By this time next year, WYD 2013 in Rio de Janeiro will have been over. Despite the shorter time the organizers have to prepare compared to previous international WYDs which were four years apart, they seem to be well abreast of what they have to do, holding a sort of general dress rehearsal this weekend...
General dress rehearsal
for WYD in Rio de Janeiro
Translated from the 7/29/11 issue of
A preview of WYD 2013: That was the objective of 'Prepare the
way', a three-day initiative held last weekend in Rio de Janeiro, at the big Maracana sports stadium.
One year exactly from the start of the 38th World Youth Day, which takes place July 23-28, 2013, the Church in Brazil started a kind of dress rehearsal with the three-day event, which began on July 27 with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Giovanni D'Aniello, Apostolic Nuncio to Brazil, and ended Sunday, July 27, with events of prayer and celebration, musical programs by Brazil's most popular music stars, as well as lectures.
All that was preceded on July 22 by marches that took place simultaneously in all 120 dioceses of the nation to symbolically start the countdown to WYD Rio site and the Brazilian Catholic web-TV Redentore.
Organizers expect that millions more will be coming to Rio for WYD 2013 - more than the visitors expected for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.
"Let us prepare the way together," said Mons. D'Aniello, "pastors of the Church and the People of God,. We all share the expectation as well of welcoming the Pope to Rio de Janeiro". He said that it would be his own first time to attend a WYD.
Referring to words said by Benedict XVI at the recent World Meeting of Families in Milan, the Nuncio observed: "The Pope said that families constitute the gentle, smiling face of the Church. The young people are, too".who formally opened the drive to raise funds for the event, with the slogan "Share your faith".
The Brazilian bishops have also published a WYD resource aid entitled "On the way to WYD Rio" prepared by their pastoral commission for youth ministry. It is addressed to the new generations, urging them to live according to the Gospel. The booklet is also an aid that teaches young people how to evangelize their contemporaries. It discusses topics like a personal encounter with Christ, the culture and faith of Brazil, attention to the poor and needy, and the practice of the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
The resource was also prepared with a view to the Mission Week which will precede the official WYD program, and which will replace the usual Days in the Diocese, during which visiting pilgrims have an opportunity to live and work in a diocese of the host country. This time, they will be carrying out specific missions to help the needy.
Recently, the organizing committee also published the official prayer for WYD 2013, invoking God the Father to make young people "missionary disciples of the new evangelization - the evangelizers whom the Church needs in the third millennium, great builders of the culture of life and peace, and protagonists of a new world".
Earlier, the patrons and intercessors for WYD Rio had been announced. The patrons are Our Lady of Aparecida, St. Sebastian (patron saint of the Archdiocese of Rio), St. 'Antonio di Santana Galvão (the Capuchin canonized by Benedict XVI in Sao Paolo in May 2007), St. Therese of the Child Jesus (Lisieux), and Blessed John Paul II, father of WYD.
The intercessors are the South American saints Rosa of Lima and Teresa of the Andes; St. George; Saint Andre Kim and his fellow Korean martyrs; and a number of Blesseds who died young: Laura Vicuna, José de Anchieta, Albertina Berkenbrock, Chiara Luce Badano, Suor Dulce, Adílio Daronch, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Isidoro Bakanja and Frederic Ozanam.
The official hymn will be made public on Sept. 14, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. It is inspired by the theme chosen by Benedict XVI for WYD 2013 - "Go and teach all nations" (Mt 28,19).
The preparations and activities of WYD are under the overall supervision of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Preparing to attend WYD must
be both spiritual and physical
by Elizabeth Morales
Planning for WYD takes about one and half years, and with WYD Rio nearly one year away, here is some practical advice from Steve Kerekes, who has been leading pilgrim groups to WYD since Denver in 2000. He encourages pilgrims to begin focusing on the spiritual and physical aspects of preparation.
First, WYD isn’t a festival, social event or party. It is a pilgrimage. There usually is a spiritual cross to be carried or sacrifice to be offered up in union with Christ’s love and suffering for us.
“God gives extra graces to those who make a pilgrimage,” said Kerekes. Pilgrims’ hearts need to be open to the grace God is giving. The greatest opportunity on pilgrimage is that God can transform hearts. It is a time to cry out and beg Him to know your mission in life.
According to Kerekes, “God usually reveals their mission to persons who go on pilgrimage. Many people have been transformed because of World Youth Day.”
On the physical aspect, WYD isn’t a walk in the park, he points out. It consists of walking and hiking, morning and night. Pilgrims may be outside 15 or more hours a day. ”If you can sleep, it’s usually on the ground,” said Kerekes.
Reinforcing the need for physical preparation, the closing weekend in Rio will include a longer-than-usual walking pilgrimage. Pilgrims walk to the Closing Ceremony site and sleep on the grass. ”It is physically demanding. Chaperons underestimate it,” said Kerekes. “The last two days are difficult. It’s a two day-hiking camp trip. Be fully prepared for that.”
In Rio, the closing weekend events will be held 40 miles from Rio at the Santa Cruz Military Airport. Kerekes said, “Pilgrims have journeyed much shorter distances in the past, with options of buses or trains, to the final weekend location where the Pope celebrates Mass and gives a speech to the pilgrims.”
Kerekes is not sure how the organizers plan to facilitate transportation to and from Santa Cruz. “You can’t make people walk 40 miles.”
The weekend events are open to everyone, and attendance is expected to be as many as 4-8 million.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/08/2012 00:48]