Today was the first full day of Pope Benedict's stay in Australia. While he took today to rest and to welcome the Archbishop of Sydney for a luncheon meeting, the pilgrims continue to arrive in Sydney by plane, by bus, by car, on foot ... by any means of transportation that is possible.
The World Youth Day cross, which has been travelling through 400 communities across Australia in anticipation of the WYD celebration, finally arrived today by boat and in procession through the downtown area of Sydney. It was accompanied by the WYD icon which also was confided to the care of the world's youth by the late Pope John Paul II. This year, these two travelling items were also accompanied for the first time by an aboriginal talking stick.
Today was the last full day for registration of new pilgrims and for the priests who are here to complete their registration and accreditation before the beginning of official activities tomorrow. Today, my companion and I began our day at 1 Grafton Street, Chippendale - the address we had been instructed to visit in order to complete the registration for WYD, and to pick up the accreditation which will allow us to concelebrate the opening Mass tomorrow and the closing Mass on Sunday morning.
Within minutes of our arrival at 1 Grafton Street, where there were not only priests, but a long line of volunteers and other group leaders waiting to complete their registration, we were instructed by some of the volunteers that all priests had been asked to go to the famous Sydney Opera House in order to complete their accreditation. Normally, priests accompany groups of pilgrims but are not the group leaders, so the volunteers immediately instructed us to go to the Opera House, without picking up our pilgrim packs first.
Once we had finally located the room in the Opera House where the accreditation was being completed for priests, we then had to wait for more than two hours before arriving at the head of the line and getting our prized nametags which will be displayed all through the week in order to gain us access to the areas reserved for clergy this week. Only after we had procured our accreditation could we return once again to 1 Grafton Street to pick up our pilgrim packages. Thankfully, by the time we had returned, although the lines of people had not diminished, we did not have to wait too long before we got our pilgrim packs.
In all, we spent the better part of six hours travelling from one part of the city to another, and waiting - as patiently as possible - for the process of accreditation and registration to be complete. We were actually among the lucky ones; given the number of priests who have arrived and who are still arriving from all parts of the world, the waiting game has only just begun.
Tomorrow's opening Mass begins at 4:30 pm local time on the shores of the Sydney Harbour in the newly-named Barangaroo park not far from Sydney's Darling Harbour.
When all is said and done, the process of registration is constantly being improved from one experience of WYD to another. This is not an easy process, and those who are resposible for making it happen have quite a difficult task to accomplish. Given the fact that there are more than 200,000 pilgrims expected, it seems that everything can appear to be under control at least when it comes to planning the process, but when the human element is added, there are more than a few opportunities for confusion to occur, and the entire experience of WYD becomes one of patience, elasticity and realizing that this is truly a pilgrimage, the moving of people from one significant meeting of our hearts with the heart of Jesus, to another.
Within the next few days, this most recent meeting of hearts will unfold. I'm convinced that there will be miracles this week, and there will be moments to truly stand in awe of God who accomplishes the impossible with the feeble gifts of human beings who seek to follow Him.
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