Words could not describe the feeling!

The World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland was definitely an amazing and fantastic experience where I got to meet a lot of new brothers and sisters in Christ who come from all over the world and experience lots of joy and peace from God. Apart from that, I would like to share some experiences that I had throughout the trip which struck me and touched my heart deeply.

During the encounter in Győr, Hungary, we decided to choose ‘Welcome’ as the theme for our group (United Kingdom). Moreover, I remembered clearly that we prayed the rosary in 10 languages while we were on the way to Wadowice from Częstochowa. Throughout these activities, I strongly felt the unity among us regardless of the difference of the nationalities.

Opening mass was absolutely an eye-opener for me because that was the first time I saw millions of people who share the same faith gathering together to celebrate mass. Words could not describe the feeling as people kept saying that the Catholic Church is irrelevant to young people anymore and by seeing this amount of people willing to walk miles to celebrate mass together basically proves that statement wrong.

Easter Vigil was the another eye-opener again because everyone had to walk at least 15 kilometres to a special designed site called Campus Misericordiae (Field of Mercy) for the World Youth Day Papal Vigil and Closing Mass. It was reported that roughly two million people attended the events and I was deeply inspired by the testimonials given by the young people and the words from Pope Francis.

I felt thankful for all the experiences I had and I hope that I am able to join the World Youth Day 2019 in Panama.

Eddie Polycarp, Malaysian currently live in the UK