Germany

‘We went to follow the star’

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By Ma. Kristina Garraton Abella

The author is a college student at the University of St LaSalle, Bacolod City.

World Youth Day (WYD) is a pilgrimage of young people and a festival of encounter and solidarity. Young people from all over the world are invited to take up the main concern of the late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II: a renewal of evangelization that reaches out to the young. This enables the youth to experience a deeper sense of spirituality and community. I am grateful and happy that our new Holy Father, Benedict XVI has continued this tradition and came to meet us in Cologne.

‘We have come to worship Him’ was our theme. I was privileged to be one of the delegates from the Diocese of Bacolod, given the opportunity to discover the ‘young and modern mystery of the Church’ through the experience of pilgrimage, prayer, and worship.

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‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION DAY’

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By Ma. Teresa Gayondato

Matet Gayondato, from Cebu, is a member of the Teresian Association (www.institucionteresiana.org) and is based in Palermo, Sicily, the large island being ‘kicked’ by the ‘toe’ of Italy.

I feel very privileged that in twenty years of WYD, 1985 to 2005, I’ve participated in three of the world encounters, in Paris in 1997, in Rome in 2000 and the recent one in Cologne, Germany, last August. Those of Denver, Manila and Toronto I joined in spirit, and in a particular involvement from a distance, that in Manila in 1995 when I was based in Milan, Italy.

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Wüst Family from Germany

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Dear Father Seán,

In our church community we say: ‘Guests are a blessing from God!’ We were very happy when we heard that two young people from the Philippines would stay in our house for five days. Our children Jasmin and Elisa had their school holidays and my wife and I took ours also. One of us went to every event of the ‘Days of Encounter at Limburg,’ with our ‘foster daughters’ from the Philippines. At all these events we felt the Spirit of God. It was wonderful!

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WORLD YOUTH DAY VIGIL ADDRESS

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Pope Benedict XVI

This is the talk given by the Holy Father in Cologne, Germany, at the vigil on Saturday night, 20 August. It is believed that the relics of the Magi, ‘The Three Kings,’ are in Cologne Cathedral, hence the theme of WYD XX, ‘We have come to worship him’ (Mt 2:2). The Holy Father touches on the questions discussed by Cris Evert Berdin Lato in Our Hideaway.

Dear young friends,

In our pilgrimage with the mysterious Magi from the East, we have arrived at the moment which Saint Matthew describes in his Gospel with these words:  ‘Going into the house (over which the star had halted), they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him’ (Mt 2:11).  Outwardly, their journey was now over.  They had reached their goal.  But at this point a new journey began for them, an inner pilgrimage which changed their whole lives.  Their mental picture of the infant King they were expecting to find must have been very different. 

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World Youth Day 2005

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Cologne, Germany

August 15-21, 2005

‘We have come to worship him.’ (Mt 2:2)

World Youth Day is an international gathering of young Catholics from all over the world (young people from 177 countries come to WYD). For five days, in one city, you have the chance to meet Catholic young people in a festival of prayer, hope and hopefully fun!

If you want to find out more about your faith or maybe you want to meet with other young people to celebrate your faith, then World Youth Day is for you.

‘The Church has much to say to young people. And they have much to say to the Church. This mutual dialogue mush open-hearted, clear and courageous. It fosters encounter and exchange between the generations and becomes a source of wealth and youth for the Church and society.’

-Pope John Paul II

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