I was glad to see so many of the group be present! I asked the Catholic students to pray for unity of the churches, so that we may be one in Christ. Don’t ever stop!
Also present were Forbundet, who also invited us to discuss our image of God, which took place just after Easter.

The service started with a procession, with the choir, student organizations, the heads of NTNU, HIST and DMMH and the priests. The readings:

1 Kings 17, 8-16

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

The second reading was from St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians:

16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise the words of prophets, 21but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22abstain from every form of evil.

23May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

The third reading was from the gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 11:

28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Knut Andresen, one of the priests of the cathedral held the sermon, which took an academic approach to the gospel reading. He tried to find explanation to the text in different Norwegian translations. His conclusion was that “rest”, which Jesus talks about in the text, is not a problem free life, rather mastering the difficulties and challenges that arise in everyones lives, and having faith in Christ.

We thank you for inviting us! It was a good experience. I will leave you with The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI’s, words on ecumenical work: ”…I express my sincere appreciation for the invaluable work of all those engaged in ecumenism.”

We were so happy to see some new faces! Martin, Ingvild, Fritzie, Giovanni and Klaus were new, we hope to see you again! There were also some old faces, like father Etienne, who has moved to Molde, joined us. He used to be in charge of the group and will also give us a lecture in September. Plus, Clarisse is back! She has spent the summer studying across the globe. Otherwise known as Radio Clarisse, she has been in charge of Adoration and is our lead singer. Sadly, most people stop singing when she starts, because we can’t really compare.

The evening started with Mass. Whenever we have a social evening, like dinner, we encourage everyone who wants to join us to celebrate Mass with us, because one of the goals of the student group is for people to explore their faith. What better way to do that than to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection, and receiving His body and blood? Then we try to live our faith in the meetings, by being hospitable, forgiving and loving to our fellow Christians.

The meal this time consisted of arabian-spiced carrot soup, marinated chicken with salad and sun-blushed tomatoes, and plum cake with ice cream for dessert. All the food was gone! I hope there was enough food for everyone.

And thank you Clarisse and Giovanni, who did the dishes! A job very well done

Peace, Pia Maria

Sunday 19th of April

Kapellet i Singsakerbakken 13

Ecumenical Meeting

between

the Catholic Student Group and Trondheimsforbundet

concerning

what image of God we have.

The Bishop introduced us to the figure of Father Damian de Veuster SSCC, who will be canonized in Rome on october 11 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. As the same Bishop George wrote in his last pastoral letter, “Father Damian’s solidarity with the castaways and the sick people on Molokai makes him a faithful companion of Jesus. He does not lose his life, but he gives his life. [...] I wish that many of us may follow his shining example in our life, which will make us sharing in the Easter glory already on this earth.”. The biography of Blessed Damien of Molokai can be found on the web page of the Diocese of Honolulu.