More on the Holy Spirit

The scripture focus for this year's World Youth Day is Acts 1:8 -

"You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout

Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

And so the Holy Spirit has been unleashed, and as I alluded to in the last post, his tangible presence has permeated every ounce of this pilgrimage. Here's our journey with the Spirit so far:

2006-early 2007: Exploring the possibility of taking a group, but told we needed to make a commitment in early 2007 to travel with a group. Well, the way young adults work, that kind of a commitment was impossible to come by, so we thought we'd try to make our own way a little closer to the date.

Summer 2007: I check the airline fares and we're still okay in terms of cost and flight availability, so I begin to gather those who are interested. We have about 10, and as the cost starts to come together, that wanes to about 4, including my. Thinking that such a small group doesn't justify such a large endeavor, it's suggested that I confirm a spiritual director and let that be a draw to the pilgrimage opportunity.

Being the first large pilgrimage I've put together, I'm at a bit of a loss on how to choose a spiritual director. Then someone suggests Fr. John Martin from St. Benedict Monastery who has become a staple with one of the young adult ministry groups. So, I ask. Of course, about now, I'm also finding out that we may not actually be able to get flights to Australia due to the enormous demand and limited number of seats. At this point, we tentatively have a spiritual director and possibly no seats for our group of 6. Through all of this turmoil, I feel the urge to pull out my hair, and then it dawns on me. We don't have to go Australia - it would be nice, but not essential. So, I finally decide to turn it all over to the Lord. Better late than never, right?

Fall 2007: We've been beginning our group meetings with "Lord, if it is your will, pave the way before us and be with us through our journey." Boy is the Lord and his Spirit ever faithful!! At the end of October, we were unsure we had any way to get to Australia and were still an awfully small (and tenative) group. By the time Christmas came around, I had gotten a phone call that not only did we have seats, but we had three extra in case we found other who wanted to go. Within a week of that call, I received two emails from people ready to hand over a deposit and sign their names on the dotted line...THREE PEOPLE to be exact. T'ain't no coincidence, methinks. Those who were a little unsure about taking that much time off of new jobs had bosses tell them to take all the time they needed when they learned what they were doing, and Fr. John Martin had not only agreed to go with us, but had made connections with the Benedictines outside of Sydney, just about the same time I was thinking it might be a good idea to check with him to see if there were Benedictines in/around Sydney. Go Holy Spirit!

Winter 2008: Our formation continues and the group begins to come together in ways I could never have orchestrated on my own. We have those who occassionally miss a few meetings, and scheduling gets sometimes hectic, but it all somehow works out. By some sheer coincidence...oh, wait - I mean by the grace of the Spirit alone - all of us actually are even able to go on retreat together...a retreat that ended up being on the power of witness in our faith. From this experience, the group decides that they want to meet together more often. Some of them meet to pray the rosary, they go to Mass together, and through the Spring, we continue to learn more about each other and get comfortable with one another, which is very important since we will be spending time in close quarters for two weeks!

Spring 2008: So, I make our final payments to World Youth Day, and a week later it still isn't registering. On top of that I still haven't gotten Visas or tickets for the Detroit-LA leg of our trip. I contact a couple of travel agents, none of whom get back to me with estimates or fares for our domestic flight. At this point, we are paid from LA - Sydney, so we are getting to LA one way or the other, though at the time it was looking like the standard fares would put us a little over budget. Remembering my commitment to complete surrender, again I pray our now familiar prayer - "Lord, pave the way before us." Not a few days later, I am skimming the news headlines when I come across an article on internet booking tips that help find the lowest fares, and in reading it, realize some airlines don't have their fares on sites like Travelocity and Orbitz. Going to their sites separately, I end up saving $200 per ticket on our leg to/from LA and coming in well within our budget. (even though I did think we were saving $400 as I read the fares for the one-way and thought it was round-trip...oops!)

Now we are booked all the way to Sydney, and a few emails later, I have confirmation that our registration with WYD is indeed paid (my credit card was just a few weeks ahead of the game). If only those Visas would come through! Sure enough, the next week the Visas start flowing in. At this point, we are just waiting on one more, so if you are reading this, please pray that Tony's visa comes through sooner rather than later so we can breathe a sigh of relief, if only for a few minutes!! :)

...and that brings us to June, when our final preparations kick into gear with a little fundraising, tying up loose ends and a whole lot of praying! I am convinced that this trip is bound to be a powerful experience for each and every one of us. Though I'm still a little apprehensive about such a big trip, and experiencing the chaos of World Youth Day so very far away from home, I have no doubt that if we let ourselves, we will "float" through on the wings and the power of the Spirit.

June Update: The Holy Spirit strikes again!! In speaking with other group leaders, I had begun to hear rumors that some groups were being placed in simple accommodations up to 3 hours outside of Sydney. Though we still haven't gotten our housing assignment yet, and being a pretty strong "J" (for those of you familiar with Myers-Briggs, it means I'm a planner), we have Fr. John Martin contact the Benedictines to see if it might be at all possible to stay with them through the duration of the event, other than the Vigil weekend, when we will be in Sydney.

Now up until this point, we had heard that we'd be able to stay at the Benedictine Monastery prior to and after the official event, but that we may not all have beds and we may have to share rooms. As of today, we've been informed that not only are we able to stay the whole time, but we will also all have our own beds. Of course, we did also find out that they are about an hour outside the city instead of 30 minutes as previously thought. But...it is still nice to have a comfortable option open for us, and the radical hospitality of the Benedictines is a certain grace for sure! I think there will be some heavy praising of the Holy Spirit when the rest of the group finds out! Oh yeah, that's right, I broadcast it before I told them...oops.... ;-)

Welcome to the Journey!!

G'day Mate! Well, at least that's what I hear they say in the Land Down Under, in the Oz, or as it's most commonly known, Australia. And Down Under is where we are headed in less than two months...40 days to be exact. Though we'll lose two days in travel, we are still unbelievably blessed to be spending two weeks in Oz amongst the natives and fellow pilgrims. (Latest estimates predict 250 - 500K WYDers from around the world).

Genesis Ministries is privileged and incredibly blessed to be taking a group of nine for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many thanks to the Catholic parishes and religious of Oakland County over the years for their support of all our young adult ministry efforts. The nine traveling with us are (in no specific order) Anna Dudek, Andrea Hooper, Laura Uschold, Sandra Tomaszycki, Tony Thompson, Christa Lindsey, Jerry LaPointe, our spiritual director Fr. John Martin from St. Benedict Monastery in Oxford, and yours truly as the fearless, though somewhat trepidacious, leader.

I have been so blessed to get to know our group of pilgrims over the last 8+ months. They are truly heaven-sent! I've heard some ... colorful ... stories from pilgrims past where there were ... interesting ... personalities, and I am thrilled to say that we are ALL interesting personalities! Personalities aside, we are all on the same page in terms of the spiritual mission of this trip, and we continue to bond in ways I could never have imagined in over so short a time, which will come in handy! We will be traveling with what WYD calls "simple accommodations" - this can range anywhere from home stays with host families to piling into a gymnasium or church hall. Most likely, we will be staying at a Benedictine monastery right outside of Sydney, an opportunity that came to us by the inspiration and intervention of the Holy Spirit, who truly has guided our steps and paved the way before us in more ways than can be expressed.

Since taking the plunge in September 2007 by committing to take a group, we have experienced our share of ups and downs, sometimes wondering if we would even be able to go. Flights were unavailable, registrations weren't being confirmed, email inquiries went unanswered...you name, we faced it! And yet, through it all, the power of the Holy Spirit and undoubtedly the intercession of Pope John Paul II, who was the human force behind World Youth Day, has continually overcome any obstacles we encountered. Flights opened up and with more seats than we needed...and we filled them! A few hundred emails and tens of formation meetings later, we stand 40 days away from a great "bon voyage!"

As we travel to and in Sydney, we will try to update this blog with reflections and highlights of our travels and experiences. Not knowing what access I will have to wireless internet, the photo/video/audio may have to be added upon our return. If it is possible to add them while we are there, I most certainly will!

Thanks for being a part of this with us!

The peace and countless blessings of Christ be yours always,
Rakhi Roy
Director, Genesis Ministries