I thank and praise God that we live in a country where we can practice our beliefs freely, the other force didn’t reign over the goodness & vitality of us youths!! There may have been some oppositions but sometimes God does allow it to happen so that we are awakened of our own FAITH.
I would like to personally share my own experience of World Youth Day (WYD). My intention of attending WYD was not because I wanted to be a part of an event or history or for religious culture; nor to just eyeball the Pope!
Well here's my story… the pilgrim walk from North Sydney to Randwick was tiring and it truly tested my agility! Overall the walk was a memorable experience for me. I will never forget it especially when we reached the middle of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We felt like we were KINGS & QUEENS of the WORLD!! I couldn’t have asked for more; walking with GK Youth, the Reverse GKYGAT delegates, YFC, SFC, including my 2 bestest buddies and sharing our laughters with thousands of other pilgrims from all over the world. We had a couple of pit stops along the way and when we got to Surry Hills! Boy! The real challenge for us was walking up the steep hill of Albion Street. The pains of having back ache, sore legs and blisters from doing the walk didn’t go to waste because I offered this up to the Lord.
After a 3 hour walk, we arrived at Randwick Racecourse, and that’s where the real celebrations started. Our group joined in the singing, chanting and dancing from the performers and next thing we know we had other pilgrims coming up to us and imitating our dance and was singing along with us!!! I also got lots of FREE HUGS and the festivities went on until the night vigil.
On a more serious note, I truly felt the awakening of the Holy Spirit within me when the vigil started. The Pope praying over us and blessing us with the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit was such an awe-inspiring experience that I will cherish forever.
Personally being on an emotional roller coaster for the past 2 months, that feeling vanished during the vigil. I felt that my mind and heart was truly at peace with God. He made me feel his loving embrace. I felt so renewed because of my Faith in Him.
The warm and ecstatic feeling of being so close to God continued on to the final mass with the Pope. I prayed that may all the youths truly realise the importance of the mass just like I did. I felt so blessed that I am able to appreciate the celebration of the Eucharist.
The final mass with the Pope and his commissioning to all the youths to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and to be God's witnesses is an affirmation that our prayers hasn’t gone to waste!
God bless.
