Empowered by the Spirit
Raleigh’s World Youth Day Pilgrims Return as Witnesses to Holiness
By Rich Reece
On a Saturday in July in the chapel of RDU International Airport, friends and families of six pilgrims leaving for World Youth Day (WYD) 2008 in Sydney, Australia, gathered for a prayerful send-off. Reflecting on previous WYDs which he had attended, Diocesan Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry Mike Hagarty urged the pilgrims to “Pay attention. Look for holiness, because you will see it.
“And when you return,” Hagarty concluded, “be witnesses of that holiness for others.”
Ten days later, four of the pilgrims were at the Catholic Center in Raleigh doing just that.
“The love just poured out,” recalled John Walsh, a member of the youth ministry team at St. Mark Catholic Church in Wilmington. “It was overwhelming, and heartwarming. You could see Jesus Christ in every person there.”
WYD 2008 was the largest event of any kind that Australia has ever hosted. An estimated 350,000 Catholic young adults from some 170 countries attended its closing Mass, celebrated by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. The theme for this year’s event comes from Jesus’ words in Acts: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth.”
The four witnesses at the Raleigh gathering were Walsh, Kellie Cook and Mariana Luciani of St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church in Raleigh, and Nathaniel Duncombe of Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish. They began by sharing their photos and stories of WYD with the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Raleigh. After meeting with the Bishop, they were interviewed and videotaped for Catholic Perspective, a weekly television production of the Diocese.
As the pilgrims talked about their experience, several themes emerged. One was the thrill of seeing the Holy Father in person. The four had participated in the “boat-a-cade” following the Pope’s boat on another vessel as he made his way across Sydney Harbor on the third day of the event. Giant television screens at all the venues where the Holy Father was present made it impossible not to be with him “up close and personal,” despite the crowds. “It was beyond words,” Mariana Luciani said. “We were all so excited when he would appear. And he looked so happy, glowing, just like all the pilgrims.”
“For Catholics,” Nathaniel Duncombe said, “he’s our celebrity. Seeing this man you’ve heard of so many times was amazing.” Asked how a man in his 80s could have so much appeal to youth, Duncombe replied, “I think he’s young at heart. You can see that.”
“Actually seeing the Holy Father,” Luciani added, “brings you to a new level of confirmation in your spirituality.”
She described being on a “God high,’ and that was a second theme of the event for all the pilgrims. Twenty-eight year old Kellie Cook had felt it as a 13-year-old at WYD 1993 in Denver, CO. “The theme was being transformed by the Holy Spirit,” she said, echoing Luciani, “which is what happens in the Sacrament of Confirmation, but this was way beyond that.”
John Walsh recalled hearing the Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs, CO: “He spoke about the Holy Spirit as a person. And that was the experience you had with all those people. You could literally feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Duncombe remembered a moment when a group of Polish pilgrims started to sing, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” And suddenly everyone was joining in. “We shared the love,” Duncombe said.
The international crowd – such a diverse multitude with a common purpose – sparked another feeling that all the pilgrims reported. “There was a universal pride in being Catholic that transcended national pride,” Kellie Cook said. “I’ve never been more proud to be Catholic in all my life.”
One of the most moving events for the pilgrims was the Living Stations of the Cross, a live theatrical and devotional reenactment of the last days of Jesus’ life against the backdrop of Sydney Harbor. “I was in tears,” Luciani recalled. “It reminded me of The Passion of the Christ.”
Back in Raleigh, the pilgrims were still digesting the messages they had heard from the Holy Father and others, still considering ways they could become the effective witnesses the experience had inspired them to be.
In an address in Rome on his return, the Holy Father spoke of how he too had been moved by the event. “I still have this extraordinary occasion,” he said, “in which I experienced the youthful face of the Church, on my mind and in my heart: It was like a multicolored mosaic, formed by young men and women from every part of the globe, all gathered together in the one faith in Jesus Christ.
"‘Young pilgrims of the world’" -- this is what the people called them, a beautiful expression that captures the essential in these international meetings initiated by John Paul II. These gatherings in fact form the stages of a great pilgrimage across the world, to show how faith in Christ makes us all children of one Father who is in heaven and builders of a civilization of love.”
The Holy Father on the Holy Spirit
My dear young friends, the Holy Spirit continues today to act with power in the Church, and the fruits of the Spirit are abundant in the measure in which we are ready to open up to this power that makes all things new. For this reason it is important that each one of us know the Spirit, establish a relationship with Him and allow ourselves to be guided by Him. However, at this point a question naturally arises: who is the Holy Spirit for me? It is a fact that for many Christians He is still the “great unknown.” This is why, as we prepare for the next World Youth Day, I wanted to invite you to come to know the Holy Spirit more deeply at a personal level.
In our profession of faith we proclaim: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” Yes, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the love of the Father and of the Son, is the Source of life that makes us holy, “because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Nevertheless, it is not enough to know the Spirit; we must welcome Him as the guide of our souls, as the “Teacher of the interior life” who introduces us to the Mystery of the Trinity, because He alone can open us up to faith and allow us to live it each day to the full. The Spirit impels us forward towards others, enkindles in us the fire of love, makes us missionaries of God’s charity.
I know very well that you young people hold in your hearts great appreciation and love for Jesus, and that you desire to meet Him and speak with Him. Indeed, remember that it is precisely the presence of the Spirit within us that confirms, constitutes and builds our person on the very Person of Jesus crucified and risen. So let us become familiar with the Holy Spirit in order to be familiar with Jesus.
From the address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on the Occasion of World Youth Day XXIII, delivered July 20, 2007.