And the week continued...

Wait - we're not done yet! There's still Saturday and Sunday to talk about! Once I was finished at my check-in point at Darling Harbour (about 2 p.m.) I went back to the hotel to (1) nap and (2) wait for David to be finished with his day's ancillary events. Then we packed up our bags and became pilgrims (but pilgrims who cheat and take the media shuttle to Randwich instead of walk the 5 km). We arrived at "Southern Cross Precinct" just as it was getting dark, stopped to talk to my Workforce team to figure out my shifts, and then did our best to move through the crowd to see the stage as best we could.


The Evening Vigil with the Holy Father was beautiful... this was one of our opportunities to slow down, to walk among pilgrims, and to hear the words and prayers of the Holy Father. I've always loved the evening vigil of WYD, and I loved this one, too. When all was said and done, we turned to go back to the Workforce Tent - and what did we hear over the loudspeakers? Pedro's voice, my Salt + Light coworker. I cringed, knowing what was coming next... my own voice. Worse yet, when we could see the screen, there I was in jumbo-tron size in a 4-year-old S+L production that covers the history of WYD. It wasn't as bad as I remember... the content was good (but the "acting" could have used some work) and in my imagination, the Pope watched it and thought I was both clever and delightful.


After some time in the Workforce Check-in, and David taking a moment to walk to one of the Adoration tents, we made our way to section H8, where our friend Dan was already tucked away in his sleeping bag. We made some room for ourselves and had our own campout at Randwick, falling asleep to the continued cheers of some over-eager pilgrims (their cheers finally stopped at about 4:30 a.m., conveniently the time I had to get up and to my Workforce post).


Once David and Dan and the rest of his group were up, we had the chance to be pilgrims again. We used our VIP passes to get into a section closer to the stage to participate in Mass. Again, beautiful. We were happy to be there, to be attentive, to not worry about work. (But we must apologize to the Pope... because we were very tired we slept... prayerfully... through bits of the homily.) What I most remember and appreciate about the Mass was when 24 young people were confirmed by the Holy Father - he spoke his words to each of them deliberately and intently - "Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" - and looked into their eyes. How lovely to see the Pope make this connection with these young people.


Post Mass, there was a bit of finish-up work to do to get the volunteer checked out of Randwick and on to the shuttle bus. We got on that same bus a few hours later with the aim to get to our hotel, have a quick nap, clean up, and make our way to an Important Meeting - the WYD staff were invited to gather in Chapter Hall near St. Mary's Cathedral to be greeted by the Holy Father. How good to see him close(r) up and to his words of thanks. And, again, so good to see how the Pope interacts with people... he turns to face who is speaking at the podium, he smiles and laughs and reacts to what is said, he is engaged by those around him.


We had a chance to see this again on Monday morning at the Papal Thank You for volunteers. Yup - our volunteers were lucky ducks and had a special event just for them. Our volunteers were also pushy ducks, and there was a lot of scrambling to get near the front to see the Pope as close as possible. It made me really happy, though, to see our casual volunteers escorted to the front of the line - they have given their time not just the past week of WYD, but months beforehand so they deserved the best view.


And after the Thank You, the Pope made his way to the airport and WYD was over. Just like that. So much of our time and energy and planning, all for this one week (which seemed like the fastest week in history). We're perhaps all a bit lost right now - David and I have moved back to our Maroubra house and everyone saunters into work around 10 or 11 a.m. We're planning and attending get-togethers to say our goodbyes and, before we know it, it will be August 1 and we'll be on our way as well. We have lots to fit into these days left and too many people that we want to pack up in our suitcases to bring back to Canada... except I don't think that's allowed.


David still promises to write more about his WYD week. But I think he's the only in the office actually doing work right now!





The Saturday evening vigil... this was as close to the action as we could get. It was so good standing among the pilgrims and the candlelight.


The WYD Kantors.

And after the Vigil was over, Jumbo-tron Gillian met Real-life Gillian.

Some of the lovely ladies in the Workforce Tent... Donnelle, Lisa, Elena, and Florie.


And this is Hannah, Elena, and me wearing bubblewrap on our heads. Of course.

David and Dan waking up after a delightful night at Randwick.


The view from our seats for Mass. The Pope is up on the stage, I promise.




David, after Communion.


David and Gillian with Sr. Mary Rachel. She has been a great friend and we will miss her soooo much.

Later on Sunday... we gathered at Chapter Hall to say Hello to the Pope.

The Lovely Hannah and the Charming James. Hannah and I sit next to each other at work... she's one of the first people I met in Australia... and she has become a great friend. You can all meet her when she comes to visit us in Canada.



And here he is... Pope Benedict XVI. And this is what he said to us:
Dear friends, Saint Paul, who devoted his entire life to the service of the Gospel, reminds us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive". Your generosity and sacrifice have been an essential, yet often hidden, ingredient in the success of this World Youth Day. May the spiritual joy, the satisfaction and the fulfilment that we have all experienced in these days, be an unfailing source of blessings in your own lives. May you never doubt the truth of our Lord’s promise that, whenever we give our creativity, energy, resources, and our very selves to him, we will gain them back abundantly!





After our meeting withthe Holy Father, we went off for a meeting with Salt + Light... a meeting with food... yum. There, we also (re)met Wanda Gawronska, the niece of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. David and I met her once before in Pollone, after WYD 2005, when our pilgrim group was invited to the Frassati summer house. She is lovely to talk with (though put me in a wee bit of an uncomfortable situation when she reached with her fork to take some of my chocolate cake... I'm not so much for sharing food but will make an exception for the niece of a Saint-to-be).


Also at dinner... Pedro, from Salt + Light, and Steve Lawrence, from WYD.




And right back to the Pope on Monday morning... this is the Volunteer Thank You, and we were fortunate to be standing in the right place at the right time when Popey drove by.



And here he is later, on stage. This was his last WYD appearance, a chance to say thank you and farewell...
As I bid you a fond farewell, I commend all of you to the loving intercession of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians, I invoke upon you the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I assure you of my continued prayers. God bless the young people of our world and God bless the people of Australia!





And a team photo... David, me, and Popey over David's shoulder.



This is Barry, one of our favourite volunteers. He has worked so hard for WYD and, in addition to that, brought up two lovely daughters who also worked so hard for WYD. Barry was chosen to sit on stage with the Holy Father and, before the Pope arrived, gave a heartfelt speech about WYD volunteers and everyone's tremendous efforts. And we all cried.


Our Super Team of Workforce Volunteers... not everyone is pictured here but it was this fantastic group of people that helped us get all 8000 other volunteers organized. Thank You Super People!!