World Youth Day Journal: Opening Mass

Tuesday, July 15th: I had a very long, cold, and restless night on a hard floor. I probably woke up to turn on the timed heaters about five times (because I only turned them on halfway each time...oops). Those of us who shared the same classroom floor during the night stuck together throughout the day. We went to K-mart to purchase items we needed. Some bought towels, some bought pillows. I bought a below-freezing sleeping bag, like I had planned to do the day before, but little did we know that all stores close before 6pm. Even K-mart and Target. After our purchases we hopped a bus back to the school and the bus driver graciously agreed to wait for us to quickly drop off our stuff and return so that we didn't have to wait for the next bus to take us to the train station. His name is Mario, he loves to laugh (especially at his own jokes), and I believe he had a photo on the dash of himself standing next to his race car!

We went into Sydney (to St. James train station) and walked to the Entertainment Center, near Tumbalong Park and Darling Harbor, because that's where we were told our group would have our morning catechesis the following three days. I wanted to be prepared. By that time it was mid-afternoon, so we headed past Darling Harbor to get to the area the Opening Mass was to be held. We had a really long walk but it was a great, first experience to file in with the thousands of pilgrims as we flooded into Barangaroo. We were designated to enter the area through gate 1 - at the very tip of the peninsula. We could barely see the roof of the stage where Mass was to be held.

We grabbed lunch, which was impressive - beef pot pie - found our spots, said grace, ate, and waited for Mass. *Aside: I still consider myself new to praying before I eat, so it was a hurdle for me to bring it up in front of the peers I recently met. But a simple, "Shall we pray?" led to an instant, affirming response. I constantly ask myself, in so many areas of my life, "Marcus, why do you hesitate?"

I'm guessing that, because we were outdoors and so far away from the altar, that's why it took a long time for the crowd around us to settle down and focus as Mass got underway. Once the Liturgy of the Word began, all was relatively calm. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, it was interesting to see the different cultures kneeling and getting up at slightly different times of the prayer. Distribution of the Eucharist was not as organized as I thought it would be. Interestingly, my section was actually distributing Him before the pope was done with the prayer and had consumed the Eucharist himself. The areas that were farthest away from the altar seemed to get done before those nearer the altar, so perhaps it was planned that way to accommodate the sheer numbers. I'm not sure.

After Mass we got an impressive supper - a very tasty stew brought in thermal lunch bags for us to keep. That warmed me up a bit (as I had forgotten my sweatshirt and coat in Camden and the winter sun had set a while ago by then). Following supper was a huge concert, ended by fireworks, so I knew that once I started jumping around, I would also stay warm. However, but the others in the group were also getting cold and they were still adjusting to the timezone and were quite tired. The day before was very long for them. So we took the long walk back to Central Station, hopped on the 1.5 hr train ride back to Campbelltown, and caught the 15 minute bus ride back to the school for a much better night's sleep.

World Youth Day Journal: Opening Mass