Regnum Christi

“Do you believe that you can change the world?” asked Pope Francis to the youth in the Welcoming Ceremony this evening. He actually asked this same question a few times, and waited for the answer of the crowd.

The Pope arrived with the Tram to the Blonia field. After that, he passed through the field in his Popemobile.  The youth made a huge party whenever he was close.

A moving part of the ceremony was when several saints were presented as models to the youth. They were saints from different times and cultures, but had in common a great love for God and young age. Some of them are well known: St Maria Goretti and St Therese of Liseaux.

During the homily, Pope Francis invited the youth to make the most of their lives with Jesus Christ. He is our real friend.

Tomorrow will pray the Stations of the Cross with the Pope! See you all!

Pope Francis finally arrived in Krakow. The whole city is in a huge celebration.

I was in the center of town when he got to his house. All the streets were taken by storm by thousands of pilgrims trying to see his passing. You could see the excitement in faces of the young people. You could feel in the air: the Vicar of Christ is here.

In the afternoon Br John Klein LC and the “Why not Priest” crew gave a concert in one of the main squares of Krakow. Many Regnum Christi groups were present for the concert. It was an explosion of joy. People were singing, dancing and celebrating their faith.

At night the “Why not Priest” group set up a mini soccer field in the main square of the town. They challenge the youth for a 2 on 2 match. If the Brothers win, the losers would do a prayer. Several people were making lines for the showdown. As far as I know, the Brothers were unbeatable until the end.

Tomorrow we will have the welcoming ceremony of the Pope. Holy Father, we are so happy to have you here with us!

“WYD Krakow 2016 has begun,” were the words of Card. Stanisław Dziwisz at the end of the Opening Mass today. What a beautiful feast of Mercy we are celebrating here. I had the grace to receive tickets right in front of the main stage. It was impressive to see the thousands and thousands of youth gathered around the altar.

Right before the event a lightning storm broke out. I realized that I had forgotten my umbrella back home. But bad weather was not enough to stop the crowds of pilgrims going to Blonia, the venue of the ceremony. Little by little the storm faded out and the sun came shining through the clouds. Continue reading →

Fr Jacques Hamel, 85, died this morning.

I didn’t know Fr Jacque.  In fact, before today I had never heard of him.  Most of us have never heard of most Catholic priests.  They are men who serve the Church, bring us the sacraments and have only God to appreciate their love and sacrifice.

But we’ll all remember Fr Jacques; he died when a couple ISIS thugs slit his throat while he was serving mass in St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France. Continue reading →

There is ongoing Eucharistic Adoration in many of the churches in Krakow. Most of them are always packed with young men and women. In each of those churches there is an Ecclesial Movement that is in charge of the adoration. Regnum Christi also will be in charge of adoration in a parish.

It is so refreshing to spend some quiet time in the presence of Jesus. I believe that is the place where the youth will receive most of the graces during the WYD. Our Lord is so good to us. Continue reading →

Yesterday, as I entered a restaurant to have dinner, I stumbled on a Mexican young man that I met three years ago in WYD Rio. We recognized each other right away. That is one of the neat experiences of this event, to be able to see our WYD friends again and realize how faith unites us.

Today, we received reinforcements. A group of 18 legionary brothers arrived from Rome. They will be helping in three different activities (and also eating a lot of food). Some of them are part of the www.whynotpriest.com project. They will be promoting vocations in the streets of Krakow through music and soccer. Other brothers will be working at the Regnum Christi booth at the vocation fair. They will be working with RC consecrated and laity. Finally, there will be a group of brothers guiding pilgrims in an exhibit about the Holy Shroud. Continue reading →

World Youth Day 2016 grows bigger and bigger each day. And the Regnum Christi presence is getting larger.

We began this day with Mass with representatives of the whole RC family. There were Legionary priests and brothers, consecrated men and women, and laity.

Today also was the most intense training I had. We were practicing from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. We had a break for lunch and I had the opportunity to eat the real Polish pierogi for the first time. This is a kind of dumpling made of potato. By the way, for the meals, volunteers and pilgrims receive vouchers. We need to find restaurants that accept those vouchers and have a special WYD menu. Sometimes we have some surprises, like the restaurant who would not give us anything to drink. But in general the food is pretty decent.

We have an excellent team of translators and little by little we are forming a family. There are translators from all cultures, states of life, ages. They are priests, nuns, moms, grandmas, college students, seminarians, teachers. But we are all united in the same faith. Our meetings are hilarious, but always enriching.

We can´t wait to receive Pope Francis and help him to communicate his message of Mercy to our youth!

Today we had more training sessions led by professional interpreters. By the way, I finally learned the difference between interpreting and translating. The interpreter not just translates words but also communicates emotions, voice tone, silence. It will be a great challenge to be able to transmit the richness of the teaching of the Pope to our young audience.

For this job I will have an excellent partner, Claudia. She is Italian, and can speak fluent Portuguese. She even has an accent from the northeast of Brazil.  To interpret with another person is much better. Today we started practicing teamed translation and it worked well. Continue reading →

This post is dedicated to my friends Ruth and Elizabeth in thanksgiving.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

One thing I have noticed about the Holy Spirit is that when He is really on the move, the same message keeps coming into my life from different directions.  Lately, this overall message has been one of expecting good things and of being a source of blessing to all, even blessing the hurts and weaknesses in my very self.  In a previous post  I ended with a special prayer to St. Rafael the Archangel.  Just today, I was at breakfast, after morning Mass, with two friends; and, they asked me to send them this prayer.  I would like to comment on the prayer to encourage us all to expect good things.  At breakfast, we spoke of God’s abiding Love for us.  He sends us “love letters” through His Word.  He gives us gifts and places desires and dreams on our hearts for our own benefit and the benefit of others. Continue reading →

My first day in Poland was full of excitement. The airplane to Warsaw was delayed a few hours. That was bad because I was supposed to take a train to Krakow. I was nervous at first, but started praying and put the situation in the hands of the Blessed Mother. I arrived in Warsaw, and the Lord put different people in just the right places to help me get to the train station as fast as possible. Maybe they were angels. With their guidance I made the train a few seconds before it started moving.

After a restoring night of sleep, I had my first training session in the morning. The training takes place at the University where Saint John Paul II studied as a young man. There we received lessons from a professional interpreter from whom I learned so much. Continue reading →