I waited for this day for a long time. When Rio de Janeiro was announced to be the next city of World Youth Day two years ago, I started asking God for the grace to be able to participate. The day finally arrived. Today, July 14th, at 7:05 am I arrived in Rio. In a few days, hundreds of thousands of young people will arrive in this Brazilian city to gather around the Vicar of Christ, to pray, to give testimony of the joy and hope of those who follow Jesus. It is a very exciting time!
The excitement of WYD started in New York as I waited in line to embark. I saw a lady with a WYD shirt. We started to talk and she was very happy to meet a religious. She was visiting New York and now was returning to Brazil to work as a volunteer for the WYD. The amazing thing is that a year ago she was your plain Sunday Mass goer — no commitments to her parish. With WYD fever, she is involved with several services for the event; she will even receive pilgrims in her home. She was truly happy to be Catholic.
Catholics in Rio are breathing WYD! Everything is about it… it is really neat to see how everyone is involved with the preparation for this big encounter. After having a nice Brazilian breakfast (really strong coffee with hot milk, and bread with a very creamy, almost liquid cheese, called requeijão), my cousin Wilson who lives here with his wife Vanessa brought me to the nearest parish for Sunday Mass (thank you guys!). It is a Jesuit church called St Ignatius of Loyola (the Jesuit Headquarters in Brazil happened to be there). They have banners with WYD logos, Mass songs with the WYD theme, and even the missal booklet is specially designed for WYD preparation. When I sat down in one of the pews, one of the ushers invited me to come into the entrance procession bearing the candle. What a way the Holy Spirit chose to welcome me…
In every Catholic Church you pass by you can see big banners of Pope Francis and the WYD 2013 theme: “Go and make disciples of all nations!”(cf. Mt 28, 19). I lost the count of how many people dressing WYD shirts in the street… nuns walking in the city… and the WYD did not start yet! It is truly a blessing to be here!
Foi um pazer passar este dia contigo e sem dúvida será inesquecível para mim e para a Vanessa. Obrigado Primo Ir. Antonio.
Temos que nos ver novamente antes de voltar para NY….
Querido filho,
Fiquei muito feliz com suas matérias e agradeço ao Júnior e a vanessa por terem te recebido no Rio. Que emoção participar da JMJ. Vamos acompanhar tudo pela TV. Continue nos informando tudo. DEUS te abençoe. Beijo do Pai.