Magical powers, lock down, and Pope mobiles

I don't think I've laughed this much in a long time!  Young people are great, are they not?  I wish you could have joined me for the pilgrimage to New York to see Pope Benedict XVI!  You too would have witnessed just how awesome young people can be!

I was so edified by their witness of joy, of flexibility, of being positive in the midst of changes, and really just living in the moment!  I didn't hear any complaining and there really could have been some when an 18 hour bus ride increased to 20, or when attending a Pre-Papal Youth Rally ended up being more time on the bus than at the Rally itself.  It certainly was a pilgrimage!…and one not to be forgotten! 

We waited in long lines for the shuttle buses, for food at the Youth Rally, and sat on a bus for many hours.  Why?  Because I along with a bus load of teens and chaperones LOVE our Holy Father!  We wanted to see him in person. 

Magical Powers:

As we waited in line for the shuttle buses some young people revealed to me that I had magical powers!  Wow!  I didn't know I did!  I could pull a pen out of my pen pocket!  Amazing!  So, we laughed much while we were in a shuttle bus line that didn't move for almost 45 minutes.  Guess whose line buses kept skipping?!  Were we irritated?  Not really because we were enjoying the present moment and I was laughing at the incredibly imaginative minds of these young men!

Lock Down:

So, now it's 1:30pm and we are finally on the field of St. Joseph's Seminary.  Yes, 3 1/2 hours after arriving at Yonkers Raceway to take shuttle buses to the Rally.  We are glad to be here!  What a beautiful day it was with sunshine and a cool breeze now and again. 

Well, you could say we were hungry, slightly…understatement!  I along with Katie and Sr. Mary David went with our tickets to the other side of field to get some food for us and some others.  Now did we really think that we could get some food without waiting in line?  I guess we could have hoped to do so!  Alas, after another 2 1/2 hour wait we had food!! 

We made our way through the crowds.  We needed to get food to our group!  Then we saw the fences before our eyes.  Locked out.  We couldn't cross the road to get to the field.  Lock down.  Security had to stop the flow of people from field to field.  The Pope was arriving soon.  But our group was on the other side?  We had their food!

So, we had food.  They had a spot on the field.  What can you do?  So, they starved and we ate.  (Just ask Liz about her cookie story!)  We just had to trust this is where the Lord wanted us to be.

Pope Mobile:

Where were we going to stand?  There was a fence overlooking the field and stage.  Would the Holy Father drive by?  At first I didn't think so because there wasn't enough security.  However, as time passed, more and more policeman started lining up.  But wait, there was another fence back closer to the seminary building itself.  Sr. Mary David went to check it out.  She asked the policeman if we should stay where we were at or move here.  He said he would stay where he was.  She returned and the three of us moved over there.  Within a few minutes, others from our group who had been "locked out" joined us.  We weren't alone as we awaited the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI!

Sure enough, we were in the right spot!  We could see the Pope mobile coming from the seminary and he drove right past us.  Did I mention that we were right next to the fence?  No one was in front of us, except the policman, some grass and trees!  The young people cheered as they took pictures!  Here was the man we had journeyed to see!

After he passed by, we made our way back to the other fence.  Now, there were many in front of us and we couldn't see the stage, well, except Sr. Mary David!  I told the others to stay close behind me.  As people leave we could make our way closer, inch by inch.  My gut was telling me that the Pope mobile would leave by this road.

Even though we couldn't hear everything due to the lack of sound and we weren't with the entire group, we were where the Lord wanted us to be.

Sure enough, we had inched our way closer.  The Holy Father gave us his blessing and went back stage to get on the Pope mobile.  Excitement grew as we anticipated him coming past us.  YES!  Here he came, just feet in front of us!  Okay, so being locked out from the other side wasn't so bad after all!

Grace:

It hasn't even been 24 hours since arriving back.  There is still much to ponder and pray about the experience of this pilgrimage.  There are so many small stories to share.

I can say that I am blessed to work with young people.  I was inspired these past days.  It was a true pilgrimage with ups and downs, joys and sorrows, grace and encounters with Christ.  My prayer is that the young people who traveled and those who stayed home, will know and believe in their hearts just how much they are loved by Jesus.  May they place their trust in Christ and hope in Him!

Thank you to those who traveled for memories of magical powers, lock down, Pope mobiles and more!

I invite you to read one young man's blog, Luke Yamnitz, who traveled with us.