AFTER the hope-filled sadness of the Queensland, Perth and New Zealand Mass at Gallipoli, the World Youth Day pilgrims moved across the Dardenelles to western Turkey.
Perhaps Paul travelled there before them through these towns of Troy, Alexander Troas and the high fortress city of Assos.
Certainly the rough nature of the countryside made all pilgrims realise more than ever of the sacrifices he had made in preaching the Good News.
Mass was led by Bishop Brian Heenan of Rockhampton in the arched and crumbling remains of Alexander Troas’s ancient bath house.
The tour guide suggested that Paul may even have sought converts in these unlikely surroundings.
On August 8, we moved on to Kusadasi and Ephesus, the traditional home of Mary in her later years, the tomb of St John the Evangelist, and the meeting place of the great council of Ephesus in 431.
Mass was celebrated beside the house of Mary in a most beautiful hilltop chapel surrounded by trees, accompanied by the drone of locusts that reminded us all of distant Australia and our loved ones.
Later in the ruins of the church dedicated to Mary, Bishop Michael Putney of Townsville reminded us of the Christian implications of the early Church councils and the remarkable development of faith they provided for us all.
On August 10 we gathered on the wharves at Ephesus for our trip to Patmos, for a short time home to the exiled St John.
Inclement seas provided space on the wharf for a combined New Zealand and Aussie impromptu concert that was a sheer delight for those who performed and those who listened. Perhaps for the first time a Maori haka was performed in the footsteps of St Paul.
Patmos, with its cave of St John, provided another opportunity for an outdoor, shared pilgrim Mass, even if a windy one, led by Bishop Colin Campbell of Dunedin.
The morning of August 11 took us to the home of Paul’s disciple, Titus, in Crete where we celebrated Eucharist in the Capuchin Church of St John the Baptist, and then moved on to the Greek Orthodox Church of St Titus, where we were welcomed and blessed by the priest and deacon, and gifted with icons of this great companion of Paul.
After a short visit to the magnificent Island of Santorini, the pilgrims moved on to Corinth where again an outdoor Mass was celebrated on the very stones where Paul had been judged and flogged by the Roman consul before beginning to preach the Gospel to this challenging community.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the pilgrimage has been both the growth in community of the pilgrims, as well as in their growth in faith.
With the help of the leaders and priests, the young men and women have responded marvellously to the challenge of the apostle to the gentiles.
Listening to the Scripture of Paul, I am sure, will never be the same again, whether for the young pilgrim or those priests, bishops or young leaders who have accompanied them.
