After
two
years
of planning, the World Youth Day (WYD)
in Poland finally came to a beautiful ending. Thanks be to our God, thank you,
all of you, for your support and prayers. Our SVD Youth Group also returned
safely to Taiwan. During this fantastic
21-day pilgrimage, each and every young person was full of joy and
deeply touched. Their faith
also was clearly enriched.
In this long journey, we reaped a bountiful and
precious harvest. Here I would like to share some of our experiences.
What
I have seen from
Poland
Poland is really a beautiful country, full of wonderful
landscapes. There are more than one hundred landscape parks throughout Poland,
covering approximately eight percent of the surface of the country. These
landscape parks are protected because of their natural, historical,
cultural and scenic value. Poland is known for its medieval architecture and
Jewish heritage. In the city of Kraków, we visited 14th-century Wawel Castle
which rises above the old medieval town, home to Cloth Hall, a Renaissance
trading post in Rynek Glówny (market square). Nearby is the Auschwitz-Birkenau
concentration camp memorial, and the vast Wieliczka Salt Mine, with underground
halls and tunnels.
Actually, Poland had a painful history,
especially
in time of war, persecution, the country’ s occupation during the time of
Hitler and the long years of communist subjugation. Following
the introduction of Father Wlad, SVD, we know that Polish people have suffered a lot. However, they have a very
optimistic character and
a strong
faith. In every period of history, Polish people all put their trust in Mother
Mary, whom they call
the Queen of Poland. They also have hosts of saints and blessed: St.
Stanislaus, St. Kinga, St. Maximilian
Kolbe, and St. sister
Faustina Alaska and St. John Paul II, who are called Apostles of Divine Mercy.
What
I want to say
about Young people
During WYD in Poland, I have seen about two million young
people from all over the world gather together. They come here with joy and
happiness. They show their friendly and active nature
every day. They are willing to learn from others and share their life
experience with whoever they meet. I am very suprised by my students, for
normally in Taiwan they are very quiet and never speak English, but in Poland
they speak fluently with foreigners in English. For this point, Wendy Sun, a
young people said: “during
the WYD
we met a lot of friends from
many different countries, although this is the
first time we met, and
may be we never meet again, but when we say hello, they give me a big hug, and talk
with me
like old friends.
I speak with
my poor English, but they always listened
patiently to me. It is
imporant is I feel being respected and encourged”.
The message our
Pope Francis gave to the
young people.
Each and every young people wanted to see the Pope during
WYD, and we are so lucky to see the holy father four times, and from a close
distance too. We even could take many wonderful pictures. We all
felt that the Papa Francisco is a nice person, he always smiles and looks at
the people with merciful eyes.
At the first meeting with the youth in Krakow, the Pope
told us in very soft voice: “Let me tell
you one thing I have learned over these years. It pains me to meet young
people who seem to have opted for “early retirement”. I worry when I see
young people who have “thrown in the towel” before the game has even begun, who
are defeated even before they begin to play, who walk around glumly as if life
has no meaning.”
The Pope never blames us but earnestly calls us to get up from
our comfortable
sofa to go out to serve the society with mercy. He said: “Mercy always has
a youthful face! Because a merciful heart is motivated to move beyond its
comfort zone, a merciful heart can go out and meet others; it is ready to
embrace everyone.” Papa
emphasises that the
world today need us. He wants us do some things to change the
world, and invite others to make the
world better. In the message to the youth he wrote: “You
are thinking : I can do this, I will do that… Do not be afraid! God is a Father
and He is always waiting for us. Come to Him and say from the depths of your
hearts: Jesus, I trust in you”.
Visit
to the SVD Mother House - Netherlands Steyl
After
attending WYD in Poland,
we returned to Steyl, Netherlands where Father founder, Saint Arnold Janssen
founded The Society of the Divine Word, The Missionary Sisters Servants of
the Holy Spirit and The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters. On this the last
stop of the trip, we want to follow the footsteps of saint Arnold, and with the
hope to help young people gain a better understanding of the SVD missionary
spirit.
To be honest, I really cried when we were able to come to Steyl, especially
when we could gather
around the tomb of father Founder. This is an honor, it likes a kind of going home to
see the Father.
We stayed one night in a
beautiful place which was formerly a small pub. Here we
met many priests and brothers. Here we learnt many thing about SVD mission
history. And here we prayed and celebrated Mass
with the intercession of Saint Arnold. In addition, we also visited the
two societies that founded by Saint Arnold: SSpS
and SSpSAP.
On this
21-day pilgrimage, each day also has a
different surprise, its own moving story. These will become very
important nutrients for
the young people.
Thanks to the SVD community. Thank you for your encouragement and
generousity. We
expect in the
future we will continue leading more young people on the way
of evangilization. Witness to the Word.
Fr. Anthony Trọng Quang PHAM, SVD
(Write for SVD China Provincial News Letter)
