Posted: 08.08.08
Those of us who participated in World Youth Day 2008 – including nearly 200 pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Miami – experienced the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and through the youths of our church on a global scale.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, upon seeing the vast assembly of nearly 200,000 pilgrim youths from around the world, including the mostly young dioceses of Australia and New Zealand, described it quite well: “… all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the Spirit’s presence and power in the beauty of nature. Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it truly is: ‘charged,’ as the poet says, ‘with the grandeur of God.’”
Our communications media covered this event very effectively. Upon returning to Miami, as I tried to share my experiences with others, I was surprised by the fact that all of them already knew what I was talking about –sometimes even better than I did – thanks to the “blogs,” the generosity of EWTN in covering the events live and the reporting in other media.
The theme of this year’s World Youth Day was taken from the Acts of the Apostles: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Since Australia is in the far reaches of Oceania, this “ends of the earth” was felt by all the pilgrims. Our experience confirmed the first words spoken by the missionaries when they arrived in Australia: They called it the “great south land of the Holy Spirit.”
One of the aspects of World Youth Day that most struck me was the inclusion of the aboriginal people in the various liturgical celebrations, and the kind receptivity of the Holy Father, Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell and all the bishops toward this initiative.
The aboriginal people were victims a century ago of a eugenics movement supported by the leaders of white European nations who considered themselves superior to the natives. More recently, the aborigines were the victims of prejudice and disparagement of their culture. Discriminatory laws were passed that codified this attitude of “superiority” regarding them.
Thanks be to God, society has changed during the past 40 years and today it celebrates its multicultural reality. Without a doubt, World Youth Day was a cultural vindication for the aboriginal people. The church distinguished itself for welcoming the cultures that make up its catholicity.
Moreover, we could appreciate that richness at various moments, such as during the Gospel procession, which portrayed the good news as a treasure and showed the joy of the natives who welcomed it as if discovering a precious jewel.
For the agnostic and neo-atheist world that culturally dominates Australia and New Zealand today, there was no easy way to explain this global mobilization. Why had this multitude of young people undergone tremendous economic and physical sacrifices to travel to a meeting with an old man?
This was a strange weeklong festival of catechesis imparted by bishops and cardinals. The experience was a convincing testimony that amazed a world which is culturally cold and skeptical toward religion, and a city that is secularized and closed to the idea of a living God and a church with a future.
The original inspiration for World Youth Day in the heart of Pope John Paul II was the new evangelization of young people: to turn them into evangelizers. How could one be indifferent before this multitude of believers who, faced with adversity and inconvenience, never complained and with a smile on their lips at all times demonstrated so much affection, friendship and a positive attitude toward all?
Their manifestations of solidarity with Pope Benedict XVI could be viewed as a well-organized montage put together by adults and experts, or as a sign of the effectiveness of the Catholic Church’s use of symbols, rites and processions. But we would be falling short if we looked at it only in this way.
This strong manifestation of adhesion and adherence to the Holy Father is a sign of the faith of the young people, who recognized that this ancient bishop of Rome united them in the person of Jesus the Lord and the hope of the Gospel.
We are fortunate that World Youth Day 2011 will take place in Madrid, Spain, a place quite accessible to those of us in North and South America and the Caribbean. I hope our presence will be multiplied, both in the number of participants as well as benefactors who make the experience possible for so many young people.
During the celebrations in Sydney, many bishops commented to me that “Miami would be a magnificent site for a future World Youth Day.” They are right in thinking that, not only because of our tourist-friendly infrastructure, our geographic location and linguistic richness. More than anything, south Florida would be ideal because it has a living church where the presence of young people reveals the presence of the Holy Spirit who renews without ceasing our communities and our hearts, turning them toward the heart of our heavenly Father.
