WYD KRAKÓW – 24 JULY TO 5 AUGUST 2016
In the summer of 2016, two full coaches of us set off from the parish of Sant Mateu in Barcelona to reach the youth gathering that would be held in the homeland of St John Paul II, the founder of these gatherings. Once again we were accompanied by our great friend Lolek, who sent us letters introducing us to his homeland and giving us advice to make the pilgrimage easier for us.
Almost 100 young people from different groups and parishes came together and travelled the 2,312 km that separated us from Kraków, passing through the little village of Ars, where we learned the story of St John Mary Vianney; we were deeply struck by his witness of spending more than 20 hours a day in the confessional. We also held an all-night prayer vigil in Munich, taking turns so as never to leave the Lord alone. Once we reached Kraków, warmly received by the generous hospitality of various families in their homes, we followed the Holy Father’s events: we meditated on his words and accompanied him with songs and cries of joy alongside other young people who shared our faith, especially at the vigil and at the celebration of Holy Mass at the Campus Misericordiae. Without a doubt, it was a very moving moment for all of us to be able to share those times with so many people our age who were just as eager as we were to follow Christ.
On the way back, we couldn’t miss visiting the Auschwitz concentration camps, to learn a little more about this suffering of the Polish people, and, holding the hand of our Mother, we accompanied that pain by praying rosaries for the persecuted and for their persecutors.
The last stop on our pilgrimage was Paray-le-Monial, where the Sacred Heart of Jesus revealed himself to St Margaret Mary Alacoque, which led us to conclude that Christ loves us with a human heart.
It was a beautiful journey that taught us to open ourselves to others, stepping outside our usual group, and, as the Holy Father said at that same vigil, addressing the one million six hundred thousand young people who slept there:
“Dear young people, we did not come into this world to ‘vegetate’, to get through it comfortably, to make life a sofa that lulls us to sleep. On the contrary, we came for something else: to leave a mark. It is very sad to go through life without leaving a mark”,
he asked us young people to aim for the best.
And that is what we did: once again we will meet, and this time leaving a mark.
