After Mass with the Cardinal on Saturday morning, we returned to our hotel to rest up before beginning what we knew would be the most challenging – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – 24 hours of the pilgrimage. The summit of
Saturday morning started very early. We were celebrating Mass at 8:00am with Cardinal Séan and the rest of the Boston contingent at a church just around the corner from our hotel, and we were asked to be there by 7:30am
On Friday we began the day with prayer, and by sharing with our young pilgrims the letters that their families wrote before the trip. We then headed to a local church for Youth Festival events with the JPII Project
(Apologies again for the late post – things are heating up here, literally and figuratively!) Thursday was probably the most exhilarating and challenging day of the pilgrimage so far. In the morning after breakfast we prepared ourselves for Mass and
Day 5 started a little later – and a lot slower – than previous days! WYD is definitely a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re very conscious of pacing ourselves with the all the physical activity, large crowds, and increasing
(We apologize for the delay in posting Tuesday’s update – it was a long day that didn’t end for the group leaders until very late since we do our planning after the kids are in their rooms for the night!)
After two amazing days in Fatima we packed it up this morning and traveled to Lisbon with a big crowd from the Archdiocese of Boston. The city is starting to fill up! We noticed the crowds growing as the afternoon
This morning we headed back to the Santuario de Fatima for Mass celebrated with Cardinal Sean and concelebrated by priests, bishops, and cardinals from around the world. We had to get there early to stake out our spot, so our pilgrims spent some time writing postcards of gratitude to all our generous sponsors. Carrying our prayers for them to the sacred altar.
The more than 900 pilgrims from throughout the Archdiocese of Boston were so proud to have our Archbishop celebrating Mass this morning. Hearing the Gospel read in 6 languages was incredible!
We arrived in Lisbon at around 5:30am this morning, and by about 8:00am we had met up with our travel coordinators for the Archdiocese of Boston and boarded our bus, heading to Santarém and Fatima.
Our first stop was in Santarém, site of an ongoing Eucharistic miracle which occurred in the 13th century… The Eucharistic Miracle is at times exposed for pilgrims who request it, and we were unbelievably blessed today to each have the powerful experience of a private viewing of the “Sacred Particle” – a tangible reminder of Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist.
Following that amazing experience we were truly filled with the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by our walk through the narrow streets…
And we’re off!
We gathered at St. Paul Church this morning to celebrate a beautiful “Sending Forth” Mass with Fr. Jim, Fr. Gabriel…