donderdag 25 augustus 2011
Pope Benedict commissions millions of Young Missionaries in Madrid
BY MIKE JAMES
“Young people readily respond when in sincerity and truth, they are invited to an encounter with Jesus Christ”, declared Pope Benedict XVI as he bade farewell to World Youth Day (WYD) at Madrid airport last Sunday. Referring specifically to the two million young people whom the Vatican estimates participated in WYD he declared. “Now those young people are returning home as missionaries of the Gospel”…and – he added, speaking to the 800 bishops and 14,000 of priests and 20,000 women religious who had accompanied the young people on this pilgrimage – “they will need to be helped on their way”.
The Pope hailed as “Apostles of the 21st century” the young people from 195 nations around the world, who prayed and meditated, who sang God’s praises and celebrated undeterred even as they were buffeted first by heavy winds and dust and then drenched by a powerful thunderstorm at the Cuatro Vientos aerodrome where the final vigil and Mass took place.
The final week of WYD 2011 began on August 15 with thousands of them beginning to arrive in Madrid by bus, train, air and even hitch hiking from their Days in the Dioceses (DiD), enthusiastic but cautious, well aware that in Spain facing serious economic crisis, 21% unemployment rising to 35% among young adults, there were some vocal critics against any special treatment for the visitors at the public expense. But following a massive opening Mass in the Madrid city centre in which some 70 young Spaniards gave the warmest of welcomes to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, caution about public expression of their faith disappeared. Packed metro stations became spontaneous chapels of prayer and hymns of praise.
At one huge parish church of the Santa Trinidad that served as one of the many catechetical centres for English, standing-room only groups of young people from South Africa, the English-speaking Caribbean, India and Australia heard Archbishop Robert Rivas of Castries, Chairman of the AEC Youth Commission preach what he told pilgrims was his first sermon on the “Name of Jesus” as he invited them to deepen their personal commitment to Christ.
The next day Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban South Africa reminded them that they can be absolutely sure that “God will never let you waste your life if you commit yourself completely to him.” Jesus says to you,“Follow me and I will be right behind you.” He added that in an interesting initiative, the Vatican Pontifical Council for Evangelization is encouraging young people to devote a year of their lives to missionary work with 3 months of intensive training followed by the rest of the year in intensive service.
South Africans of all races joined together to lead powerful hymns and liturgical dance which symbolised the spirit of unity and fellowship transcending all differences of language, race and class that characterised WYD.
The traditional processions of statues and composite scenarios of scenes from Holy Week were combined with the Stations of the Cross on Friday 19, attended by more than a million pilgrims. Among groups who carried the cross from station to station were groups of disabled young people, groups working with victims of HIV/AIDS, and a group composed jointly of young pilgrims from Haiti and Japan, countries that have recently faced national disasters. The prayers invited all to solidarity and service of Jesus, suffering in all these and other groups around the world.
As part of his packed schedule Pope Benedict visited a home for disabled run by young religious at which an 18 year old young man, deaf from birth, gave the welcoming speech in which he testified that his faith gave him great courage in long periods of silence and solitude. His words brought tears to the Pope’s eyes.
The Pope’s schedule ran late when he spent half an hour listening and talking to a religious sister, 103 years old who entered the convent on the same day that Pope Benedict was born 83 years ago, and who had for the first time in those 83 years come out of her contemplative cloistered convent in order to meet with him.
Not all went perfectly well in WYD 2011. Central organisation was overwhelmed with the huge number of pilgrims who descended on Madrid. While security took the decision to close the main entrance to the vast aerodrome long before the scheduled beginning of the final mass as space was completely oversubscribed. This resulted in many tens of thousands of registered pilgrims having to trek many additional kilometres to reach other general public access areas. On the other hand well-stocked picnic packages containing 4 meals for the same tens of thousands could not be distributed. Limited access to public sports and other facilities (strictly only from 9 p.m to 9 a.m. and not at all from the morning after WYD ended) meant that groups found it difficult to find enough opportunities for planning and praying together outside the official programme. The massive thunderstorm and winds during the vigil caused the collapse of 2 of the tents where hosts were being stored for consecration the next day with the result that many pilgrims were unable to receive Communion at the final mass.
None of this, however, dampened the spirits and the tremendous witness of the millions of young people, challenging the conventional wisdom in Europe that young people have no time for Christ or serious commitment to eternal values. The day after the final Mass, three young women from Trinidad were at the entrance of a metro station looking for a homeless person they had befriended earlier to share their breakfast with him. And as Vatican radio reported of the enthusiasm and commitment of the young people at WYD, “This is the BXVI generation, they came, they heard and they understood, the apostles of the 21st century.” They return home to Syria and Sri Lanka, to China and the Caribbean, determined to witness fearlessly and to seek the help to do so that Pope Benedict has called Bishops, Priests, Religious and other church leaders to provide.
