The Pilgrimage Continues

Hello from Karaków, Poland. Our pilgrimage has brought us to our final destination.

Last Thursday, we finished our mission work in our school in The Philippines. It was awesome to see the finality of our work and spend some more time with the students before we left. We thought things couldnt get any better after the welcome they gave us but boy were we wrong. The closing ceremony saw performances galore. Each class performed a dance to a different song and even the teachers sang and danced us farewell. It was such an hounour to spend that time making new friends with the Antequeara community. Another thing that stood out was that God was at the centre of everything they did.

On our final night in The Philippines, we were hosted by the town mayor for a farewell feast and celebration of culture. Prior to dinner, we were lucky enough to have mass in St Augustines Cathedral. We were blessed to have the choir of Holy Name University share their vocal talents in the mass. I can safely say I have never been to mass with voices like that before. Before we knew it, Friday had come which meant the end of the first part of our pilgrimage. Ahead of us was a 36 hour trip that included a total of 4 flights. Two flights we just made and the highlight was spending a brief amount of time in Zurich, Switzerland.

We arrived in Warsaw high in spirits and anticipation of the week ahead. On Sunday, we travelled in our diocesan group to Auschwitz. Here we heard more about the story of Saint Maxilian Kolbes courageous life giving gesture, as well as other stories. It was a very sombre and surreal experience. This excursion gave us a real opportunity to reflect on the need to look back on such a horrible event in our history. The afternoon we were fortunate enough to celebrate mass at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, one of Polands most famous shrines. It was the scene of many of Pope John Paul II's pilgrimages as a child and young adult. It was a wondeful way to end the day and start our week.

In Next weeks post, I will give you a rundown of the whole World Youth Day week.

Praying for my family and friends in Australia.