The theme for this year’s World Youth Day is not one that starts when all the pilgrims from all corners of the globe are gathered, but instead it starts as we each leave our front doors and make that first step on the journey. Like Mary who “rose up and went with haste” to her cousin Elizabeth’s house, we have set out on our pilgrimage from the UK to represent the British Province of Carmelites in the momentous gathering of young people in Lisbon.
As we all know, pilgrimages are not meant to be easy and with young people from around the world travelling to one airport, I think a new definition of chaos has been created. Yet with our little group safely on Portuguese soil, and anxious to leave the stress of the airport we made our way to our accommodation and settled in. Fr. Ged celebrated our first mass, reminding us that whatever we do this week and whoever we meet, it is for Christ that we are here, and that it is the model of Christ that we must take when we continue this pilgrimage together. I believe that in the creation of this new pilgrim community Christ is at the centre. Not only are we called to recognise Him in the celebration of Eucharist, but also in each and every pilgrim that we will meet.
The joy of the Eucharist does not end at the end of the Mass, and with Christ firmly at the centre, our new community headed out into Lisbon to celebrate the beginning of our pilgrimage with a traditional Portuguese meal.
Matthew Janvier O.Carm
