From the moment it was announced, WYD in Lisbon was on my mind, mainly because of my great desire to visit the Shrine of Fatima, due to my devotion to this title of Our Lady. In the midst of this journey, many things happened: a pandemic, the end of my university degree and an irresistible call from God to take my life completely out of my control (there I was, setting off on a mission as a Life Community).
Every now and then I would think back to this meeting with young people from all over the world and wonder if it would be possible to go, after all, the financial part was an obvious thing to think about and worry about. Without even expecting it, at the end of last year, I received a call from my sister in the Covenant Community inviting me, and when I prayed, the presence of Our Lady of Fatima as an intercessor always came through strongly.
Arriving in February at the Macapá mission as a D2, I prayed and God spoke through the passage in Mt 6, 25 – 32 about abandonment to providence. So, when I believed in the possibility, providence naturally manifested itself through various people. As I spoke about Our Lady of Fatima, I had the grace to visit the Shrine and make this great desire come true.
WYD was the experience of contemplating God’s desire for me to be a Community of Life in the midst of so many young people, even without knowing another language to communicate in. Being Shalom and being Church were the protagonists. Moysés, in a Halleluya worship service, encouraged us to join hands and said that we were all brothers and sisters in Christ, many cultures, many languages, many nations, but all brothers and sisters. This echoed in my heart such joy for the specific vocation within the Church, and to give justice to our primacy to young people and to be able to evangelize with a simple smile.
What can we say about the Pope’s words? “Jesus calls me as I am, not as I would like to be”. What a joy to touch God’s mercy through the Pope’s life. He said that we are a face and not a number, and that loving is a risk worth taking. In these words I find hope and fuel to persevere in God’s will.
During those days, I also felt the presence of holy friends very intensely, especially my friend from heaven, St. Therese, who in turn gave me the grace to get to know Lisieux, to enter the garden of her house in Les Buissonets, which was closed for renovation, but the “gardener” (quotation marks because for me it was Christ) who was there allowed me to enter for a few minutes and I felt even closer to this friend and faithful intercessor.
Fr. Franco said in a homily that these days were like a great wave, a wave of grace and like a seed that only bears fruit when it remains. Remaining in the soil and dying to bear fruit, that was my rhema. I feel inside this wave, and I want to remain in this soil, not in any way, but in this white martyrdom that is being Shalom, being Life Community in the mission that God is entrusting to me today. I hope that, like my experience, everyone who took part in WYD will reap the best fruits of holiness. Shalom!
Maria Eduarda
Second year disciple at Macapá Mission