‘This is the Youth of the Pope’

    “Esta es la juventud del papa!”
Imagine for a moment standing in an airfield in Madrid, surrounded by over a million other young Catholics from across the world, as they chant in Spanish this phrase, which means, “This is the youth of the pope!”
    Looking back, all I can think about is how blessed I was to have been present for that powerful experience during my pilgrimage to Madrid for the 2011 World Youth Day.
    If I had to sum up my journey in one word, it would be “adventure,” and it was truly that from beginning to end. To start, our group encountered challenges before we even left the country, as our flight out of New Orleans was canceled due to a mechanical problem with the plane. This was not how we expected to begin our pilgrimage, but we  made the best of the frustration, bonding over pizza later that evening and returning to the airport the next morning to try again. Finally, we were successful and arrived in Madrid just in time for the opening Mass of World Youth Day.
    The travel delays, however, were not the only challenges we faced. I personally felt tested at many points. The theme for this World Youth Day centered on being firm in faith, which I had to take to heart during the times of adversity, having faith that everything would work out for the best.
    One of the most trying moments of the trip, about which I had to work hard to see the good, occurred during the overnight campout for the prayer vigil on Saturday night and Mass Sunday morning with Pope Benedict XVI. After being in the unbearable heat all day, waiting anxiously for the pope’s arrival, the prayer vigil finally began, only to be accompanied by a torrential rainstorm. I was sitting with my fiancé, huddled under a makeshift fort of two umbrellas and clear, plastic ground cover. The rain poured down and the wind blew hard against us. At that point, all we could do was look at each other and laugh.
    Despite how absolutely unpleasant that experience was, I now see that moment as a gift, because for the first time that day we stopped thinking about the dirt, the ants and the heat and had a good laugh.
    That story illustrates one of the most important lessons I learned during the trip –  that I can endure anything as long as I stay firm in my faith. Witnessing so many other Catholic youth like myself staying strong in faithfulness, in both good times and bad, was truly inspirational. I am so glad that I could be immersed so deeply in the universality of the church through World Youth Day, and I have returned home with a renewed zeal for the Lord.
    Laura Giroir is a graduate student studying school counseling at Our Lady of Holy Cross College. She is a graduate of Mount Carmel Academy and Louisiana State University and attended World Youth Day in Spain as a pilgrim along with 20 others from the archdiocese.