With Sunday’s feast of Pentecost, the youth of Catholic Action have begun a three-stage spiritual preparation for the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid.
“It is the time to begin our spiritual pilgrimage in preparation for Madrid’s WYD, to start ‘warming’ the heart and mind,” said Chiara Finocchietti, the vice president of Italy’s youth branch. “At the center of this journey we place prayer and the support of the saints.”
Catholic Action leaders are proposing the spiritual pilgrimage for all countries where the group is active. It is composed of 13 steps.
Each stage of the journey — which will develop through monthly meetings — draws from a verse of the prayer in preparation for WYD and a biblical meditation from one of the Gospels of the period. Each meditation has a few brief lines of introduction, followed by a reflection on the Word of God. It ends with the testimony of a young saint or beatified member of Catholic Action, with a brief biography and some significant sayings from the saint, as well as what the Holy Father has said about him or her.
The spiritual pilgrimage has been designed for personal and group prayer, at the parish or diocesan level. The design of the meditations allows for easy printing and copying. “It could be the occasion to meet with young people of other groups and share a common approach to Madrid’s World Youth Day,” Finocchietti proposed.
The first meditation, which spans the period from Pentecost Sunday to June 20, “will be supported by the luminous figure of Pier Giorgio Frassati, patron of Sydney’s WYD,” she explained. The 20th anniversary of Frassati’s beatification was last Thursday.
ROME, MAY 24, 2010 (Zenit.org)