World Youth Day - Making Disciples Of All Nations
At the close of the Holy Year of Redemption on 22 April 1984, then Pope (soon saint) John Paul II, entrusted the large wooden cross used during the Jubilee Year to representatives of the world’s youth with the words: ‘My dear young people, at the conclusion of the Holy Year, I entrust to you the sign of this Jubilee Year: the Cross of Christ! Carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christ's love for humanity, and announce to everyone that only in the death and resurrection of Christ can we find salvation and redemption’. Almost thirty years later, with typical exuberance and vigor, the young are still carrying that cross across the world, and how!
In December of the following year, the first UN-declared ‘International Youth Year’, Pope John Paul II announced the institution of World Youth Day (WYD), a coming together of the world’s young adults to celebrate their Catholic Faith. WYD was to be celebrated annually at the diocesan level on Palm Sunday in Rome and at week-long events in different countries every two to three years .
I always tell my friends that when I first dreamed of joining the 2011 WYD in Madrid, all I had back then were my bosses’ permission, my passport and enormous faith. I called it dreaming the impossible, ambitious dream, as I did not have enough funds for the trip.
My Yuppeace friends and I were ecstatic, when we received our confirmation letters from the WYD organizers; we had been accepted as volunteers for WYD in Cologne, Germany. It was my first time to be a WYD volunteer, and my first time in Europe.
From the start, I knew that God was leading me to make the WYD journey, the biggest blessing in my life. In 2000 I attended a retreat in Batulao with the famous Fr Armand Robleza SDB who talked about Yuppeace, an upbeat group of professional men and women, organized in 1995 to animate the Vigil for the WYD in Manila. Yuppeace has since evolved into a faith community living the WYD ideals.
All I wanted was to be rich. That was all I had in mind when I was trying to climb the corporate ladder. I gave it my all - worked hard, earned a Master's degree, networked and voila! There I was on top of the Eiffel Tower shouting a la Leonardo di Caprio, ‘I am the king of the world!’ That was in 1997, when I decided to join the Yuppeace delegation for the Journees Mondiales de la de Jeunesse (French for World Youth Day - fellow Yuppeace, Ricky Herrera, and I even took lessons to be able to, at least, pronounce that properly.
Two weeks before the World Youth Day in Manila, I was asked by Fr Armand Robleza of Don Bosco to be one of the emcees of the Youth Vigil with the Pope. I thought it was just another hosting assignment. I was not aware of the WYD and knew nothing about it.