In the document Theological Foundation of World Youth Day (WYD) Lisbon 2023, available online, we find the dream that the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) has for the realization of WYD Lisbon 2023: “May the World Youth Day in Portugal be a strong moment of grace for all young people to renew the dynamism of their vocation, responding to the invitation of Jesus Christ to be authentic missionary disciples in the life of the Church and society.”
This is where we all want to get to in this process that is the WYD! According to several dozen testimonies, much is being accomplished in this regard. Many testimonies are proving that the pilgrimage of the WYD23 symbols through the various dioceses in Portugal is touching the lives and hearts of many young and not-so-young people.
The visits to schools and universities in the various dioceses are proof of this openness to all young people. Several young people told us that they felt a healthy and humble pride when they saw that their peers, who are usually absent from religious events, felt a strong enthusiasm and shared a deep joy in the presence of these initiatives of the passage of the WYD23 symbols.
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH
The dream shared by CEP includes the desire that this WYD be for young people a renewal of the dynamism of their own vocation. And the fundamental vocation of every baptized person is to recognize that each one of us is called to love God through a personal call that always involves a fraternal response.
Throughout these months we have witnessed that this fraternal, inclusive, and humanitarian dimension is present in a very strong and striking way in the activities of the pilgrimage of the WYD23 symbols. It is proven by the fact that, generally, the organizers of the activities want “the symbols to reach outside the Church!”
Let me explain. The expression comes from a priest of a certain diocese who tried to instill this motto in the whole team to say that the symbols have to reach all those who don’t normally come to church. The symbols have to go out from the Church, very much in line with the thought and request of Pope Francis who asks for a “Church going forth!”
Allow me to share with you a significant activity that took place in a given diocese. In the programming of a parish, the idea arose to take the symbols to two gypsy camps. The idea was twofold: to challenge the local Christian community to question the ethnic prejudices that we have towards this community and to give a sign of inclusion and closeness to these brothers and sisters of ours because they also have the right to know that they are loved by God.
YOUNG MISSIONARY DISCIPLES
CEP’s dream for the realization of WYD23 is still this: “To respond to the invitation of Jesus Christ to be authentic missionary disciples in the life of the Church and society.” It is a renewed call to encounter the person of Jesus Christ, to look at what He did, how He did it, and with whom He did it. This is being authentic missionary disciples.
I believe that, from the examples that I shared with you from the echoes that we gathered from the pilgrimage of the WYD symbols, we can say that the dream of the CEP is really happening: there are young people meeting with Jesus Christ. There are many who felt the renewed and dynamic call to serve the Church and society in building God’s dream of a more fraternal, more human and more inclusive world that respects social and ethnic differences.
