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 Let us
reflect for a moment on the meaning of pilgrimage that lies at the heart of the
World Youth Day experience. Tourists pass quickly through
places, but the places
pass slowly through pilgrims, leaving them forever changed. Traveling with
pilgrims from the Archdiocese of San Antonio, you will quickly become familiar
with our motto: “We are pilgrims, not tourists.”
A pilgrimage is an ancient symbol of Christian life with profound roots – people
on a journey. We begin our journey in mystery when God creates us out of love.
Along our journey, we are accompanied and illuminated by Christ who said, “I am
the way, the truth, and the light.” As pilgrims, we are not vagabonds, because
we are aware of our destination. We are not solitary persons, because we are on
pilgrimage together. We have no permanent home in this world; we only carry what
is necessary for our journey. These are the profound motivations that move
people,
young adults especially, to undertake the World Youth Day 2008 in
Sydney as pilgrims.
 Consider: “There is never a pilgrim who returns home without one less prejudice
and one new
idea.” (St. Thomas More) ”Pilgrimages are a basic phase of evangelization. You
have in pilgrimages a key to the religious future of our times.” (John Paul II)
Renewed through our own pilgrimage, we will understand more deeply a basic theme
of Vatican II – we are a pilgrim church. We are bound each to each, healed of
our loneliness, our blindness, and our deafness in our common journey. Pilgrim
spirituality teaches us that the meaning of life is not found at the end of the
journey but in the very journey itself.
 At the end of World Youth Day 2008, your baggage will have grown heavier – even
with starting out
light! However, the most important things you will bring home will be graces and
memories. These will weigh nothing, pass easily through customs, and will be a
gift to you and through you to others for your lifetime,
Past pilgrims, newly blessed and graced, have breathed new life into their
parish and faith communities – and you will too, if you are open to the Spirit
all along the way. We are inviting pilgrim people with compassionate hearts,
peace-filled souls, flexible spirits, and joyous countenances to join us for
World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney.
Will you come?
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