By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
MIAMI GARDENS | The theme song for the World Youth Day 2023 is out – and your fellow students and parishioners are in the video.
"Feel the Rush in the Air," streaming on YouTube, was shot partly in South Florida with more than 30 young people from St. Thomas University and archdiocesan parishes.
With a theme chosen by Pope Francis, "Mary arose and went with haste" (Luke 1:39), the five-minute video has young men and women seeking out churches, then kneeling, worshiping and even dancing.
South Florida was selected for the English-language video by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Father Rafael Capó, STU’s vice president for mission and ministry.
“They knew we could represent the diversity of the people who would come to World Youth Day,” said Father Capó, who appears in the video himself. “Part of St. Thomas University’s mission is forming leaders for the global community.”
Indeed, the video shows a broad variety of young adults – Anglo, Asian, Haitian, Hispanic and African American – from the university and several parishes. They're drawn to churches, including the university’s St. Anthony Chapel and St. Francis de Sales on Miami Beach.
Ivan Diaz, a South Florida-based singer and composer, leads the November 2022 recording of "Feel the Rush in the Air," the theme song for WYD 2023. The cast was made of STU students, plus youths from around the Archdiocese of Miami.
They then sing lyrics including:
Let the world hear our voices sing
We lift up our hands and feel the rush in the air
Jesus lives, and God is with us here
As he loves us, we must love
To reinforce the message of service, the cast members find a homeless man sleeping beneath a tree. They offer him food and drink, then pray with him.
They finish the video with praise, worship and dance in front of the archdiocese’s WYD Cross, which bears the logos of all World Youth Days. The singers also receive a blessing from Father Capó.
The project was recorded over two days in November at the campus, led by Javier Iván Díaz, STU’s new campus ministry director. He got the task because of his experience in Catholic music.
A singer and composer with Oregon Catholic Press, Díaz wrote and led the video for “Nuestra Alegria / Our Joy,” the official youth and young adult song for the V Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino ministry in the U.S. He has sung and led chorales at events like Encuentro and the National Catholic Youth Conference.
Díaz has been part-time campus ministry director at STU since April and plans to go full-time there in late July. He also serves weekends as a music minister at Little Flower Church in Hollywood.
"I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to lead this,” Díaz said of the new World Youth Day production. “I hope this will ignite the spiritual fire of young people to follow Christ."
Photographer: Courtesy
Young men set up an emblematic cross at St. Thomas University for the upcoming World Youth Day. The cross was a focus for the recording November 2022 of "Feel the Rush in the Air," the theme song for WYD 2023. The cast was made of STU students, plus youths from around the Archdiocese of Miami.
To find the performers, he put out a call for volunteers with experience in singing, dancing and acting. The resulting cast came not only from STU but several churches: Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Katharine Drexel, St. John XXIII and St. Francis de Sales.
Two sisters from the Miami-based Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary are in the video as well. They both teach and minister at the university, Díaz said.
Besides archdiocesan youths, the music video features artists with Oregon Catholic Press, a not-for-profit music publisher. Some segments of the video were shot in Nashville and St. Louis.
World Youth Day 2023 is scheduled for Aug. 1-6 in Lisbon, Portugal. A delegation from the archdiocese will join an expected million-plus people there. Among them will be about 20 from STU, not only students but Díaz, Father Capó and university president David Armstrong.
WYD is held every two to four years at various sites. It was launched by St. Pope John Paul II after he saw a large turnout at the 1985 gathering in Rome for the International Year of Youth.
Since then, the gatherings have been held in such cities as Krakow, Sydney, Manila and Buenos Aires. In 2019, more than 700,000 flocked to Panama, where musicians included two South Florida groups: The Call from Miami-Dade County and EPIC the Band from Broward.
“World Youth Day has been characterized as a moment for the universal Church to celebrate the joy of the Gospel,” said Capó, who was at the 1985 event in Rome. “I've seen that it’s been communicating the joy of the Gospel to young people ever since.”
Beyond the enthusiasm, he said, one of the most important functions of WYD has been to spur the young to spread the faith.
“In encountering Christ, they see they cannot have just a private faith,” Father Capó said. “They need to share the witness of the gospel with others.”
This article's reference to the song, "Nuestra Alegría / Our Joy," has been corrected. Ivan Díaz composed it for the V Encuentro, not for World Youth Day Panama.
Photographer: Courtesy
Cast members sing at St. Thomas University in November 2022 for the recording of "Feel the Rush in the Air," the theme song for World Youth Day 2023. The cast was made of STU students, plus youths from around the Archdiocese of Miami.
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