He Showed Us Our Friend

The Way of the Cross in the city center, the vigil at Cuatro Vientos Airport, the Mass… Two million young people met the Pope in Madrid: "A father who embraced our need." We asked some of those present to tell us, despite the tiring journey and the many questions still open, what certainties they brought home with them.

"Queridos amigos" ("dear friends"). Those two words would have been enough for us to come home changed. Two million young people who went to Madrid from 170 countries heard Benedict XVI call them friends. Stefano, who came from Milan after writing the first chapters of his doctoral thesis in physics, was there among them. With 1, 200 high school and university graduates of Communion and Liberation, he traveled for 50 hours by coach in one week, sleeping five nights on the ground, so as to take part in this 26th World Youth Day. But it was worth the effort: "I felt even more clearly that Christ is present," he said, "and I saw before me a man who told us that our desire is good. Thanks to his gaze, I can no longer be afraid of what I am."

"I PRAY FOR YOU." Here was a father who, as soon as he reached the Plaza de Cibeles, told the thousands of youngsters there to welcome him, "I always keep you very much in my heart and pray for you." He invited them to follow Christ, "the one friend who does not deceive, the one with whom we wish to share the path of life." This is a task that, by means of the young people the Pope spoke to, reaches everyone. "If you build on solid rock, not only will your life be solid and stable, but it will also help project the light of Christ upon those of your own age and upon the whole of humanity, presenting a valid alternative to all those who have fallen short, because the essentials in their lives were inconsistent." Then there was the greeting to the Royal Family, the Way of the Cross, the confessions of several young people, Mass with the seminarians, and the meeting with young nuns. Of course, there had to be a meeting with the world of the university. He reminded the young professors, "Young people need authentic teachers–persons open to the fullness of truth in the various branches of knowledge... Youth is a privileged time for seeking and encountering truth. As Plato said, 'Seek truth while you are young, for if you do not, it will later escape your grasp.'" But, above all, he invited everyone to "know Christ better and to have the certainty that, rooted in Him, your enthusiasm and gladness, your desires to go forward, to reach what is higher, God Himself, have always a certain future."
What a challenge to hear someone speaking of a "certain future," especially for those bewildered by all the important choices to be made: university, job, vocation... "Maybe you have thousands of signs, but you don't know where to go," says Chiara, who will leave for Brazil soon. "So I came with a desire: help me to follow You where You want." This is the question in everyone's heart: "What is my task in life?" Lorenzo, who intends to study law at Milan's Catholic University, says, "I feel more and more the need to answer this question."
This is the root of the question that Fr. Javier Prades put to the Italian pilgrims in Madrid, at one of the sessions in preparation for the Pope's arrival (other events were a visit to the Sagrada Familia Basilica; a lesson by Fr. Julián de la Morena, responsible for the Movement in South America, and a vigil on beauty, prepared by our Spanish friends). "Who am I? What do I want?" Because there's no point in closing our eyes; we have to find a direction in this "Babel full of opportunities," as Fr. Julián Carrón wrote in a message for the occasion. "But God has made us so well that He is not afraid of risking everything," says Luca, from Modena, who will go to Milan to study Economics. "This is why I feel safe, even though I have to move to another city and begin a new life." There was no lack of problems, but from the Pope's first words it was clear what we had to aim at. "Take the aim of holiness seriously." This, and the help offered by Fr. Luis Miguel Hernández, the missionary of the St. Charles Fraternity who led the pilgrims of the Movement, made it possible for Ilaria to "experience a fullness." Even with the discomfort of sleeping in a school corridor, the terrible humidity, and the freezing showers, "Christ really changes life. You just had to see how our Spanish friends were organized–every time we had to move around, they were all along the road to show us the way, spending hours under the sun." This was true even in the cafeterias: "I never saw any of them complain," Alberto, from Crema, told us. "They were always attentive to filling our water glasses, and they stayed on late to clean up. I thought, what makes them do this, if not Someone greater?" Antonio, who is completing his degree in law in Catania, saw the same attention in people he didn't know, "like in that Frenchman who, at the open-air vigil, carried girls on his back so that they could reach the bathroom without getting covered in mud, without being asked." Sergei, from St. Petersburg, discovered charity in the city streets: "As we were passing by, people would spray us with water from the balconies to cool us down. Once, there was even a child with his toy watering can..." Perhaps they are small gestures, but it saved the pilgrimage for some, like Franco, who arrived with a dozen friends from Argentina, where he had met the Movement six months ago. "The first day in Madrid, my suitcase was stolen, so all the kids on the bus lent me something–a tee shirt or a pair of socks... In this way we got to know each other. Where does this way of treating each other come from, if not from Christ?"
The real center of the WYD was the vigil on the penultimate day, at Cuatro Vientos Airport. Here, five young people asked the Pope to help them to understand: "How does Christ answer human expectations?" (Paul, from England); "What does it mean to witness to Him?" (Krizia, from the Philippines); "How do you live marriage?" (Robert, from Spain); "What preparation is needed for Baptism?" (Kathrin, from Germany); "How can someone who suffers feel God near?" (Roseline, from Kenya). Then, as the clouds gathered, the Gospel of John was read: "I am the life... abide in Me... abide in my love..." Then Benedict XVI was about to give the most important homily of his journey, about vocation, marriage, and consecrated life. But he didn't give it. The wind and a rainstorm prevented him. His skullcap flew away, who knows where, and he remained in silence for ten minutes, in front of two million young people, until he said, "Dear Friends: I thank you for your joy and your resistance. Your strength is greater than the rain." Then he knelt down to adore the Blessed Sacrament. "What a spectacle," Stefano tells us, "a people that nothing could sweep away, because of the Pope's presence. And, though I had not been well and was there under the downpour, I felt so needful, and I understood that I have to surrender to Him." A quarter of an hour later, Benedict XVI took up the microphone again: "As on this night, with Christ you can face all life's trials. Don't forget it." For this reason, Giusy, who graduated with a degree in Biology from Bari University, printed out the Pope's speeches. "I keep them in my bag. As soon as I get home, I'll hang them up. As Fr. Luis Miguel told us, 'This way, you cannot doubt Christ's love.'"

MY HOME. The truth of those words was visible on the following days–for example, for those who managed to go to the Rimini Meeting. "I visited the exhibition on the Apostles," Antonio says. "The guide explained that the disciples were quite different from each other, but united in following Christ; that's what I saw in Madrid." There were others who discovered their own way in life, like Maria, from Milan: "My family has always been in the Movement, and up to now I had followed out of inertia. The greatest fruit of these days is that I have decided to belong to this companionship. This is my home." Even those who set off without a lot of questions, like Francesco, about to study physics in Rome, can now say, "I am coming back with a lot of questions. If before nothing would move me, not even the Sagrada Familia, on seeing the Pope in adoration, I would never have stood up again. I saw that kneeling is the only true way to stay before a friend. How could I want anything but this?"