My World Youth Day experience was quite interesting. My cousin Ali, her boyfriend Kyle, and I went to Australia with a group called ICPE (Institute for World Mission) who train missionaries from all over the world to do Catholic evangelism. Here is a picture of our sleeping accommodations the first night at the airport.
Our first two days were at a charismatic youth conference called Firebrandz (http://www.firebrandz.net/) and I was privileged to help out as an MC for the first day. We were blessed with great speakers, powerful preaching, and anointed praise bands during our time there, and it was a great way to set the tone for the next two weeks. I also got to meet quite a few people from all over the world, and they all told me that I look like Jim Carey. I have never been asked to be in so many pictures in my entire life!During Days in the Diocese, we stayed with Angela and Sam, our wonderful host family, along with three youth from India. Angela is a hairstylist who specializes in making wigs for people who have lost their hair. My cousin Ali and Swathi (one of the Indian girls) really enjoyed getting their hair done every morning! Our hosts were more than gracious, taking us to the zoo (kangaroos, apes, lions, elephants, and a tiger), providing our meals, and being available to take us anywhere we wanted to go. They are truly beautiful people who love the Lord. This is a picture of us atop the Realto towers, one of the tallest buildings in the world.
Days in the Diocese was fairly uneventful after the opening mass at the Telstra dome, as the schedule was taking pilgrimages around the city at your pleasure, visiting churches, and so on. Since several people in our group got sick, it was a good opportunity to rest and get over jet lag. Probably the most "touristy" time of our stay in Australia. I did some shopping and got a cool hat, which I now wear everywhere. I was a little frustrated with the lack of doing pilgrim things, but knew I needed the rest as well. 
The event "World Youth Day" is actually a week of activities leading up to the Sunday when the Pope has the mass with all the youth. The schedule for the week was morning catechesis at the nearest parish (next to our lodging) and an afternoon of youth festival--activities ranging from concerts, conferences, exhibits, film screenings, plays...almost anything you could imagine...which made it difficult to decide what you wanted to see most! I ended up going to two of Christopher West's talks, a talk on Creation and Evolution by Cardinal Schoenborn, and a couple other random things during the week.
The Pope arrived on Thursday and gave a welcome speech. Within the course of 11 minutes, he welcomed everyone, thanked everyone, offered reconciliation to the Aborigines, showed how every modern evil comes from moral relativity, showed that Christ is the only way to heal our world, and called everyone to deeper holiness--all the while doing it so gently that I was simply blown away. The full text is here http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/july/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080717_barangaroo_en.html .
Friday we had living stations of the cross which traveled throughout the city for each different station. If was quite a spectacle of faith and the artistic creativity of the Australians. I recommend looking for youtube videos of it, or searching for the official media player of world youth day through XT3's website.
Saturday was the big walk to Randwick racecourse for the Saturday night vigil with Pope Benedict and camping out under the stars. The afternoon was spent listening to concerts by Fr. Stan Fortuna, Matt Maher, and several others. The vigil was absolutely beautiful, with a quarter million catholics holding candles praying with the Pope. We had adoration of the blessed sacrament (in one of the biggest monstrances I've ever seen) for about 5 minutes and during that time there was a silence that I don't think that racetrack has ever experienced. The Pope prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and at that moment, I felt a ripple flow out from his extended hands and wash over everyone. It was truly breathtaking. Here's a picture of our "campsite" as we finish up dinner and the pope, via video screen.
Looking back, the thing that sticks with me the most is the effect of joy on our world, a world which seems so pessimistic and sarcastic. The media in Australia began the week by telling the world how bad the Church is, airing all the "dirty laundry" of abuses right before the Holy Father's arrival. Yet, within the course of a few days, the tone changed. Testimonies flooded in from bus drivers, tram operaters and so on saying things like, "we've never seen such joy on the public transit system before...we want them to come back soon!" Indeed, genuine joy so flabbergasted the pundits that the worst they could do was say, "too bad it can't be like this year round"--implying that joy is fleeting. My friends, let us be counter-cultural and never stop showing the world that we have a cause for joy and it is Christ, the Light that never fades! I have hope for our future, a hope that isn't based on a feeling, but on Christ, because of His Spirit who reigns in our hearts through our baptism. This week was about empowerment, "receiving the Power" to be a light to the world. May all of us be this light, not just priests and religious, but all the baptised, bringing Christ into every corner of the world! Amen.
