Scottish Catholic Observer

Our pilgrimage was an adventure that took us to Barcelona for an overnight stay, then on to Lourdes for the weekend before traveling to Madrid for the week of events. We even managed to get down to Alicante for a final day at the beach before returning home. For most of our time away, we were in heat-wave weather of 40 degrees and the skies were sunny blue more or less throughout, so we all came back a good colour.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of our time away was our encounters with the Pope. At the beginning of the week, more than one million young people had descended on Madrid and pretty much taken the whole of the city by storm with their bright flags, funny songs and joyful spirit. By the end of the week the numbers had swelled to two million. We were all sleeping wherever room could be found. Our Scottish group slept on the floor of a school gym along with 100 young people from Canada, South Africa and the US. Most nights were so hot that we slept in the playground.

Mornings were spent in meetings with a bishop who came along to sing with us, talk with us and celebrate Mass. Our gathering was in the local parish with around 500 others, but there were also lots of larger gatherings in football stadia at the same time.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings were gatherings with the Pope, either in the centre of Madrid or in an army air base. On the final evening, two million of us slept under the stars together and waited for the Pope to celebrate Mass with us the next day. As luck would have it, there was a ferocious storm and half the night we slept while the rain came down.

The theme of the week was Firm in the Faith, and, as we all said goodbye to our new friends from nearly 200 countries in the world, we all felt happier, stronger and more ready to face the world.

We have arrived home on a high, full of hope for the world, ourselves and for the future. Our televisions have been full of the riots of thousands or so lost young people, who are causing our society great anxiety as we look ahead. If only they could have seen two million young Catholics in Madrid taking to the streets in great excitement and joy and with not one arrest at the end! That’s the real good news.

So, many thanks for your generosity that made it all possible. We remembered you every day in our prayers and hope that some of the joy we received will be shared with you too.

Fr John Keenan and the students of the Glasgow University Chaplaincy.