I’m 33,000 feet above ground flying back home after spending the last ten days on a pilgrimage with my 14 year-old daughter to World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland.  I’m physically exhausted, but my soul and spirit are flying high too after this trip.

World Youth Day is a pilgrimage where young Catholics from around the world get together to celebrate and share their faith.  I absolutely stumbled into this.  First off, I’m not “youth” anymore.  I had never heard of WYD and still didn’t know what it was even AFTER I signed myself and my daughter up and paid for the trip.  I had no idea what they meant by “pilgrimage.”  I had no idea what it meant to be a “pilgrim” (come to learn, it’s got nothing to do with Plymouth Rock).   It wasn’t until I finally looked through the paperwork, including the packing list, about ten days before the trip.  It said to bring a sleeping back and pad.  What?  I thought I paid for a hotel?  I didn’t have a clue.  So I call the pilgrimage tours company and talk to the president.  He’s telling me about how amazing it is to sleep out on the “vigil” before Sunday Mass with 1 million people in a big field.  I’m sorry, but all I could think about was how do 1 million people sleeping out in a field go to the bathroom?  The president of the tour company stressed, “Just remember, this is a pilgrimage, not a vacation.”  Huh?

Turns out he was absolutely right, it was physically and mentally exhausting (sleep deprived, jet lag, walking 5 miles+ each day), but it was WAY better and WAY more inspirational than any vacation could have ever been.  I’m on fire right now.  I hope I can keep it going.

Saint Pope John Paul II started this “World Youth Day” event back in 1985 and it’s held every three years at a different host country.  While it’s called World Youth “Day”, pilgrims generally attend for ten days to two weeks and there’s all kinds of other activities going on.  This year was in Krakow, Poland.  Three years ago it was in Rio.  The US hosted it once in Denver in 1993.  I really wanted to go Poland because of its rich and interesting geopolitical history (German occupation, concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Soviet control, Solidarity movement and first country to break free from Russia, EU membership, etc.) and Catholic history (JP II born and raised in Poland, Saint Maximillian Kolbe volunteering to die instead of a fellow inmate at Auschwitz, Saint Faustina and the Divine Mercy shrine revealed to her by Jesus himself, the Black Madonna, etc.).  I didn’t know it before I went, but 94% of Poles consider them Catholic, although less than 50% are practicing today.

[Side note – isn’t it interesting that Catholic participation among Poles was sky high while under Communist rule, but now that Poland is free and independent and subject to greater western influence, religious participation has dropped dramatically.  Folks look to religion when times suck but look to the altar of consumerism when times are better?]

This year there were pilgrims from over 180 countries participating in WYD.  Over 500,000 people attended the welcoming event for Pope Francis, 1.6 million participated in the vigil sleepover, and an estimated 2.5-3.0 million participated in Mass with Pope Francis on Sunday.  Read those numbers again – 180 countries, 500,000, 1.6 million and 2.5 million+ participating in events over three consecutive days.  It was hot and humid and there were hours long lines for everything – food, entrance, exit, bathrooms – but guess what?  Everyone was kind to one another.  I did not see a single fight or argument; in fact, I didn’t even see anyone raise their voice.

There were times when the crowds were overwhelming.  As someone who suffers from a touch of claustrophobia, when you’re in the middle of a sea of hot, sweaty bodies as far as the eye can see in every direction and you can’t move, it would be easy to freak out.  But I didn’t.  No one did, because everyone was kind and nice and singing and praying – literally.  It was unbelievable.  Huge masses of people of every color and nationality. slowly trudging forward praying the Rosary or the Divine Mercy chaplet and singing churchie songs and national ballads.

[Side note – you know what else was unbelievable?  Over 1 million college age kids sleeping out in a big field and I didn’t see a drop of alcohol or drugs.]

In the weeks leading up and while I was in Krakow there was terror and violence breaking out all over Europe — in Nice, Germany and even the slicing of a Catholic French priest’s throat on the altar by two members of ISIS.  There had been terror threats against WYD, my wife and family were freaking out, even texting me to “come home, you’re sitting ducks!”, but you want to know what I saw?  I saw JOY breaking out all over Krakow.  Take a look at this nun singing on the street corner:

 

That’s pure joy.

Look at the dancing and singing in the streets and fields of Krakow:

 

That’s pure joy.

Connecting and sharing our humanity with others from different cultures and countries.  Check out my daughter and her new friend from Jordan sharing ear buds to listen to the translation of Pope Francis’ homily:

That’s pure joy.

Times are scary.  I get it.  But we can’t let ISIS steal our joy.  Connect with your neighbors.  Reach out to those in need.  Focus on what’s good and right.  What comes from God.  Then share it with others.  Millions of young people got together to share hope, love and joy.  Since nothing negative happened, the mainstream media barely mentioned it, so we need to start doing it at a grassroots, person-by-person level.

Pope Francis told the pilgrims to avoid becoming “paralyzed” with fear.  “When we are paralyzed, we miss the magic of encountering others, making friends, sharing dreams, walking at the side of others.”  He also encouraged us to avoid complacency, that “this itself is a great form of paralysis, whenever we start thinking that happiness is the same as comfort and convenience.”   He encouraged the 1.6 million pilgrims to take risks and make their mark on the world, adding “My friends, Jesus is the Lord of risk, of eternal “more.”  Jesus is not the Lord of comfort, security and ease.  Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths. To blaze trails that open up new horizons capable of spreading joy, the joy that is born of God’s love and wells up in your hearts with every act of mercy.”

Amen.  Trade in your sofa … or computer … or smartphone … for a good pair of walking shoes and go meet your neighbor.