WYD’s Sharings

Ngô Minh Châu

I am not sure this email is relevant to the WYD theme or not but I just feel that today is one of those days when I really feel like I need to share what I feel to others.

It’s been quite a while since our last flow of emails.  WYD is more than a month already, but I’m sure that each of us still thinks about it everyday now.

I finally got the CD (the WYD reflection sharing) from anh Liêm.  I’d been waiting for it since i didn’t get a chance to listen when it’s still on DH web.  I played it in my car on the way home and it melt all the icy feeling within me.  I relived the experience with each of your sharings; I saw images ... one after another emerged, and one by one, those memories took away all my dryness inside.  I felt love, so much love ... then, the desire to love and to serve came back to me.  I wondered why I had felt so dry, and I found the answer. It was because I hadn’t given any light and I hadn’t flavored anyone with my salt at all.  I saw so many light and salt around me ... In my daily lives, I received so much love, from people around me and I just look at them in awe. “How come they’re are so beautiful and loving?” I searched and searched deep within myself. I felt the love of Christ in me had faded ... and it was flickering ... I had left him and traveled alone in my journey for a while. That was why I still felt sad and lonely even when I received so much love from you all.  I remembered anh Liêm had said “when thần dữ takes over, we feel really lonely, extremely lonely!!!” And it is right.  Yes, without Christ being the center of our lives, even when our wisdom and knowledge direct us to do the right things, we still feel lost and life seems meaningless.  You can tell yourself to love but you cannot truly love.  You can offer but you cannot truly give.  You receive but you can’t absorb.  You can see happiness on your shoulder but you cannot feel it.  Yes, without Christ in my heart, my love, my life, my existence would be meaningless.  The WYD sharing brought me back to the actual experience ... I asked myself “How can that light went out so fast in me?” I need to keep it burning still everyday and more than anything, keep Christ in my heart!

I love you all and miss you all!

Ngô Minh Châu

Virginia

Cathleen

From the moment I set my foot onto the Canadian ground from the plane, life for that entire week was a constant ongoing momentum of activities, rough and pleasant, but full of unforgettable memories. We slept in a vacant school with about 200 other members whom I got a chance to meet, traveled by subway and on foot, which was tedious but exciting since we were walking along with thousands of other people from around the world down one street! I was lucky be in my group, which was such a crazy riotous bunch. Whether we were walking, sitting, riding, laying around, or even running wildly down the street with the flailing of our arms, our voices could be heard from afar with our loud laughter, chants, rallies, and singing at the top of our lungs with religious songs (which is three times more powerful than just praying in my opinion).  Our constant back and forth battles with other WYD groups to see who can scream and prove our love for God the loudest was especially the biggest kick (though my throat was sore and raspy each time).

I fell in love with Toronto right away. It is such a beautiful place to be at, and I found myself at home with it right away. We walked all over the city, but the longest walk of all was the seven mile hike with the weight of our belongings on our backs, marching under the heat of the sun among a crowd of thousands in one direction. Though it was incredibly hot, the march was made more bearable knowing that we were all suffering together. Not enough words could describe or even come close to how it felt during that journey to our destination where the Pope would be holding mass. Each direction I faced there were people of different ethnicities, speaking their own language and singing in their cultural songs in native tongue. There were a combination of drums and guitars and diverse melodies playing at once. Though each a different rhythm, they somehow all came together in perfect harmony and seemed to rise and fall in replies to each other as we walked on the whole way there.

Since my group bought colorful beads to exchange with, I went in a frenzy running from one person to another, talking and trading and finding myself being given the most unique souvenirs. I have met so many individuals from all over the world and from countries even I have never heard of before. I remember telling myself that I have met enough people to last me for a very, very long time. But that was not the point of why I was there. Actually, I didn’t come to understand the full meaning of WYD until everyone came together in one huge gathering, waiting for the arrival of the Pope, and all together sharing one goal: Faith, Love, Spirit, and God. It was miraculous how through faith, we were capable of bringing each person from a different part of the world to become one at one point in Canada. There was no prejudice but complete acceptance with one another because under God’s eyes we are all the same and his children, and I could feel the vibe of the world filled with love that was almost nearly tangible. It was a happy time. When the Pope finally came, there was a strong and powerful yet gentle and compassionate aura about him, something so holy and beautiful that it struck me silent and wide-eyed when I saw him for the first time so nearby me, which then erupted into myself yelling and reaching out for him along with the others once the spell broke. What people have told me about WYD was barely enough to prepare me for what it actually was like. I was on an immense spiritual high that day, and it still has not left me ever since.

Cathleen

Clam Chowder, California

Quang

When our Pope arrived, the assembly grew even more excited, some breaking into laughter and some into tears.  As he passed fifteen feet from me, I observed and was struck silent by his aura of compassion.  Such a loving soul in that frail figure, come from so far away to celebrate with us.  Or better yet, to celebrate us.  With his presence came strange happening that meets with every sense of the word ‘miracle’.

The excitement never died out.  I would have never expected such an experience, but this was everything beyond my expectation. Through blazing heat and windy rainstorms, we were all pilgrims under God, and, as if He carried us through, there were moments when I didn’t feel the heat or cold, only the love.  The memory of that is a souvenir that I will no doubt keep with me forever.

Quang

Clam Chowder, California