Make sure to read the final posting below...here is the link to the pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August20And212011#
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Days 9 and 10...The Calm after the Storm
The day finally arrived, the highlight of World Youth Day, the Vigil with the Pope and the Closing Mass. As we departed our hotel Saturday around 12:15 PM we were ready. We had plenty of sunscreen, water, sleeping bags, and good spirits! This time we were also prepared for a jam-packed metro. We arrived at the metro station and every train that arrived was full--literally only one or two of the hundreds waiting were able to board each time. At one point seven of members of our group were able to board, off they went. Finally, securtity began to suggest a different route with a different drop off point, but still part of the pilgrimage to "Cuatro Vientos." Cuatro Vientos would be the site of the vigil and mass. Local newspapers described it as an airport used for private planes. The size of it was 48 football fields!
Well, as the two groups headed to the same place via different routes it was Brother Chris' job to try to connect the two. This did not seem like a difficult task. However, it took about 3 hours to complete this task and find both groups at Cuatro Vientos. Each settled in the same assigned area (hundreds of yards) but at different spots. Cuatro Vientos seemed to be the ideal location for such an event, except that it was all dust and rocks. While we had mats and tarps we were not able to avoid the dust. Our meal plan included our food for our days at Cuatro Vientos. The meal package was very generous, no one would go hungry!
The weather was quite warm. The amount of people was endless. The lines for restrooms, water, etc... were as long as expected. However, people's patience and enthusiasm helped us survive. By the time all was said and done, there was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million peope as this was an open event. It seemed like the people never stopped arriving. Adoration chapels and snack bars were also set up. The boys had a chance to mingle with many different people. Eventually, some cloud cover provided some relief from the heat.
At about 9 PM the Pope arrived and the energy soared. As the Pope began to give his talk to us, strong winds began to blow and rain drops began to fall. People began scrambling to cover their belongings and the Pope had to stop his speech. The wind blew and the rain poured! Even the Pope's white skull cap(zuchetto) went flying! Twenty minutes later the Pope told the crowd that our enthusiasm and faith was stronger than the winds and rain--the crowd cheered. It was nice to see the Holy Father remain calm and simply remain with us as the storm passed through. It was quite an event and moment. The Pope cut his speech short and moved on to the adoration of the Eucharist followed by some closing words. He thanked us for our faith and said he would think of us deeply overnight. Once the Holy Father left, a member of the organizing committee came on stage and said he had three important announcements. The first one was the most impressive. He said the Holy Father wanted us to know he was extremely proud of us and because of our resilience would drive through the crowds the next day. It was so nice to see the compassion and care of our Holy Father. The man seemed to be never without a smile throughout his time here. We are blessed!
We eventually settled in our spots and tried to do our best to sleep. As Sunday arrived, yes we were dirty and smelly, but the enthusiasm continued. The students seemed to be in good spirits and handled everything very well. The time for the liturgy arrived and the Pope once again opened by expressing his concern for us and how he missed us in the hours he was away. He drove through as much as the crowd as possible--it was a lot of ground to cover!
The liturgy began and so did the heat. Unfortunately, we were not able to receive the Eucharist as it was taken away the night before due to the weather. In fact, some of suffered in the wind and was lost. One adoration tent collapsed injuring a few people. The moment came for the Pope to send us forward as young people on a mission. Again, the Holy Father seemed to reiterate his message of firmness in faith. You can tell he has a faith-filled desire that young people come to love Jesus. He hopes that young people see a place for them within the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI did announce that the next World Youth Day would be in Brazil in 2013. He gave us his blessing and off we went in the mass of people. We looked forward to getting back to our hotel, showering, and resting. After a 20 minute walk and waiting for about 25 minutes for our train, we boarded a crowded and hot metro train. It was a bit of a lengthy ride home, but by 1:15 PM we were at our hotel.
The CALM arrived as we rested up during the afternoon. We had dinner and one last night of good rest. Tomorrow we switch hotels for our last day here. We have to be up and ready at 2:45 AM on Tuesday morning to catch our bus to the airport.
We fly out Tuesday at 7:10 AM. After about 15 hours of traveling we will arrive in Los Angeles, God willing, on Tuesday afternoon. We hope to be at CHS by 5:30 PM.
As tomorrow will be a free day there will be no posting. Photos of the previous two days will be posted in a later post.
For now, thank you to all for your prayers and support! It has been a wonderful experience! Know of our prayers and indeed our firmness of faith. Live Jesus in our hearts forever!
Well, as the two groups headed to the same place via different routes it was Brother Chris' job to try to connect the two. This did not seem like a difficult task. However, it took about 3 hours to complete this task and find both groups at Cuatro Vientos. Each settled in the same assigned area (hundreds of yards) but at different spots. Cuatro Vientos seemed to be the ideal location for such an event, except that it was all dust and rocks. While we had mats and tarps we were not able to avoid the dust. Our meal plan included our food for our days at Cuatro Vientos. The meal package was very generous, no one would go hungry!
The weather was quite warm. The amount of people was endless. The lines for restrooms, water, etc... were as long as expected. However, people's patience and enthusiasm helped us survive. By the time all was said and done, there was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million peope as this was an open event. It seemed like the people never stopped arriving. Adoration chapels and snack bars were also set up. The boys had a chance to mingle with many different people. Eventually, some cloud cover provided some relief from the heat.
At about 9 PM the Pope arrived and the energy soared. As the Pope began to give his talk to us, strong winds began to blow and rain drops began to fall. People began scrambling to cover their belongings and the Pope had to stop his speech. The wind blew and the rain poured! Even the Pope's white skull cap(zuchetto) went flying! Twenty minutes later the Pope told the crowd that our enthusiasm and faith was stronger than the winds and rain--the crowd cheered. It was nice to see the Holy Father remain calm and simply remain with us as the storm passed through. It was quite an event and moment. The Pope cut his speech short and moved on to the adoration of the Eucharist followed by some closing words. He thanked us for our faith and said he would think of us deeply overnight. Once the Holy Father left, a member of the organizing committee came on stage and said he had three important announcements. The first one was the most impressive. He said the Holy Father wanted us to know he was extremely proud of us and because of our resilience would drive through the crowds the next day. It was so nice to see the compassion and care of our Holy Father. The man seemed to be never without a smile throughout his time here. We are blessed!
We eventually settled in our spots and tried to do our best to sleep. As Sunday arrived, yes we were dirty and smelly, but the enthusiasm continued. The students seemed to be in good spirits and handled everything very well. The time for the liturgy arrived and the Pope once again opened by expressing his concern for us and how he missed us in the hours he was away. He drove through as much as the crowd as possible--it was a lot of ground to cover!
The liturgy began and so did the heat. Unfortunately, we were not able to receive the Eucharist as it was taken away the night before due to the weather. In fact, some of suffered in the wind and was lost. One adoration tent collapsed injuring a few people. The moment came for the Pope to send us forward as young people on a mission. Again, the Holy Father seemed to reiterate his message of firmness in faith. You can tell he has a faith-filled desire that young people come to love Jesus. He hopes that young people see a place for them within the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI did announce that the next World Youth Day would be in Brazil in 2013. He gave us his blessing and off we went in the mass of people. We looked forward to getting back to our hotel, showering, and resting. After a 20 minute walk and waiting for about 25 minutes for our train, we boarded a crowded and hot metro train. It was a bit of a lengthy ride home, but by 1:15 PM we were at our hotel.
The CALM arrived as we rested up during the afternoon. We had dinner and one last night of good rest. Tomorrow we switch hotels for our last day here. We have to be up and ready at 2:45 AM on Tuesday morning to catch our bus to the airport.
We fly out Tuesday at 7:10 AM. After about 15 hours of traveling we will arrive in Los Angeles, God willing, on Tuesday afternoon. We hope to be at CHS by 5:30 PM.
As tomorrow will be a free day there will be no posting. Photos of the previous two days will be posted in a later post.
For now, thank you to all for your prayers and support! It has been a wonderful experience! Know of our prayers and indeed our firmness of faith. Live Jesus in our hearts forever!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Day 8--August 19--An Adventurous Day
After yet another late night following the Pope's arrival, we had an early morning. Today's event for us was the catechesis session with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The event took place at the Palacio de Deportes. It was a magnificent event that the students really enjoyed. Archbishop Dolan of New York gave the keynote address and the students were really impressed by it. They are now Dolan fans!
The event concluded with a wonderful liturgy which was celebrated by Dolan and about 30 other Bishops and 100 plus priests. The stadium was filled to capacity with many English-speaking pilgrims. We met up with our other Lasallian friends from the U.S., the east coast group. Following the event we enjoyed lunch in the area...then the adventure began.
We decided that in order to rest and prepare for tomorrow--a day of sitting out in the sun and camping out all night--we would not attend the Via Crucis. However, we wished to see the wonderful stations that had been set up using statues from various Cathedrals/Churches in Spain. They were amazing!
Once we had taken a look, we decided to head home. Rather than taking the closest metro station we decided to walk further to the next one to avoid the crowds. This strategy failed miserably! We made one attempt to enter the station and simply got cut off by all those exiting to attend the Via Crucis. Once we figured out a strategy we all went in. Our initial attempt to get past the turnstiles was stopped by a security guard holding us back as hundreds of people attempted to exit. When we were cleared to go we basically ended up in a mass of hundreds more people trying to exit as some of us tried to enter. It seemed impossible to move forward but eventually the group made it through...well...some of it...and then the adventure began. One group was sent back by security as he tried to simply get everyone to exit the station. The group had no idea what happened to those who went in. One hour later that final group finally made it back to the hotel. It was there that it was concluded that our group of 23 ended up in five groups as they tried to get to the crowd. All five groups got back in different ways--but thank God made it back! Brother Chris did not have to go venture the streets of Spain for anyone!
Nonetheless, everyone took some time to rest and recoup before having a nice dinner together!
There is no doubt that the faith of the students has been impacted by this experience. The Church/Christ has become more real for them. Let us all pray that this may be a source of strength for years to come!
Live Jesus in our hearts forever!
Now, off to our intense Saturday...pray for us!
Day 8 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August192011#
The event concluded with a wonderful liturgy which was celebrated by Dolan and about 30 other Bishops and 100 plus priests. The stadium was filled to capacity with many English-speaking pilgrims. We met up with our other Lasallian friends from the U.S., the east coast group. Following the event we enjoyed lunch in the area...then the adventure began.
We decided that in order to rest and prepare for tomorrow--a day of sitting out in the sun and camping out all night--we would not attend the Via Crucis. However, we wished to see the wonderful stations that had been set up using statues from various Cathedrals/Churches in Spain. They were amazing!
Once we had taken a look, we decided to head home. Rather than taking the closest metro station we decided to walk further to the next one to avoid the crowds. This strategy failed miserably! We made one attempt to enter the station and simply got cut off by all those exiting to attend the Via Crucis. Once we figured out a strategy we all went in. Our initial attempt to get past the turnstiles was stopped by a security guard holding us back as hundreds of people attempted to exit. When we were cleared to go we basically ended up in a mass of hundreds more people trying to exit as some of us tried to enter. It seemed impossible to move forward but eventually the group made it through...well...some of it...and then the adventure began. One group was sent back by security as he tried to simply get everyone to exit the station. The group had no idea what happened to those who went in. One hour later that final group finally made it back to the hotel. It was there that it was concluded that our group of 23 ended up in five groups as they tried to get to the crowd. All five groups got back in different ways--but thank God made it back! Brother Chris did not have to go venture the streets of Spain for anyone!
Nonetheless, everyone took some time to rest and recoup before having a nice dinner together!
There is no doubt that the faith of the students has been impacted by this experience. The Church/Christ has become more real for them. Let us all pray that this may be a source of strength for years to come!
Live Jesus in our hearts forever!
Now, off to our intense Saturday...pray for us!
Day 8 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August192011#
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Day 7--August 18--The Pope's Arrival
After a long day on Wednesday, the students received a break on Thursday. They were given a free day until 4:30 PM. Most of them took advantage of it by sleeping in until past noon!
The group met at 4:30 PM and headed for Sevilles, the central location for the opening World Youth Day events. Today's event was the welcoming of the Pope to Madrid. While many had camped out in the heat since the morning, we arrived to our location, about 300 yards back. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible and sat on the hot asphalt. We are quickly becoming efficient at this bringing blankets for the floor, plenty of water, and even food! There was plenty of singing, dancing, and entertainment as we awaited for the Pope. The giant screens provided plenty of visuals as well, including much about the life of Benedict XVI.
At about 7 PM, the countdown began and the Pope began his journey through the streets of Madrid. While we only saw the Pope-mobile from a distance there was plenty of excitement. The sense of diversity and unity all at the same time is amazing. The Pope addressed the youth with inspiring and challenging words. He definitely has a genuine desire for youth, and all, to come to love Christ. It was a very special moment.
The event finished at about 9 PM and then began the trek home. Crowded streets meant holding on to each other and moving through the crowds as best as possible. After about 25 minutes we finally were able to find some freedom. Before jumping onto the crowded metro system we decided to stop for dinner and let things settle down a bit. We finally headed home around 11 PM.
The students continue to have an enjoyable time!
Day 7 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August182011#
The group met at 4:30 PM and headed for Sevilles, the central location for the opening World Youth Day events. Today's event was the welcoming of the Pope to Madrid. While many had camped out in the heat since the morning, we arrived to our location, about 300 yards back. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible and sat on the hot asphalt. We are quickly becoming efficient at this bringing blankets for the floor, plenty of water, and even food! There was plenty of singing, dancing, and entertainment as we awaited for the Pope. The giant screens provided plenty of visuals as well, including much about the life of Benedict XVI.
At about 7 PM, the countdown began and the Pope began his journey through the streets of Madrid. While we only saw the Pope-mobile from a distance there was plenty of excitement. The sense of diversity and unity all at the same time is amazing. The Pope addressed the youth with inspiring and challenging words. He definitely has a genuine desire for youth, and all, to come to love Christ. It was a very special moment.
The event finished at about 9 PM and then began the trek home. Crowded streets meant holding on to each other and moving through the crowds as best as possible. After about 25 minutes we finally were able to find some freedom. Before jumping onto the crowded metro system we decided to stop for dinner and let things settle down a bit. We finally headed home around 11 PM.
The students continue to have an enjoyable time!
Day 7 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August182011#
Day 6--August 17--Lasallian Day
After a long night, everyone was up early and ready to go for our catechesis session. The catechesis sessions are an opportunity for young people to come together to pray, socialize, and learn from one of the Bishops. We were at St. Teresa of Avila Church with Cardinal George of Washington D.C. While many of the students were very tired, they very much enjoyed the session. The session concluded with mass celebrated by the Cardinal and con-celebrated by many other English-speaking Bishops and priests. We were actually lucky to get in as our Tour Director, once again, saved us by simply cutting us in front of everyone. Hey, when in Spain do as the Spanish do right?
Following the session, many were hungry so off we went to lunch. It also gave the students an opportunity to do some shopping. We then headed back to the hotel for a few hours of rest before heading to the Lasallian Youth gathering.
The Lasallian Youth gathering was a hit. The students really enjoyed the experience--especially meeting all those Lasallian girls! We spent the evening there having the opportunity to socialize, participate in various activities, and had the chance to hear the Superior General as he was there to address the young people. Once again the pictures say it all. It was yet another long evening as we did not arrive home to our hotel until about 12:30 AM.
You can find the Day 6 pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August172011#
Following the session, many were hungry so off we went to lunch. It also gave the students an opportunity to do some shopping. We then headed back to the hotel for a few hours of rest before heading to the Lasallian Youth gathering.
The Lasallian Youth gathering was a hit. The students really enjoyed the experience--especially meeting all those Lasallian girls! We spent the evening there having the opportunity to socialize, participate in various activities, and had the chance to hear the Superior General as he was there to address the young people. Once again the pictures say it all. It was yet another long evening as we did not arrive home to our hotel until about 12:30 AM.
You can find the Day 6 pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August172011#
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Day 5--August 16
What a day! Actually, for some the day began very relaxed and casual. The students spent the mid-morning and early afternoon at the city center doing some shopping, eating, and meeting many other pilgrims. Brother Chris was off buying sleeping bags and mats for our "camp out" on Saturday into Sunday for the closing mass with the Holy Father. Three of our students will have the opportunity to sit in the "front row." Apparently, the front row means 5,000 people. We'll try to get their early so that the three students can sit as close as possible. Brother Chris went to get their passes with our Tour Director, Monica Lopez, who has just been amazing.
The group met up at 2:30 PM to head out to el Parque de Retiro for the Vocation fair. Upon our arrival in Downtown Madrid and at the park, it was apparent the pilgrims had arrived. Moving around became tougher and staying close meant holding on to each other. The visit to the park was very nice and it gave the students an opportunity to meet people and relax a bit. They enjoyed the vocation fair.
After spending some time there it was time to go find our spot for the Opening Mass. Moving continued to get tougher, but we managed to stay together. We made it to our spot at about 6 PM. We were lucky to get so close (see the pictures). Now we had to wait two hours before mass started--in 90 degree plus heat. It's official--Catholics are crazy! We were given water by two very nice volunteers who took bottle out of their backpacks. No matter what direction you looked it was simply a mass of people. Flags everywhere!
The mass finally got started and it was worth the wait. The photos say it all. Yes, communion was distributed, very efficiently I must say!
The real adventure was leaving. You simply walked with the crowd and headed in the same direction without know exactly where you were going--people simply walked and you simply followed. We finally made it to one of the plazas with a metro stop. Rather than venture into the metro station with thousands of others we decided to stop for dinner. This was a smart move as the metro station was a lot calmer heading home, nonetheless still jam packed. We made it back to the hotel around 12:30 AM and now it was time to shower and get some rest.
Pictures can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August16Day5#
By the way, if you were having problems with the previous link it has been fixed!
Hasta mañana!
The group met up at 2:30 PM to head out to el Parque de Retiro for the Vocation fair. Upon our arrival in Downtown Madrid and at the park, it was apparent the pilgrims had arrived. Moving around became tougher and staying close meant holding on to each other. The visit to the park was very nice and it gave the students an opportunity to meet people and relax a bit. They enjoyed the vocation fair.
After spending some time there it was time to go find our spot for the Opening Mass. Moving continued to get tougher, but we managed to stay together. We made it to our spot at about 6 PM. We were lucky to get so close (see the pictures). Now we had to wait two hours before mass started--in 90 degree plus heat. It's official--Catholics are crazy! We were given water by two very nice volunteers who took bottle out of their backpacks. No matter what direction you looked it was simply a mass of people. Flags everywhere!
The mass finally got started and it was worth the wait. The photos say it all. Yes, communion was distributed, very efficiently I must say!
The real adventure was leaving. You simply walked with the crowd and headed in the same direction without know exactly where you were going--people simply walked and you simply followed. We finally made it to one of the plazas with a metro stop. Rather than venture into the metro station with thousands of others we decided to stop for dinner. This was a smart move as the metro station was a lot calmer heading home, nonetheless still jam packed. We made it back to the hotel around 12:30 AM and now it was time to shower and get some rest.
Pictures can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102724799321486999240/August16Day5#
By the way, if you were having problems with the previous link it has been fixed!
Hasta mañana!
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