Ignatian pilgrimage and WYD - Hoàng Dung's Journal (5)

August 15, 2011
1:33am
Barcelona, Spain

Today was a day full of waiting.
This morning, I woke up at 7:45 am thinking I had 45 mins to get ready. But as I was not quite done yet, TS came in saying that mass was at 8:00 and it was already 8:02. Mass was with cac Cha Jesuits. So I came in late with a very unpeaceful heart. I hate being late and letting others down so I had a very unpeaceful heart starting mass. I kept wanting to place the blame on someone who told me wrongly that mass s at 8:30 instead of 8:00. I struggled with myself for a while until after hearing God's word, my heart filled with peace. Today was the feast of Assumption of Mary and I suddenly remembered how st. Iggy had a great devotion and love for mother Mary and so that inspired me to love mother Mary more and be more attentive. Thank you God. Attending mass with cac Cha was touching. I felt gods presence and awe listening to cac Cha sing together and harmonize. It sounded so peaceful like gregorian chants. I enjoyed it so much and was very touched by
God. Their chapel was beautiful too. The mural behind the alter was of the holy family with a woman whom st. Iggy imagined in his spiritual exercises was the handmaiden helping mother Mary give birth to baby Jesus. How funny and neat st. Iggy's imagination is.

John Paul II to Youth

“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find 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 you 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 and society, making the world more human and more fraternal”.


– Bl. John Paul II

Ignatian pilgrimage and WYD - Hoàng Dung's Journal (2)

The first day in Spain was nice. We def looked like tourists taking pictures galore. The land is beautiful with it's trees and hills and architecture. We rated for 2hrs. It was such good nap! Then we took the subway to the Church in Bagona. Beautiful church! High steeple, inside there were just heart touching paintings. Pictures of the Virgin holding her son baby Jesus close to her heart with so much tenderness. It touched my heart deeply and made me think of our boys. Another painting depicting st. Joseph, Mother Mary and baby Jesus as a family - st. Joseph had his eyes closed as if tired. Mother Mary holding baby Jesus while angels were around helping with chores and one even brought a cup of tea to Mary. So sweet and felt very Human. Another picture was of st. Joseph dying, Jesus sitting next to Him, Mary crying, her eyes,nose red. God father and Holy Spirit above present. It was so touching to see Chua Ba Ngoi present during joseph's last hours, with love and support. Wow. I found the tabernacle in the corner, so humble. As I kneeled to pray, I smelled a pleasant smell, lilies. God smelled so good. I gave thanks and felt so much gratefulness. I prayed for my family, cau Toan, ob ngoai, khoa, for cac Bac,Chu,Di, cac em. I prayed with all my heart. I put some money in the offertory to pray for Khoa. TS put money in to pray for our boys. And when TS called home, me tuyet said they were doing sooo good. No crying, no missing Bo me, eating very good, sleeping good. Only Chu Ni is the one crying bc Thayer toi nghiep cho 2 chau. Hehe. So tinh cam, our little brother is. Sweet. Good heart. After the church, we walked all the way back to the main square. On the way, encountered beautiful scenes and took lots of pictures. We walked down this very long flight of stairs...and was amazed that it lead us straight to where we originally started -the main square, the heart of Bilbao. Wow. Then we enjoyed dinner at the Cafe Bilbao. Tapas, fried calamari, and Sangria. Hmmm. Soooo good all the food. The guys who served us was so nice cha Tri understood what he as saying so well. In the end, he gave us each free bags and liters from the cafe! So nice!! Total bill was 143,50€. Not bad. About 25$/person! We njoyed the music, accordion live, playing music we all recognized from old school vnmese. It was surreal. It was the life. It was sweet. Thankful. Grateful. Good food. Good friends in the Lord. Sangria was verrrrry good.
After dinner, we sat and shared what our hopes were for this trip. Why were we going and what are we looking for. And we have a list of prayer petitions from our group Manna and our family petitions. All in all, it was a wonderful first day here. Thank u god for keeping us safe.
Dizzy now. Sould sleep. Tmw, 9am bkfast. Tour city, gugenhiem museum, and njoy the city before we leave to Loyola via train 3hrs. Start our retreat there for 3-4 days. Gn!! Buenas noches.

Ignatian pilgrimage and WYD - Hoàng Dung's Journal (1)

My first journal on the way to Spain.

So, here I am, on the plane from Brussels to Bilbao, Spain! It's 3:25am CT. Listening to "from the inside out". Boy, that plane ride from Montreal to .Brussels went by pretty fast. Watched one movie: Just go with it. Quiet funny. Then I slept, tried to sleep for about 30-45 mins bf I actually slept. Mayb 3hrs total? Then we took our time deplaning, went out the gate, then realized we didn't have the connecting flight info, went back into the gate and the lady told us to hurry bc it was in a diff terminal! Omg!! Boarding started at 9:10 and it was already 9;10. So, we rushed to a line and realized it was the custom line...oh boy. We waited about 7 mins? Then rushed to thenext line...Security ckpoint! OH man, I had to throw away my unopened bottle of water. What a waste! But, we made it thru in no time, then we ran to the three flights of escalators, walked down them, running in btw them, and ran all the way to the gate, two walkway lengths. When we arrived at the gate, there was still a line! Whew! we were the last ones. Thank u God! Then I noticec something sticky on my finger and handle of my luggage. I looked down to see blood. My blood. My finger got cut somehow during this Mad rush to our gate. wow. So, luckily I stashed bandages in the outer pocket of the backpack. Immediately took one out and TS bandaged my finger. Stings a little. It was bleeding a lot. Sill stings.
We had to take a bus to the airplane. Since we were the last ones on the bus, we were the first ones on the plane. Hehe. It was cloudy and cool in Brussels. looked not very pretty and inviting but, once we were airborne above the clouds...it was beautiful. Sun shining hot! Bright. Layer of clouds covering this part of the earth. No matter how gloomy or cloudy ur part of the world may look, just remember, the Son is there, behind those clouds, to welcome u with warmth and Love, make ur feel alive and smiling again.
While announcing the normal safety procedures, they spoke 4 diff languages. Wow. Begium, french, English, Spanish. And when they announced it was time for snacks, I took a look at the menu and to my amazement, the coke 33ml, reg 12oz? 2,50 euros!! Nothing was free...hehe. I laughed to myself. tSWas closing his eyes, half awake,half asleep, said, get me a drink. I showed him the menu and he said, never mind. Hehe. So, here we are. I should sleep. 2 hrs long this flight. Arrive at Bilbao at 11:45am local time, 4:45am CT. I am sleepy so I'm gonna say See u in the nxt journal entry! I am still in awe that we are actually on our way to Spain and WYD! I am soooo grateful for this moment and this gift from God to be able to go and experience this. I'm already feeling so much grace. Praying that the boys are well behaved and sleep okay...we"ll call them when we settle in Bilbao.

Gn! Or good morning.
-traveler of God in Grace.
Hoàng Dung

Sent from my iPad

Ignatian pilgrimage and WYD

Dear các Cha, các cô chú, các anh chị và các bạn,

After almost a year of anticipation and preparation, here we are a few days before embarking on the Ignatian pilgrimage and WYD. 8 young adults, including Cha Trí Đinh, will be going to the pilgrimage and will be joined by 5 more for WYD. We would like to express our gratefulness to the whole community that have been supported us spiritually through prayers and financially, especially through the I Choose CD project. We will be going through the cities of Pamplona, Manresa, Monserrat, Rome,... following the footsteps of St Ignatius and will head to Madrid for WYD. We will keep the CLC and Đồng Hành family in our prayers, as we will get a chance to deepen the gifts of ignatian spirituality and our catholic faith. Please continue to journey with us in prayers.

http://www.tdinhsj.com/2010/06/being-tourist-or-pilgrim.html
http://www.tdinhsj.com/2010/06/buen-camino.html

We find the links above reflecting about the spirit of a pilgrim very interesting and helpful for this journey. We invite you all to join us in this spirit and hopefully, with the grace of God, we can all live out this spirit, not just during the pilgrimage, but also during our own daily walk of life.

On behalf of Ban Phục Vụ Đồng Hành and YaYA Ministries, again thank you so much for your love and support.

United in love and prayers,
Thái-Sơn

WYD - Interactive Map

Các bạn muốn biết có bao nhiêu bạn trẻ từ Việt Nam, và từ khắp nơi đi dự World Youth Day?

http://www.madrid11.com/en/cifras

Magis & World Youth Day Web Site

http://www.jesuit.org/wyd/

Hymn of World Youth Day 2011

Firmes en la fe, firmes en la fe
caminamos en Cristo, nuestro Amigo, nuestro Señor.
¡Gloria siempre a Él! ¡Gloria siempre a Él!
Caminamos en Cristo firmes en la fe.

Tu amor nos edifi ca y nos arraiga,
tu cruz nos consolida y fortalece.
Tu carne nos redime y nos abraza,
tu sangre nos renueva y nos embriaga.
Oh, Cristo, nuestro Hermano,
oh, Cristo, nuestro Amigo,
nuestro Señor.
¡Haznos firmes en ti!

Official Theme Song for World Youth Day 2011 Released!

Please visit:
http://www.xt3.com/library/view.php?id=3896&categoryId=14

World Youth Day 2011, Madrid August 16-21

I woke up in darkness
Surrounded by silence
So where, where have I gone?
I woke to reality
Losing its grip on me
Oh where, where have I gone?
'Cause I can see the light
Before I see the sunrise

[chorus]
You called and You shouted
Broke through my deafness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again
You shattered my darkness
Washed away my blindness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again

Late have I loved You
You waited for me, I searched for You
What took me so long?
I was looking outside
As if Love would ever want to hide
I'm finding I was wrong
'Cause I can feel the wind
Before it hits my skin

[]

'Cause I want You,
Yes I want You I need You, and I'll do
Whatever I have to just to get through
'Cause I love You,
Yeah I love You

[]

Logo Unveiled for World Youth Day 2011

Reflects Unity That Forms a Marian Crown

MADRID, Spain, JULY 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The logo for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid was presented today: The image reflects youth of the world beneath the cross, united to form the crown of Our Lady, patron of Madrid.

The upcoming World Youth Day is scheduled for Aug. 16-21, 2011.

The logo designer, José Gil-Nogués, explained that the image symbolizes "youth of the whole world united to celebrate their faith together with the Pope, at the foot of the cross, and they form the crown of Our Lady of Almudena, patron of Madrid."

The crown, Gil-Nogués added, forms the "M" of Mary and of Madrid. And the cross, symbol of Christianity, presides over the event.

The message of the logo, the designer continued, is "a catechesis, an opportunity for evangelization: The quick and sure path to reach Christ is the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of mankind. In Mary's faith, youth have the example and model for reaching Christ and fulfilling the primary goal of World Youth Day: to bring their message to the world."

"The logo has a firm and spontaneous stroke," Gil-Nogués suggested, "like youth of the 21st century. It is close, friendly, open. Joyful, carefree and positive."

"The use of a palette of warm colors -- red, orange and yellow -- transmits unmistakable warmth and friendliness, symbols of the identity of a city like Madrid, a nation like Spain. These colors also reflect the 'divine warmth' of Trinitarian Love."

The logo was selected after a competition among professional graphic designers.

Link:
http://www.zenit.org/article-26595?l=english