WYD August 4-6

 

On Friday, August 4, at 10:15 a.m., Sister Sophie presented a 10-minute testimony about her religious vocation. That morning, we all left together for the first time in a long time.

At our destination, Belem Station, there were a lot of police and everything was blocked. The people on the other side started running. Someone said, “Pope Francis’s car will pass by.” We quickly set up our cameras! We saw Pope Francis pass us by!

Sister Sophie magnificently witnessed it. At the end of his story, we also participated and sang the “Magnificat” in four languages.

At 3:30 p.m., the last day of the Vocational Fair came to a successful conclusion as our 5,000 Japanese origami cranes were given out free of charge. Avoiding the crowds, we took the bus to return.

Then, at 5 p.m., some of us left the hotel to go to the Way of the Cross while others stayed behind to rest.

We had dinner at 8 p.m. We invited Sister Violaine, who was staying with young people from the diocese of Canada. We thanked God for the success of the Vocational Fair, and thanked the people who prayed for us and the young people of the world. Yes, we are one!

There will be a walking pilgrimage on Saturday. Thank you for praying for Violaine in particular.

WYD August 5

Saturday, August 5, we went on a walking pilgrimage. Six of us left at 3 p.m. It was 36 degrees. It felt as if it had never been hotter.

We met Sister Libby at Oriente Station and waited in line for about one hour to get food for two days. Was it about 5 kg?

There was plenty of food and drinks. Breakfast and lunch on August 5. Breakfast, lunch and dinner on August 6. A few cans and a litre of water weighed heavily, and we still headed with a huge crowd to our destination, Tejo Park.

Our site number was C12. We arrived around 7 p.m. Fifty thousand people sat on mats on the rough white gravel and ate in the dust. I was surprised to find that spending the night there was a real experience like the Exodus!

The evening Vigil began at 8:45 p.m. Pope Francis gave a speech. There were wonderful songs and dances. When the prayer ended at around 10 p.m., we returned to the hotel.

WYD August 6

Sunday, August 6, was the last day of WYD. The Missioning Mass was celebrated at 9 a.m. As there were 1.5 million pilgrims in Tejo Park, we decided to watch it on television.

We could attend Mass on a screen in the hotel canteen or watch it on television in our own rooms.

The pilgrims overcame the hardships and were beaming. I thought to myself that it must have been demanding for the Pope to have such confidence in young people and to make them live the Passion.

South Korea was chosen to host WYD 2027.

Then, we met again at 8 p.m. to reflect over a sorbet.

We shared what each of us felt, such as being able to attend the Passion and Resurrection of young people and to have been touched by the support of many sisters in prayer, and we decided to organize a debriefing session.

Goodbye and thank you for your support throughout this wonderful experience!