We woke up on Day 12, still outside, to some man onstage doing what I believe was a mic check. IT sounded like, "Ya ven de vock, (pause for .5 sec) shuh." It actually sounded like the hottest beat of 2016 was about to drop. After denying to myself that I slept outside and that my face was wet from dew, it became reality and I got up. My back was not happy. But I was. :)
We ate our mediocrely pleasing pre-packaged meals, and took down our refugee tents, which were stellar, then we began the morning.
The only thing on our agenda today was the Holy Mass with Pope Francis, the conclusion of World Youth Day, which you may watch here.
Fun fact: A Spanish group translated "papa" to "potato," calling Pope Francis "Potato Francis" on a huge 20 foot banner.
Potato Francis rode through the millions of people in the Field of Mercy, and got to the stage. Mass began with the Year of Mercy Theme Song. Mass went as usual, and the readings had themes of mercy and forgiveness, and the Gospel was the story of Zacchaeus and the tree.
Pope Francis gave his homily, which you can read here. (Please read)
In the first obstacle Potato talks about, I can relate. A lot of times I do feel too small for God; I am just one person among billions. Although I may have my prideful moments, I do feel very awkward and small sometimes. But that is wrong! God is not too big for me. He is there for me, and He dwells inside of me! And there is a difference between humility and pity. Humility is not thinking bad of yourself, it is just not always thinking about yourself. Pity is saying "I'm so small! I'm so weak! I am nothing!" I know sometimes I use pity to build up my pride, which is a dangerous habit, especially if you try to get your friends to help you "feel better."
The second obstacle was of shame, which I do struggle with, but not as much as the others.
The third is of others:
I will be completely honest here. I have been extremely blessed with some amazing friends, and often times I take advantage of that. And we have grown up in the faith, and we have kind of distinguished ourselves from those who do not outwardly practice or talk about faith. So, honestly, we, especially me, will find ourselves on both sides of this spectrum. Sometimes people will mock us for being faithful to the Lord, and for the most part, we have each other for support. But on the other hand, we will find ourselves judging those who are not of the faith. Who are not outwardly practicing, and we will purposely avoid them at all costs. By doing so, we remain still, doing our own thing and going our own way. Our way is not the Lord's way, though.
If there is one thing I have learned at a public college (after 3 weeks), it is that college is not a Catholic School. The majority of people here are not practicing believers. A good amount are, Praise The Lamb! But if we keep the faith among our own selves and don't spread it, what is the point of calling ourselves Christians? We are not living out the call to make disciples. I can sing "Here I Am, Lord" all I want, but if I don't live up to line "I will go, Lord, if you lead me," I am not following the Lord's will, and I am not going anywhere with my life. And neither is the person I am being called to go to. If that is not selfishness, I do not know what is.
And I know this is going to be different. "Love your enemies." Jeez, that is hard. Imagine someone that you really just dislike. Imagine that one person in high school, or in that group message, or that person who argues the faith with you. Now picture them running to Christ and embracing Him, asking for mercy, and then POOF, God forgives him. For me, that is a hard image to imagine. It is a difficult way to think about your enemies. But it is how we should think of them. Instead of looking at and pointing out their flaws, we should find their strengths and love them for the good they do and the love they are. Is that not what Jesus does with you and me? He looks past our faults, so we also should look past our enemies' faults.
Jesus tells Zacchaeus that He must stay at his house, just as Jesus wants to stay in our hearts, and in our homes, too.
After the homily, Potato Francis continued the mass, and the sun got even hotter. Nick's scalp was burning. But it was okay, because Christ in the Eucharist was about to enter Nick's body. After the mad rush to communion was over, the closing rights were given, and Pope Francis then announced the location for the next World Youth Day: Panama 2019. First thought in my head: heat. Fire of the Lord. I am not so sure if I will be attending this one, but if the Lord wants me to, I shall go. The mass ended, Potato left in peace, and we were stuck with 3 million people wanting to leave the same place at the same time. World Youth Day was officially over.
Then, the first aid people came around and forced us to drink bottles upon bottles of gas water. It was dreadful. But we eventually walked out of Campus Misericordiae and unto the rod, where we were immediately halted by about 500,000 people who were not moving in front of us. We waited in the hot sun for about 45 minutes, asking God to cool us off with some wind or something. Let's just say God answered our prayer with the "or something" part. A large, dark cloud loomed over us, and the floodgates of Heaven were opened as God showered the water part of mercy upon us. It was chilling rain, and I, being the stubborn person I am, waited until I was soaking wet to take out my poncho. We were freezing. But we started moving again!
So our journey began. Our 12 kilometer journey back to the hostel in the pouring down rain. We split up into different groups, unintentionally, because everyone traveled at different speeds. There was no use waiting for a tram, because everyone else in Poland wanted to get on. So we walked the whole way back. We actually came across a point where all the trams were stopped and they were forcing people off. Glad we weren't on there! Anyway, we made our way back, and I am proud to say that my group was the first to arrive back at the hostel, meaning we got to take the first showers. Now I know that this journey cannot be described, because it took 4 1/2 hours to get back. All you need to know is that we had ponchos on, it was raining, and we were walking. That is all there is too it. PTL we had energetic people in our group of 7 to keep us wanting to move forward and not stop. My thighs have been recovering since,
We got back, and waited for the others, who slowly arrived groups at a time. A few of us decided to go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant to spend our remaining Zlotys, since we were going to journey back to America soon, so we put on the fanciest clothes we had, dragged our poor feet to the Krakow Square, and found an Italian Restaurant named "The Spaghetti." So we got to eat our "local spaghetti" (sounds funnier in my head, WYD theme song). Then I did some shopping for souvenirs for my siblings, and made my way back to the hostel to sleep after a long and wet day.
Thus ended day 12.
Nicholas Scalfano
We ate our mediocrely pleasing pre-packaged meals, and took down our refugee tents, which were stellar, then we began the morning.
The only thing on our agenda today was the Holy Mass with Pope Francis, the conclusion of World Youth Day, which you may watch here.
Fun fact: A Spanish group translated "papa" to "potato," calling Pope Francis "Potato Francis" on a huge 20 foot banner.
Potato Francis rode through the millions of people in the Field of Mercy, and got to the stage. Mass began with the Year of Mercy Theme Song. Mass went as usual, and the readings had themes of mercy and forgiveness, and the Gospel was the story of Zacchaeus and the tree.
Pope Francis gave his homily, which you can read here. (Please read)
In the first obstacle Potato talks about, I can relate. A lot of times I do feel too small for God; I am just one person among billions. Although I may have my prideful moments, I do feel very awkward and small sometimes. But that is wrong! God is not too big for me. He is there for me, and He dwells inside of me! And there is a difference between humility and pity. Humility is not thinking bad of yourself, it is just not always thinking about yourself. Pity is saying "I'm so small! I'm so weak! I am nothing!" I know sometimes I use pity to build up my pride, which is a dangerous habit, especially if you try to get your friends to help you "feel better."
The second obstacle was of shame, which I do struggle with, but not as much as the others.
The third is of others:
"It was no longer an interior one, but was all around him. It was the grumbling of the crowd, who first blocked him and then criticized him: How could Jesus have entered his house, the house of a sinner! How truly hard it is to welcome Jesus, how hard it is to accept a “God who is rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4)! People will try to block you, to make you think that God is distant, rigid and insensitive, good to the good and bad to the bad. Instead, our heavenly Father “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt 5:45). He demands of us real courage: the courage to be more powerful than evil by loving everyone, even our enemies."
I will be completely honest here. I have been extremely blessed with some amazing friends, and often times I take advantage of that. And we have grown up in the faith, and we have kind of distinguished ourselves from those who do not outwardly practice or talk about faith. So, honestly, we, especially me, will find ourselves on both sides of this spectrum. Sometimes people will mock us for being faithful to the Lord, and for the most part, we have each other for support. But on the other hand, we will find ourselves judging those who are not of the faith. Who are not outwardly practicing, and we will purposely avoid them at all costs. By doing so, we remain still, doing our own thing and going our own way. Our way is not the Lord's way, though.
If there is one thing I have learned at a public college (after 3 weeks), it is that college is not a Catholic School. The majority of people here are not practicing believers. A good amount are, Praise The Lamb! But if we keep the faith among our own selves and don't spread it, what is the point of calling ourselves Christians? We are not living out the call to make disciples. I can sing "Here I Am, Lord" all I want, but if I don't live up to line "I will go, Lord, if you lead me," I am not following the Lord's will, and I am not going anywhere with my life. And neither is the person I am being called to go to. If that is not selfishness, I do not know what is.
And I know this is going to be different. "Love your enemies." Jeez, that is hard. Imagine someone that you really just dislike. Imagine that one person in high school, or in that group message, or that person who argues the faith with you. Now picture them running to Christ and embracing Him, asking for mercy, and then POOF, God forgives him. For me, that is a hard image to imagine. It is a difficult way to think about your enemies. But it is how we should think of them. Instead of looking at and pointing out their flaws, we should find their strengths and love them for the good they do and the love they are. Is that not what Jesus does with you and me? He looks past our faults, so we also should look past our enemies' faults.
Jesus tells Zacchaeus that He must stay at his house, just as Jesus wants to stay in our hearts, and in our homes, too.
After the homily, Potato Francis continued the mass, and the sun got even hotter. Nick's scalp was burning. But it was okay, because Christ in the Eucharist was about to enter Nick's body. After the mad rush to communion was over, the closing rights were given, and Pope Francis then announced the location for the next World Youth Day: Panama 2019. First thought in my head: heat. Fire of the Lord. I am not so sure if I will be attending this one, but if the Lord wants me to, I shall go. The mass ended, Potato left in peace, and we were stuck with 3 million people wanting to leave the same place at the same time. World Youth Day was officially over.
Then, the first aid people came around and forced us to drink bottles upon bottles of gas water. It was dreadful. But we eventually walked out of Campus Misericordiae and unto the rod, where we were immediately halted by about 500,000 people who were not moving in front of us. We waited in the hot sun for about 45 minutes, asking God to cool us off with some wind or something. Let's just say God answered our prayer with the "or something" part. A large, dark cloud loomed over us, and the floodgates of Heaven were opened as God showered the water part of mercy upon us. It was chilling rain, and I, being the stubborn person I am, waited until I was soaking wet to take out my poncho. We were freezing. But we started moving again!
So our journey began. Our 12 kilometer journey back to the hostel in the pouring down rain. We split up into different groups, unintentionally, because everyone traveled at different speeds. There was no use waiting for a tram, because everyone else in Poland wanted to get on. So we walked the whole way back. We actually came across a point where all the trams were stopped and they were forcing people off. Glad we weren't on there! Anyway, we made our way back, and I am proud to say that my group was the first to arrive back at the hostel, meaning we got to take the first showers. Now I know that this journey cannot be described, because it took 4 1/2 hours to get back. All you need to know is that we had ponchos on, it was raining, and we were walking. That is all there is too it. PTL we had energetic people in our group of 7 to keep us wanting to move forward and not stop. My thighs have been recovering since,
We got back, and waited for the others, who slowly arrived groups at a time. A few of us decided to go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant to spend our remaining Zlotys, since we were going to journey back to America soon, so we put on the fanciest clothes we had, dragged our poor feet to the Krakow Square, and found an Italian Restaurant named "The Spaghetti." So we got to eat our "local spaghetti" (sounds funnier in my head, WYD theme song). Then I did some shopping for souvenirs for my siblings, and made my way back to the hostel to sleep after a long and wet day.
Thus ended day 12.
Nicholas Scalfano
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