Yesterday was the hike to the outdoor vigil with the Pope and the Papal Mass.
For maybe the second time in 100 years (or history, not quite sure) they Sydney Harbor Bridge was closed in order to allow hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to cross!! It was a pretty cool experience to walk across the bridge! Don't look down!! (I did at one point as we passed a grate, pretty crazy!!) You can pay to walk across the top of the bridge, which I would have done, had it not cost $175! I will post pics of the bridge and the walk later.
It was about a 6 mile walk, and didn't seem so bad at all. It was so great to see the world walk by! To hear the music of cultures that I will never visit, and to see people who have traveled from all ends of the earth to be here to celebrate our faith and spend time with the Vicar of Christ!
Fr. Gregory who is in this trip with us, encouraged each of us to pick someone to offer up the walk for, so it was neat to know that so many prayers were being offered with every step I took. Again, I carried over the moments I had on Friday of being present to the moment and allowed myself to be led where the Spirit led me of who to talk to. I had some great talks with people along the way. I have been so blessed on this trip to really be able to get to know the people in our group. We have such a great group of people with us on this trip and I am honored to be with them!!
When I arrived at the vigil, I was excited to just sit and relax..again had more great conversations and we awaited the Pope's arrival.
The vigil was beautiful as we all waived our candles during the intercession singing the chorus to the theme song! It was a beautiful sight....500,000 Catholics together in prayer!!!
I fell asleep shortly after the Pope left. I stayed pretty warm in my cozy sleeping bag, (thanks hubby!) and surprisingly slept more last night than I have all week. I was asleep by 10ish and woke up at 6:30am. Again it was neat to experience the different cultures as the people around us played music and danced as the sun came up!!!
Thank you again everyone for your prayers!!! I have felt them so much on this pilgrimage. The weather as been great, the conversations blessed, the mercy abundant and the joy and peace has surrounded us all!!
Pope Benedict has announced the 2011 WYD location...Madrid, Spain...I am thinking of offering a discount to anyone on this trip who gives me their deposit now! =) I will start making the plans for this trip as soon as we get home. Ok, so maybe I already had a meeting with Fr. Dave about it earlier this week!!! Am I a planner or what?!?!
Ok---time to take a shower and hit the hay! I still haven't showered yet since getting back from the hike! Yikes! I stink!!!
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