TYME OUT at World Youth Day 2008 Blog

I survived the vigil experience.  The temperatures dropped to the mid-40’s, but I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag and the mat I borrowed from Ben.  Those two things have saved me, but I still managed to get a cold starting on Friday.  I am including pictures from the vigil and the mass.  The pope was present for both events.  The daylight pictures of us at the racecourse show us just arriving and the night time pictures give you a look at the numbers of people who were there.

The vigil was highlighted by the talk by Pope Benedict, challenging us to go back to our homelands and evangelize by just being committed to our faith.  He talked about vocations, but all kinds of vocations, religious, priest, married, celibate single.  He asked us to look at what would make us happy and commit ourselves to that way of life.    There was singing and prayers and after the pope lef, we recited the rosary.  I managed to get a few hours of sleep, for which I was grateful.

On Sunday morning, we began the day with the liturgy of the hours at 8:00am.  The pope arrived by helicopter as the picture indicates, and then jumped into his popemobile to make the rounds of the racecourse.  At 10:00am the mass began and lasted 3 hours.  It was a cloudy cool day with the threat of rain throughout the morning.  However, it never rained at the mass and has just started to rain now at 7:30pm while I am writing this.

Again the pope’s message concentrated on letting the Spirit work in each of us.  24 young people from around the world received confirmation from the pope.  What an honor that must have been for them.  The gifts of the spirit were mentioned often and the theme song of World Youth Day, “Receive the Power,” was sung over and over again.  This is a song that could easily be used on Confirmation retreats at TYME OUT.  I am bringing back the words and music.  I absolutely love the song.

The two pictures of the pope I included were actually taken off the big screen.  We were pretty far back to get a better picture.

This is my last entry from Australia.  I will blog more when I return.  The pope announced at the very end that the next World Youth Day will be in Madrid, Spain on 2011.  I am praying that TYME OUT will have a presence there, God willing.  Maybe this old lady will get a group together.  World Youth Day is something all people should experience.  It is truly a mountain top experience.

Thank you for all the prayers the last 2 weeks.  I could feel the strength due to your prayers.  Know that I have prayed for all of you.  So I say to each of you.  Take time in the quiet to listen to God, acknowledge his presence by saying Raboni, and then GO!!!

God’s Peace,

Margie

When I went to Rome for World Youth Day in 2000, I did not think the catechesis sessions were very good.  The catechesis sessions here have been great.  All the speakers have been bishops.  The first day the bishop was from Amarillo, Texas.   The second day the Bishop was from Sydney.  Today’s bishop was from New Brunswick Canada.  All were good in their own way with the bishop from Sydney being the best.  They all spoke on different elements of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit works in our life.  For example, the session on Evangelization today challenged all of us to go and let the Holy Spirit speak to us in the silence.  We are to try and take out the clutter of noise in our life.  God speaks to us in the silence.  Each bishop used the word Ruah for the Spirit.  Breathing life into us.  It was very special.  The bishop from Sydney used the scripture of when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and could not find Jesus but a man she thought was the gardener.  Jesus said to her, Mary.  Mary recognized him and said, Rabboni-teacher.  Jesus said to her, Go.  So we have been asked to listen for God to call us.  Recognize his call and go.  So the words sounded like this for me.  Margie, Rabboni, Go.

I send this message to each one of you.  Listen for God’s call, recognize God, and Go.

Today we will be heading back into Sydney for some talks and concerts.  Tomorrow, starts the vigil with our walk to the racecours.  It will be cold at night, but I am praying for no rain.  Keep us in your prayers as we join the Holy Father and around 500,000 youth for the closing liturgy.

God’s Peace,

Margie

I am sending a picture of the pope arriving by boat. It was really quite impressive. He had a fireboat escort him into the Harbor. His boat is the one with the tall mast. Then we were up on a hill waiting for the motorcade to come past us. The other picture is a picture of that. We were very close to him and unfortunately he went past us rather quickly. My picture is a little blurry. Kate in our group got a little better picture than mine, however we can’t down load it. My free internet minutes are almost done. I will try to write more tomorrow. We are headed out on a boat for a concert and won’t be getting back to the school until after 1:00am Friday morning. Our catechesis sessions have been very good. We hope to take some down time tomorrow and I will blog more info about today then.

Keep praying for me as I am praying for you.

Peace,

Margie

On Tuesday we all attended the opening liturgy with about 250,000 of our fellow pilgrims.  We were fortunate to have really good seats, actually the ground space was nice. I have decided to not even try to send pictures until I came back.  I will jujst give you an image hopefully through my words. 

There is nothing more amazing then to be in that kind of a liturgy situation.  The archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Kell had a wonderful message for us that could not have been more appropriate about the spirit at work here in Sydney and how the real work willl begin when we get home.  It was a challenge that could not be ignored by the audience and was actually well received by all. 

We were right next to the altar, or as close as you can get.  God has trul;y blessed us on this trip.  Many doors have been open to us that we never expected.

I am blogging on free internet and my 10 minutes is almost done.  I want to close by saying this has been a magnificent, emotional, experience that God has graced me with .  God is good all the time.

Peace,

Margie

Randwick will be our location for the next week.  We are in a gymnasium on the floor for our accomodations.  Some of us are out hunting for foam or air mattresses to make the floor a little more acceptable.  There are 500 of us staying at the college, which is really a high school.  There seems to be a total of 3 showers for all of us.  It will prove to be an interesting week.

Today as we began a walkabout, a plane overhead spelled out the name Jesus with the plane exhaust.  He also made a cross in the sky.  It was very inspiring.  Our walk from our present location to the vigil is a 30 minute walk.  That’s the upside of our accomodations.

Tomorrow is the opening mass on the dock near the Aquarium.  The cardinal of Sydney, Cardinal Pell will be celebrating the liturgy.  They are expecting about 250,000 for this liturgy.  We will probably go down to the dock in the morning to get a spot for this.

The weather today was the best we had.  It was about 70 degrees and sunny.  The school had a “barby” for us as a welcome to Marcellin College.  Much of the same weather is predicted for tomorrow.  I hope I will find time to blog tomorrow but it may be difficult.

I am heading back to the college for our night prayer.  We always pray for all of you each night.  Please continue to keep in your prayers.

Peace,

Margie

Mass on Sunday morning found us at the oldest church in Sydney.  St. Patrick’s church was established in 1844 before Australia became a country in 1901.  The original church has been converted into a cafe and newer church built right next to it.  The mass was concelebrated by an Australian priest and a priest from Texas who is here for world youth day.  The gospel of the parable of the seeds fit well into the message father shared.  We all need to be nurtured in order to find the good soil that God has intended for all of us.  World Youth day is a good time to be nurtured.  The mass was a wonderful opportunity for community prayer.

The rest of the day was spent getting used to the mass transit system in Australia.  We took the train to the church and then the train to the ferry lines.  We took the ferry to Manly.  We spent some time walking along the ocean and rock hopping along the shore.  There is a great picture of us on the rocks by the ocean,m but it was taken on a camera from which I cannot download.  then it was back onto the ferry to return to Sydney.  Another ferry ride to Darling Harbor to see the Aquarium which was wonderful.  A final train ride back to Central station and a 3 block walk back to the hotel.  We definitely had our share of mass transit.

The pope arrived today sometime and began a 3 day retreat.  We don’t know where and he won’t officially “arrive: until Thursday.  Tomorrow we move to Ranwick where we will stay for the next week.  I think it weill be kind of a quiet day, to which I am looking forward.  It will give me time to prepare for this great pilgrimmage I am on.  I will send an entry tomorrow, but no pictures until catechesis.

Peace,  Margie

1. Blogging has become problematic.  I spent 3 hours trying to blog on Saturday and was totally unsuccessful.  I got frustrated and decided to take a break for a couple of days.  I always write out my blogs on a piece of paper, so I am typing them in now.  I am not sure I will be successful sending any pictures, but here was the message I wanted to send on Saturday.  By the way it is Monday morning here in Australia.  Here goes!!!

What a glorious day to view the Blue Mountains and see the animals of Australia.  Our tour started aty 8:00am, when we left for an hour and 1/2 ride to the Blue Mountains.  The Blue Mountains are more like foothills, but the views are still spectacular.  There are the 3 sisters peaks.  We took a train down to the bottom area and walked on a board walk through the Australian rainforest.  All the trees in the Blue Mountains are gum trees or eucalyptus trees.  The Koalas do not like the leaves of this particular eucalyptus tree so we did not see any koalas out there.  Lots of birds and natural vegetation.  We took the tram up to the start and that’s pictured.

After our visit to the Blue Mountains we boarded our bus to go to our next stop, a movie on the natural surroundings of Australia.  It was very informative, but I am not a fan of IMAX theaters.  After lunch it was off to the Wildlife park.  Here you get to walk among the animals and really see them up close and personal.  I have included pictures of a joey, me by a koala, me feeding a kangaroo, a Tazmanian devil and a wambat, and of course a dingo.  The whole time I was there, I kept thinking of my little granddaughter Dakota and how much she would love this.  However, since she is only 4, she has a few more years until she will be able to attend a World Youth Day.  It was great fun at the Wildlife park.

The pope is schedulesd to arrive tomorrow, but we do not think we will be able to see him.  He goes on retreat for 3 days and then joins us for the activities.   Tomorrow we are going to mass at St.  Patrick’s the oldest church of Sydney.  I am looking forward to that experience.

I continue to pray for all of you.  I hope these blogs help you get a taste of this powerful experience.  More tomorrow!!

Peace,  Margie

P.S. The pictures are really becoming problematic.  I cannot download them the way I want.  One of my fellow pilgrims from St. Bruno, Kristen has been helping me and shw is not with me tonight.  So I will try to just send the message and then send the pictures next time she is with me.  Sorry.

Sydney is a wonderful city to explore on a lovely day in winter.  The pictures are not necessarily in the order I had hoped for, but it is the best I can do for now. 

We went first to an opal museum.  Australia is the world’s largest producer of opals.  We were all tempted, and many of us purchased a reminder of Australia’s finest stone. 

Then we were on to St. Mary’s Cathedral, where the Pope will have Mass during World Youth Day.  I sent two pictures of it.  One outside and one inside.  Inside St. Mary’s Cathedral was the body of Pier Giorgio Fassati, a young man of Italy who died at the age of 24.  Pope John Paul II elevated him to Blessed in 1995 for all his work with the poor.  It reminds me of the quote from I Timothy: “Do not let them put you down, for you are young.” 

We then went to the Opera House, also pictured.  Some of us will tour that either Sunday or Monday.  We also went to Bondi Beach and watched the surfers in the 60-degree water.  I included a picture of some of us by the ocean.  The tide had decided to come in right as we took the picture; we got a little wet.

On the top of a hill in Watson’s Bay you can see the whole view of the city and all of us in another picture I included. 

Tomorrow we go to the Blue Moutains.  They expect the temperature to be only 32 degrees in the mountains.  We may even see snow.  I will try to write more tomorrow if we get back in time.  The Spirit is truly with us.

We have arrived.  We had excellent flight over here; in fact it was more than excellent because we got upgraded to Business class for the trip from Los Angeles to Australia.  I was able to actually get more than 6 hours of solid sleep and we were able to eat and watch movies at our leisure.  I am sending a picture of the group before we left in Milwaukee.  I also included some pictures from Australia.  Tomorrow we start our tours and I will have more pictures then.  I am tired but happy that I am here sharing this great experince with all the wonderful pilgrims I am traveling with.  More tomorrow after our tours are through.  It is winter here and we were welcomed here by some rather cold temperatures.  I am hoping for a little more warmth in the coming days.  More tomorrow!

I just reread my entry and I think I am a whole lot more tired than I thought I was.  I am going to call it a night soon.

Tomorrow, Tuesday July 8th, we leave for Australia.  I haven’t posted anything for a while because I have been on a family vacation.  I got back to participate in the 4th of July celebrations with TYME OUT.  I have included a picture of our float as we waited for the parade to get going.  I know I am biased but I think our float was the best one there.  The Stone Bank 4th of July parade is a huge parade.  People come from far and wide to watch this parade.  I had the honor of driving the float, which also proved to be a bit stressful because all the children at the parade crowded around our float trying to get the candy and Iceee’s we were giving away.  It was fun but stressful

As I make my final preparations to leave tomorrow for Australia, I ask for your continued prayers for the journey of all pilgrims from throughout the world who will be making their way there.  My next entry will be from Australia.  I will talk to you all then.

I am so excited to be traveling with the people I met at the WYD retreat here at TYME OUT on June 8th.  Not all my fellow travelers were able to attend the retreat, but the ones who did are outstanding people.  During the retreat we had many prayer experiences to set the tone for our journey.  We also did many team building activities so we could get to know one another better, afterall we will travel together for almost 2 weeks.  We finished with a wonderful prayer we often use here at TYME OUT; it is called “Journey Walker.”  The prayer chronicles the journey from Christ’s death that pilgrims throughout the centuries have had to follow in order to make the church a living reality.  The 19 of us who will journey with the million coming to Australia are all “jouney walkers.”  We ask for your prayers on this sacred journey.

I am going to try to download some pictures to this entry, but I do not know if I will be successful.  If I am successful, you will get to see some pictures from our retreat.

The anticipation of the trip is sometimes more exciting than the trip. (However, I do not think this trip to Australia will be upstaged by the anticipation of the trip.)  So I decided to list what I am anticipating.  I am anticipating meeting believers from around the world.  I am anticipating a mountain top experience at the mass with the pope on the last day.  I am anticipating seeing a part of the world I have never seen before.  I am anticipating being awed by the presence of God in the youth who will join us in Sydney.  I am anticipating missing my family.  I am anticipating experiencing jet lag.  Now that I have listed some of my anticipations, I intend to try and stop anticipating and living in the “sacred now.”  I think by anticipating, you miss the beauty of now. 

Next week I will tell you how our WYD retreat here at TYME OUT went.

What I am always aware of, is that I spend so many hours worrying about what to pack to take along and not enough time realizing that I also need to pack my spiritual bag.  I started doing that this week.  Afterall, I am going to world youth day and I will be with 1 million or more of my friends in Christ.   I realized once again, just like when I went to World Youth Day in Rome in 2000, that the preparation I do spiritually will be the more important packing that I do.  However, I would like your help with suggestions.  What are ways you find productive to spiritually prepare yourself for a journey of Faith?  What meditations might you use?  What prayers are especially helpful?  Please send these to me so I can reap the benefits of all the wisdom that is out there on prayer and preparing spiritually.  I look forward to your comments.

Peace,  Margie 

I don’t think there is a day that passes that I don’t think about our upcoming journey.  I am starting to think about packing and how much I want to take.  But more importantly, I am thinking about what I want to pack for this once in a lifetime journey of faith.  I look forward to meeting and sharing with my 18 other fellow companions.  I have been busy planning with the trip leader from St. Bruno’s in Dousman, all the details of the trip, but more importantly the spiritual journey we 19 pilgrims will begin on June 8th with the night of reflection and continue on July 8th when we leave.  Please pray for all of us as we step forward in faith. 

Well, today it is 68 days away from our departure. Many plans are being made for that departure. We have fundraisers arranged for the 24th of May and meetings on the 20th of May and a spiritual check-in here at TYME OUT on June 8th which will be one month till we leave. I will keep you informed weekly of our progress. Oceania here we come!!

10 weeks till we “party with the Pope” in Australia. That’s right, 73 days. Join us as we go halfway round the world from Stone Bank to be with young people from all over. If you can’t be there in person, be there in cyberspace! More to come…