In moving scenes that would melt the soul of the most hardened cynic, more than 10,000 young people dropped to their knees to welcome their risen King at the final plenary for the Catholic Youth Festival on Friday night. Not a sound could be heard for 20 minute as those in the packed arena paid homage during a time of Eucharistic Adoration.
The silence could not have been more striking, given the crowd had only an hour earlier been chanting "Hilda, Hilda, Hilda" in adulation for highly regarded 70-year-old Benedictine Sr Hilda, who was holding court during her Hanging with Hilda sessions. It was a night of music, dance, catechesis and prayer. For more than two hours Qudos Bank Arena witnessed the most extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit not seen, perhaps, since World Youth Day 08.
Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn challenged participants to take God up on his offer of a genuine and expansive life, just as Mary had done when she gave her whole-hearted yes to God. "An encounter with Jesus deep within lasts for eternity," Archbishop Prowse told the jubilant crowd in a speech repeatedly interrupted by prolonged cheering from the youth. "A tsunami of grace for young people; that's what we want." Gary and Natasha Pinto lifted the crowd with a rendition of Justin Timberlake's hit Can't Stop the Feeling, before Steve Angrisano prepared the crowd for Adoration. But it was headline act Matt Maher's accompaniment as the Blessed Sacrament was processed out of the building that will stay with the audience for a lifetime. He closed the night, eliciting the most lively and passionate crowd singing yet seen at an Australian Catholic Youth Festival, in a commanding display of the musical gifts that God has given him.
Earlier in the day, participants were treated to the witness of one of the festival's other major headline acts, Emily Wilson. The one-time aspiring sports broadcaster, who instead opted for a mission of speaking, YouTubing and writing about real life with God, held the 20,000-strong crowd in the palm of her hand as she spoke about vocation. The Californian said there were two truths she wanted her young audience to know. "God knows you, and he knows your heart," Emily told the crowd. "He has plans for each of our lives and those plans are very good." The first thing to do - often the most neglected thing - is to spend time speaking intimately with God, she said. "Have you prayed about it? We must talk to God to allow him to help us discover what our vocation is." There was a roar of mostly female voices around the packed Qudos Bank Arena when Emily showed pictures of her husband, Daniel, from their wedding - a segue into talking about what it means to give yourself over to your vocation.
Report from the Archdiocese of Sydney Australia - sydneycatholic.orgfrom Catholic News World http://ift.tt/2kW9GzF
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