Miami pilgrims' final reflections on World Youth Day
'God never ceases to amaze us'
Monday, August 5, 2013
*WYD2013 Pilgrims
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Cuban-born SEPI pilgrims were overjoyed to meet up with Father Ariel, who had been their spiritual guide when they lived in Cuba.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
SEPI pilgrim Karen Huezo greets Pope Francis: a glimpse of the creativity evident at the vocational fair.
SEPI
First of all, I apologize for not being able to continue writing from World Youth Day.
I have no words to express what I lived in WYD. Anything I could say would fall short. God never ceases to amaze, and His plans are greater than we can imagine.
I take away great lessons of trust in the Lord in spite of the difficulties and trials, and examples of love and service to others.
On Sunday, at the send-off Mass, Pope Francis said: "Evangelizing means bearing personal witness to the love of God, it is overcoming our selfishness, it is serving by bending down to wash the feet of our brethren, as Jesus did.”
I experienced this firsthand during WYD, through the testimony and love of my brothers and sisters, and I thank God for the experiences, for my family of pilgrims and all those who joined us with their prayers.
Now, we return with renewed strength and grace of God, to fulfill the mission which Jesus, through His Vicar, the Holy Father Francisco, has entrusted to us:
"Go, do not be afraid, and serve. If you follow these three ideas, you will experience that the one who evangelizes is evangelized, the one who transmits the joy of faith receives more joy. Dear young friends, as you return to your homes, do not be afraid to be generous with Christ, to bear witness to his Gospel.”
I ask for your prayers so that we may respond faithfully to this calling.
I share here some photos of our experiences. If you want to see our complete photo album, please visit www.facebook.com/sepimiami.
World Youth Day: Just the beginning
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Ronald Rivas and Maria Rivas pose for a photo, elated, as they reached the Christ the Redeemer statue on the Corcovado.
Prince of Peace Parish
If you're looking for an adventure, let the Holy Spirit guide you. But beware, you may learn a lesson or two along the way.
As the 28th celebration of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil approached, the members of our ministry decided to go where the Holy Spirit led us. We knew we wanted to visit exhibits such as "Mother Teresa", attend Mass with the United States groups at Vivo Rio, listen to the catechesis given by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston or Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, and celebrate with Pope Francis and the rest of the world's youths and young adults — but we also knew we wanted to go out and explore whatever surprises were in store for us.
God wouldn't let us wait. As soon as we arrived in Rio, he led us to some of the most unexpected and spectacular experiences. Our home parish in Rio was Our Lady of Peace, beautifully appropriate considering our home parish in Miami is Prince of Peace.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Members of the Prince of Peace group venerate the pilgrim cross given by Blessed John Paul II to youths at the first World Youth Day.
We made our way into the parish to spend time in prayer, and were immediately called over by a group of ladies praying the rosary. Their hands were placed on a book with gold colored pages and what looked like a vial. In it was a relic of Blessed John Paul II — as if waiting for us to pray with him and welcome us to the beginning of our journey.
All through the week, we received wonderful surprises: worshiping after Mass with Cardinal Dolan; having Pope Francis pass us in the hatchback he was riding while we rode the bus — twice!; being invited by Father Lazaro from St. Therese's Parish to spend time with him and talk as we made our way to Copacabana. But the best was yet to come.
On Saturday, as three of us walked over to the vigil site, we caught a glimpse of Christ the Redeemer at the top of the Corcovado. It was there we were reminded that earthly life is a pilgrimage to eternity, and as our brother in Christ, Michael said, "He waits for us with open arms."
We continued and were finally able to make it to Copacabana, along with approximately 3.5 million other people. We couldn't find a space where we could follow the vigil, but God had something he wanted us to learn. A small space was available across from the beach, so we set down our book bags and sleeping bags and tried to sleep.
The temperature dropped rapidly. Being from Miami and not having enough layers with which to keep warm, we experienced what so many of our homeless brothers and sisters must feel living out in the streets. The floor was hard and uncomfortable, the cold was unbearable, and at some point in the middle of the night we realized we were surrounded by garbage people had thrown around us.
Nothing else could have prepared us to live out Pope Francis' message of serving those who have nothing more than their poverty. Something deep in our hearts was moved and renewed. We wanted to go out and serve, bring happiness to these men and women who deserve so much simply for being children of God, and spread the Good News so others could do the same.
It was then we came up with a plan not to wait a minute longer and serve to the best of our abilities. On our way back from the vigil with Pope Francis, we gave away our sleeping bags and gave the thirsty something to drink. Our last day in Rio, our group members made sandwiches to feed the homeless, evangelized, and stopped by Our Lady of Peace to pray for our ministry and safe return.
Of course, one last surprise awaited us: the icon of our Blessed Mother and the Pilgrim Cross were at the parish, the same cross and icon that Blessed John Paul II entrusted to young people to take around the world.
When we thought our journey was coming to an end, we realized the Holy Spirit was just getting started with his plans for us. World Youth Day is just the beginning. Now, more than ever before, we ask for your prayers, as young people from around the world and our archdiocese have been entrusted to "go out and make disciples of all nations."
READ PREVIOUS WYD2013 BLOGS
