July 17 2011

Issue 3

A WYD Prayer Newsletter

The Road to Madrid

A faith journey for those who go

and

those who stay at home

A service from Church Resources

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Issue 3

A WYD Prayer Newsletter

On the Road to WYD

Cathedral of Saint Mary,

Toledo

(built 1226 – 1493)

A prayer for all pilgrims

God of hope and grace,

send your Holy Spirit upon us as our helper and guide.

As we prepare for World Youth Day in Madrid,

help us to build upon the many graces and experiences

that were the fruit of World Youth Day in Sydney.

Send forth the power of the Spirit upon us

so that we may continue to be your witnesses

in service and love to other youth in Australia.

May we journey together in the great south land of the

Holy Spirit and share in this pilgrimage of faith

to the ends of the earth.

Pour your grace into our lives

so that we may be apostles of reconciliation

and builders for the new creation.

Nourish and unite us through the Eucharist,

so that firm in the faith

we may be planted and built up in Jesus Christ.

We ask this through the intercession

of Our Lady of the Southern Cross

and in the healing name of our Lord Jesus,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit

one God forever and ever. Amen.

Mary, Help of Christians. Pray for us.

Saint Mary MacKillop. Pray for us.

Third of a series of

six newsletters

In this issue

SECTION 1:

FOOD FOR PILGRIMS

Prayers & reflections

to sustain pilgrims

as they travel

the inner journey –

on the road to Madrid

or at home

SECTION 2:

WORLD YOUTH DAY

Experiences from

earlier WYDs &

getting the most out

of WYD at home or

abroad

Next issue:

‘Do this in

memory of me’

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SECTION 1: FOOD FOR PILGRIMS

Pilgrimage – A Time for Conversation

On a pilgrimage, fellow pilgrims talk with each

other, sharing the journey – and the reasons

they have chosen to be there.

WYD is a celebration of faith. It is a unique

opportunity to speak about what is important

in one’s life.

When we speak, the words we find help us to

take hold at a deeper level of what we are feeling and what we believe.

When we listen without interrupting, we affirm the other person – and at the same time we allow

the Spirit of God to speak to us through the words of the other person.

Prayer: ‘Lord, help me to follow in your footsteps – to speak the way you speak, to think the way

you think, and to show the same compassion to others that you show. Amen’

Getting to know Jesus better ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life!’ Extraordinary words that no human being, apart from Jesus,

has ever dared to utter!

How more clearly could Jesus have expressed it? ‘Without the

Way, there is no going; without the Truth, there is no knowing;

without the Life, there is no living.’ (Thomas A’Kempis)

Jesus, being the Way, will lead us, guide us, and accompany us on

our journey - as he did with the two disciples on the road to

Emmaus.

‘What is the meaning of life?’ we ask. Jesus alone has the answer.

Being the Truth, he and he alone can give us a true understanding of what life is about.

And it is Jesus alone who can lead us into the fullness of life: ‘I have come that you may have life and

have it to the full.’ (John 10:10)

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The Many Forms of Prayer

There’s a wise saying: ‘Pray as you can. Don’t attempt to pray as you can’t.’ Find the form of prayer

that suits you. Here are some of the many different forms of prayer:

• Vocal prayer. Acts of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and

supplication, praying for the Church and the world, praying for our

needs, for those in pain and those lacking the basics of life. ‘Come,

Lord Jesus, come! Come and comfort those in pain and in need!’

• Lectio Divina. A prayerful reading of the Word of God, using short

texts from the Gospels, Psalms or other sacred books, allowing the

words to echo deep within one.

• The Rosary. Go for a walk, say the Rosary and be refreshed physically

and spiritually.

• Meditation. Sit in a quiet place, perhaps light a candle. Offer God the

time you are going to spend – 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes. An excellent meditation is the Holy

Hour – prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

• Prayerfulness. During the day be aware of the presence of God with short aspirations such

as: ‘My Lord and my God!’ Or the Jesus Prayer: ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy

on me a sinner.’

• Prayer in time of need. There can be times when we are deeply troubled, either through

grief, or depression, or some personal hurt. We may feel unable to pray in our usual way.

Then it is time to put ourselves into the loving arms of God and say simply, ‘Lord, help!’

‘Christ has no body now on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours;

ours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out on the world,

ours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good and ours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.’

Saint Teresa of Avila

Champions of the Faith – St Teresa of Avila 1515-1582 - One of the patron Saints of WYD Madrid 2011

Unable to obtain her father's consent, Teresa left home without his

knowledge in 1535, to enter the Carmelite Convent in Avila. In 1562,

after much opposition she founded a reformed order, the ‘Discalced

Carmelites’. Renowned for her spiritual writings on the

contemplative life and prayer, she was a spiritual companion of St

John of the Cross. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in

1970.

St Teresa spoke of prayer as ‘nothing else than an intimate sharing

between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with

him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think

much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love.

Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything!’

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SECTION 2

WYD – EXPERIENCES and TIPS

Inspiration from WYD Toronto

The Theme for WYD Toronto 2002:

‘You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the

world...’ (Mt 5:13-14)

Inspiring words of John Paul II in Toronto.....

‘On a hillside near the lake of Galilee, Jesus's disciples

listened to his gentle and urgent voice; as gentle as the

landscape of Galilee itself, as urgent as a call to choose

between life and death, between truth and falsehood.

‘The “spirit of the world” offers many false illusions and

parodies of happiness. There is perhaps no darkness

deeper than the darkness that enters young people's souls

when false prophets extinguish in them the light of faith

and hope and love. The greatest deception, and the

deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life

by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral

truths and personal responsibility.

‘The Lord is calling you to choose

between these two voices competing

for your souls. That decision is the

substance and challenge of World

Youth Day.

‘Why have you come together from all

parts of the world? To say in your hearts: "Lord, to whom

shall we go?" Who has the words of eternal life? "You have

the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Jesus - the intimate

friend of every young person - has the words of life.

‘Salt is used to preserve and flavour. As apostles for the

Third Millennium, your task is to preserve and keep alive

the awareness of the presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ,

especially in the celebration of the Eucharist.

‘Following Jesus, you have to change and improve the

"taste" of human history. With your faith, hope and love,

with your intelligence, courage and perseverance, you have

to humanize the world we live in. Then your light shall rise

in the darkness..." (Isaiah 58:6-10).

He winked

and smiled at me

Our group wasn't really there

for spiritual reasons, but God

works in mysterious ways.

There was rain, thousands of

people, and long lines for the

toilets.

I wouldn't trade anything for

my life especially after the

look I got at the Holy Father

on the day my camera was

stolen. He looked right at

me, winked and smiled at

me. His gaze at me made

everything so worthwhile.

I met a lot of wonderful

young people as well as

Religious who were very

thrilled to be a Religious.

These people showed me

that there is happiness in

religious life and thus made

me continue to pursue my

vocation.

WYD was an unexpected

thing - I was invited to go,

with expenses paid. This was

definitely God calling me to

go, since I had no money as I

was starting a new job at

that time.

James Crichton,

a pilgrim from the USA

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Chris Nolan was at WYD Toronto....

Originally, I had never planned to go to World Youth Day. As

with most spontaneous moments in life it had a profound

effect on me and was instrumental in shaping future events.

When my now-wife first told me she planned to go overseas

to Canada for World Youth Day in 2002, I thought it would be

a great opportunity for her. It wasn’t until she told me more

that I started thinking that it could be a great opportunity for

me as well. Little did I know what kind of impact the

experience would have on me.

Going to Toronto involved a lot of preparation. As I was going with other young people from my

parish, we quickly began raising funds the old fashioned way – car washes, donut and chocolate

drives, raffles and a trivia night. One great benefit of this hard work was the fact that it brought us

closer together and enabled us to get to know each other better before heading off to Toronto.

When going to an event like World Youth Day, it’s essential that you have people to debrief and

share with.

As World Youth Day is a pilgrimage, my journey to Toronto went via Mexico and the United States.

This offered me the chance to experience Catholicism within two very different cultures and

contexts. From visiting the site of Mary’s visitation at Guadalupe and trying tequila at the

Teotihuacan pyramids to feeling the spray of Niagara Falls and playing water polo with Cardinal Pell,

the World Youth Day experience not only enabled me to see the world but gave me a sense of the

global church that I am part of. It has offered me the chance to encounter other young people within

the Church, many with a similar desire to nourish their own faith development.

Since my time in Canada, I have had the opportunity to be a World Youth Day Coordinator, working

with a group of young people in their preparations for World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. Walking

the journey with them has let me see how World Youth Day can shape and strengthen the lives of

young Catholics.

World Youth Day still continues to play a role in my life today.

This year World Youth Day will be held in Madrid in August

with more than 2 million young people expected to attend. I

have been given the opportunity to take a small group of

secondary school students to Madrid. This will be another

chance to witness the effect of World Youth Day on a different

group of young people, all of whom are on unique faith

journeys.

World Youth Day continues to be a relevant and exciting experience for young people from all over

the globe. Host cities come alive with the enthusiasm of youth and the diversity of cultural and

personal experiences. It is my hope that World Youth Day will remain a life-changing force for many

people and have a profound effect on the vitality of the Catholic Church.

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Fascinating Spain

Roman Era: c. 200BC – 400AD

In this period of Roman influence, roads were built and gold, wool, olive oil,

and wine went sent to Roman markets. Christianity was introduced in the First

and Second Centuries. Spain's language and law date from this period.

Islamic Era: 711 – 1492.

From 711, most of Spain (right) was conquered by Muslim armies from North

Africa. Churches were turned into mosques. The re-conquest, begun in 722,

was completed in 1492 with the overthrow of the last Emirate – at Grenada.

Spanish Empire: 16th

to 18th

Century

Spain became a unified country in 1469 with the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of

Aragon and emerged as the first world power. With wealth from colonial possessions, Spain was a

leading power throughout the 16th Century and most of the 17th Century.

General Franco’s Era: 1936 - 1975

In the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, rebel 'Nationalists' overthrew of the ‘Republican’ Government –

with the loss of 500,000 lives and a similar number who fled the country. After the war General

Franco set up a conservative, authoritarian regime which lasted until his death in 1975.

Modern Era: 1978 to present

Since the restoration of democracy in 1978, Spain has been a constitutional monarchy with an

elected parliament. The Constitution of 1978 recognised King Juan Carlos as King of Spain.

The Spanish flag. Historical national motto: Plus Ultra! (To go further beyond)

Forms of Spanish Dance The six forms of Spanish dance are Flamenco, Classical

Spanish Dance (Estilización), Folklore, Eighteenth

Century Dances, Ballet (Classical Dance), and

Castanets. Flamenco is the best-known. ACU students

(right) hone their Spanish dancing skills.

Vaya con Dios! (May God be with you!)

This newsletter can be photocopied. It can also be found under the caption

WYD Madrid Prayer Newsletter on the CathNews website at www.cathnews.com

Our thanks go to all who’ve are contributing to the series, especially Lisa Bright, Sarah Coppola, Robyn

Gallagher, Chris Nolan, Bernadette Toohey – Anthony Neylan editor@churchresources.com