´this was such a unique experience, and an eye opener. I will be processing it for some time, but I know it has made a different and will impact on the rest of my life´
 
Í was supposed to go on holidays with the girls after this, but I am not really that enthusiastic about that holiday now, this has given me something different´
 
Í know I have made true friends for life here´
 
'Coming here I really didnt know what to expect, it was such a mix of things but above all a powerful experience of faith and the presence of the Holy Spirit'
 
'I'm just afriad I wont be able to tap into anything like this when i go home. the energy and enthusiasm for the faith here is so inspiring
 
'I really hope I have the courage to do something about what I experienced and what touched me here when I go back to ireland and into the daily routine. something happened, even though I am not sure what, something definitely happened'

So, we are all gatthered back in this jesuit secondary school close to the centre of madrid. on monday 15th after a week in the experiences everyone travelled to madrid to meet in this college and there was really great excitement with everyone talking about their different activities and experiences from the time we left loyola on 8th august. I write a short brief below.....
 
 The irish group of 51 taking part in magis were split into 7 experiences - 3 in spain, 3 in portugal and 1 in morocco . Why - because magis was a collaborative effort of the 5 jesuit proviinces of spain and of the portugese province and they had to cater to 3,000 participants so 100 experience options were needed!
 
1. My group was in Vallodolid in North Spain - we were with a group from Spain and Singapore - what we did was like a retreat experience of praying with the body. the idea was to take ourselves and our prayer out of our heads and into the rest of our bodies. it was great fun. we did meditations on our hands and with our eyes and at the end of the week we used what we learned to prepare a series of short mimes for the penitentiary rite a mass for the whole community.
 
2. Another group worked for a week on a prayer farm - it was a farm devloped by a lady in Portugal for people to go to and have a retreat experience - they tended vegetables and weeded, they prepared the ground to build a little prayer room, they thought locals to do some irish dancing and shared food and experiences of faith with them. they shared that experience with spanish and polish and guatamala.
 
3. Another 2 groups in Portugal spent the week with a group of Lebanese, French, Spanish and Chinese people living in a poor multi cultural area of Lisbon, visiting a slum area, learning about the social issues locally, considering the connectiopn of what they saw to the call of faith and the gospel, visiting each day a homes for terminally ill peolpe, homes for people living with mental disabilities and an orphanage - just going and spending time with them and providing some light entertainment.
 
4. Another group in Spain went on an experience that saw them stay in a cistercian monastery for 24 hours and live the prayer and ordinary life of the monks there, they also came into contact with people of different faith or come from a different faith tradition - within christianity and also Islam. and to a  learned a bit about those traditions. by these ordinary conversations they were challenged to note how much or how little they knew or understood abuot their own faith and reflected on the meaning of the term ``,all people of good will´ .
 
The Morocco group had a fantastic time as well working and living amongst local people.
 
Yesterday was the first day of the WYD event. it was a day for people to get to know the city, catch up with each other and mark out what things ni their WYD guide they would like to do over the coming days. then at 4pm alot of the Irish pilgrims at WYD - about 900 (from different dioceses and religious groups) gathered at a church in the centre of Madrid for simple prayer and to meet and greet and here about each others experiences.
 
Later in the evening the opening mass took place at the centre of town - Cibeles. there was a great buzz in the city all day, flags from all over the world, lots of drums and music and chat, it was really hot and there were longish queues for food but that will get better as the week goes on. We had great fun coming home on the metro (underground) last night waiting for the metro -the platforms were filled with WYD pilgrims on opposite sides of the rail tracks - we were doing the mexican wave and singing and dancing!
 
Last night some of us went to a musical put on by a group of young french people  on the life and ministry of john of the cross and teresa of avila - it was really well done, really lovely and the auditorium was air conditioned so that was even better.
 
Today - Wed 17th we had our first catechesis session. Cardinal Keith O´Brien from Scotland spoke about his own life of faith and journey into priesthood and beyond. the hall was full and he answered a few questions before celebrating mass. as always the interesting conversations happen after these events - ´so what did you think of what the cardinal had to say´....well....!!
 
Everyone now will go into town - they all have wee workshops and talks and musical events they want to go to. some went to Taize prayer yesterday,and for a general tour of the city, I will go to a religious museum today and maybe a tour of the convents in the city, I also want to go to the vocations fair and just hang out in one of the many parts chatting with people from all over the world.
 
Noelle

Thursday 18th August

For the Irish pilgrims the day kicked off with a catechesis session given by Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.  A large crowd gathered in the Collegio de Nuestra Senora de la Recuerdo for the session, the 2nd in a series of three organized in the college. The Archbishop clearly relished the opportunity to preach to the youth on the theme of “established in Christ”.  He highlighted how many Catholics have only a vague knowledge of the gospels and hence their image of Jesus is often inaccurate and unhelpful for their spiritual lives.  The Archbishop stressed that it was only by knowing Jesus the savior that Catholics would have the strength to swim against the current in an increasingly secular society.

The big event of the day was the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI who landed at midday at Madrid Airport.  In anticipation of his welcome address to pilgrims, many pilgrims headed for the city centre in the afternoon to secure a good viewing place.  The entertainment for the swelling crowd started at 3pm with an array of music and video pieces.  The soaring temperatures did not succeed in diminishing their excitement and they chanted “esta es la juventud del papa” with increasing joy.  After the Pope had made his way to the "Plaza de Cibeles" in his iconic pope mobile, he warmly welcomed the young pilgrims to World Youth Day.  Following the theme of the morning’s catechesis, he said how Christianity hinged on an encounter with the risen Lord. 

The Irish contingent then made their way to the Palais de Deportes where the federation of Spanish religious were putting on a show dedicated to the vocation to religious life.  Those present were treated to a lively show which included music, drama, video and testimony from various conscerated men and women who wanted to share the joy of their life with the Lord. 

Nial
 

Greetings from Valladolid in north west Spain. we are in the first days of our experience as multi national groups of young people.

We arrived into loyola the birthplace of St. Ignatius on 5th august and wow- what an experience to see so many young people from all over the world chatting and having fun and being silent in prayer together. There we chatted with students and young professionals from singapore, china, ethiopia, mexico - everywhere!

We had music events in the evening and the irish group lead a ceili including a huge performance of the 'walls of tory' in the halls of loyola. it was an amazing thing to see the costumes and dances from other countries during the cultural evening concert. the irish made eegits of ourselves - we are becoming known as the jokers of the pack I think - but in a really good way!

On sunday we had a huge open air Mass with the Fr General of the Jesuits - Adolfo Nicolas. What a humble, wise and funny man. He says things so simply but they touch deeply. AND he said them in english, spanish, portugese and Basque! at the end of the mass we - young people, jesuits all - sang and danced to 'are we human or are we dancer'!! a beautiful party atmosphere on the steps of loyola.

The other really cool thing so far was an audience he held with a group of 100 young people representing the different nations at magis.

He laughed and joked and answered lots of good and tricky questions. He invited us all to be Giraffes - not to just have one idea that we are bound to but to have huge hearts and long vision for the future. I think we should make the giraffe the emblem of magis for the future!!

From midnight on the 7th august there were buses taking us all to our experience either in spain, portugal or north africa.

Here in valladolid we are 7 irish with a group from Singapore and Spain - learning to pray with all of our bodies. Very interesting.
Looking forward to the first mass and first magis circle this evening.

Hasta luego!

Noelle