Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Reflections on World Youth Day

Kelsey Schlichting of the St. Joseph in Miesville, Minn. said, "Upon arriving in Sydney, the excitement grew more and more with each new country flag I saw. We finally came to Olympic Park which was the location which would be our home for the next week and a half. It wasn’t just our home, but also the home of 5,000 others from around the world. The dome we stayed in housed people from all around the world -- All the way from the unfamiliar country of Togo, all the way to our neighboring state of Wisconsin. This was a defining point of the trip for me. Walking into this dome, (it resembled an air plane hanger), and see sleeping bags and air mattresses, and rows and rows and rows of people upon more rows of people. To realize that this was only a small fraction of how many people were attending this event, and I was part of it. I was part of it all. Every night when we came 'home' to the dome, there was a relief that flooded over me kind of, to see all the other people there, knowing that I wasn't alone in this. I wasn't the only other person on this pilgrimage to strengthen my faith. I wasn't alone."

Kelsey talked, too, of her faith being strengthened, "My faith was strengthened immensely on this trip. I didn't realize during the trip itself, but afterward, I realized how much closer the trip and its excursions had brought me to Jesus Christ himself. The priest we traveled with preached to us one day about getting closer to Jesus and knowing Him. He told us that Jesus knew us so well, and he loved us so much… we don't know him like he knows us. Once the priest had said this, my eyes opened a little bit wider to everything. I brainstormed ways for me to gain a closer relationship with Jesus. This is only one of the ways my faith was strengthened in this journey I took."

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