The Final Chapter

After a lot of travelling in the last two weeks we finally arrived at our final destination - Madrid, the host city of the climax of our pilgrimage - World Youth Day!

The weather is at least 35 degrees every day, and with the extra one and a half million pilgrims, it was pretty  hectic.

On Wednesday evening, we rushed into town after visiting Avila to attend a massive get together with Bishop Javier Echevarrià, the Prelate of Opus Dei. There was a huge crowd and mexican waves in the lead up, before the Prelate spoke. He encouraged all the young people to pray for the Holy Father and to realise that we are the Church. He also told us that we should be apostolic and encourage people to offer up their daily work and studies as a sacrifice to Our Lord.

On Thursday we went to Parque de Retiro, where the Vocations Expo for WYD was held. We then took to the lake in the middle of the park and hired rowboats. A competitive spirit erupted between the two boats, however it was self-inflicted wounds that affected Alex, John, Baron and Pablo as Alex steered the boat directly underneath a fountain, giving everyone and their bags a cool shower.

We picked up our WYD packs, (surprisingly complete with a 'non-alcoholic' drink with 1% alcohol!) 

On Friday, we met the Australian groups for Mass in English and then headed to the centre of town for the Way of the Cross. We had a handy location in front of a big screen near the Prado Museum (that's not a fashion museum by the way, but one of the most famous art museums in the world. It had a great exhibition of paintings of Christ). 

After Dom and Vince's exciting encounters with the Holy Father, we weren’t so hopeful in getting close to the him during the Stations of the Cross. We were with many other pilgrims from all over the world and re-lived the different scenes of Our Lord’s Passion and death. 14 beautiful statues from the dioceses of Spain were used and there was an amazing soundtrack and thoughtful commentaries. We dined in the Plaza de Santa Ana and headed to Colegio Andel to stay with the other 650 pilgrims there, including Bulgarians, Philipinos, Poles, Japanese, Spaniards, Brazilians, Lithuanians, Latvians and of course, those darned Aussies.

On Saturday morning we set out for our walk to Cuatro Vientos, for the Evening Vigil. 

It was hot. 

There were people all over the place. A great sea of humanity in a big, dry airfield. There were firefighters hosing down pilgrims, at least in the rows that could be accessed by roads that weren't totally blocked by stacked and sweaty bodies. 

There were all sorts of colours, all kinds of flags and an uncounted number of languages spoken. All of them merged into one giant mix of energy and excitement in expectation for the arrival of the Holy Father. 

When the Holy Father arrived, it had grown dark and the heat had subsided. 

Then came the rain.

Down it came, in the middle of the vigil. The Holy Father,. undoubtedly wet and wind-swept from the inclement weather and surprisingly scant shelter, retreated for a moment and returned for Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament with the stunning monstrance from the Cathedral of Toledo.

After the day's adventure, pilgrims were happy to sleep soundly and rise to the sound of morning prayer, followed by Mass with the Holy Father and his inspiring words of encouragement to the youth. ''What are you going to tell people back home'' he asked us. He announced Rio de Janeiro as the next location for WYD 2013 and then he and 1.5 million people promptly packed up and left for home.

The Glenrowan WYD group pose with St Paul
outside the Basilica where his remains lie

We left for Barcelona, passing through the national shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza. We kissed the Pillar on which Our Lady appeared to St James in 40AD and we headed on to Barcelona. We said goodbye to John and Pablo and caught a plane to Rome, where were are now wrapping up our trip.

We have just finished a visit to the Basilica of St Paul's outside the Walls and the Catacombs of St Callixtus - an amazing 15-hectare cemetary with four stories of underground tombs, including that of St Cecilia. 

We're tired, we're spent and can't wait to get back to an apparently snowy Auckland. Tomorrow is forecast to be the hottest day of the summer in Rome. 

For one brief and unique moment we're actually not keen to hang around the Eternal City.

See you soon!

Spain, The Pope, and two random Kiwis

The splendid interior of
Gaudí's Sagrada Familia

The big news, if you haven´t heard it already, is that Dom Light and Vincent Phua met Pope Benedict XVI yesterday. Dom, representing the youth of Oceania, was walking behind the Popemobile as the Holy Father entered Plaza Cibeles, and was lucky to meet him beforehand. Vincent was one of five youths on the stage representing the five continents and presented the Holy Father with a gift, before sharing a short conversation with the leader of the Catholic Church. It was an amazing sight to witness and one that made all Kiwis proud of our lads!!

At Nou Camp in Barcelona

Getting back to our travels, we saw the famous basilica of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) in Barcelona, which was the architect Antoni Gaudi’s (now blessed) magnum opus - which was to build a basilica that brought the church oustside to the people. It was consecrated by the Holy Father last November and could be said to be Barcelona's pride and joy. It is still unfinished, and has been under construction since 1884. It is a beautiful church, but holds a different aura to St Peter’s. The church is modern, full of catechesis and doctrinal input, and utilizes natural-themed architecture, for example the pillars are fashioned as trees.

Then we visited Barcelona’s other shrine, the Barcalona football team’s home stadium, Camp Nou.

On Saturday after picking up the our van, we drove three hours to the Marian Shrine of Torreciudad up in the north of Spain, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The shrine itself is modern, completed and inaugurated during a requiem mass for St Josemaria Escriva in 1975, but there has been a shrine to Our Lady of Torreciudad on the site there for almost 1000 years, and hopefully for years to come. Our accommodation whilst staying at the shrine is at a little village of holiday homes, El Tozal. We were very well treated especially by the main family of the village, the Pich’s, who have 16 children!! The biggest family in Spain! Despite their size, they found room for us and gave us almost a whole apartment block to stay in with our first proper beds the whole trip!!

While Vince and Dom were rehearsing for their role
with the Holy Father, the rest of us escaped to
Avila to see the convent of St Teresa of Avila
and the iconic Murallas, or walls.

Sunday followed as an eventful day starting off with a cool swim in the pool of El Poblado, a small conference centre, which gave a much needed break from the Spanish sun. After cooling off we toured the shrine of Our Lady of Torreciudad also exploring the vast collection of statues of Our Lady from around the world (still yet to contain NZ's Our Lady of the Assumption though!). Mass was hosted afterwards, led by Father Joe, our group’s chaplain who was celebrating his 25th anniversary of ordination. The reception held afterwards was also very intriguing with a delicious sea food Spanish paella, with souvenir-edition rosary beads done by Fr Joe's sister and our host, Rosa, an amazingly energetic woman.

We then toured Lourdes for the feast of the Assumption on the 15th. It was great to see so many people with such devotion greeting Our Lady, filling up from the spring and lining up to touch and venerate the spot where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette.

With thte Basilica of St Pius X
and the grotto of Lourdes
in the background

We then arrived in San Sebastian for the first day of their summer party season - some impressive fireworks topped off a great visit to a pictureque city, where we were hosted at Club Txindoki. Alfonso and Oscar, two Spanish friends, showed us around and made us feel at home in the Basque country. We also collected a stray Aussie and former Glenrowan resident John Watson who is part of our group.

With our great hosts Luci and Angel Aguiar

We are now in Madrid, after being hosted in Miraflores de la Sierra by another wonderful family - the Aguiar family. They offered us affectionate Spanish hospitality, super meals and again, comfy beds in their quaint country villa. Since Vince and Dom's experience yesterday, we can't really top that, so we are just hoping for a safe and happy last few days in Madrid.

Matt, Baron and James hang out for the Pope

The streets are full of pilgrims, with flags and chants and a wonderful atmosphere. Many of the chants include well-wishes to the Pope: Esta es el juventud del Papa - This is the youth of the Pope. It's great to see so much affection for who St Catherine of Siena called 'the sweet Christ on earth'.

Vincent practising on stage before the arrival of the Holy Father

Vincent with the other representatives of the five continents

Until next time, adios amigos!!

There's no rain in Spain

Hola!

We're so sorry there are no photos this time, but we are currently in a worn down internet café with 486's in the not so nice side of the city.

We have departed the Eternal City and have arrived in the City of Counts, Barcelona! Our final days of Rome were beautiful and packed with all we could get in before we left on Wednesday morning, Rome time. On the Monday we visited the heart of our catholic faith: the Vatican!

We visited the museum in the morning and toured the Pinacoteca (art museum), before seeing the stunning Sistine Chapel. Next was the tour of the exacavations under St Peters Basilica, the 'Scavi' tour of the unearthed necropolis on which the original St Peters was built almost two milennia ago, and where the bones of St Peter were proved (in the 60s) to be buried. We climbed the dome of St Peters for a breathtaking view of the city, though we took the easy option by taking the lift…(hey, we were running late OK)

Tuesday was our final hectic day before saying ciao to Italia. In the morning we visited the headquarters of Opus Dei - Villa Tevere, which was a welcome change to being surrounded by crowds of other tourists. We were shown around by James from Kenya and then had Mass in the Prelatic Church and prayed before the tomb of St Josemaria Escrivá. Then we hit Villa Borghese, an idyllic city park, here we rented a quadcycle (for 6 people) and took in the scenery, until Alex took the wheel…!

After getting back to our feet (quite literally) we made our way past the iconic Spanish Steps in Piazza Spagna towards the Trevi Fountain. Fortunately all our coins landed in the pool. James went for a long shot while Vince, Dom, Matt and Baron played it safe and now we are all looking forward to our trip back to Rome : ) (We just remembered our itinerary takes us back there for a day before going home, so the coins work really well!)

Our final ancient site was the famous circular Pantheon. Here we were amazed by the tombs of Victor Emmanuel, Raphael, and Umberto I, not to mention the outstanding architecture and beauty of this awe-inspiring church. After passing through the Pantheon, we visited Sancta Maria Sopra Minerva which holds the body of Saint Catherine of Sienna, and has an amazing blue and gold ceiling, and the statue of The Redeemer by Michaelangelo. With an early dinner at the pizzeria, we wrapped up our Roman Holiday with a visit from guest speaker Greg Burke, a Fox News European Correspondent, who shared some interesting stories about Blessed John Paul II and some war tales, with the Foxy “Fair & Balanced” unbiased approach, of course.

And then off to Barcelona! Arrivederci Italy and Hola Spain!

With a small stop-off in Prague due to our super-budget flights, we survived the bumpy flight and arrived in the balmy Mediterranean paradise! This is our first stop on our pilgrimage around Spain. After arriving in Club Foiró, the centre of Opus Dei that is our home here in Barcelona, we visited the family of Glenrowan resident Luis Trullols. They were very welcoming and we had a soothing swim! Once again we sampled the local cuisine, with ensalada (salad), arroz (rice), and many types of meat!

Our first full day here was calm in relation to the busy Roman days. We traversed Las Ramblas, the popular tourist strip in the city and took in the sights and sounds, and kept our wallets close… We prayed the rosary and attended mass in Spanish at the Barcelona Cathedral, a beautiful Gothic building. Mass in Spanish was an interesting experience and made us realise that the same mass is celebrated throughout the world in every
language!

Alex ran into a friend from Australia in the church, as you do, and that pretty much brings us up to date. We are now heading for dinner and will be visiting the rest of Barcelona has to offer and driving away on Saturday. Praying for you all, pray for us too!

When in Rome...

Buongiorno!

Dom and Matt giving their best Italian pose

We have arrived in Roma after 22 hours in flight, and 7 in transit. Baron survived his long solo flight, meeting us all in Dubai. Security was tight, but not as much as Dom expected.... he decided to make a scene by lying down in the middle of immigration after a garbled inquiry from a South African security guard!It all ended without further drama. Dom assures it was all the guard's fault... 

After an otherwise uneventful flight, we arrived in the Eternal City at four in the afternoon and without rest - we went straight 'videre Petrum' to see Peter (the Holy Father). Now despite he actually being out of town at Castelgandolfo, it was certainly worthwhile to see the centre of Christianity, St Peter's Piazza and Basilica. It is so much more beautiful than it is in photos and thankfully not crowded due to the lack of local Romans (Summer Holidays).

Vince and Dom praying on the Scala Sancta

We saw the Basilicas of St Mary Major and St John Lateran this morning, and did the Scala Sancta - the Holy Stairs (you go up on your knees on the staircase that tradition says was walked upon by Our Lord during his passion).

In front of the Coliseum

We've just seen the ruins of the Roman Forum and the Coliseum. Everything is so historical and ancient, even the public drinking fountains are ancient springs running under Rome.We've just come out of a beautiful church - St Peter in Chains, where we prayed the rosary and saw the famous statue of Michaelangelo's Moses. There's a copy of it in a park in Auckland.

Outside the chuch of Santa Croce
en Gerusalemme, where the true
relics of Our Lord's cross are kept

It's almost the end of day two, and we've already seen so many churches and ancient Roman mosaics that we are starting to do as the Romans do and take them for granted. There's plenty more to see, as Rome wasn't built in a day...(sorry, that's the last time we're saying that - editor's note)
The heat is barely tolerable at 28 degrees, definitely beats 11 in Auckland...


Spending tomorrow touring the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel, the dome of St Peter's and the Scavi tour - underneath the Basilica to see where St Peter is buried.We'll be praying at the tomb of Blessed John Paul II and will keep all of our readers and followers in our prayers. Please pray for us too as we travel around and visit these amazing sites of early Christianity.
Ciao!!!