The end of DED

Hola!

This is Marcus, Adam, Josh, Chris, Julian, Matt, Gord and Lucas!! Tag teaming the blog today!

Father Jijimon snores all night long. Thank goodness he’s a priest so we can’t get mad at him! After getting up we went to a Spanish mass with over 5000 other pilgrims from all over the world. It was a nice way to start our Sunday even though we could not understand anything Bishop Carlos of Valencia was saying (Thankfully the phrase “Amen” is universal)! However seeing about 6 Bishops and over 200 priests co-celebrating the mass was something pretty special!

Following this mass, we made our way back to our living quarters. During the trek home we encountered many impromptu shouts of ‘Yeah Canada’ and the sound of honking horns. It made us feel extremely loved as citizens of Canada (aka the best place on earth).

Upon our return home we felt that some more intimate time with our Lord was in order therefore we orchestrated our own personal group prayer in a lovely air-conditioned room of San Miguel and San Sebastien Parish. It was a beautiful contrast, going from a group of 5000+ to our own St. Joseph’s group of 23. Escaping the business of our adventures for the intimacy of our fellowship was moving in a way words cannot properly convey. The prayers were powerful, the emotions sincere, the songs were moving and the sense of unity was all around us.

Following this we embarked on a journey that led us to real cooked food as opposed to pizza salami sandwiches (which we all have had enough of to last us past Christmas). We got to indulge in some authentic Spanish Paillie (spelling is probably off on this one) that was made for us in gargantuan frying pans that stretched over 20 feet in diameter! Our minds were mildly blown. While eating we met many other Canadians, many of whom also hail from Vancouver and we realized Italians have far too many chants that they sing.

We also must inform you of some sad news. We lost one of our own today…. Leona, our beautiful soccer ball named after Lyon FC (whose emblem was emblazoned on our ball) was savagely punctured and left our cherished Leona for dead. The biopsy revealed that the culprit was one of the locals; a deceptively good looking and incredibly tall hybrid of strength and grace, one that has evolved over the centuries for the single purpose of hunting beautiful soccer balls. We talked to the local Police and we both agreed it be best of the palm trees in question be put down. We attempted emergency surgery but the nurse failed to back the duct tape necessary for our delicate operation. Rest in Peace our dearest Leona.

We will now continue to pump out clean laundry and hope for a restful night sleep prior to embarking on our most exciting journey to date. The epic finale to the travelling portion of our journey to Madrid. Stay tuned our family and friends and hopefully you too can experience just some of what we are about to experience at World Youth Day via our in depth blogging.



And a bonus……



Fr. Bryan has arrived… Actually, I have been here now for two rather eventful days. I was met in the airport by Daniel and Marcus who generously missed out on their siesta to meet me and welcome me to Valencia. Since then it has been a whirlwind of Catholicness. Thousands of young people kneeling on cobblestone before the Eucharist, the near constant echo from the singing and chanting of dozens of countries, stopping for photos and trading Canadiana at every corner – and World Youth Day has not even begun yet! Madrid promises many more adventures, and as always, an invitation to go deeper in our encounter with Christ.

Fr. Bryan