World Youth Day Wonders!

The festivities of World Youth Day have begun, and since we have been with an uncharged laptop for the last few days, this might be a bit of a whirlwind of a blog entry! Thank goodness  for Ben, our Corporate Travel representative, who loaned us his three-prong electric converter!  

The World Youth Day Festival officially opened on Tuesday with a Mass at Cibeles Square -- youth from all over the world marched down the streets of Madrid toward the fountain (which represents the natural world and is the symbol of Spain) with flags and enthusiastic cheers for their countries. We have since met people from Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Angola, New Zealand, Germany, Philippines, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Iraq, Cambodia, Indonesia, and so many more places! Everywhere around the city, youth walk up to each other as total strangers, trade a bracelet or pin, and walk away as friends (I think there will be some new Facebook "add" requests when we get back).

After the Papal Welcome!

We can't believe the crowds here. We heard that there were going to be over a million youth here in Madrid, but until you really experience it, you have no clue! Just ask one of our young people about the subway -- holding backpacks over your head is usually a must! (And yes, we have already experienced half of our group getting off the train at one stop and the other half getting caught on the train behind the automatic closing doors . . . trading t-shirts and hats with the French! We blamed the French priest on that one, although the half of our group that got off the train might say differently). :)

On Wednesday, we attended our first catechesis session and Mass at the Palacio of Deportes with a cardinal from Sydney, Australia. We attended Mass with over 10,000 people! We found a great place for lunch that day (some liked it for the "American-tasting" food they were able to get, others liked it for the lentil and garlic soups, and others liked it for our cheerful waiter and waitress). In the evening, we met up with all 400 pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Detroit at San Demaso for a special Mass led by our new AOD Bishop, Bishop Hanchon! Some parts of the Mass were in English and others were in Spanish since our hosts from Madrid joined us, as well as youth from Ecuador, the Cayman Islands, and Germany.

We attended our second catechesis session at a basilica near the Atocha train station this morning, and it was amazing! It was so full that people were sitting on the floor along the aisles and along the back of the basilica (we were one of those groups sitting on the floor in the back -- guess that's what happens when you're late!) As the bishop was giving his homily, the church bells began ringing loudly to signal that the Pope had entered Madrid! And later in the day, we got our first glimpse of the Pope! (Only on the big screen for now -- some of us were along the route with cameras in hand, but the PopeMobile decided to take a different route to Cibeles Square). The space in front of the huge screens was completely filled with hundreds of young people -- dancing and shouting cheers for the Pope (Ben-e-di-to!!!!) It was so amazing to dance and cheer with people from all over the world! I've never seen anything like it!

Tomorrow . . . Stations of the Cross with statues from all over Espana!