Thursday, July 24, 2008

World Youth Day, Sydney 2008

As my friend Dexter puts it....
" What a week we have just experienced!! How good was it?!! Yeah!! Opening Mass, the sun, the cold, the tinned food, the pilgrims from all over the world, the walking, the queues, the Catechises sessions, Youthfest, the chants, the cold, the travel, the exchanging of gifts, the banging drums, the Papal welcome, the cold, the early morning starts, the cheers, Reconciliation, Stations of the Cross, the Pilgrimage walk from North Sydney to Randwick, the Vigil, the cold, the cold, the WYD Papal Mass, celebrating the Eucharist... it was jammed packed and "awesome"!

It really moved me seeing all those people from all parts of the world come together for our faith. Truly amazing!
The highlights was the Capuchin Youth Festival…. An Italian music pilgrim group performed… a lot of drum beats and dance moves!! Gary Pinto also performed. He is the nicest person ever!! I called him over from afar and he actually came up to us, rare for a celebrity. He was really into his faith which surprised me..
Also we did one of our chants in the middle of George St as hoards of people were going to Barangaroo for the opening mass…. We used one of the barricades as drums…. It was LOUD and people stopped and watched!! Freak'n cool

Seeing close to 500 000 people celebrating mass, people chanting and playing their drums, language barriers but being able to communicate anyway, seeing the Pope, McDonalds being jammed packed with hungry people with VIP vouchers, the streets of Sydney being filled with pilgrims, feeling the love. That will never leave me….


The next WYD is in Madrid, Spain 2011.
Start saving up!

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