World Youth Day – Lisbon 2023

Recently, I was part of 1.5 million people gathered for World Youth Day in Lisbon, 1-6 August.  I travelled with a group of mostly teachers from our Catholic schools, forming part of the Emerging Leaders Programme.  Our group travelled first to Rome on a four-day formation, where we heard from a speaker each day.  We then spent two days in the peaceful city of Assisi which I dearly loved. One of those speakers was Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ who spoke to us on the topics of the Church, faith and the Synodality.  She uses the image of sailing to describe the Church.  “The Church” she says, “is like a crew journeying together with Christ in the sea of the world.”  She then explains that the difference between the sea and the earth is that the sea moves all the time.  Being with Christ is like sailing, you cannot stay still.

On the topic of faith, Sr Nathalie remarked: “there is no storm without end.  After the storm comes peace.  After death comes life.  This is the core of our faith.”  Turning to the teachers she stressed the importance of rooting young people in the message of hope, that life will always find a way. “Teachers are called to be hope.”  Her powerful message struck me.  We could say all Christians are called to be hope for others.

I was pleased when she asked the question: “what is the meaning of life?” a question I also asked in my early 20s.  Speaking from her experience working in youth ministry in France, Sr Nathalie says that the question of meaning and purpose of life often confronts young people today.  She was confronted with the same question in her day but did not have an answer ready at hand.  After years of lived experience and reflection, “for me the meaning of life is to give back what I have received,” says Sr Nathalie.

Our encounter with Sr Nathalie concluded with her speaking about the Synodal journey which has been going on in the Church for some time.  The peak of this process is the Synod on Synodality with the two meetings, one in October this year and the other one in October 2024.  Sr Nathalie is currently one of the two undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops.  She stresses that the Synodal process is not an idea but it is about an experience of being together.  You can’t learn from an idea but you can learn and grow from an experience.  Before anything else, this process is about the whole Church coming together and listening to one another’s experience.  Her words once again struck me when she said: “If you truly listen, you take the risk of being transformed.  Everything starts with listening and listening leads to us speaking the same language.”

Among the many encounters we had in Rome was meeting with the Pope.  Pope Francis received about 130 Melbourne pilgrims in the audience room in the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City guesthouse where he has been residing since his election in 2013.  Instead of speaking at us, the Pope proposed that we ask him questions.  The questions covered topics such as church, faith, education, vocation, environment, and reconciliation.  Francis struck me with his attentive listening ear, his joy and good humour, and the simple but wise and Christ-like words.  A few things he said remain with me.  He told us not to forget that the Lord is walking with us each day, even in the most difficult times.  Teaching, he said, is more than just passing on ideas and information, it’s a relationship.  At times, teachers need to hold the students tight, but at other times, you need to let them go, give them the freedom to grow and flourish.  On Christian discipleship, he said, you can’t be a Christian without feeling the need to do something for others.  Finally, and this one I won’t forget anytime soon, when asked what advice he would give to seminarians, he said “just be normal”, with a big smile on his face of course.

The meeting with the Pope was truly a good and genuine encounter.  I am touched with his simplicity and warm personality.  The meeting with him reminds me of another thing that Sr Nathalie said: “faith begins, grows in, with, and through encounters.”  I walked away from that meeting with the Pope thinking he really is walking the talk.  He wants to encounter, to listen, and to walk together.  He is putting the call for a synodal Church into practice in all he does and says.  I think we must thank God for the gift of Pope Francis.

For me, the World Youth Day (WYD) was another event where the Church is learning to walk a synodal path.  The gathering of young people from different corners of the world instilled in me joy and hope.  Besides the exciting time and many photo opportunities, WYD was where young people encountered one another in the name of Christ.  I had some memorable encounters with other young people in my small group and beyond, and I am sure others have too.  In the homily at the Missioning Mass, the Pope asked young people what we can take away from these days of being together.  He said perhaps there are three things we could take home with us: to shine, to listen, and to be unafraid. (Homily by his Holiness at Holy Mass for World Youth Day).  He said we do not shine by drawing attention to ourselves, but we shine by learning to love like Jesus does; to listen to his word; and to be unafraid to sail into the sea of the world.  May we find Christ in the calm as well as the rough currents of our lives.

By Deacon Tien Tran