G'day Papa!

After watching the Holy Father make his first official appearance at World Youth Day, I must say that having sang "Happy Birthday" to him while he was in the U.S. for his 81st birthday, our Papa is looking quite young. He seemed to be genuinely excited to be so near his children; he was all smiles and even had a noticeable spring in his step.



Upon arriving via boat (the Sydney 2000) at Darling Harbour, Pope Benedict XVI, made his way to the Barangaroo where--hopefully--Angela, Edmund, and Raj were able to give him a proper welcoming. Remember, if you missed the Papal Welcoming, you can go here to watch it at your convenience.



The Holy Father gave a smashing homily. In fact, I began to take notes, but every other sentence was really good...so I gave up...and have just decided to let you read it here in its entirety. What struck me was the imagery that the Holy Father used. I have rarely seen Pope Benedict use such poetic and sensual language. It's almost as if he is using the earth itself as a parable.

"For some of us, it might seem like we have come to the end of the world! For people of your age, however, any flight is an exciting prospect. But for me, this one was somewhat daunting! Yet the views afforded of our planet from the air were truly wondrous. The sparkle of the Mediterranean, the grandeur of the north African desert, the lushness of Asia’s forestation, the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, the horizon upon which the sun rose and set, and the majestic splendour of Australia’s natural beauty which I have been able to enjoy these last couple of days; these all evoke a profound sense of awe. It is as though one catches glimpses of the Genesis creation story - light and darkness, the sun and the moon, the waters, the earth, and living creatures; all of which are 'good' in God’s eyes (cf. Gen 1:1 - 2:4). Immersed in such beauty, who could not echo the words of the Psalmist in praise of the Creator: 'how majestic is your name in all the earth?' (Ps 8:1). And there is more – something hardly perceivable from the sky – men and women, made in nothing less than God’s own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26). At the heart of the marvel of creation are you and I, the human family 'crowned with glory and honour' (Ps 8:5). How astounding! With the Psalmist we whisper: 'what is man that you are mindful of him?' (Ps 8:4). And drawn into silence, into a spirit of thanksgiving, into the power of holiness, we ponder."

Additionally, I noticed how paternal our Holy Father is. One got a sense that he truly looked out on that sea of youth and saw his children. While the young pilgrims were all gathered in Barangaroo, I imagine that our Papa--knowing all the dangers that would lead such lambs away from God--wanted to protect us...as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings (cf. Mt 23:37). Like any parent, he can't be there to always keep us safe, so, instead, he uses his words to warn, urge, teach, and implore us. And hope we listen.

"Dear friends, life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed and given a purpose (cf. Gen 1:28)! Life is not just a succession of events or experiences, helpful though many of them are. It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth. Christ offers more! Indeed he offers everything! Only he who is the Truth can be the Way and hence also the Life. Thus the 'way' which the Apostles brought to the ends of the earth is life in Christ. This is the life of the Church."

Check out Fr. Z's blog for more pics.

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Mission Possible

Here's the talk of Archbishop Chaput that Angela, Edmund, Raj, and 997 of our Catholic siblings heard at the Theology on Taps on Wednesday night.

The Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Denver is in classic form with this very inspirational and engaging address. And I'm sure it sounded all the more better after a pint or two. :)


"God expects big things from each of you...It's your mission, as lay men and lay women, to ensure that Christ's teaching is preached and explained and defended at every level of our society...This takes real courage."

"Love the Church; love her as your mother and teacher. Help to build her up, to purify her life and work...The Church is the Bride of Christ...Where the Church is, Jesus Christ is. Until the end of the age. And we always want to be where Christ is, because there is no way home to God except through him. So love the Church. And this is crucial: Know what the Church teaches..Know what the Church teaches so you can live those teachings and share those teachings with others.

The leaders of today's secularized societies like to fancy themselves as true humanists and humanitarians. But these same societies justify killing millions of babies in the womb and dismembering embryos in the laboratory. We dispatch the handicapped and the elderly and call it 'death with dignity.' Our very language has become distorted. The family is no longer the covenant communion of man and woman that leads to new life and hence the future of society. In fact, there are so few babies being born now in developed, Western-style countries that we have to wonder whether our civilization has lost its will to survive."

If theology is on tap and Archbishop Chaput's pouring...then I'll take a boot!

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'ello again! For a little bit...

It's Edmund. Soooo much to write about from our yesterday.



-Pontifical Vespers with Cardinal George Pell

-Theology on Tap with Archbishop Charles Chaput

-a great Mass with Jesse Manibusan and Archbishop Mark Coleridge (he's hella funny; he also headed a great, comprehensive Catechesis).



We got pictures, and Raj has my memory card, so I'm sure you'll see a lot of great stuff. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog about these things in detail later, but the computer hours here at St. Ursula's are almost over.



oh

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the toilets DO fluch the other way!

ok, i just realized that my previous posts probably weren't very coherent. i blame the lack of sleep and the cold weather... or my ADD is just kicking in every time i try to write. but either way, i did have a point that i was trying to make in those posts that would have related to the title had i got to my point... but hopefully noone else is reading except sean :) j/k (oh and i'm a horrible speller, i rely on the auto correction)

ANYWHO...

i had quite some time to think last night on our long train ride back to St. Ursula's from the irish pub where we attended Theology on tap and heard Arch Bishop Chaput.
Well, i decided that from now on i'm not going to talk to much about the events, because i can just show you pictures of that, but i'd rather share my experience. it's one of those things that you can't always describe but i figure maybe then i'll stay focused on what i'm really trying to convey. it might not be step by step.

AHHH! and our internet access is so limited!

anyways, what i was trying to get at earlier is that its all too easy to make something, anything a habit (for me anyway). i always thought myself to be a fast learner and maybe getting the hang of things so quickly can be a disadvantage at times. like when you hear a song that plays enough times, you strat to memorize the lyrics involuntarily, even if you hate the annoying song!
or maybe it's not habit that i'm talking about, maybe it's comfortability.
gtg tbc

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Briefly...

Yesterday was awshum!

We started out with Catechesis at Our Lady of Fatima the Church right next to us.

We were worried it was going to be a little rinky dink, because it was such a small venue, but it was really good. We met the Archbishop of Canberra-Goldburn, and he was a really great man of God. He gave a great teaching and a great homily and overall he was really inspiring. More on that later.

Also, our worship leader was the "Sizzlin' Texas Guamanian" himself, Jesse Manibusan.

It was cool he invited Eddie to play with him, and Me and Angela sang with him. He also showed us some cool new handshake tricks... more on that later. We also met his wife and his daughter and they are just an awesome family. His wife grew up in Oakland, and we reminisced a little bit about "Marine World Africa USA"







Oh no... i'm running out of time.

Had lunch of sausages in slice bread. We each had about 6 of those.

Went to the Sydney Opera House saw a concert of this guy who was staying with us at St. Ursula's. Really inspiring music and testimony. I have his card, we might book him for some events. His name is David Macdonald. Look him up. Angela got on stage.

Then we headed to another city (got a little lost), for Solemn Pontifical Vespers and Benediction with Cardinal Pell. Simply Beautiful.

Then we headed to PJ Gallaghers, a pub, for Theology on Taps with Archbishop Chaput of Denver. That guy is rock solid Catholic! The theme of the night was "Mission Possible" and it was about not living a double life, and how living as a Half-Way Catholic is self-destructive. Amazing talk. Great Stories. I couldn't write fast enough, but we got a lot of really good stuff, and I will try and put together a summary of it all when we get the chance. The crowd was great. Most people had great questions

Pray for Eddie he is feeling a little under the weather.

Sorry so rushed. Well, off to Catechesis and to see the Holy Father.

AMDG

-raj

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Tune In

To see more of our Papa (and perhaps more of this lucky koala) tune in to live WYD programming. For us pseudo pilgrims, you can try to catch all the exciting Catholic action by staying up late on the following days.

Note: all the times are in local Vallejo time.

<---- Also, check out the WYD Media Player now permanently located to the left of this blog.

PAPAL WELCOME: Wednesday, July 16, the Holy Father will arrive via boatacade @ 9:45pm; then, we will address the youth at Barangaroo @ 10:30pm.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Thursday, July 17 @ 10pm-1am.

You can follow along these adapted Stations by going here where you can also download a prayer guide so you can follow along.

NOTE: THERE IS NO LIVE PROGRAMMING ON FRIDAY, JULY 18

VIGIL: Saturday, July 19 @ 1-4am

CLOSING MASS: Saturday, July 19 @ 5-7:30pm

You can also go here to download a copy of the liturgy guide.


In order to view a live broadcast of these WYD events, go to the following sites that the above times.

EWTN (note that it may say that the "Now Showing" or "Coming up next" may say that it's showing something else, if you open a player at the above times, then it should give you a live WYD broadcast...although, I think EWTN goes a little overboard with the commentary)

SBS (local Sydney secular TV; check out the "Watch and Listen Live" and "World News Australia")

SALT + LIGHT TV (Canadian Catholic TV)

Now, if you don't want to stay up, or you're serving/participating in the Invitation Retreat, then you can go to here the following morning to view the event in sections.

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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!

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