once again! 

1) The Joy - Maria Byrne

A real highlight of the festival is the JOY that can be found and experienced everywhere! This joy isn't dependant on the weather (there's no guarantees there!) or particular details of the programme, but it's in the little things. Those welcoming faces as you enter the field for the first time; the sheer happiness as someone gets up and tells the story of how God has changed something in their life; the shared moments of awe in the big top (nothing quite like it); conversations in the queue to lunch (no way, you too?); priests and religious really living out their vocations (also, have you ever played footie with a friar before?); and that lightbulb moment when you realise you're not the only one facing the things you're facing as a young Catholic. 

Come experience that JOY for yourself - you won't regret it!!

2) The Sacraments - Emma Thoy

A few years ago I was at the Youth 2000 festival in Walsingham. I was praying but whenever I looked up at our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament I found my gaze dropping. I could not understand why I had done this but later on I looked upon our Lord and my gaze dropped again.

After a bit more time had past I still found myself dropping my gaze; I also felt a great sorrow and guilt building in my heart that I couldn't shake. 

I hadn't been to Confession yet so I went hoping to maybe speak to the priest afterwards about my gaze continuously dropping. I took my seat and burst into tears. I told the priest about not being able to gaze upon the Lord and that I had this guilty feeling growing in my heart too. 

He told me to look at the Blessed Sacrament and through my tears I did and he told me that God loved me no matter what and to trust that He has it all in hand. He told me that the guilt was something that was resting on my heart that the Lord wanted me to acknowledge. Still crying I gave my confession,  it was the most open and honest confessions I had ever had. At the point of Absolution I felt the weight and the guilt on my heart being lifted. I knew I had been forgiven. The priest then asked me to look at our Lord again; I could and I couldn't stop smiling either. 

I had always known that confession was a powerful gift but until that moment, in that field during the Summer Festival, I never realised how powerful.

3 ) The Conversations - Daisy Vanderputt

Without fail, every year I look forward to the random conversations that I find myself having at 2am on the way to the Throne Room or waiting to brush my teeth in the shrine toilets...(not literally....). There's something so great about the fact that we are all here together for the same main reason, but also 5 million different ones too. I have met my best friends at Youth 2000 and deepened my relationships with my friends because of what we have experienced at Walsingham together, and I always look forward to the new people that I am going to meet!

4) The Community - Michael Desbruslais

Youth 2000 has been instrumental to plugging me into a vast network of devout Catholics. A community that continually aspires to place Jesus at the heart of its intentions, with a central focus on the sacraments, particularly in the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and devotion to Our Lady. Youth 2000 beautifully provides a rich and inviting platform for young people of little or no faith to enter themselves into the life of the Church, to help guide them into a deep and lasting relationship with Jesus Christ. Time and time again I have witnessed lives transformed by this festival here in Walsingham. It is a joy to see this transition occur in people as they open up, grow closer to Christ, and form new friendships throughout the festival. Jesus commissioned us to bring the message of the Gospel to others, it is what the Church was made to do!!

5) The Transformations - Martha Harrold 

I think my favourite part of the festival each year is watching people transform over the five days. We all arrive, whether it is our first time or not - a little battered by the world. We have our defences up, our hearts are hard and there is a distance between us and God.

Whether you are a newcomer that doesn't know what's coming (it'll be great, I promise) or a second/third/fourth/fifth ... timer, we all come from the world into a holy place, and that is transformational.

On day 5, when we all gather around for the final time, there is a tangible change in the atmosphere. Hearts are soft. There is an air of peace.

We have just spent the last days (and nights) in the presence of Our God. We are changed and it is clear to see.

ROLL ON INHERITANCE 2K17!

6) The Encounters - Paddie Denton

Walsingham festival: will it change your life? Most likely. Will you want to go back? Yes. Will you enjoy it? Well..... To be honest, I didn't the first year I went. I was cold, wet and miserable (and this is coming from the northern scout who wears shorts and flip flops in February...) But I have been back every year since, and the weather was much better (praise God!) I came back and I am going again for two reasons.

Number 1: Meeting people! In the middle of that marvellous field between the hours 1am and 4am, in the freezing cold, on a security shift. I have had some conversations with some wonderful people that I am privileged to call friends, in particular the person who needed first aid, who are now one of my closest friends because Youth 2000 provides that chance to meet people and make genuine friends.

Number 2: Meeting God! This is what it is about. Youth 2000 provides slightly more, not average...., situations that help us to encounter God. Think World Youth Day and that walk. Well, that is Walsingham. The festival is all about that genuine encounter with God, and it's so rich. That is why I go back every single year, despite how difficult I found my first trip. It's a journey, and you encounter so much along the way. (Also, it has been sunny every year since!) So bring on Inheritance 2017!



Book your place for this year's Summer Festival NOW! 

See you soon!

The Struggle With Body Image: Your Body is Not Your Enemy.

I remember in year nine, three people called me fat in one week, pretty harsh ey? If I could tell my year nine self the truth I know now, that being beautiful isn’t about being skinny, that a boy’s love for me wouldn’t increase as my weight decreased, and that self-control isn’t denying yourself to the point of starvation, I wish I could. But unfortunately, my year nine self didn’t believe this or know this to be true, and instead of not taking those comments to heart and seeking the truth, the struggle of a six-year battle with an eating disorder begun.

I want you to imagine with me for a second what it’s like to have an eating disorder. It’s a typical Monday morning, your alarm goes off and immediately you start to stress about today’s eating. You start to plan how you can avoid your mum without her realising that you’ve skipped breakfast. Plan A is to run out the house as quickly as you can, plan B is to eat 7 grapes. The 7 grapes equate to 67 calories, but by the time you’ve walked to school your body would have managed to burn the seven grapes off, so you decide that if worst comes to worst, you’re allowed to eat them. The sandwiches your dad has made you for school are thrown away on your morning walk, for lunch you have two single crackers and some water, you then walk home, able to burn the crackers off.

 Proud of yourself you seek to starve yourself for the rest of the evening. It comes to the time of dinner, two options arise. Plan A is to try and avoid dinner by saying you don’t feel well or by ‘pretending’ to eat it and hope that they don’t look in the bin. Plan B is to eat the dinner, but within seconds of the last mouth full the guilt rushes in, the shame begins, and the lies control your every thought. ‘You’re so pathetic, you can’t even skip a meal, you have no self-control’, ‘everyone is going to be able to tell tomorrow that you’ve eaten, you can see it on your hips’, ‘he’ll never love me until he can see my collar bone’. The feeling of no control becomes too much to handle, your only option is to the run to the toilet and make yourself sick. In every second the shame increases, what would people think if they knew I did this, what would happen if my friends ever found out? The desperation kicks in, you promise yourself tomorrow will be different even though your body is at breaking point.

 You go to bed, empty, full of lies and full of guilt. Wake up, repeat, wake up, repeat, then three months later, you’ve lost three stone, the collar bones are more than obvious now, your friends and teachers are asking you if everything is ok and you’re being force fed in your head of years’ office.  All you want to do is cry out for help, to not see the feeling of starvation as a feeling of success, but instead you smile and say everything is fine.

Ok, you can stop imaging this now…. But for many people,because of unrealistic expectations put on us all by society, this is sadly a day to day reality.

The journey of realising your body is not your enemy

Six years on, I can honestly say that I’ve been on the most beautiful, vulnerable, hard, journey of realising my body is not my enemy, that healing is a process rather than an event, and that I am not defined by my illness. Although I spent most my life hating my body, seeing it as the measurement of worth and beauty, I must constantly remember the truth. That God does not hate my body, God does not see my worth as defined by my body, and God certainly didn’t intend for my body to be an enemy or for it to be getting in the way of my freedom. Instead, God wants me to rejoice in the way He created me, He wants me to look after my body in a healthy way and use my body to glorify Him. The day I realised that my body was not my enemy was the day I realised that if I hate my body, I hate Gods creation. But, if I love my body, and see it as a gift to help me achieve holiness, then I love God’s creation and love God. I found freedom when I realised that that if I base my perfection and worth in something that is changing, something that isn’t constant, something that is material (like my body) I will never be happy, and I’ll never find perfection. But if I find my perfection, my worth, in something that is unchanging, something that is constant, something that is absolute, like Jesus, I’ll find my perfection, my worth, my dignity.

God's promise and His inheritance

This summer, Youth 2000’s festival’s theme is ‘Inheritance’, the festival is about God’s promise to us, His gift to us, and our inherited identity as children of God, sons and daughters, rather than slaves. God doesn’t want us to be slaves to our own low body image, slaves to the thoughts of hating our body, slaves to the shame we feel when we base our worth on changing things and slaves when we let our addiction lead us to sin. But instead he wants us to inherit his promised identity as children. He wants us to inherit his nature of righteousness, to inherit his hope, and his promise of eternal life. We can be secure in the knowledge the God does not measure us on societies standards. Our inherited identity as children should be the basis for every decision in life, and in turn it will affect how we see our bodies, how we see our worth and our dignity, how we treat others, and most importantly, our relationship with Jesus. Every day we need to chase after His promise with everything we have, chase after his truth, read the scripture, and claim our God given identity. We are precious gifts, we are children of purity and worthiness, we are set apart for beautiful things, and most importantly, the truth is that our bodies are a gift; something to be looked after, not hated.

'For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.'

- Deuteronomy 7:6

The power of Confession and forgiveness

One thing that truly helped me in my search for identity and overcoming my guilt and shame was Confession. Confession helped me to love God, love others and love myself. In Confession, I was overcome by God’s mercy, I realised that when I laid my struggle, my hate and my sin before God, he could transform it all into a deeper revelation of his love for me and for my purpose as a child, not a slave. In Confession, I could forgive the people that called me fat, forgive the people who made me believe that my worth was based on how I looked, forgive society for unrealistic expectations of beauty, but most importantly, forgive myself. It’s one thing forgiving others, but freedom will only come when we forgive ourselves. I was able to realise that I'm not a failure even though I struggle, that healing is a process, to take one day at a time, to allow myself to slip up and get back up again and most importantly to be patient with myself. God’s flipping patient with me, why can’t I be? If you’re struggling with self-hatred, if every time you look in the mirror you wish you were someone else, you focus on your flaws, and you find yourself constantly fixated on your appearance, then take it to Confession, let God’s mercy rush over you, and show you that you are beautiful, that you are loved, that you were created perfectly, and that to Him, you are perfect.

To realise your body is not your enemy is a long process, it’s a hard battle and one in which knowing the truth of who we are is key. To the person reading this blog who is fighting a battle with themselves, who struggles with eating, self-worth, self-identity or self-esteem, this is what Jesus wants to say to you today.

I see you, and I love you, I see you and I love you, I see you and I love you. There is nothing you could do that would change the way I look at you. You don’t need to earn my love, you are not a failure, and most importantly, I feel your pain. I feel the pain when guilt over burdens you, I feel the pain when shame overwhelms you, I feel the pain when you don’t realise your beauty is beautiful just the way it is. Just make one promise, that you’ll pray to be able to see yourself the way I see you, pray that every day and watch the beauty unfold.

Be patient, love yourself and fixate your idea of perfection on the one who made you.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own^,  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies’ 

– 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 

Look out for snippets of St. John Paul II's 'Letter to Women' on our Instagram (@Youth2000UK) over the next few weeks as we lead up to our Women's Session at Inheritance 2017! And don't forget to book on!