What an experience! …And it’s not even over! :)
On the 5th of August I hopped on a bus from Madrid to Malaga and my body hasn’t stopped moving since! Down in the south of Spain, my congregation (Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate) held a week long event for the youth of our parishes from around the world. There were Chinese kids, Australians, Africans, and a LOT of Italians, Americans, and Polish. 1,200 in all. It was a sort of pre-game experience for our Oblate youth in order to introduce them to kids from around the world in a more personal manner and just to share our Oblate charism with them.
I went down as a volunteer about 5 days before the event began. I got lucky because the guys from my house in Rome were able to stay with a beautiful family; very religious and generous. So, thinking that I would just be doing a little translating and ‘gopher’ stuff, I went to the first days meetings with a light heart. But then reality struck…
The Spanish Oblates had assigned each of us to a group of pilgrims to act as a coordinator and to keep them happy. They assigned me to the almost 200 member strong American group. After looking at the schedule that they gave us for the events, I realized that the Americans would go absolutely insane with boredom…there were too many free times with nothing to do! Having done some youth ministry in the US, I knew that in order to keep the kids happy they needed to be kept occupied. So I and my trust partner, Fr. Tony, started to make a schedule of events so that they would be able to see the city and spend time at the beach.
Fr. Tony and I were lucky enough to have several Spanish volunteers assigned to work with us. They were all from the north of Spain and were an amazing group! During those days of preparation, I was able to practice my Spanish and learn a lot of new phrases from these youth. ;)
Our crazy little chinita, Elena
And so the Americans arrived in full force and at unexpected hours. My group was assigned to sleep on the floor of three parishes in the worst neighborhood in Malaga. Needless to say, they had to be kept moving and out of the barrio in order to keep any bad things from happening. After a couple of days of rough sailing due to massive problems with showers (sometimes a simple waterhose outside!) and mosquitoes, things settled into a daily schedule of Mass in the morning, long walks to downtown (we tried to buses once and that took more than 2 hours!), hours at the beach, and nice evenings of relaxing.
Even though I had a heavy schedule and caught a lot of flak being the man everyone came to, it was an extremely blessed moment. I was able to cultivate personal relationships with a bunch of the youth, to spent time with my brother Oblates from the US, and most importantly for me, to see how much I have grown and matured in my time in Rome. This was the first time that I was basically in charge of a group of this size, but I never once felt nervous and the right words would come at the right moment and I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit working through the events. What a powerful feeling!!
But the best, the absolute best part of it all, was meeting the Oblatas! They are a newly formed religious community of sisters that share in the exact same charism as we Oblates (even the same rules) and their spirit matches perfectly with that of the congregation I have come to love over these last 4 years. They are 20 amazing women firmly rooted in Christ and dedicated fully to spreading the gospel and evangelizing the poorest of the poor. What marvelous creatures! I developed several very close friendships with them over just a few days and I feel honored to have met them. I’m still hanging out with them here in Madrid!
(Sisters Katerina and Raquel my partners, and Emma) Oblatas or OMI
Emma, me, and Raquel in a John Paul II exhibit in Madrid
And so, after 10 days of near exhaustion and solid work and responsibilities, I returned Monday to Madrid with all 1,200 kids from Malaga. Although I was hoping to find some rest here, it has not happened since I was given the responsibility of giving tours of our house in which 22 of my brother Oblates were martyred in 1936. Beautiful but tiring with all the events with the Pope, I am praying for a break sometime soon…maybe when I’m dead!
So its Thursday, the Pope just arrived and I will just keep on trying my best until Sunday when this craziness is over!
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