Retreat reflections from a pilgrim...

One of teen pilgrims, Bethany Gilchrist has shared her thoughts on our day retreat we had at the end of May here below:

"Over the weekend, the Holy Family World Youth Day group had a chance to both spiritually prepare ourselves for our trip to Brazil, and better acquaint ourselves with the Ukrainian Catholic church from Hamtramck, MI that will be joining us on our adventure! It was a beautiful day that allowed us all to pray together to make our group ready to embrace the WYD theme and “go out and make disciples of all nations”.

To start off our day, we listened as a group to the theme song for WYD 2013, which provided for prayer and reflection to get us kick-started for our day! You can listen to the song by watching this video, it is the English version of the original song done in Portuguese.

 We also read the reading from the Gospel of Matthew that introduced us to the WYD theme to “go out and make disciples of all nations” (MT 28: 16-20). After the reading, we had a chance to do some personal reflection on what the reading is trying to tell us and why we personally think this was picked as the WYD theme. After our personal reflection, we split into small groups to share our thoughts and ideas. Overall, we discussed that it is important to physically go out and spread the word of God to all people, no matter who you are or where you come from. We discussed that the theme was most likely chosen in order to inspire youth to actually spread the joy of the Church across the entire world, and not just keep the joy within.

Following our group discussions, we went on our own sort of Emmaus walk in groups of two in order to both get to know each other better, and also to reflect with another pilgrim on why we are personally making this journey to Brazil. It really got us all thinking about exactly what we hope to experience at WYD and got us all the more excited to get on the plane to Brazil!

To close up our daylong retreat, we spent a good amount of time in the chapel silently praying with Jesus. With so much talking and busy preparation, it was really nice to sit down and enjoy the peace and serenity of the chapel in Holy Family. After our time in the chapel, we came back as a group to listen to the WYD theme song one more time and reflect on what the Lord taught us during the day. When the day came to a close, we all looked around and realized how beautiful our group is and how excited we are to become a family together in Rio. Considering our relatively small group of people help to represent America, Ukraine, and –with the help of Father Daniel– Brazil, we are our own mini international Catholic Church! After this weekend’s retreat, our entire group is definitely ready to pack our bags and learn even more about “going out” and being a disciple in Rio!!"

Reflections from our WYD pilgrimage walk

If you were looking for Christ on April 28th, He was with over 70 pilgrims attending a World Youth Day pilgrim walk.  Our group of pilgrims from Holy Family joined other parishes from around the Archdiocese (all of whom are attending the World Youth Day Home event in Chicago) for an full day of programming at the Cranbrook Science Institute.

The AOD official World Youth Day banner...don't you just love that
quote from Pope Francis? 

We started off the morning with a talk and reflection from Fr. Tim Birney who is the director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit.  He shared his own thoughts and reflections on pilgrimage as he prepares to take 35 men discerning the priesthood on pilgrimage in June to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  Fr. Birney talked about how going on a pilgrimage actually calls to be a more intentional disciple of Jesus Christ.

We then had lunch and began our 2.7 mile walk around some the beautiful trails around the Cranbrook campus...mind you it rained the whole time, but our spirits were held high....everything in WYD is about your perspective and how you choose to look at it; so we all decided to make the best out of it.  We hiked our way to Christ Church Cranbrook.  It this this absolutely beautiful Episcopal cathedral on the campus of Cranbrooke.  We enjoyed the pastor showing us around their spiritual home and were able to participate in a guided reflection and had a time of quiet prayer/journaling.  After some bathroom breaks and taking some more pictures, we hiked back to the science center.

inside Christ Church...so beautiful!
This is the only picture we got before the camera died :(

Upon returning, we split up into small discussion groups based on our parishes and just shared and talked.  Then we had free time to explore the science center for about 40 minutes before we had Mass.
Deacon Kevin, our male chaperone was able to vest for Mass, and it was special to have a leader in our group participate....even if Patty forgot to get of picture of it! It's okay, we still like her ;-)

Mass was beautiful...I mean isn't it always, nothing beat the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus, right??? ;-)  Fr. Tony Rictor, the pastor from Christ the Good Shepherd in Lincoln Park gave a great homily on leaving a spiritual legacy.  What is the spiritual legacy we want to remain of our lives, when we are someday gone?  Fr. Tony definitely let us all with some encouraging thoughts as we ended our day of prayer and reflection together.

Lots of teens and adults from other parishes joined our group for
this day...yay new friends!

The WYD cross...it is marked with the names of parishes from all over the diocese...
The symbolism of this picture is so striking...the cross leaning up against the tree...
"This is the wood of the cross, on which on hung the Savior of the world."

Sure it rained all day, and we were wet and cold at times...but it was a wonderful day nonetheless!
In the coming weeks, we'll meet another group who is traveling to Rio with us and have a day retreat at the parish just for our pilgrims to better prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate with Pope Francis this July.

Lastly, I'll leave you all with these words of Pope Francis from his Palm Sunday homily:


Dear young people! With Christ, the heart never grows old! Yet all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to the Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love. And you are not ashamed of his Cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have understood that it is in giving ourselves, in giving ourselves, in emerging from ourselves that we have true joy and that, with his love, God conquered evil. You carry the pilgrim Cross through all the Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in response to Jesus’ call: “Go, make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this year. You carry it so as to tell everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down the wall of enmity that divides people and nations, and he brought reconciliation and peace. Dear friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you, starting today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of the Cross. I look forward joyfully to next July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see you in that great city in Brazil! Prepare well – prepare spiritually above all – in your communities, so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world. Young people must say to the world: to follow Christ is good; to go with Christ is good; the message of Christ is good; emerging from ourselves, to the ends of the earth and of existence, to take Jesus there, is good! Three points, then: joy, Cross, young people.”

Folks. this. is. real.Let's continue to prepare our hearts and minds.

  

Habemus Papam!

WOW.  We have a new Pope.  WYD in Rio this July just got a little more awesomely insane, especially as we gather with the first Latin American Pope, how exciting!
I don't know about the rest of the pilgrims in our group, but I'm already hoping/praying to get a good picture of Pope Francis in the Popemobile (don't worry I promise I won't jump over the barricades or anything...).

If you haven't read much about Pope Francis you may want to do so; only a day after his election, I'm reading so much on the deep humility and compassion of our new shepherd.  This is a humble man...just listen to all these facts coming in about him.  He chose to live in a small apartment heated by a stove instead of the palace, cooks his own meals, loves to dance the Tango, takes the public bus, and oh yeah washes and kisses the feet of AIDS patients!?!?!? That's like kissing the lepers, right?
And then just observing such deep humility when he first greeted the people: first he prays for B16 and asks the crowds to join in, bowed before the people asking them to pray for him in silence, and then he prayed over all of us.  He has a deep love and heart for the poor.  He has stood up against injustices with the government and has fought for the rights of the Church.  He would simply go out and walk amid the streets of his city back home simply talking to the people, meeting them where they were at and just get to know them.  Can we say 'New Evangelization 101'?

On break tonight during class, I saw an interview with Cardinal Dolan where he told reporters the surprising story of how the newly elected pope decided to take the bus back to the hotel Wednesday with the rest of the cardinals instead of riding in the Holy Father’s car.

“So we take the buses over and the cardinals kind of wait outside to greet the new Holy Father as he comes back to Doma Santa Marta…and as the last bus pulls up, guess who gets off the bus? Pope Francis,” Dolan said. “So I guess he told the driver, ‘That’s OK. I’ll just go with the guys on the bus.’”  WOW.  I'm really looking forward to learning more about him and seeing letters/books/encyclicals he writes in the future. 

May we all continue to pray for Pope Francis as he takes on this momentous task for the Church...

I'll leave you with a few pictures to take a look at I have found over the past 24 hours...it's hard to sleep with Pope mania going on!

God said to St. Francis hundreds of years ago, "Francis, go rebuild my church for it is falling into ruin."
Pope Francis chose his name after St. Francis of Assisi {radical lover of poverty, Jesus Christ, and spreading the Good News}
You lead, we'll follow, Pope Francis!!!

What love...what humility!

Worth a thousand years...1 picture, 3 Pope's!!!
Jesus, you are beyond generous!

Happenings with the WYD pilgrims

WOW.  I didn't realize how long it has been since we updated and shared news of our preparations.

To date, it is less than 6 months till we leave for Rio, where has the time went!?!?!?!?
Here's a run-down of what is new with our group of pilgrims.

A few weeks ago we had another pilgrim evening of bonding and reflection.  Our other female adult chaperone, Jacqueline hosted us for a great night of tasty Mexican food, play the most hysterical game (a cross of Pictionary and Telephone. SO fun:) and also did some large group sharing/reflection and went over some specifics.  One such thing was we decided on an official Group name.  You ready for it??? We are the "Green Zebra's".  So to carry out the theme and help identify our group while traveling we have ordered the most crazy neon green, zebra print bandanna's I could find!  We are all kinda stoked about that:)  We also are writing individual, personal covenants, and later together as a group we will write a group covenant.  The personal covenants are ways for each of the pilgrims to keep in check how they are personally participating and handling the pilgrimage.  The group covenant will be helpful is laying out rules, expectations, and what we expect of each other as we travel together.  Two of our pilgrims, Lauren and Jacqueline, are also designing two group shirts for us to wear.  One will be for the day we leave, and the other the day we return home.  I have found it helpful especially in large airports, its easier to distinguish group members by a similar shirt.

At the end of January, we had an important meeting with an Archdiocesan person from the Youth Ministry office downtown.  Laura Piccone Hanchon is a veteran Youth Minister and World Youth Day extraordinaire.  She has even been to Rio to check things out and even met with the official WYD committee.  Her insight, tips, and preparation ideas are SO helpful to us in planning and making sure we are all prepared for this amazing experience.  We are going to have Laura come back in June to go over some final details and also get a crash course in Portuguese! ;-)

In April, we are participating a WYD day pilgrimage walk.  It will be for us going to Rio and also groups attending the "World Youth Day Home" festivities in Chicago.  The day will consist of Mass, group catechesis, time for personal reflection, lunch, and of course walking.  Last time I attended this event, we even had a Eucharistic procession through the city and neighborhoods...such a neat experience.

Our group has also found out that we have more pilgrims joining our pilgrimage from Detroit.  A Brazilian priest and group of young people from a Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hamtramck will be joining us along with the group from Winona, MN.  We're looking forward to traveling together and sharing the experience with them!

Please keep our group in your prayers, and know you remain in ours!  If as we prepare, you have special intentions you would like us to keep in our prayers, please let us know! :)

Stay tuned for more exciting World Youth Day updates...

God bless :)

The Pope's Message for World Youth Day 2013

Check out this link -> http://www.zenit.org/article-35979?l=english  to see the Pope's message for all pilgrims coming to Rio for World Youth Day this July.  Seriously take a look and read.  For realz.  It is amazing:)

I encourage all of you readers to spend some time reflecting on the words of the Holy Father...for they are not just us pilgrims traveling to Rio, but for all people.  

I know our group of our pilgrims will be spending some time praying, reflecting, and discussing this as our own family of pilgrims.  

For me personally, I really take something from the theme for this upcoming WYD: "Go and make disciples of all nations!" (Matthew 28:19).  We cannot wait to be disciples, to help bring other people to Jesus...the world needs us, needs YOU.  Being a missionary doesn't necessarily mean you have to trek it off to Africa to some mission outpost, but being a missionary means using the God-given gifts and talents and your current life to help bring Jesus to other people.  All baptized Christians are missionaries.

The Pope calls and challenges those who are preparing for embarking on this upcoming World Youth Day pilgrimage...may each of us take seriously our call to live as an "intentional disciple" of Jesus Christ and to take seriously our call to be missionaries of God's love in this world!

God bless :)

If you were looking for Christ on September 28, He was hanging out with our World Youth Day pilgrims; enjoying some tasty lasagna, playing games, talking about discipleship, and enjoying smores around the perfect fall bonfire.

Our most recent pilgrim bonding gathering was hosted by one of our youth pilgrims, Lauren.  We enjoyed a dee-lic Italian meal complete with the autumn classics of Apple cider and fresh donuts.  As we finished eating, Lauren got our ice breaker going.  We all came up with different questions to write, and whomever picked it had to answer it.  They were everything from the top 5 countries you would want to visit to do you prefer a hamburger or cheeseburger...the point is to get each other talking and get to know our pilgrim family a little bit better.  Then we gathered inside to watch a 15 minute DVD on modern Christian discipleship.  We had a large group discussion afterward on what that means and looks like for each of us in our lives right now.  Everybody has interesting thoughts and perspectives to share.  The DVD was focused on this particular WYD theme, "Go make disciples of all nations!" (Matthew 28:19).

Afterwards, we headed outside to enjoy this beautiful fall weather with a bonfire...and of course, what bonfire is complete without the making of smores!?!?!?  Over tasty treats and lots of laughter, we ended another night of pilgrim family bonding for the WYD pilgrims of Holy Family.
Our next gathering will be at the beginning of November at our male chaperones house, Deacon Kevin.

Be sure to look for the WYD pilgrims at the first Coffee/Donuts on October 14, as we will be working side by side with Youth Ministry to help serve and give back to the parish.

Continue to keep the six of us in your prayers, and please know all of you remain in ours!

                                    Smiles all around, as we finish another WYD pilgrim bonding event :-)

Greetings Family, Friends, and Parishioners of Holy Family!

Welcome to the official World Youth Day Blog for our 6 pilgrims traveling to Rio in July 2013 from Church of the Holy Family in Novi. This blog is an opportunity for you all to stay in touch with our pilgrims, follow us during our preparations, virtually join us in spirit while we are in Rio de Janeiro for the WYD festivities!

One part of our preparation for such a pilgrimage is the spiritual formation. It is critical that we spiritually prepare ourselves so that we may be fully open to receive all the Holy Spirit has for us on this pilgrimage. So over the course of the year, each pilgrim will take a turn hosting everybody else at their home for food, fellowship, and some type of spiritual formation based on the World Youth Day theme. Our first gathering was at our fearless leader's house, Patty Hubbard. After some pizza and snacks, we broke out into small discussion groups (1 adult to 1 young person). Because we are small, each young person will have the opportunity to have an adult mentor. We discussed everything from what does your cranky look like to what is the difference between vacation and pilgrimage. It was a great time for the adults to really start to personally get to know their young person, and vice versa. Then we had a large group discussion on what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in 2012. After that, we read a chapter from an AMAZING book on discipleship called "Positively Dangerous." We talked about how critical it is to walk the talk as we strive to be faithful followers of Jesus. After more sharing and reflection as a large group, we personally reflected and journaled on our own call as a disciple of Jesus. All in all, a GREAT start as we become a WYD family!
Our next gathering is at the end of September...and we will have an extra special guest join us too, Fr. Bob LaCroix, our pastor! We are so blessed to have his support and prayers as we begin this journey together.

As I close with this first official post, I leave you with this video. It is a reflection on past World Youth Day's and was used in promotion for WYD Madrid 2011. Watch it...enjoy...and continue to keep our pilgrims in your prayers as we ready our hearts and minds for this life changing event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxOTpuQe6M4


God Bless!