A few pictures with more to come!

The Y.A.M.s in the Puerta del Sol

Eyesockets?

By Matthew Kubiak

My eyesockets are definaely on overload and have been short-circuted!  From all of the winding roads of Toledo to the hustle and bustle of Madrid, my eyes have been fried!

This  trip has been outstanding, and it has only been four days. I cannot say how nice the other pilgrims are and how much they have taught us about their culture.  Hearing all of the languages spoken at once is an organized chaos.  Even though the streets are crowded [an understatement] and the subways packed like sardines, the silly songs and the waving of the flags bring joy to each participants spirits.

World Youth Day has definately been the place to be! I wish everyone reading this could share in this wonderful experience. It has also been the place to see, yet with the upcoming days, I hope i can continue to take eyerything in and not blow out my eyes anymore!

We are really here!!

Hola!! (hello),

First thank you to all our families, friends, Fr. Rooney, Jane and the rest of the staff and most especially the loving parishoners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for your prayers, kind words, monetary assistance in our fundrasing efforts to get here for World Youth Day!  Today our pilgrims truly experienced what a pilgriame entails and the atmosphere and actions of WYD.  Today more pilgrims have arrived from around the globe.  We have met groups from France, Portugal, perigway, New Jersey, boston and many other places I am just not thinking about becasue its 3 45 am, but the excitement of the day is not letting me sleeep.  We were blessed to be able to go to Toledo Spain where there was a big fesival celebrating  the Assumption of  the Virgin Mary, many celebrations have been taking place throught out Spain as it is a National Holiday (3 day weekend).  We took a train, walked about 4 miles to Cathedral to celebrate mass with 1,000′s of other people.  One of the kids thought maybe 10,000 but I dont think so, but it was alot.  After Mass the had a procession with the Virigin Mary Statue, it was so cool to be part of this.   The people of Spain have been most gracious to us inviing us into thier country and homes.  After Mass and the procession we toured the Cathedral may saw incredibly awsome!  While at the Cathedral one of the kids had been talking with a local person who was telling her about the miraculous water we could go and drink and take some home with us, she came back running to see if we could go, as we had passed this place on the way into the cathedral seeing people drink form jugs and faucet.  It is said that those who drink from it are kept from illnesses as well as heal.

We then went to eat at a local resturant, 3 flights of steps to get to our Table and had a blast with 3 young men who own/work at the resturant, some of the kids had on Toledo T-shirts that sparked a very interesting and fun conversation about there Toledo and Our Toledo, becasue of our limited Spanish and there english one young man ran out the door and back with a friend who spoke both spanish and english we spent 1 1/2 hours with them.  I need to stop now getting very tired will pick up where I left off tomorrow.  Please enjoy the following pictures.  Please Pray for us and God Bless and good night.Will need to post pictures later I cant get them to download

 

Love Kelly

Weet!  Weet!

 

 

 

 

Walk with a Purpose and Learn with an Understanding

By Tanner DuVall

Weet Weet…

I would like to keep this brief however I doubt I can contain myself to accomplish that. When Father Rooney blessed our group stressing the importance of the recognition of this as a pilgrimage and not a vacation. I admit I felt as though Father’s eyes fell directly on me. Out of a sense of humiliated guilt I prayed. Every day twice a day I prayed , the only thing I asked for, verbatim “Open my mind” I repeated the phrase in the prayer as if i were a security blanket for my mind. Traveling here was an adventure but nothing more, my selfish mind still focusing on the excitement of a new country and the fun to be had. However the next day was our first full day in Madrid and some how I found myself split off from the group with Father Steve and Kyle, two men I did not know at all. Regardless of our unknown camaraderie we spent five hours in the Prado museum admiring the most magnificent works of art. From that art in depth conversation was born. The fruits of philosophy blossomed as it continued. At the conclusion of our museum trip we headed to dinner at this small Tapas Bar in the city the three of us shared a meal and most importantly ideas. We traveled to a couple of vendors in the next four hours stopping to enjoy the rich culture. We recreated something remenesiant  of a French Salon as we sat discussing theology, religion , philosophy, world leaders, and even love. I have always thought of myself as open minded however never this fully aware, if that makes any sense. The night concluded with my mind running around the room as I tried to calm it into the wings of tranquil Morpheus. The second day we attended a mass of 10,000 people in the most beautiful cathedral I had ever seen. There was a woman whom stood up to lead the congregation in the singing of the “Ave Maria” . At this point I began to cry. Her voice was gorgeous border line Angelic but it was not this that pushed me over my emotional edge. At that moment I made a realization I never had before. She lead US, the congregation, which consisted of many different nations from all around our world singing the same song for the same reason. I cried out of joy for the epiphany of unity, to belong to something this large , this international, something that surpasses language nationality and race is so powerful to me it seemed we could radiate the Earth with our exuberance. None of these words on this paper can touch the significance of these ideas I had but that is not to say I would not try to try and describe them. I feel sorry for most of the people around me in that church because it became apparent many do not realize the endlessness of this unity and how powerful it really is. Ideas continued to barrage my mind like artillery fire, ideas I can not I can not describe in writing but only through meaningful conversation and intimate deep conversing. These are thoughts I would be embarrassed to share with most people because of how deep the thoughts run and how emotional I would become, words I would never speak, perhaps only expressed on paper. The more I thought about this the more I realized how wrong I was. How do I make these thoughts known? That is my next mental barricade but I know that is what needs to happen. Words are cheap and I can attest to this so as pretty as these words may seem that is all they all, until I receive the courage and means to express these ideas. I would not go as far to say God or the Holy Spirit possessed my body or some divine hand touched my mind however there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.  I received a gift everyday and I pray to receive courage and the proper applications to apply this wealth of knowledge, however it is only my second day of my pilgrimage.

(P.S Can I get a Weet Weet?)

Top 10 pieces of advice from WYD veterans…

By the Y.A.M.s

Ellie: Another lovely day in Madrid! We spent the day seeing the city, tried Tapas, celebrated mass and learned to use the metro! It was an absolutely awesome day. I know we are all looking forward to a full day in Toledo, Spain tomorrow!

After a late night (3:30 a.m.) in the room, with  the Y.A.M.s and Kelly, planning, laughing and discussing the days events we started to talk. The 4 of us have all been to at least one World youth Day prior to this! So being that this is most of our groups first time to WYD we started jotting down a little bit of advice for the newbies….so here are the 10 we narrowed down!

1. Have an open mind
2. 2 Letters T.P.
3. Just go with it
4. Complain if you want BUT nobody’s really listening
5. Follow the RIGHT flag
6. Buddy System
7. Just eat it…
8. You think that’s a lot of people…just wait!
9. Pray…A LOT!
10. Don’t forget why you are really here!

(Can we get a WEET wEeT?)

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet……

By Young Adult Ministries: Chelsie, Taylor, Ellie and Andy (aka the Y.A.M.s)

Chelsea: We arrived in Madrid at 3pm (thats 9am your time). Our bodies and minds still working it out, whether we have been awake for two days or just one really long day.

We settled into our hotel rooms around 6pm. Around 7:30pm we regrouped and having been traveling all day and only having eaten airplane food for the past 12 hours; we began, on foot, our first journey through the city. Our mission…find a place to go to dinner and sight see what was along the way. We thought it would be a great idea to go to our traditional Hard Rock cafe dinner, with the knowledge that as WYD Pilgrims arrived later in the week the wait would be close to eternal. Which turned into a 2 hour, 4 mile walk through Madrid (I bet you could guess who was the first to complain…). We could see that the WYD volunteers and working citizens of the city had been busy putting up banners, stages, and speakers in preparation for our week to come. This made me wonder if this city has any idea what is about to descend upon it.

Ellie: Hard Rock Cafe had become a tradition beginning during WYD 2005 in Koln, Germany. After a long week of stress, crowds and getting used to foreign food we had decided that the American cuisine was something our minds and bellies were in desperate need of. To our surprise the German Hard Rock welcomed our group of 30 with open arms and entertained us with music, food and dancing. From that WYD on we have made the attempt to visit a Hard Rock Cafe at least once during each of our WYD stays.

Enough with the background. Hard Rock Madrid attempted to feed us all by splitting us up into separate groups (a group of our size is often hard to accommodate). After a fun dinner with wonderful service we headed back out onto the streets of Madrid…our destination (for our sore little feet) the Metro, to head back to the hotel and try to recover from our long journey.

Standing on the corner of this beautiful Spanish city taking in the art, architecture and history I began to wonder if anyone in this city, viewing or traveling to WYD had any idea what was about to happen. As much as you might think you are prepared for this or even that you have been before. NOTHING, no, not ANYTHING can prepare you for the magnitude of this event.

Taylor: Traveling to another country takes a LOT out of you…. whether you’ve flown before or this is your first time ever. I think the worst ever is when you’re supposed to sleep on the plane as well. Trying to position yourself in the seat just turns into a mangled mess with your feet falling asleep before you are.  With God in mind it sure kept the little annoyances away, because we all knew in just a few hours we will be encountering one of the greatest experiences ever.

With the lack of sleep and little food, all the pilgrims kept carrying on to see the city of Madrid. And what a great city it is! Pictures will not be able to justify the beauty and character this city has. Many more memories and blogs to come of course!!

Andy: So…. this is my 3rd WYD, and as far as traveling this has been the most complex but yet the easiest going through the airports it has ever been. Without being told by Kelly or anyone else, us young adults took charge and just knew what needed to be done next.

(small scorpions)

Y.A.M.: Can I get a “weet WEET!”

 

 

 

Theme Song!

Check out the official World Youth Day 2011 Theme Song!

A Page Turner…

By Carolyn Sharkey

I have so much to do. Pack for school, pack for Madrid, write letters to my professors explaining why I will be gone, and arrange for my friends to move me in to my dorm. My sister kept urging me to write a blog — to me it was just another thing to do.  Though I may not like saying that my sister was right, she’s right. I haven’t had many moments to really sit down and think about my faith.

I only opted in to going to Madrid in mid-summer; I always thought of WYD as something my sister was into. Though I have gone to Catholic schools all of my life, I haven’t really been the most active Catholic, I have had an amazing education based on my religion, but the Catholic Church has always seemed a bit archaic to me. The fact that so many young people are getting together to celebrate their faith has started to make me think differently about it — maybe there is something there that I am not seeing. I pray that WYD turns a new page for me on my faith; that I can start to connect with my church and my God and take a few days to forget about all of the things I have to do back home. I have got my faith to worry about!

Count Down

Then and Now….

By Taylor Mitchell

World Youth Day was something that I decided to go to, to help me decide my faith in Jesus Christ. My first WYD was in 2008, Sydney, AUS.  I wasn’t Catholic so I was unsure how I would process this sort of experience. Just in our group alone you could see the many different levels of faith. You then combine us with over 100′s of thousands of people just like us, you are able to see the light of Jesus Christ. We all there for the same reason which sends these chills through me because me and 500 thousand people share this one thing. I’ve never felt so united, so…. connected with people I’ve never even met before.

This year, I know this experience is going to be different than my first WYD. I am now a baptized Catholic Christian so now I am able to feel more connected with my group and with the people of the world. My only hope is that I go in this with an open heart and mind. I know I will get so much out of this experience and I hope that my group will too.