During a sunny morning in Aussie Land

Wowee. Hello all.



So it has begun! WYD made its official kick-off with a gorgeous Opening Mass, with Cardinal George Pell presiding (side note: I'm confused. The liturgy guide and some of Sean's info list him as "George Cardinal Pell" and some other things say "Cardinal George Pell." Eh?). The walk was lengthy and the crowd was wild. We're a tiny little group, so we managed to sneak in A LOT CLOSER than our assigned section.



The Sunday Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral was really something. But the Opening Mass for WYD was huuuuuge. Flags everywhere, people scrunched up, a myriad languages spoken. I'd never been in the middle of something like that before, especially not for Mass. I'm sure some of you can catch the experience online, but a lot of things were fascinating to me. I thought it was wonderful that the faithful Aboriginal peoples were included in the celebration of the Mass. Different countries were greeted in their respective languages, the Prayers of the Faithful included Tagalog, respresentatives of different countries did different things like the offering of Gifts. The music was powerful and uplifting and helped unify the crowd, especially the WYD theme and the Gregorian Chant and other sections in Latin.



Uh, we gotta go. Finish later!