Why are you going to Lisbon?
To be with Jesus. He awaits you there. He said "...if two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst." How much more will he be with over one million gathered in his name. You are going to Lisbon to be with Jesus and a million others who want to be with him.
At World Youth Day in 2000 St. John Paul said: "It is Jesus in fact who you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you seek satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in your hearts the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves an society, making the world more human and fraternal.
Dear Young People, in these noble undertakings you are not alone. With you there are your families, your communities, your priests and teachers, and so many of you who in the depths of your hearts never weary of\ loving Christ and believing in him. In the struggle against sin you are not alone: so many like you are struggling and through the Lord's grace are winning."
You are going to Lisbon to be grasped by the love of Christ. For us Catholics to love Christ is always to love his Church, his Bride, our Mother. Never a "Jesus and me" thing. My love for Christ is singular and distinctive, but it dwells in and is itself indwelt by my love for my brothers and sisters. In Lisbon you will encounter Jesus and at the same time your companions in a new way.
Not a Vacation!
A Pilgrimage is not the rest, pleasure, or relaxation of a vacation. It is far more thrilling, demanding, challenging, difficult, painful, frustrating, rewarding and delightful. A pilgrimage is a journey to a specific destination (in this case Lisbon) to encounter God in an intimate, passionate, flaming embrace.
For each of you, an unexpected, life-changing event awaits you. It will be particularly yours, unlike that of anyone else. Expect this! Even now give thanks and praise for it!
A pilgrimage entails, not comfort and pleasure, but sacrifice, pain, danger, inconvenience. You may face sweltering heat with no relief; bad food; inconvenience; uncomfortable sleeping arrangements; huge crowds; long waits. If you are not prepared for this, it is better that you not go. Pilgrimage is not for the weak; the complainers; the self-pitying. It is like combat: if you do not want to fight, do not go into the battle.
Traditionally a variety of motives move one to pilgrimage: seeking a healing; atonement for sin; desire to convert and draw close to God; gratitude for a blessing; intercession for the needs of others; an openness to what God wills for your life. Bring to Lisbon, to surrender to Christ, your greatest anxieties and fears; your sorrows; the things that control you; your deepest longings. Come with expectant faith: awaiting marvelous blessings. Open your heart, intellect and will to the annoyance, frustration, pain and discomfort of the pilgrimage to be closer to the Jesus who carried his cross to Calvary to be tortured and murdered for us. Intensify your Joy by already giving abundant thanks and dilating your heart to receive the gifts, fruits and miracles of the Holy Spirit.
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