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Digs on Conference, Vol. 2
getting the best experience
Salt and Light
Remember your first camp experience? Kit Santiano does.
"I got my cousin to come with me to a camp in Illinois. I dreaded the whole car ride to the bus meeting place. I dreaded the whole bus ride to the campsite. I saw so many people, and I wanted to go home.
"But I gave the camp a chance. I found myself relating to other kids because they faced similar problems as I did. I heard stories of how God helped them in their lives. ... By the end of the camp, I gave myself to God and accepted Him back into my life."
The YFC conference this year is at Toronto. The week after that, some of us might stay on in Toronto to attend World Youth Day for the first time in our lives. We might feel a little like Kit during her first camp.
As members of YFC, we already know that preparation for any spiritual event is key so we can get the most out of our experience of it. How can you lead worship if you yourself have an unconfessed sin heavy in your heart? How can you comfort participants coming to terms with broken relationships if you yourself harbor such a brokenness?
A book recommended by the WYD 2002 Web site, "Salt and Light" invites us to gather as a group -- or reflect by ourselves -- and proposes eight "paths" to prepare ourselves for WYD.
World Youth Day -- In search of love and truth.
Path 2 -- Hearts in the right place: Being salt and light for our time.
Path 3 -- Love that transcends all time: Jesus and His disciples, yesterday and today.
Path 4 -- The eye of a needle: Living a moral life.
Path 5 -- 2000 years young: The Church -- an everchanging community.
Path 6 -- Give me a sign!: Prayer, sacraments and celebration.
Path 7 -- The poor: Our top priority -- in search of justice and solidarity.
Path 8 -- Taking a stand: Being a witness of the Gospel.
It recommends that readers keep a notebook to jot down reflections or responses to questions offered in the book.
The book gently guides readers to several facets of our relationship with the Lord, each other and the Church. It asks us to examine those relationships closer. It reminds us that we are part of a bigger community, not just of the Church, our youth groups, our families and our jobs, but the community of the world.
It frequently reminds the reader that at WYD, with more than 100,000 people from 115 countries thus far registered for this year's event, you will always meet someone who is from a different culture or country from you. It gives glimpses of sleeping accomodations or how prayer conditions might be during the Papal Mass and other WYD activities.
There are also several quotes by past participants of their experience of WYD. Sometimes you will get insights on how the writers themselves think and feel about WYD through descriptions of some events and the use of the Pope's words.
There are other ways to prepare for WYD -- go to one of the WYD Cross pilgrimages or a possible workshop offered by your local parish or your city's archodiocese.
No book or human invention can truly remove all the nagging worries in our mind about our shortcomings with the Lord, but at least some preparation before an event as significant as World Youth Day will lessen or make clearer these anxieties.
If you want to get a heads up on how to recieve or percieve activities during WYD, this is a good resource. If you cannot make it to WYD this year, this is also a good substitute.
A slim book of 141 pages printed by Novalis, it is US$5.95 and could be ordered singly or by bulk from Twenty-Third Publications or through the WYD 2002 Web site.
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