Chronicle of Saturday 9 August

Dear parents, grandparents, friends and all the other pilgrims,

Today’s stage promised to be a long one, lunga, as they say round here. At half past three in the morning we left Conselice to cover the 34 kilometres that separated us from Faenza, our next destination. It was lovely to be able to say goodbye to Jesus before setting off, as the place where we slept has a perpetual adoration chapel. The day couldn’t have started better. As every morning, we devoted the first hour of walking to personal reflection, which today revolved around the idea of faithfulness, which is a yes sustained over time.

A scorching sun crowned creation all day today, and that meant that we pilgrims reached the first stop very tired, but happy about what we had shared along the way. Waiting for us were ice-cold water and some sweet pastries with Nutella, courtesy of Ciara, the consecrated virgin who welcomed us so warmly at the parish yesterday. How good it is to see that you can be happy with so little, going against the consumerist mindset that prevails today.

As usual, we rested with the spiritual reading, although today the stop was a little shorter than normal, as the stage was long and we needed to keep up the pace. Today Cardinal Ratzinger was telling Peter Seewald about his relationship with St John Paul II. The affection the cardinal felt for the Holy Father could be read in every line, in every word of what he said. It is touching to see the friendship and the love between the Pope and the man who would later be his successor. From today’s reading we can draw out the great need to pray for the Pope, so palpable in Benedict XVI’s words. After the reading, and once we had refilled our water and picked up our little bags of nuts (walnuts, almonds, raisins and the whole lot), we set off praying the Holy Rosary.

When we arrived in Faenza, the logistics team welcomed us with glasses of ice-cold water, as well as some lemonade and something we didn’t expect but which made us really happy: today’s sandwiches weren’t on Bimbo sliced bread, but on proper baguette. Word round here is that someone shed a little tear of emotion. You can start to tell that some of us pilgrims are reaching our destination more tired than others. Today, for example, in the inner courtyard of the Capuchin friary that is hosting us, Jose found a bicycle and started riding round in circles shouting “Freedom!”. Our sherpa is like the Duracell bunny: his batteries never run out!

After a good rest, we were able to pray together before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. What a beautiful moment! It is truly a blessing to have Jesus in the Sacrament on the altar practically every day; it makes us feel very fortunate, as if we were the most privileged young people in the world. Seeing that, in each person’s vocation, whatever it may be, God is the only one who never fails fills us with hope and trust. He must come first in our lives, because only He can guide and sustain us at every step we take. In the homily we were told about the importance of trusting in God’s plan, just as Abraham and Sarah trusted in it in their time, relying on God’s promise even in the midst of uncertainty. We were also reminded that it is essential to have God as the treasure of our heart, because only then can we live with true joy and peace, knowing that He never abandons us and always has the best for us.

For dinner today we had potato salad and a good piece of breaded meat that was really delicious. Today there was no get-together, because we were very tired and tomorrow another long stage awaits us, to Predappio; so we ended the day with Compline all together and off to bed, finishing the day just as we always begin it: close to Jesus and Our Lady, which is the most important thing.