Landfall and Running

It has been a week since we returned from World Youth Day. Coming back from being with millions of people back to normal life has been strange for me. At the beginning of the week, I would go outside and would be waiting to hear the chants from various countries being excited to be in Madrid at World Youth Day, forgetting that we are no longer there and it is now a memory.

What I experienced with the other pilgrims is something that will live with me forever! It was exciting to see so many youth, young adults, and adults come together to share our faith. Going to Masses and actually having the youth participate in saying the prayers and singing was something everyone needs to experience! Yes, we at St. George are fortunate to have Masses in which the youth participate through the CFF program but what I experienced was so much more!

Now we are at home where life has turned back to normal. During World Youth Day we prayed together each day at a daily Mass and said the Rosary together many times on bus trips. Unfortunately with our work and school schedules, I can no longer participate in daily Mass. It is sad for me that I cannot go to daily Mass as that helped me to strengthen my faith and kept me closer in touch with Jesus.

For our family, coming home meant that Sean had to return to college Friday. That was less than 24 hours after we arrived on Logan Express in Framingham. We (David, Sean, and I) scrambled to pull together everything Sean needed and go out to buy some new supplies before bringing him to campus. Jeremy went back to his routine of going into work for many scheduled meetings that day.

We spent our first weekend home by going up to our summer house on Sebago Lake in Maine and preparing for the hurricane. We returned home by noon on Sunday to do the same.

On Monday, people at work were excited to see me and asked questions about our pilgrimage. I showed many pictures to them and some told me they followed us through our blog. I hope that I will be able to go to another World Youth Day to experience the enthusiasm by the youth and young adults and help to strengthen my faith even more!