SYDNEYSIDERS had front row seats this past week to the vibrant faith of young Catholics revelling in World Youth Day events.
The pilgrims’ “joy in the Lord” was palpable throughout an array of festival-style gatherings that climax today at Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, following possibly the largest “sleepover” in Australian history last night on Randwick racecourse.
The Pontiff’s visible presence in the city has spurred a flood of emotion.
“Even when I saw him touch down in Sydney I cried, I was just overcome … he is very humble, very gracious,” said Canadian pilgrim Anna Costanza, 25.
It was a gracious Cardinal George Pell of Sydney who first welcomed pilgrims at the opening festival Mass on July 15 in Barangaroo.
Festival events throughout the rest of the week offered a vast array of spiritual opportunities including daily Adoration and Reconciliation, the Stations of the Cross, worship bands, theatre, testimony, numerous workshop presentations and on-going catechesis.
The 3000 Brisbane pilgrims were invited to gather among Queenslanders on July 15 for prayer and worship.
The magnetism of World Youth Day gatherings near and far is evidence of the life within the Catholic Church as young people openly live out the scriptural reference of “not being ashamed of the Gospel”.
Following Brisbane’s Days in the Diocese program last week and the Sydney experience, there’s no doubt this “life” will continue to draw forth and nurture “witnesses” who have indeed “received the power” of the Holy Spirit.
