World Youth Day Madrid 2011 ~ What's the point??

A reflection on World Youth Day by Alan Kavanagh from St. Mark's Parish, Springfield, Tallaght:

WYD – My Reflections by Alan Kavanagh

The plane steadies after take-off and I squirm in my uncomfortable seat. Preparing myself for a two-hour flight I open my carry-on bag, take out a novel and two pages in I am struck by this quote: “As is often the case with faith, I thought I was being asked a favour, when in fact I was being given one”. This is a quote from Mitch Albom’s novel ‘Have a Little Faith’ - which explores how he had to confront his own views on faith & belief and their relation to the great mysteries of life, when asked to write the eulogy of his former rabbi.

Similarly, I think many of us, especially my generation, look at ‘faith’ as

a favour. Whether it be the ‘chore’ of getting up early and attending Mass on Sundays, or the ‘favour’ to God of going to a religious service at certain festivals – to remind ‘Him’ quite simply that you’re ‘doing your bit’ – it certainly feels like we’re ‘going out of our way’. In fact, even if a person my age practices their faith and not begrudgingly so, there is still a hint of obligation about it all – something that ‘must be done’ to be seen to be good, obedient, faithful (be that in the eyes of family, friends, or God). Madrid and World Youth Day hinted at something altogether different.

The festivity, the colour, the exuberance, elation and excitement that enveloped the Spanish capital for a week hinted at us all being given a favour. Anywhere you looked there were huge groups of happy, beaming faces singing and dancing. The idea of joyous young Christians in this era might sound a bit corny and ridiculous. At least, that’s what my friends imagined when I spoke to them before I left. That’s what many a sceptical college-educated-cynic I knew told me before I left. That’s what I was beginning to expect… before I left. Now I’m home, I’ve been there, and I know it was something altogether different.

World Youth Day was not two million young people suddenly – irrationally even – experiencing some sort of epiphany and shouting loud in praise of God with fires on their tongues like the Pentecostal apostles. Naturally, the streets were filled with the energy of two million festival-goers, tourists, friends, youth groups and clubs. The atmosphere of a concert, a football match or indeed a huge party pervaded the city. We weren’t inexplicably changed, the joy and jubilation is to be expected when a plethora of teens, twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings come together to celebrate.

And so, where does God, or divinity, fit into all this?

Well, a priest spoke to me at the vigil with the Pope, the climax of the week, and asked me – “How are you finding it?”
“It’s been a great experience”, I said – and then, remembering a young girl that cried and shook at the vigil I continued – “It was surreal to see her so moved”. He then told me that at least three young people had told him

that week that they had encountered God – the Divine – in an unexpected way during their time there. And, somewhat disappointed in my apparent lack of any significant or supernatural spiritual encounter, I wondered had I encountered the Divine that week? Before I went, I’d have been tempted to say that encountering the Divine is for the Saints, the Prophets and the Missionaries, for the devout and the pious, the contemplative and the unbearably serious. But, at that moment, as I asked myself that question, I realised I had.

I had encountered divinity in each and every person I met. Over a million young people slept out in the same field, like any music festival, to hear the Papal Address and celebrate Mass together. I’ll go out on a whim now when I say – I doubt there were many, if any, victims of theft (as often occurs at Oxegen or Electric Picnic). Sitting in a café, looking out the window, a huge group of pilgrims pass by and seeing our WYD t-shirts wave frantically and smile broad, happy smiles. That’s divinity. A group of French approach us, wondering where we’re from, how many of us there are, and how we’re getting on. That’s divinity. A helping hand, a kind word, an encouraging nod, a spontaneous sing-song, a hug. That’s divinity! I had encountered it on a massive scale.

When we think of ‘Godly’ or ‘Divine’ traits, our point of reference is the

embodiment of the Divine in the person of Jesus Christ. And so, we think of charity, compassion, tolerance, humility, the open and all-embracing arms. These traits were embodied in no small way by the seas of crowds at World Youth Day. Hugs and laughter were in abundance.

Tolerance too, was the most surprising and striking of qualities. While there I met the most liberal of people and the most conservative, and I was taken aback by how neither tried to ‘convert’, or to aggressively ‘persuade’. When we argued we debated civilly, when we were convinced of our own beliefs we were firm and not obnoxious, and when we parted ways it was often with a smile, a handshake and a genuine wish of ‘good luck’ for the future. That’s divinity…A glimpse though it may be, that’s it.

So, while in Madrid, like Mitch Albom – I was forced to confront my own ideas regarding faith. And, like an actor or comedian ad-libbing, when you’re put on the spot you can be surprised by what you come out with. While in Madrid someone asked me did I have strong faith, and I said this: ‘If faith is, for the purpose of a simple example, likened to one big five-hour long television programme, very few of us are going to sit glued to the TV for that whole time. We’ll pop out and pop back in again. We’ll go off for a cup of tea, or make a phone call, or maybe even nod-off in front of the screen for awhile! Very few possess a faith that goes unshaken. And so, if someone asked you – did you see that programme last night? You might say, ‘Ah sure, I caught a glimpse of it’. It’s too difficult to see it all the time, but just a glimpse can be enough.’

World Youth Day provided that glimpse at a living faith, at a young, radical Church. I say radical, because, before I left I would have went with the general consensus that atheism and individualism are radical. That these were the options for the modern thinkers, and their cutting-edge

values. I now disagree. That’s the easy option, the popular option. The radical option is to take a leap of faith – to embrace hope and to deal with the cynicism, the anger and the disheartening scandals with that hope in tact. To live in the footsteps of a lifestyle that dares you to love your enemy, to be endlessly charitable, to be humble. That’s the daring, radical vision of Christ – no matter what the present Church faces. And, let’s face it, we are the Church! In Madrid, I got to see the creativity, energy and spirit of a Church very much alive in people. Traditions, rituals, rules and regulations, institutions and administration – we all have our own opinions on each of these. But when we meet people who try their best to emulate the ‘love’ of God, we catch a glimpse of God. And no damning opinion, no hurt, and no scandal, should be allowed to dwarf the significance of that encounter.

No holiday lasts forever. And we all know that when you get home from your

one or two weeks off abroad, your problems are waiting for you when you return. But hopefully, you’ve come back to those problems a little happier, a little more rested, a little more capable to take them on. World Youth Day was a wonderful experience, and like everything, an all-too-quickly fleeting one. Yet, we were asked anonymously to write a little prayer for what we wanted to find in Madrid before we left, and I don’t mind sharing it with you now, I wrote ‘I am looking for something to quieten my cynicism’. And I got it. I come home saying this; people are essentially good no matter their wrongs, and God is in the everyday, if you look out for Him.

So, now what? I try and live well. And when I fail, not if, and I make a mistake, in the words of Beckett: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”.