We had to move a bit quicker this morning because Fr Phil was keen that we get out on time for catechesis. It was good that we did because when we turned up there were lots more people waiting to get in than yesterday. Yet, we still managed to get seats futher down than before.
Sister Bethany Madonna was still MCing and was on top form yet again. Our first speakers were none other than Jason and Crystalina Evert! It was good to hear them again and see them doing a proper talk. They certainly have a unique way of putting their message across.
We then had Archbishop Miller from Vancouver for the actual catechesis. He brought out a WYD rucksack and I thought that he was going to use things from in his bag during the talk. I was deeply disappointed, and it was good that I was writing in my book, because I easily could have slept through it!
Before Mass I went for a bit of a wander around and as I was going met these girls from the Philippines. When I said I was from the UK they bombarded me with stuff to swap. I think I did really well, especially swapping pegs for some really great stuff. They were lovely though, and I enjoyed meeting them all.
The Mass was lovely again today, and we had hundreds of priests concelebrating again. The best bit of the Mass was the end, because when Archbishop Miller went to put his mitre back on he managed to push it too far or something and it tumbled off his head. His face was a picture!!
3 of the groups stayed at the love and life centre for lunch and I had 2 very oily, but nice, tuna salady things. After lunch we headed to Retiro park where we met Alan's group and then all of us made our way to the Big Screen some of the group watched the opening Mass on.
It was a nice shady spot there and we could see thousands of youth pouring up this street to get closer to the Pope. It was amazing really. Some of the group went and danced in the street, but at that point I felt so hot I couldn't have gone out there. Instead I went and bought a badge, after checking with Alan that it didn't say anything weird. Later I went out to do the macarena, but they kept interrupting it which made me sad.
It was a lovely afternoon waiting for the Pope to arrive, I sat and chatted with Alan for a lot of it, then spoke to some El Salvadorians, and then I turned around and Brendan from Brentwood had managed to find us. It was lovely to see him out there, amongst 2 million or more people. Lizzie and Ste were there at one point as well though, I didn't really speak to them sadly.
Typically, I went to the toilet about 20 mins before the Pope was due and lo and behold, just as I was nearing the front of the queue the Pope arrived. I was so annoyed, but I don't think I missed too much.
Anyway I got back before he said anything. He was very sweet with his little 2 hand wave. He spoke some very lovely welcoming words to us: "I extend an affectionate greeting to the many English-speaking young people who have come to Madrid. May these days of prayer, friendship and celebration bring us closer to each other and to the Lord Jesus. Make trust in Christ’s word the foundation of your lives! Planted and built up in him, firm in the faith and open to the power of the Spirit, you will find your place in God’s plan and enrich the Church with your gifts. Let us pray for one another, so that we may be joyful witnesses to Christ, today and always. God bless you all!"
Some of our group then left, which was a shame because they missed the best bit. The Pope was presented with many gifts from different young people representing the different parts of the world. He was given a sombrero by one of the young people, and you could see a cheeky grin cross his face before he put the sombrero on!! He took it off very quickly, but it was a lovely moment. Then he was given a leis, which he also put on. This was swiftly removed by the officials.
By the time the welcoming ceremony was over half of the group had already made their way back to the hotel. There were about 25 of us left and John Millar was in charge of getting us back. He did a really good job because when we were separating he made us hold on to the person's rucksack in front of us. So in our crocodile we swam along with the rest. We had quite a walk to Velasquez station but it was enjoyable, and even funny at times being pulled along in the crocodile.
When we got down into the metro station, a Spanish group asked us to sing a song and when we finshed we were asked to sing again. Then once we'd started we couldn't stop ourselves, we sang together most of the way home. It was so much fun and definitely kept us sane on the metro home.
When we got back to Canillejas half of us went to Burger King and the other half went home. The only problem was they didn't have anything for veggies, so I ended up with a Whopper, without the burger, which was actually quite nice, followed by a salad, a diet coke and 2 BK shots. They were just cheesecakes. They were nice. Daniel aquired a crown whilst in there and became king for the night. He even walked back to the hotel in it! Some of us went to play in the play area in Burger King. It was really good. There was an interactive floor screen in there and it was so much fun. Michael was having a great time in there squishing the beans and other such stuff.
When I got back to the hotel I realised that I lost the bracelet I bought in Avila. I was gutted. I really loved that bracelet. So I began praying to St Anthony and St Jude, but nothing yet.
Karen from Kuala Lumpor, attended Alpha in 2008 at uni. It was arranged by the Catholic Society there. She was initially reluctant to go and wasn't sure about faith at all. She was about to leave the Church when she went to the course. Her friend had organised it and she was put on the committee so had no choice but to go. She loved the experience of sharing a meal together which is how each of the meetings started. There would then be a talk and then the best part, sharing. It was great to share with the group because she had a lot going on at the time. God really touched her through Alpha. God was there all along and she hadn't appreciated the little things that he had done in her life. She would tell people to go for it, restart your relationship with God through Alpha.
Alex from London said that 5 years ago he wouldn't have called himself a Christian and wasn't sure God was a part of his life. He said no to going to Alpha, and then finally after asking his friend also called Alex lots of questions about it, he went on the course. He went to one held in an Anglican Church and enjoyed the talks on Jesus. It all made more sense in his head but didn't feel anything in his heart. Then he went for the weekend away, he heard a talk n how to feel the Holy Spirit and then really wanted to know God but still didn't feel anything. He left the room disappointed, went to his room and wanted to experience the relationship with Jesus that the others had and prayed to know him. He was then filled with God's love and knew he was real and loved him for him. It was the first time that he felt secure.
Toby, an Anglican priest said that he was loving JMJ. He asked us: How secure do you feel? How safe do you feel in your future? He told us the story of an old lady in Florida who went to the supermarket, and when she got to her car 4 men were in it and about to drive away. She took out a gun from her bag, pointed it at them and said 'Get out of my car or I'll shoot you, you scumbags.' They ran away. She was really shaken up. Put the bags in the car and she couldn't start the ignition because she was shaking so much. Slowly she got out of the car and looked and 3 rows down was her car! She was so embarrased, went straight to the police and told them about it. They couldn't stop laughing and pointed down the counter to the 4 men who said they had their car stolen by a crazy granny.
So we are not always secure, nationally, politically or even personally in our relationships. We try to make ourselves more secure and sometimes this doesn't work. Three things we use to make ourselves secure are: fame, fortune and facebook. He then told us a story about the first of these, fame. He tried to be in a band, he went to the audition thinking that it was just a visual audition. He queued up, and at the end got a ticket and was told congratulations, so he thought he was in the band. However, he then had to do a vocal audition. He was not prepared at all and was then ushered into the audition room, and was told to sing the song he prepared. In that moment he couldn't remember a single song. Then he remembered 'Stand by Me'. He thought now don't start too high, so he started really low, and had to carry on. Eventually he was told they'd call him but they never did. We want to be famous and rich to fell secure but we don't really achieve this. Amy Winehouse is a really good example of this.
How can we find security? St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians said'pray you'll be rooted and established in love.' You need to have firm foundations. For firm faith in God you need:
1) Trust in the Word of God.
You can trust in the Word of the Father, more than anyone else. When you feel insecure say 'God loves me.' Remember Ps 139 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made.' Also Isaiah 49 'He has written my name on his hand.' Also Jer 29:11 'I know the plans I have for you...' When the words of others make you feel insecure look to the Word of God. He is for you, he loves you, and is with you.
2) Trust the work of the Son.
This is the work of Jesus on the Cross. Toby told us that his father was a physics teacher and Toby was terrible at it. He would hate having to show his Dad his report, and everytime would hope that he had a good mark. Sometimes we feel like that with God. If I do everything I can, maybe then God will love me. We're trusting in the work of ourselves not the messgae of Christianity or the Church. It doesn't depend on our work, but that of Jesus. Jesus got perfect results on his report cards. He swapped them with ours, so that when God calls us to him and we wonder about the result, we take out Jesus' card and God tells us well done, I accept you. We are totally forgiven and loved because of Jesus. If we want to trust in Jesus we need to take that leap of faith.
3) Trust the witness of the Spirit.
Toby told us, that he never goes to the gym. His brother went once and chose the wrong one. He chose a man's gym with huge men lifting huge weights. His brother was skinny and tried the smallest weight, did one and couldn't lift anymore. One of the big guys came over to him and said, 'You've not done this before have you?' His brother said no and asked if he could help him. The big guy said that they needed to build up his core strength. If you try and lift weights without any core strength, you can't do it. If you don't have core spiritual strength then you can't do it in hard times. The Holy Spirit gives us that strength. We don't need to get him in because he's already there, but St Paul says he needs to be filled again and again. The Holy Spirit gives us power. He lives in us like a flame, be filled and he'll give you the power and strength to live for Jesus.
So we need to look to God when we feel insecure.
We have heard today, of Peter and Paul's different ways of faith. Paul showed evidence of things not seen (in Hebrews). He was an intellectual. N.T. Wright said that his image of Paul was solidified when he saw an image on tv of an Islamist terrorist, he was zealous and fanatical. He translated all the promises from God to Israel and centred them in Christ.
Peter was a very different kettle of fish, he was a fisherman from Galilee, not only that but one of the leading fishermen in Caepernaum. He would have been well set up. Because of his faith Jesus chose him, the rock man, rocky. Jesus loved him but he also got on Jesus' nerves. Some of his faith was fundamentally missing. It is easy to understand Peter not wanting Jesus to suffer. The flaw in his faith was that he didn't understand suffering as part of Jesus redemptive plan.
Think of the story of walking on water. When Peter concentrated on Jesus he was ok, when he looked around he was scared and started sinking. It is easy to imagine them saying 'Truly you are the Son of God' when he calmed the storm.
He is telling us today not to be afraid either. Let us pray that our faith will remain strong. Be generous, be servers this will help your faith.
He then talked about the dead sea and how the water can't go anywhere 'I say it's selfish' it has become poisoned. Let us pray that our faith won't be like this.
Sister Bethany Madonna
She told us the story of how she had an identity crisis when she was 5 because of her haircut. She said she was 'a walking mushroom head.' She told us that when your identity is in Christ then there will be no problems.
She told us that it is no mere coincidence that we were there that day. We were there because we are known by God personally and intimately. Whatever we did to get us to World Youth Day it was done because God is so in love with each of us.
Later we had a wave race and she said that waves of grace and mercy are passing over this place. She said grace and mercy need each other, but because the mercy wave won the race she said that, the Lord wants to give us mercy and reminded us of the opportunity to go to reconciliation. She also said that in the Eucharist Jesus is silent but in that silence he speaks to us.
She also said: 'Be not afraid prodigal one's God loves us. Let's run home.' Also she encouraged us to be devoted to Mary because she teaches us how to say yes to what God is asking us.
Sister Mary Gabriel
She began her talk saying 'I really like coffee and this morning I really needed it.' She then produced a little cup of coffee. She said I have it, I have what I desire but it's only ok. My heart is made for more than coffee.
She then quoted from Spe Salve, 'the distinguishing mark of Christians is that we have a future.' We thirst for more even when we see the most beautiful things here on earth, because we are made for God and His love. She asked us to think of a place that we have been that has made our jaw drop, we feel intense awe. It is amazing because God made it for us. She reminded us that humanity is the summit of creation.
Not so long ago none of us were here, and then God spoke and we were made. At the origin of our lives and our being is God's word and breath. She told us that nothing can take this away from us. In each of us is a space where the material and spiritual worlds meet. Our jaws should be perpetually open when we look at each other.
From the time of the Garden of Eden we have struggled to translate God's love for us. So God had to find a new way to communicate with us. He came to rescue us. Jesus allows us to live with the word of God now. Jesus opens us up to our deepest desires. He stays with us, and allows us to find in him the friend that we seek. He unites himself with us so we will never be alone.
What your baptism offers you is mindboggling, the very life of God living in you. 'We were regenerated.' The Holy Spirit is activated in our souls. The living gift of baptism is the key to living with God.
We need to take another leap of faith in Jesus. Let the Lord be at work in your life always. Enter into a perpetual game of trust in the Lord. If you do this you will not only find Jesus, but yourself as well. Jesus will never let you down.
We have everything we need to satisfy our desires, yet we're not on fire for Jesus because we doubt. She told us to say everyday: 'I want you to live with me and stay with me, together.'
Jesus wants you to know that the possibility for love, purity and holiness is real for you. No matter what has happened in your past. God doesn't love the perfected version of you that doesn't exist. He loves YOU.
Don't be afraid to live love boldly, after all this is what you were made for. Love is our desire and our destiny. Jesus awaits you.
None of us know the graces that will be poured out here in Madrid but you will go back changed for life.
Cardinal George Pell
He was one of the conclave that chose Pope Benedict in 2005.
He said that the transcendent Trinitarian God is our faith. The sacraments show us the way to God and the merciful love of God. He said that each of us have bits of the Bible that we love and he said that his idea of the most beautiful thing in the Bible is that of the good thief. He said that Jesus' response to this 'crook' is beautiful. He also said that there are lots of disturbing things in the New Testament but for him it's Jesus asking 'When the Son of Man returns to earth will he find faith on earth?'
He asked us to promise that we'll do our best to ensure that the flame of faith will not be extinguished on our watch. Faith is a fundamental life choice, and the strength of our commitment can wax and wane. The pure of heart will see God and we need to pray regularly, and struggle to be pure to survive our story of life.
Faith comes to us through the Church. The Church recognised the books inspired by the Holy Spirit and then created the canon that we have today. St Augustine said that he believed in the Church before Christ and God.
Cardinal Pell said that men and women throughout time have believed in God. In 1900BC God chose Abraham and the Jews to be his chosen ones. God promised Abraham that his spiritual follwers would number more than the grains of sand and stars in the sky. We're here today as part of this promise. We should be proud and grateful for this inheritance.
He then spoke about the story where Moses saw God walk by and asked what does it mean that Moses only saw His back? He said it shows that we see God through nature.
He then spoke about Elijah and how we have no writings from him and yet he was there at Jesus' transfiguration, why? Cardinal Pell said it was because in Elijah's time monotheism nearly vanished, and yet he managed to help keep it in the forefront. Elijah obtained the chance to battle the 450 prophets of Baal, and he won! Elijah had to flee because the crowd killed the 450 prophets. He was on Sinai searching for God and God came to him in the gentle breeze. This is something for us to think about. The struggle to maintain belief in God was hard for him and for us, so Elijah is a great role model for us.
Reason lies behind our beliefs. It is reasonable to believe in a creator God and that he's good. Christian belief is not a myth, not just poetry, not just a make believe story, he is inherently rational. Pope Benedict said that in the Prologue of John's Gospel you could translate it with 'Reason' instead of 'Word'. Cardinal Pell said that true faith is not maternal indoctrination. It is a matter of love because it's an issue of tyhe mind and a claim to truth.
Cardinal Pell then quoted from Anthony Flew's 'There is a God' saying 'Of all the disoveries of science, the greatest was the discovery of God.' The universe is finely tuned and if anything had been slightly out then nothing would have formed, no life at all. This is mysterious.
He said that living beings are purpose driven instinctively. All living forms of life are able to reproduce themselves. Life has not come about by chance because it was only a 10 to the power of 45,000, chance of life being created from amino acids.
In the moments when faith is hard we need to remember that we have chosen God. We need to remember science is with us because God is behind everything. We believe God is rational. Our God of love, that dynamo of love, is rational. Let us commit ourselves to maintain the flame of faith. You will need to battle yourselves and you cannot leave it to the Church and schools.
He then quoted a long speech from St Augustine of Hippo, which said, roughly, I beg you to join with me in love, run with me in faith, let us yearn for heavenly hope...you will see the light in all its clarity...you are being made pure that you can see that light...you are soon to go away to your home...when we part from one another, but let us not part from God.
Sister Mary Louise Concepta then gave us a singing lesson, teaching us the Latin Mass settings we were to use, which were shown on the 'jumbotrons' as Sister Bethany Madonna so brilliantly put it.
Back to 7am starts today :( We had to have breakfast by 8am and met at 8:15am. We then got on the coach, which I never thought I'd be happy to get on again but after the metro yesterday I was, to go to Catechesis at Palacio de Deportes.
Outside one of the Sisters of Life helped us to get in because we no longer had our passes, as we had to give them and our passports into our group leaders earlier on. We went in to find the band that was playing comprised of some Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. They were brilliant and they taught us lots of songs but my favourite was about being a friar. It went "I'm in love with Jesus and he's in love with me, I'm in love with Jesus and he's in love with me, I'm in love with Jesus and he's in love with me, I love the church, I love the Pope, I even love my rope."
After the band, the inimitable Sister Bethany Madonna took the stage. She was extremely entertaining and became the source of much joy throughout the pilgrimage. She got us to have Mexican wave races naming one of the teams grace and the other mercy. After the races she said that 'waves of grace and mercy are surging through this place.' It sounded rather cheesy in her accent, but a lovely intention behind it all.
She introduced us to Sister Mary Gabriel who did a brilliant, funny talk. She was followed by Cardinal Pell from Australia. His talk was good but quite theological. After this we had a lovely Mass, though we were stood for ages at the beginning because of the amount of priests and bishops that were concelebrating.
Throughout the talks I was sat with some people from the Caymen Islands. I was sat next to Caitlin and we swapped some things. I got a cool pirate turtle keyring from her in exchange for a badge. The pirate turtle is their logo. As they were leaving someone else gave me a hat clip before I could give them anything in return.
We got a small lie in today which was very welcome, though some of the boys had to get up early to go to get the missing items from our rucksacks. It was an entertaining breakfast because Fr Phil had picked up a yoghurt and when he ate the first spoonful he made a face and said it was disgusting. It was passed around most of the table because it reportedly tasted of nothing. I abstained from this delightful yoghurt tasting, and was really glad I spotted the rice pudding instead.
Before we met up a few of us ventured to the supermarket around the corner to get some supplies for the day. We then met the rest of the group and we were given our WYD bags. We were told to go and empty the bags and come back with it, food, water, suncream, hat, and various maps. I enjoyed briefly looking at everything as I took it out. I put on my crucifix, from the bag, which is really beautiful. As I went to rejoin the group I had a brief chat with Fr Augustine and he very kindly blessed it for me.
We were then given our passes, food vouchers and tickets before we made our way to the metro station. Our nearest station was Canillejas and we were all told to really pay attention to how we got there so when we came back later in the night we would know the way back to the hotel. We then got on the metro to Opera and then walked to the Cathedral. We then split into our groups and all went off in search of food.
Our group, on consulting the food map, decided to go back to Opera. We then stood in a burger king line for a good while before we realised that the queue just was not moving. Consulting the map again we went on the metro to Gran Via. There we joined the thronging masses attempting to get food in McDonalds. McDonalds was mental. It was comparable to being in the middle of a rugby scrum, only less orderly! It must have taken 2-3 hours from start to finish. I have to say I have never been so grateful for food in my life.
Fr Augustine, kicked off catechesis, and spoke about the Assumption. He said 'Thank God today's not about us it's about Our Lady.' Today is about the power of God in our lives. He then told us a little bit about how he got to this point in his life. He said, 'I can't deny what God has done in my life. I was minding my own business, went on pilgrimage, went to confession and came out wanting to be a priest.'
Br Benedict then took control of the mic and gave us his testimony. He told us how his Dad left and how he pretended to his friends that he still had a Dad at home, because they all did. He became a very angry child, and started stealing. He stopped going to church at 13 but he always believed in God. He got into drugs to try to escape from the hole in his heart because of his father leaving, and he didn't feel loved. He had to see a probation officer for a year at the end of school and it woke him up a bit.
He ended up getting into harder drugs and got the opportunity to go to Germany to try and escape that life but ended up getting even deeper into drugs. He eventually came home and got together with a woman that had a child. He ended up getting very isolated and one day was in the bath looking at a poster that said 'Get A Life' and he realised that he had nothing. In May 1997 whilst on holiday he was reaching for a cigarette in his hotel room got a profound sense of God's love. He went straight to confession. God opened his heart to what he could do in his life, and felt called to the Friars. He said that it has been an amazing journey this past 14 years, and he is still walking close to the Lord.
Fr Augustine had the final word and reminded us that Jesus is alive, with us, knocking on the door of our hearts, calling us to him.
