Some web browsing.........

WYD 2013

There is a huge amount of coverage of WYD2013 online and trying to wade through it all can be a tad intimidating. But often it is seen as an "event" and sometimes the messages involved can get lost. We would suggest that you have a look at the official Vatican website for the Popes apostolic trip to Rio and also the official WYD2013 site.

At the same time Vatican Radio's English Section facebook page also has some great links and brilliant photos of the event.

John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter had daily reports from Rio and also on CNN.

Rome Reports also have some great short videos online of WYD 2013.

Salt & Light TV also had some great coverage at their website WYD Central.

While there were ideas and challenges in all the addresses and papal talks during WYD, the following addresses during WYD2013 deserve a read and reflection on (links to the full addresses are in blue):

Homily at Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Conception of Aparecida

".......looking forward to the World Youth Day which has brought me to Brazil, I too come to knock on the door of the house of Mary – who loved and raised Jesus – that she may help all of us, pastors of God’s people, parents and educators, to pass on to our young people the values that can help them build a nation and a world which are more just, united and fraternal. For this reason I would like to speak of three simple attitudes: hopefulness, openness to being surprised by God, and living in joy......Dear friends, we have come to knock at the door of Mary’s house. She has opened it for us, she has let us in and she shows us her Son. Now she asks us to “do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Yes, Mother, we are committed to doing whatever Jesus tells us! And we will do it with hope, trusting in God’s surprises and full of joy. Amen."

Visit to the community of Varginha

".....To you and to all, I repeat: never yield to discouragement, do not lose trust, do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Situations can change, people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good, do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it with good. The Church is with you, bringing you the precious good of faith, bringing Jesus Christ, who “came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). ..........Today, to all of you, especially to the residents of this Community of Varginha, I say: you are not alone, the Church is with you, the Pope is with you. I carry each of you in my heart and I make my own the intentions that you carry deep within you: thanksgiving for joys, pleas for help in times of difficulty, a desire for consolation in times of grief and suffering. I entrust all this to the intercession of Our Lady of Aparecida, Mother of all the poor of Brazil, and with great affection I impart my blessing. Thank you!"

Meeting with young people from Argentina

"....Let me tell you what I hope will be the outcome of World Youth Day: I hope there will be noise. Here there will be noise, I’m quite sure. Here in Rio there will be plenty of noise, no doubt about that. But I want you to make yourselves heard in your dioceses, I want the noise to go out, I want the Church to go out onto the streets, I want us to resist everything worldly, everything static, everything comfortable, everything to do with clericalism, everything that might make us closed in on ourselves. The parishes, the schools, the institutions are made for going out ... if they don’t, they become an NGO, and the Church cannot be an NGO. May the bishops and priests forgive me if some of you create a bit of confusion afterwards. That’s my advice. Thanks for whatever you can do....."

Meeting with the bishops of Brazil

"......From this point of view, we need a Church capable of walking at people’s side, of doing more than simply listening to them; a Church which accompanies them on their journey; a Church able to make sense of the “night” contained in the flight of so many of our brothers and sisters from Jerusalem; a Church which realizes that the reasons why people leave also contain reasons why they can eventually return. But we need to know how to interpret, with courage, the larger picture. Jesus warmed the hearts of the disciples of Emmaus.

I would like all of us to ask ourselves today: are we still a Church capable of warming hearts? A Church capable of leading people back to Jerusalem? Of bringing them home? Jerusalem is where our roots are: Scripture, catechesis, sacraments, community, friendship with the Lord, Mary and the apostles… Are we still able to speak of these roots in a way that will revive a sense of wonder at their beauty?.....

....“pastoral care” is nothing other than the exercise of the Church’s motherhood. She gives birth, suckles, gives growth, corrects, nourishes and leads by the hand … So we need a Church capable of rediscovering the maternal womb of mercy. Without mercy we have little chance nowadays of becoming part of a world of “wounded” persons in need of understanding, forgiveness, love"

Homily at the final Mass of WYD2013

"Go, do not be afraid, and serve. Go, do not be afraid, and serve. If you follow these three ideas, you will experience that the one who evangelizes is evangelized, the one who transmits the joy of faith receives more joy. Dear young friends, as you return to your homes, do not be afraid to be generous with Christ, to bear witness to his Gospel. In the first Reading, when God sends the prophet Jeremiah, he gives him the power to “pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (1:10). It is the same for you. Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and break down evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers of selfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world. Dear young friends, Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The Pope is counting on you! May Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, always accompany you with her tenderness: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Amen."

The Cross gives us the certainty of the unshakable love that God has for us

As part of the preparations on the Saturday night, the bishops in attendance got to strut their stuff for the flash mob. While some commentators on the web weren't too impressed; one interesting comment that was made was "Its the job of the younger generation to remind the older generation that they once danced ... and that they still can. Hope they all go home inspired, moved and free. All things are possible with the grace of God!"

Some commentary and reflections on WYD during the week:

World Youth Day Statistics - iBenedictines
"We need a church capable of warming hearts" - Vaticaninsider
BBC Worldservice - Photos of Pope Francis at WYD
Is World Youth Day worth it?

Pope Francis

The one word to describe Pope Francis papacy to date
Dont tell the press: Pope Francis is using them
CNS: Pope answers questions about Curia reforms, gay lobby
Francis the Ignatian Pope
A Pope who likes to shake things up
Aperecida: Where Francis' pontificate began
Five myths about Pope Francis
Cardinal Timothy Dolan on that interview
H/t to Phil at Blue Eyed Ennis - Who am I to judge?


Other reading recommendations

Freedom from the chains that threaten the Church

On the human tendency to post pone the Resurrection

Martha, Martha........ - The idea of the icon of the family of Bethany as a model of hospitality and discipleship........ we all need to make room in our lives to be both Mary (sitting at the feet of the Master - Listening with the heart) and Martha (being in service to others). In some ways you could say that Benedict XVI encouraged us to be Mary and Francis is now encouraging us to be Martha but as John Paul II reminded us (although speaking about the relationship between RCC and Orthodox) we need to breath with both lungs and maintain a balance.

Bling generation is recording life not living it

Reflections on Prayer from Blue Eyed Ennis and also here.

You say you want a revolution?

God has not been idle with the young

Fr John Harris OP is the Regent of Studies for the Irish province of the Dominicans and recently gave this thoughtful homily at the end of the academic year.



A Good Habit to have - Br Bradley Elliott OP reflects on the wearing of a religious habit 

Wimples and swimsuits and sunscreen on sisters - The Irish Times

Against flameless candles - First Things

Young Evangelicals are getting High (Church) - The Christian Pundit

Cars, congregations and conspicuous consumption - Commonweal

Reflections of the Elderly as they once were -   photo series by Tom Hussey, where he portrays the elderly as they reflect on their younger selves in the mirror. This is a wonderfully done series that gives you pause to think, about the passage of time and the lives we are living.

 "We millennials are the ultimate products of the postmodern project. We are the children of the screen, the device. We are in constant flux, ever-entranced by the new and the expedient. And yet we’re also besieged by meaningless academic or vocational competition. Success is all about results and nothing more. Our world, as British philosopher Roger Scruton often says, can be defined as a “tyranny of the present.” It echoes Pope Benedict XVI’s condemnation of the “dictatorship of relativism.” The cult of materialism which so dominates the culture is the only thing many of us know. It is inherited from our parents who were also raised in a relatively secular culture. Thus, faith is often alien to us....." - Walker Percy and the Millenials

 Ordinary time is ordered time - T.S. Eliot wrote, "Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future and time future contained in time past." With this poetic riddle, Eliot ponders the nature of time and the mystery of time’s redemption.

The danger of arrogance - iBenedictines

Fr Robert Barron gives a commentary on Lumen Fidei -  the popes new encyclical