Day One - the following photo illustrates the street scene for the opening Mass. It is difficult to show a million pilgrims spread out along boulevard but here is the spot we ended up at. And yes, everyone received Communion. Lots of Jumbotrons and speakers along the calle, so we were effectively there, even though the Archbishop was still many blocks away.
It took us hours to find a place to eat afterwards and make our way back to the school to sleep. We learned that the commuter rail stops at midnight and that crowds can be avoided if we eat at Canadian time.
Day Two - We had Catechesis in an old traditional basilica in the morning, followed by Mass. We created a long prayer chain of intentions for our offering. We then had lunch and made our way to another basilica, this one very contemporary, for Taize prayer.
We then found a traditional Spanish restaurant for tortias and headed to a musical performance by a fantastic French dance band. This band had us up dancing to several Christian songs, each one fully accompanied with actions. I wish I could get my YouTube account working so that I could show you their awesome version of Waves of Mercy.
Unfortunately, we had to make our way around anti-Pope protesters on the way home, so we were late again. Argh!
Day Three - the morning was spent at the English Speaking Arena, listening to our Archbishop Miller for the Catechesis. And then, he presided at a Mass that was concelebrated with around 300 priests and 30 bishops!
After Mass, there was an excellent love and life session. While there, we ran into some teachers from Archbishop Carney.
After lunch, we broke into smaller groups. Our group watched a Christian rock concert followed by dinner and an outdoor rock opera of the Crucifixion.
- Posted by Ray Tarnai using BlogPress from my iPhone
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