World Youth Day 2011: Part 3

As I have shared before, last August, I went to Spain to attend World Youth Day with my family.   If you are interested here is Part1 and Part 2.

On Thursday, August 18, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Madrid.  In the welcome ceremony, he said,

"I have come here to meet thousands of young people from all over the world, Catholics committed to Christ searching for the truth that will give real meaning to their existence. I come as the Successor of Peter, to confirm them all in the faith, with days of intense pastoral activity, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life; to motivate the commitment to build up the Kingdom of God in the world among us; to exhort young people to know Christ personally as a friend and so, rooted in his person, to become faithful followers and valiant witnesses."

Yes, this is what I want for my children.

That day, since we wanted to get a good view of the stage, we started out bright and early, arriving before the crowds (although some groups of young people had spent the night there)...

Before long, the place began to fill up with a colorful crowd of friendly people from many different countries...

 

 

 

We enjoyed making friends with the "pilgrims" around us, mostly Spaniards, Venezuelans and Guatemalans...

We exchanged souvenir tokens with each other and tried to communicate with them in our broken Spanish (remember the tokens I made?)...

We waited for hours that day.  Although we were under the shade, most of the other people were under the scorching sun.  As I thought of what we were all doing, on the sacrifice everyone around me was making, I reflected that, yes, there is always a price to pay and sacrifices to be made when we say yes to God, when we strive to walk in his ways, when we join a community of faith.   Yes, when we are in a relationship with someone, there is a price to pay.  It is not always easy to remain faithful and zealous and joyful.  At times we have to struggle to go on.  This verse comes to mind,

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

But, there is always grace available for us and with this grace, what we thought was impossible becomes possible.  I will share more about that in Part 4 of my sharing.

Linking up with Brag on God Friday, Spiritual Sundays and Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday.