Promoting the Jesuits as a Vocation at World Youth Day 2011
Jesuits' Vocation Booth at the World Youth Day Vocations Fair
Jesuit Father Jack Bentz is at World Youth Day as a vocation promoter for the Society of Jesus. Currently in Madrid, Fr. Benz joins a group of other Jesuits from the U.S. who are speaking with young people at World Youth Day who might be discerning joining the Jesuits.
Benz explains to the WYD pilgrims what the Jesuits do, what a life as a Jesuit might look like and how these pilgrims might continue on with their own vocation path, possibly as a Jesuit like himself.
Hear more from Benz in the video below.
Curious about what life as Jesuit might be like? Visit the Society of Jesus in the United States’ vocation page.
One City, One World: World Youth Day 2011 Begins in Madrid
The following post is from the official Magis 2011 website. You can follow along with the Magis 2011 participants’ journeys in Madrid for World Youth Day, by visiting the Magis 2011 site here.
Just when you were starting to get your head around the fact that there were 3000 people at MAGIS 2011, World Youth Day arrives and multiplies that by a hundred times and more!
Hundreds of thousands of young people headed towards the Plaza de Cibeles last night for the Opening Mass of World Youth Day. The streets of Madrid were awash with noise and color, just as Loyola had been, as people of all nationalities came together to mark the beginning of World Youth Day celebrations.
Antonio María Rouco Varela, the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, presided at Mass. In his homily, he welcomed the World Youth Day pilgrims to Madrid and was greeted with a wave of loud cheers all the way down the Paseo de los Recoletos, which was lined with the huge crowds who couldn’t get anywhere near the square due to the sheer number of people.
From the sides of the street, you could watch the Mass on big screens and listen through the speaker system, although this was a bit temperamental. But the huge orchestra and choir did a fantastic job of creating a celebratory but prayerful atmosphere – no easy task when some of the congregation were nearly a mile away! It was unfortunate that the overwhelming numbers of people meant that not everybody was able to receive the Eucharist, but the exchanges of welcome and good wishes among everyone present ensured that we were truly in communion with one another. Magis 2011 has prepared us to be with Christ at the heart of the world – and now the whole world has come to Madrid!
Magis 2011 pilgrim Emma Scuglik captured this video of her and her Magis group as they prepared for the opening Mass last night.
When You are a Magis Pilgrim, You have to Learn to F.R.O.G
Jesuit Sam Sawyer is wrapping up a full week and a half of chaperoning a group of students from Loyola University Maryland during their trip to Spain for Magis 2011.
Sawyer is in the Regency period of his Jesuit formation, which is a time when Jesuits work for two or three years in a Jesuit school or other approved ministry while also living in a Jesuit community.
Sawyer’s group of seven pilgrims joined up with others from Slovakia, Romania and Nigeria hiking from Verdú, where Jesuit Saint Peter Claver was born and then following in the footsteps of Saint Ignatius’ journey towards Montserrat and Manresa. Traveling 68 miles in six days, the group hiked for 12 hours a day and also found a few opportunities to share pictures and to journal during their experience in their blog “Bringing Loyola to Loyola.”
On their blog, the students have shared their reflections on being pilgrims at Magis. Brendan Fulmer wrote that he was “Humbled. That is one of the first words that pops into my head. I am humbled over this experience. After hiking for hours, a 4 hour bus ride is like heaven. After sleeping on a rock-hard…well rock, a wooden floor to sleep on is too good to be true. My point is that I embrace and give thanks to the life God has graced me with. God is everywhere we just have to notice him…Embrace the little joys of life; do not take them for granted. Don’t complain; offer it up for someone or even as worship to God. Give thanks and rejoice.”
The Magis pilgrims usually bring along little trinkets and gifts to share with their fellow pilgrims during their travels. Kate Velcamp bought green rubber bracelets inscribed with the words “F.R.O.G.” and “Fully Rely On God” on the other in gold letters.
Jesuit Sam Sawyer (center) with his pilgrim group in Manresa.
She shared in a blog post that, “This is how I have lived my life for the past few months at Loyola. I know that God has a plan for me and that there are is a reason why certain things happen. This is why I loved the bracelets so much. I know God is in my heart and by listening to my heart I can get to where God wants me to be to continue his plan. It took me until our last day of pilgrimage to realize how perfect the bracelets turned out to be…That’s when it hit me. Our whole group had gotten through this pilgrimage because of our love of God and the belief that God was there for us. God was with us for all 115 kilometers. We all believed that there was something great coming our way by completing the pilgrimage. Like Ignatius, we left our land and our comfort, changed our habits and learned to accept the unexpected. And we did it by accepting that we were being led by God. God was in all our our hearts, pushing us, making sure that we get to our goal safely. It was God that helped us take that first step, and then the next, and before we knew it we were in Manresa.”
While the Loyola University Maryland pilgrims were traveling to Manresa, 265 miles to the north, in Puente La Reina, a group from Marquette University was taking a break from their own pilgrimage to Javier, the birthplace of Jesuit Saint Francis Xavier.
In this video, Magis pilgrims John and Patricia discuss what they’ve been doing on their pilgrimage and how they are looking forward to what World Youth Day has in store.
Magis 2011 Pilgrims Live Out the Five Rules of Pilgrimage
No one said it was going to be easy!
Marquette University student Emma Scuglik interviews some Hong Kong pilgrims and other new found friends who are accompanying her along her Magis 2011 pilgrimage on what the five rules of a successful pilgrimage entail.
Making Friends at Magis 2011
Magis is a pastoral experience of events and programs organized by the Jesuits for World Youth Day pilgrims in the weeks before World Youth Day begins in Madrid, Spain. Magis participants get to experience being “men and women for others” as they gather together to celebrate their faith and to serve and volunteer in their host country of Spain as well as Portugal and North Africa.
They also get to have fun!
These young adults, who are “with Christ at the heart of the world”, find a commonality with other young people from across the globe who might not share their language, their customs or their background yet do share their faith and beliefs. In this video piece, Marquette University students meet up with other Magis pilgrims from Malta and Thailand and discuss where their experiences will be taking them and what they’ll be doing during their Magis experiences.
Official Web Sites
 |  |
