I CAME away from World Youth Day feeling spiritually uplifted.
Never before had I encountered God in so many different ways.
I saw God in the people from Pedro Abad who were so sincerely devoted to their faith and in turn, so lovingly welcomed us into their homes.
I felt God when we celebrated Mass with 15,000 pilgrims who were all completely silent during the consecration.
I felt the spirit alive when complete strangers would yell out, ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ from across the street, who exchanged gifts with us and who joyously danced with us on a train platform at 1am.
God showed us that this was the universal church.
Most significantly and somewhat surprisingly, I experienced God in the bonds of friendship I made with my fellow pilgrims and it wasn’t those I met from overseas but with people who just live in the next suburb.
It’s these bonds of friendship, which ended up being the most meaningful.
Most of us had only recently met and we were all at different stages of our faith journey but we were united by the same belief and by the same love for God.
All the barriers were gone.
World Youth Day taught me that God really is everywhere, in the large and small things and most importantly, in the people you meet.
It taught me that God wants us to ‘have a go’ for Him, to struggle, to shout out and worship Him with all that we’ve got.
To go outside our comfort zone and to sometimes not always succeed, but be happy knowing that it’s all for Him.
– Kate Lambkin (teacher at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, Darra, and a Parishioner at Our Lady of the Rosary, Kenmore)
