Pilgrims and Their Jesuit Chaperones Headed to Spain for Magis 2011
Over 200 young people from Jesuit schools across the United States are getting set to join their Jesuit chaperones and hundreds of other young people from Jesuit schools across the globe for this year’s Magis 2011 in Spain.
The events kick off this Friday at the birthplace of the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and from there pilgrims disperse across Spain and Portugal for their week-long experiences as diverse as volunteering in a prison, accompanying marginalized families, serving pilgrims at Lourdes or restoring a hermitage. There are six types of experiences: Pilgrimage, Social Service, Art and Creativity, Faith and Culture, Spirituality and Ecology. Almost 100 experiences are planned.
After, the Magis pilgrims will join back together in Madrid along with hundreds of thousands of others who are there for the World Youth Day 2011 festivities.
But, before their three week pilgrimage in Spain can begin, the pilgrims need to pack! Since accommodations will include roughing it across the country while staying in dormitories and even camping outdoors, the pilgrims are expected to carry what they need only in a backpack.
Marquette University student Emma Scuglik is taking us along on her travels to Spain. In the video below, she shares her excitement with us as she packs for Spain and tries to figure out how she is going to fit everything she needs for a three week trip into just one backpack.
What is World Youth Day?
World Youth Day (WYD) is a meeting of young people from all over the world, gathered to celebrate and learn about their faith. It is a great worldwide encounter with the Pope which is celebrated every three years in a different country and is one of the primary means by which the Church proclaims the message of Christ to and expresses its concern for young people. The upcoming World Youth Day will take place in Madrid, Spain on August 16-21, 2011.
Pope John Paul II began World Youth Day in the 1980′s, and the tradition has continued with Pope Benedict XVI. The last three WYDs were held in Sydney, Australia (2008); Cologne, Germany (2005); and Toronto, Canada (2002). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims of high school, college, and young adult age come from all over the world to join in these celebrations of the universal Church.
After these days of catechesis and festival, the final weekend of World Youth Day is structured after the pattern of the Easter Triduum. On Friday there is a city-wide stations of the cross. Pilgrims gather in different groups at the locations of the various stations around the city. The whole procession is filmed and shown live on jumbotron screens at each of the locations, so that there are literally hundreds of thousands of people all over the city joined in common prayer.
On Saturday all the pilgrims set out from their various host schools, churches, and family homes to make a pilgrimage ride/walk to the location of the final outdoor prayer vigil and Sunday Mass. The pope comes Saturday evening to lead this massive congregation in a beautiful candlelit prayer vigil. Afterwards, the pilgrims lay out sleeping bags to spend the night under the stars. The pope then comes back in the morning to celebrate Sunday Mass with the world’s “parish.”
Visit the official site of World Youth Day at www.madrid11.com.
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