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From Resistance to Acceptance of a Vocation

August 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Veronica Clara entered Iesu Communio after receiving the WYD cross from the young Australians

During the preparations for WYD 2011, even before it actually takes place, WYD Madrid has changed many lives. This is the story of Verónica Clara Montes a young girl who realized that she had a vocation when she took the WYD cross from the hands of young Australians for it to begin its journey all over Spain.

Quite by chance, Verónica Clara was one of the young girls chosen to go up to the altar to receive the WYD cross during Holy week in Rome, 2009.

Here is the testimony of this young girl, today a Sister of Iesu Communio:

“During WYD 2005 in Cologne I had the opportunity to live with many Christians. The experience made me realize that Christianity is not a utopia, but a living reality. I discovered the beauty of being Christian and, from that moment, I decided to participate in everything that the Church could offer me.

And then one day, with a group of young parishioners we were going over our plans to travel to Rome in Holy Week of 2009, and I was told that I’d been chosen to go up to the altar and take the cross from the hands of the young people of Sidney. I had been given the gift of being one of those chosen to take over directly from them.

‘Why me, Lord?’. That was the question in my heart, because it seemed that this was something big, too big for me. As soon as I could, I went to the chapel and prayed to Jesus: ‘Lord, don’t let me receive your Cross as if it were any old thing’… …Read More

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‘Dare to be Saints!’ Why John Paul II invited his ‘dear young friends’ to be holy

August 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Jesus made his own the call to holiness already addressed by God to the people of the old covenant: “You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy (Lev 19:2)”. He repeated it continually by word and by the example of his life. Especially in the Sermon on the Mount he left to the Church a code of Christian holiness. The history of Christian holiness is the proof that by living in the spirit of the Beatitudes proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5:3-12), Christ’s exhortation in the parable of the vine and the branches is realized: “Abide in me, and I in you…. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (Jn 15:4, 5). These words are verified in many ways in the lives of individual Christians, thereby showing, down the centuries, the manifold riches and beauty of the holiness of the Church.

Become the Saints of the New Millennium

Pope John Paul II spoke frequently to young people about the call to holiness and the vocation to be saints. Who can forget his message for World Youth Day 2000 in Rome? He wrote to his dear young friends throughout the world unforgettable words that became the rallying cry for the Jubilee’s greatest celebration: “Young people of every continent, do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium! Be contemplative, love prayer; be coherent with your faith and generous in the service of your brothers and sisters, be active members of the Church and builders of peace. To succeed in this demanding project of life, continue to listen to His Word, draw strength from the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance. The Lord wants you to be intrepid apostles of his Gospel and builders of a new humanity”.

Two years later for World Youth Day 2002 in Canada, John Paul II took up once again the theme of holiness and saints in The Way of the Cross on Good Friday in his Private Chapel (25 March 2005)his message to the young people of the world: “Just as salt gives flavor to food and light illumines the darkness, so too holiness gives full meaning to life and makes it reflect God’s glory. How many saints, especially young saints, can we count in the Church’s history! In their love for God their heroic virtues shone before the world, and so they became models of life which the Church has held up for imitation by all…. Through the intercession of this great host of witnesses, may God make you too, dear young people, the saints of the third millennium!”

At the concluding Mass of Canada’s World Youth Day at Downsview Park on Sunday, 28 July, 2002, Pope John Paul issued a stirring challenge that still resounds in North America, in particular, today: “And if, in the depths of your hearts, you feel the same call to the priesthood or consecrated life, do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the Cross! At difficult moments in the Church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit, just as Kateri Tekakwitha did here in America and so many other young people have done”.

In announcing the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne – an event he would not live to see, Pope John Paul II sent a letter to the young people of the world: “Dear young people, the Church needs genuine witnesses for the new evangelization: men and women whose lives have been transformed by meeting with Jesus, men and women who are capable of communicating this experience to others. The Church needs saints. All are called to holiness, and holy people alone can renew humanity. Many have gone before us along this path of Gospel heroism, and I urge you to turn often to them to pray for their intercession.”

Attending his first World Youth Day as pope, Benedict XVI built on the his predecessor’s repeated invitations to young people and at the great vigil of Cologne’s World Youth Day on August 20, 2005, Benedict cried out at Marienfeld:

“It is the great multitude of the saints – both known and unknown – in whose lives the Lord has opened up the Gospel before us and turned over the pages; he has done this throughout history and he still does so today. In their lives, as if in a great picture-book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed. They are the shining path which God himself has traced throughout history and is still tracing today.”

“The saints… are the true reformers. Now I want to express this in an even more radical way:  only from the saints, only from God does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world.”

Friends of God

During his Pontificate, Pope John Paul II proclaimed 1,338 Blesseds and 482 Saints. Young adults need heroes and heroines today, and the Pope gave us outstanding models of holiness and humanity. In a world that desperately seeks authentic heroes and heroines, John Paul II presented us with the real heroes and heroines of the faith who will never let us down.

Pope John Paul II reminded us that the heroes and heroines the world offers the world today are terribly flawed. They leave us so empty. The real “stars” of Pope John Paul II are the Saints and Blesseds who did not try to be regarded as heroes, or to shock or provoke. He taught us that the saints aren’t just people to turn to when something is lost or a situation seems hopeless; they are examples to follow in prayer and in efforts to reform and renew the church. If we befriend the blesseds and saints and imitate their lives, we too embark on the path of holiness.

We must honestly ask ourselves if the Holy Father’s important teaching on the Blesseds and Saints has become an integral part of our catechesis, Evangelization and formation of young people today. Have we have placed our pastoral work with young people under the heading of holiness? Have we invited them to truly desire to be saints?

Santo Subito

When the throngs of people — so many of them the young men and women who were his spiritual sons and daughters — began chanting “Santo Subito” at the end of the Pope’s funeral mass on April 8, 2005, what were they really chanting? They were crying out that in Karol Wojtyla, they saw someone who lived with God and lived with us. He was a sinner who experienced God’s mercy and forgiveness. He looked at us, loved us, embraced us, healed us and gave us hope. He taught us not to be afraid. He showed us how to live, how to love, how to forgive and how to die. He taught us how to embrace the cross in the most excruciating moments of life, knowing that the cross was not God’s final answer.

If the Church proclaims Pope John Paul II blessed, it is because he lived with God, relying totally on God’s infinite, divine mercy, going forward with God’s strength and power, believing in the impossible, loving one’s enemies and persecutors, forgiving in the midst of evil and violence, hoping beyond all hope, and leaving the world a better place. Pope John Paul II gave flesh and blood to the Beatitudes throughout his entire lifetime. He let us catch a glimpse of the greatness and holiness to which we are all called, and showed us the face of God as we journey on our pilgrim way on earth. A great part of the success of his message is due to the fact that he was surrounded by a tremendous cloud of witnesses who stood by him and strengthened him throughout his life. Is it any wonder, then, that millions of young people throughout the world loved him and took up his invitation to become the “saints of the new millennium?”

The Church is the “home of holiness” and holiness is our most accurate image, our authentic calling card, and our greatest gift to the world. It describes best who and what we are and strive to be. In the life of Karol Wojtyla, holiness was contagious. Pope John Paul II was not only “Holy Father” but a Father who was and is Holy. On 2 April, 2005, he died a public, global death that stopped the world for several days. On 8 April, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told the world that the Holy Father was watching and blessing us ‘from the window of the Father’s House’”.

As we prepare for Sunday May 1, 2011, the Beatification of this great servant and priest, and a real hero for young people today, let us beg his intercession and blessing. May he intercede for us and give us the desire to become holy and to be saints.

Thomas Rosica, csb, CEO of Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation in Canada; Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications; served as National Director and CEO of World Youth Day 2002, Canada

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Why Go to World Youth Day?

August 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

By: Mark J. Matthews

Some people may ask – in our age of mass media, instant communication and virtual telepresence, what’s the point of going to World Youth Day? Can’t our youth just read what the Pope has to say to them on the Vatican website? Although the reasons may not be obvious, I’ve found that being present in-person is one of the most important things we can do, and far more is communicated in-person than most of us realize.

If I look to my professional life, I’ve found attending conferences to be extremely valuable.  Times I’ve been unable to attend, I found myself saying: “I’ll read the proceedings later.” Though the presentations are video taped, and presenters are happy to answer questions via e-mail, the experience for me is drastically different; there is no way that I could absorb all that information as quickly as I could at a conference. What bothers me the most about this is that I don’t understand why!

I have a number of good friends who live far away, so I make point of calling them every few months to keep in touch. What I find interesting is that when I visit them in person we enter into conversations that we just normally wouldn’t on the phone. It’s not that we don’t trust each other, or are purposely holding anything back – there is a great amount of trust in these friendships, but it’s just not the same. Yet, I don’t understand why. I’m talking to the same person on the phone, so shouldn’t it be the same conversation?

There is much more going on when we are present in person. Pope John Paul II explored these ideas in his famous Theology of the Body (TOB). Many Catholics think of TOB as “the sex subject”, but TOB is so much more. TOB expounds on everything regarding the body, and these in-the-body conferences and friendships are no exception.

We have to be humble and accept that our minds are weak. Just because I say that I am going to discipline myself and learn the same material on-line, doesn’t mean that I will really do it. And being with a friend in person, just isn’t the same as talking to them on the phone. Something subconsciously within us doesn’t accept the full reality of the situation because it doesn’t engage all of our senses.

So is it any coincidence then that the pope that penned TOB, is also the same pope that founded World Youth Days? I don’t think so. JP II wisely realized the profound impact that bringing young people together in one physical location within the church can have.

My experience of World Youth Day was an incredible experience of the universality of the church. In 2000 it was held in the heart of the church – Rome. Seeing all the ancient buildings there, yet seeing how active they were occupied by the church, made me realize that church is alive, and has been thriving since it’s foundation over 2000 years ago. It was a time of incredible grace for me, cementing my faith in a very deep way.

Turning our experiences of faith into an experience of the senses is a very Catholic idea. We are beings of the flesh and properly engaging all our senses is a way to grow our faith; perhaps this is why Christ gave us the sacraments. Incarnating our faith in the world builds faith in our hearts. Seeking out Christ in a trip to WYD is a sign of truly seeking him out with our hearts. And after all, He sought us out first by pilgrimaging to us in Bethlehem.

 

Mark J. Matthews is an illustrator living in Los Angeles. His “Undercover Missionary” segments can be heard on Salt + Light Radio.

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World Youth Days demonstrate the pastoral genius of John Paul II and the vitality of the Church

June 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Columbia Magazine, April 2011 Throughout his pontificate, Pope John Paul II enjoyed an incredible popularity with young Catholics. One of the great reasons for this was the emphasis he placed on World Youth Days, an initiative that he began in 1985. Through these national and international gatherings, John Paul II made it very clear: Young people are not only the future of the Church, but are also its present.

In the face of the cynicism, despair and meaninglessness so prevalent in the world today, the new evangelization at the heart of John Paul II’s teaching is about instilling hope and vibrancy in the Church. The pope knew well that the world is often characterized by separation, fragmentation and loneliness. Through the gift of World Youth Days, he offered powerful opportunities to become bearers of hope, agents of community and instruments of a moral globalization.
The beatification of Pope John Paul II invites us to take stock of the gifts we received from him and to examine how his vision and hope have impacted our own efforts in pastoral ministry with young adults.

Forming a Generation

Among the central elements of World Youth Days are worship, sacred Scripture, catechesis, the sacraments, the cross, the saints, pilgrimage, service and vocations. Each of these components contribute greatly to, and must find a place in, an effective pastoral ministry with young people.

The preparation for World Youth Days offers the Church some profound moments to deepen Christian piety and devotion. Throughout Canada, we are unlikely to forget the powerful images of the World Youth Day Cross during its historic pilgrimage in 2002. With the assistance of the Knights of Columbus, the cross traveled through more than 350 cities, towns and villages from sea to sea. Eventually, during World Youth Day in Toronto, the magnificent presentation of the Stations of the Cross was a profound witness of the Christian story in the heart of a modern city.
Young adults need heroes and heroines today, and Pope John Paul II gave us outstanding models of holiness and humanity. During his pontificate, he canonized 482 saints and proclaimed another 1,338 blessed. How fitting that one of the principal patrons of World Youth Day in Madrid in August 2011 will be Blessed John Paul II.
Many young priests and religious have said “yes” to their vocations because of the personal witness of John Paul II, who urged them to “Be not afraid!” Many young men and women have discovered meaning in his theology of the body and have entered into marriage with deep faith and conviction. And many ordinary people have done extraordinary things because of his influence, his teaching and even his gestures.
The extraordinary impact that John Paul II had on younger generations has happily continued with his successor. In remarks at the concluding Mass of World Youth Day 2008, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney thanked Pope Benedict XVI with these words: “Your Holiness, the World Youth Days were the invention of Pope John Paul the Great. The World Youth Day in Cologne was already announced before your election. You decided to continue the World Youth Days and to hold this one in Sydney. We are profoundly grateful for this decision, indicating that the World Youth Days do not belong to one pope, or even one generation, but are now an ordinary part of the life of the Church. The John Paul II generation — young and old alike — is proud to be faithful sons and daughters of Pope Benedict.”

A Youthful Church

A person may choose to speak of his or her World Youth Day experience as something in the past that brightened the shadows and monotony of life at one shining moment in history. There is, however, another perspective. The Gospel story is not about “Camelot” moments but about “Magnificat” moments, constantly inviting Christians to take up Mary’s hymn of praise and thanksgiving for the ways that Almighty God breaks through human history — here and now. In other words, the Christian life is not nourished simply by memories, however good and beautiful they may be. The resurrection of Jesus is not a memory of a distant event in the past, but is the Good News that continues to be fulfilled.

We must be honest and admit that World Youth Days offer no panacea or quick fix to the problems of our times, nor to the challenges facing the Church today as we reach out to younger generations. Instead, these events offer a new lens through which we look at the Church and the world, and build our common future. One thing is clear: No one could come away from Toronto, Cologne or Sydney thinking that it is possible to compartmentalize their faith or reduce it to a few rules and regulations and Sunday observances.
I cannot help but recall Cardinal James Francis Stafford’s stirring words spoken to the throngs of young people gathered in and around St. Peter’s Square at the opening ceremonies of the Jubilee World Youth Day on August 15, 2000. Addressing a visibly moved and aging Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Stafford said, “Holy Father, as you walked in the 1960s to the [Second Vatican] Council’s sessions to express again the mystery of the always youthful Church, you experienced the embrace of these great colonnades many times. Today we all pray that your happiness may be full. For these youthful multitudes, now embraced by the arms of St. Peter also, are living witnesses to the Council’s hope and to yours.”
In this way, the cardinal beautifully expressed the mission and purpose of World Youth Days, which are a snapshot of the joy, hope and unity to which the Church is called. As Pope Benedict XVI said in his inaugural homily in 2005, “[T]he Church is alive. And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future.” World Youth Days are a reminder of this truth.

Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, a member of Toronto Council 1388, was the national director and C.E.O. of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. He has been the C.E.O. of Canada’s Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation since 2003.

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26 Years of World Youth Day

June 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Video produced by Grassroots Films for WYD 2011 Madrid

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WYD TV: Relive all WYDs right here!

June 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Are you nostalgic about previous World Youth Days? Did you meet your wife in Denver 1993? Did you come back to the Church in Compostela in 89? Or did you begin to consider a vocation to the Religious Life in Rome in 2000? Was Sydney 2008 a game changer for you? No matter, relive all WYDs here, WYD TV! Only at wydcentral.org, your home for everything and anything WYD!

 

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Emmanuel – WYD 2000

April 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This is a video produced by Canção Nova in Brasil. A nice memory of WYD2000 in Rome.

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Resta qui con noi – Rome 1984

April 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Resta qui con noi, stay here with me, Theme Song for the very first international World Youth Day, in Rome, 1984.

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Becoming the People of the Beatitudes

April 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Pope John Paul II enjoyed amazing popularity among young Catholics throughout his 26-year pontificate. The strongest symbol of the importance he accorded to this connection is, without doubt, World Youth Days. It’s not remarkable that the Pope saw his youthful friends as a metaphor of renewal and hope; what is remarkable is that young people also see and understand themselves this way.

Through these gatherings, John Paul II made it clear: young people are not only the future of the Church, they are also its present. WYD 2002 was for the Canadian Church a privileged moment of re-commitment to the deeply Christian values that are at the heart of Canada. These values, now often ignored or hidden, reveal who we really are: Gospel agents of salt and light in the world today.

The experience of World Youth Days in Argentina, Spain, Poland, Denver, Manila, Paris, Rome, Toronto, Cologne, and this week in Sydney brought much new life to each of the countries where the great events took place. As we celebrate the event in Sydney, we need to take stock of the gifts we have received and ask how the vision and hope of John Paul II have influenced our own efforts in pastoral ministry with young people and young adults in each country. What have the joy, enthusiasm, exuberance and creativity of our World Youth Day experiences taught us? How have they transformed Youth and Young Adult Ministry in each host diocese and country? Have we initiated a ‘preferential option’ for young people in the Church today?wyd08logo.gif

The principal elements of World Youth Days contribute greatly to an effective pastoral ministry with young people and with young adults. These elements—Christ, Sacred Scripture, catechesis, the sacraments (especially Reconciliation and Eucharist), piety, devotion, the World Youth Day Cross, the saints, together with the moments of pilgrimage, the Youth Festival, social service projects, vocations—must find a central place in our pastoral efforts with young people.

The New Evangelization at the heart of John Paul II’s teaching is about instilling hope and vibrancy in the Church—to combat the cynicism, despair and meaninglessness prevalent in the world today. John Paul II knew well that the world struggles with separation, fragmentation, loneliness, alienation, and rampant globalization that exploits the poor. Through the gift of World Youth Days, John Paul II offered us powerful opportunities to become bearers of hope, agents of community, neighbours to those around us, and instruments of a moral globalization that must accompany all our international efforts.

During his Angelus address at the conclusion of the 17th World Youth Day in Toronto, the Holy Father said: “This World Youth Day must mark a re-awakening of pastoral attention to the young in Canada. May the enthusiasm of this moment be the spark that is needed to launch a new era of powerful witness to the gospel!… My wish for all of you who are here is that the commitments you have made during these days of faith and celebration will bring forth abundant fruits of dedication and witness. May you always treasure the memory of Toronto!”

03-cross-toronto-to-cologne-2003.jpgWorld Youth Days are celebrations of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Faith. At the welcoming ceremony of World Youth Day 2002, Pope John Paul II said: “With your gaze set firmly on him [Jesus], you will discover the path of forgiveness and reconciliation in a world often laid waste by violence and terror.” The person of Jesus Christ must be at the heart of our efforts with young adults. In order to be authentic believers, we must have a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. How is Christ at the heart of our efforts with young people? What is distinctive and unique about being Catholic?

The principal elements of World Youth Days—Christ, Sacred Scripture, catechesis, the sacraments (especially Reconciliation and Eucharist), piety, devotion, the World Youth Day Cross, the saints, together with the moments of pilgrimage, the Youth Festival, social service projects, vocations—must find a central place in our pastoral efforts with young people.

Pope John Paul’s biblical theme for WYD 2002 was most appropriate for our society and world that are often steeped in mediocrity and darkness. “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). What biblical stories and images animate our pastoral ministry with young people?

During WYD 2002 in Toronto, over 100,000 young people celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Through this sacrament Christ lets us meet him and brings out the best in us. In our pastoral work with young people, do we present this sacrament as a privileged encounter with Christ who heals, forgives and liberates us?

World Youth Days offer the Church profound moments to deepen our Christian piety and devotion. In Canada during 2001-2002, the historic, 43,000-km pilgrimage of the WYD Cross and the magnificent presentation of the Stations of the Cross were a provocative, profound witness of the Christian story in the heart of a modern city. How have we continued this tradition in our parish communities and youth activities? Do we acknowledge the need for solid, biblically rooted Christian piety and devotion in the lives of young people today?

wyd-jpii-cologne.jpgDuring his pontificate, John Paul II proclaimed 1,338 blesseds and 482 saints. Young adults need heroes and heroines today, and the Pope gave us outstanding models of holiness and humanity. Nine young blesseds and saints were patrons of WYD 2002, several more were patrons for WYD 2005, and now John Paul II himself is among the 10 patrons for WYD 2008 in Sydney. How often do we present these holy men and women as the real role models for young people today?

Have we taken to heart Pope John Paul II’s invitation to young people to consider lives of consecrated service in the Church today? “think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good! There are many priests, seminarians and consecrated persons here today; be close to them and support them! And if, in the depths of your hearts, you feel the same call to the priesthood or consecrated life, do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the cross! At difficult moments in the Church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent.”

How many people are no longer afraid because they saw in John Paul II one who was not afraid? How many young seminarians and religious have spoken their ‘yes’ because of him? How many young men and women have discovered meaning in John Paul II’s theology of the body and have entered into marriage with deep faith and conviction? How many ordinary people have done extraordinary things because of his influence, his teaching and his gestures?

Let us give thanks to God for Pope John Paul II who believed in young people. We are now shepherded by Pope Benedict XVI, someone who is deeply committed to bringing young people to Christ. On the morning after his election, Benedict XVI spoke at the end of a Mass: “I think in particular of young people. [...] With you, dear young people, future and hope of the Church and of humanity, I will continue to dialogue, listening to your expectations in an attempt to help you to encounter ever more profoundly the living Christ, who is eternally young.” In a homily a few days later, he said: “I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ—and you will find true life.”

Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.
Former National Director, World Youth Day 2002
CEO, Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network

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Why WYD? Part 5 of 6: Saints

April 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

In the year 2000 WYD returned to Rome for the Year of the Jubilee. On the Holy Father’s message to the youth of the world on the occasion of this World Youth Day, Pope John Paul II wrote “Young people of every continent, do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium.” We are created to be saints, JPII told us we can be, and to help us understand this, every WYD has Patron Saint. One of the Patron Saints for WYD2000 was Pier Giorgio Frassati. This is very exciting because Pier Giorgio was not a priest or a monk. Pier Giorgio was a regular young lay man, someone to whom I can relate.

When we think of Saints, normally we think of “holy” and religious Europeans who lived hundreds of years ago – people who levitated, or who had the stigmata; people like Saint Francis of Assisi. But there is little in common between St. Francis and me.

But Pier Giorgio lived from 1901 to 1924. His sister just died last year. He was a young man, went to university, fell in love – but he lived a good life and did a lot of good, in particular by helping the poor and marginalised, from whom he contracted the tuberculosis that killed him at age 24.

WYD Toronto’s Patron Saints and Blesseds were mostly young people from different countries, and most of them lived in the 20th century: Agnes of Rome, Andrew of Phu Yen, Pedro Calungsod, Saint Josephine Bakhita, St. Therese, St. Gianna Molla, Marcel Calo, Francisco Castelló y Aleu, Kateri Tekakwitha and again Pier Giorgio. Young Saints who the youth of today can imitate. I would suggest that you go and research the lives of these great people of the Church. For us, there are no greater models for life.

And this is the reason why we need Saints: we all need models to imitate. John Paul II knew this very well. It is no coincidence that more people were canonised and beatified during his 26 years of Pontificate than of all the other Popes put together.

And that brings us to 2002. It’s important to mention that a new aspect was introduced to WYD in Toronto in 2002: the service project. Why gather all these young people together, calling them to live as the saints that they are, and not give them an opportunity to serve – to serve the poorest of the poor, the marginalised and those left out? We had service projects with Habitat for Humanity, with the Canadian Organisation for Development and Peace, and with many local service agencies. After all, don’t we, as Catholics have a preferential option for the poor and are called to act with justice and charity? These service projects were repeated in Cologne and in Sidney.

And this is the most important aspect of WYD. The Pope invites us to go to WYD, but this is not an invitation to a party or just a celebration. The invitation is to go on a walk, under the Cross, together with Mary and the Saints, towards Jesus – in order to meet with the Church and to learn about our beliefs – and to go in a spirit of reconciliation, pilgrimage, worship and service. It’s an invitation to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s an invitation to live as Saints.

But it’s not an invitation to be something that we cannot be. John Paul II said to us, “do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium”. That means we can be. But it’s not an invitation to be saints if we feel like it, or if we’re in the mood. We are created to be saints. The invitation is to say yes to that for which we are created. For many (and for me too) this is very hard to realize – it’s something that scares us. But JPII kept telling us, and Pope Benedict has reminded us: “Do not be afraid.”

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Why WYD? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

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