the echo of 200,000 voices

When I last blogged it was Wednesday of world youth day had just passed, and in lots of ways it wasn’t until after then that the real madness kicked in. and when i say madness, i specifically mean pope mania, which is something completely surreal in itself (to me anyway), and becomes even more potent when you have hundreds of thousands of people shouting the chant “Be-ne-de-tto!” repeatedly.

so Thursday was the arrival of the pope, where everyone was sent to different sections of barangaroo (site used for lots of the main events). it involved standing for hours, and i was bumped, jostled and stepped on by frustrating pilgrims who kept pushing forward despite the lack of room.. it was very hard not to get irritated, but it was worth it even just to witness the hysteria that set in and wild excitement when the popemobile trundled along to the stage.

Friday was the stations of the cross, a series of reflections which follow the the journey from Jesus’ arrest to crucifixion. with 13 stations in all, each was ‘set’ in a different location in sydney, where groups had been divided up. locations included the sydney opera house, darling harbour, and barangaroo where our group was based once again. some amazing acting and musical performances, and it all built up to a pretty moving ending to say the least. Its not every day you witness one man carrying a massive cross along darling harbour!

Its now Sunday evening in my timezone, and world youth day has officially ended. not until after the pilgrimage walk (10k) to Randwick racecourse, where we joined the other 200,000 who also made their way, singing and dancing along, across Sydney bridge, which had been closed for the occasion (only 3rd time in its history i’m told), and onwards. Various “Mrs Motivators” as i like to call them, were rallying us on to tell us how long it would be arriving.

it was a fantastic atmosphere, and the conga drums from various groups kept your spirits up when the masses slowed down. On arriving at Randwick, where i was given two bags of food supplies to everyone elses one (I must have looked hungry!), we found our space had been taken by another group. some of our group had been standing around for an hour waiting to find out where they were to go. after being relocated by volunteers, and the police too, we actually ended up closer to the main stage than we previously had been, on a patch of grass ‘created for us’. and this was our camp until the next morning!

Most of our group of 30 had survival bags with them, which if you havent encountered them before, are glorified bin bags, only in a fetching colour of orange. all very ironic for a protestant group at a catholic youth event! looked very eerie though, once you saw them all lined up with belongings pushed to the bottom, and with someone curled up inside – CSI bodybag kind of scene..

That evening was a vigil, with the Pope present as well (though obviously not intending to sleep in a field for the night), and this was perhaps the most incredible sight and sound of the whole world youth day experience. An absolute sea of candles appeared almost as soon as darkness set in, and for every song that was sung, there was an unforgettable and complete resounding echo of 200,000 voices fading away after each chorus. I tried making a video but somehow don’t think it will live up to the memory of it.

and then the only thing to do was literally dance about like crazy people, and try to stay as warm as possible. Some live bands made it all the more possible to jump around, and the air was ecstatic and very very contagious! I donned the most stylish futuristic type robe which kept me from shivering all night and made me feel holy in a space man kind of way. im sure you will be amused at the lovely photo of it below!

and now to recover, and reflect a little, but first i need some sleep, and hope to bring you some more thoughts in the not too distant future.

with love

Rx