So lets start from the beginning shall we??!
2 weeks ago on Sunday, London's mayor hosted the annual Thames Festival along the river, so thats what we went to. It was probably the craziest, busiest, unbelievable-est Festival I have ever been too. There were people just everywhere...shops everywhere...and later in the night there were parades everywhere...and fireworks everywhere! It was pretty sweet.
Speaking of parades...I think that there parades are wicked! You should have seen some of the floats they came up with...Just to name a few (a giant octopus, an iron giant (literally), and a giant tea-pot)!! Below are some pictures...then you can see for yourself what I am talking about!
Oh, and get this....There was a real baby sleeping in the bottom of one of the floats...It was pretty weird...not sure how that baby could sleep either with music blasting every which way... Weird. Take a look. You can barely see it in the picture, but the baby is on the right hand side. You can see his hair.
Then came the most unbelievable fireworks display....EVER! I we will just leave it at that! I have video footage of the whole thing...however, the format needs to be converted in order for me to post it...and I don't have the right program...
In the next few days I found time to go to the local science museum...It was pretty neat, with exhibits centered around engines, and cars, and planes, and trains, etc.
But the one exhibit I sort of was attached to was one centered around the advancement of technology... Take a look at this game boy....a replica of one I used to own and play with as a boy! It was pretty neat.
And then there were items like older computers, TV's, washers, ovens, and bicycles...It is pretty unbelievable how technology advances in such a short time-span.
And then...then there was this older set of Optometry equipment!! THAT WAS COOL! It was just funny that some of this stuff was actually in a museum!
And finally...I would just like to mention a few items that were in this exhibit, that look just like the ones we play today.. All I have to say is that it was pretty neat to see! Music is somewhat Timeless!
This past weekend....DUN DUN DUN!!! I GOT TO SEE THE POPE!
It was an absolutely mind-blowing/wonderful/unbelievable/inconceivable experience of my life so far! We actually got to see him twice...Once, when he was on his way to Westminster Abbey (in the popemobile) to give a few speeches...And the second time was a prayer vigil in Hyde Park!!
And...guess what...WE WERE IN THE FRONT ROW BOTH TIMES!
Here is the group that I went with.
Here is the group that I went with.
It was crazy! Here are a few snapshots of the pope I managed to get. During his travels in the popemobile..
One thing to mention is that there were cops EVERYWHERE! and people EVERYWHERE! Here is a part of the crowd that we were dealing with...
Oh...AND GUESS WHAT! He stopped right in front of us...Rolled down his window....and KISSED A BABY! =D =D It was great!
That evening... the London Gang all went to a Shakespeare play in the Globe theater called the Merry Wives of Windsor... Do you remember how I told you that I don't really like Shakespeare that much?? Well, I LOVED THIS PLAY! It was pretty sweet. The only thing that stunk was the fact that we had to stand the whole time...yuck! Thankfully it wasn't raining though..!
The next morning...we got up bright and early in the morning...to see THE POPE again! I guess it is safe to say that we didn't have enough of him yet!! As I mentioned above, all our endeavors payed off, cause we were in the front row again...Where the pope would ride his popemobile along this path before being the celebrant at the prayer vigil...Like I keep on saying...UNBELIEVABLE!
I guess it did take some effort on our part though!! Take a look! haha!
Yep...thats right! 1.5 minutes of RUNNING! =D...Did you notice the song in the backgroud...O Happy Day! haha! haha! I got a kick out of the fact that someone from our group of 6 actually recorded this!
Here is a picture of the crowd...again.. LOTS OF PEOPLE!
A few moments before the pope arrived...ANTICIPATION! And of course....its ALWAYS fun to be seen on camera! Take a look at the second picture! We were all excited..! and really excited to catch ourselves on camera....on camera!!!
So the Pope then arrived, and began the vigil...again, CRAZY!
I think that this is one my favorite pictures..
I think what really made my night....was the fact that the Papal candle I bought earlier in the day...was lit "indirectly" by the pope....UNBELIEVABLE! I will have that "holy" candle forever!
A comical part of the evening was that our group (because we were in the front row) were just getting smashed from the back...With everyone trying to get a glimpse of the pope, we were just getting squashed! I think I had my butt like touched/squeezed/smooshed like 30 times throughout the whole vigil service! It was pretty funny! And I sure got a kick out of the people behind us! Oh...and I think that the crowd around us had a bit of a gas problem the whole time..cause it stunk!
You know... The pope is such an inspiration..I just get chills thinking about the fact that I was so fortunate to have had this opportunity. To have such a great man be the leader of the Catholic Church..WE ARE SO BLESSED.
If your interested.
Below is his vigil address the holy father spoke. Also, here is the link to the website at which you can see any part of the UK visit! http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/
Much love,
Matthew
The Holy Father's Hyde Park Vigil Address
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,This is an evening of joy, of immense spiritual joy, for all of us. We are gathered here in prayerful vigil to prepare for tomorrow’s Mass, during which a great son of this nation, Cardinal John Henry Newman, will be declared Blessed. How many people, in England and throughout the world, have longed for this moment! It is also a great joy for me, personally, to share this experience with you. As you know, Newman has long been an important influence in my own life and thought, as he has been for so many people beyond these isles. The drama of Newman’s life invites us to examine our lives, to see them against the vast horizon of God’s plan, and to grow in communion with the Church of every time and place: the Church of the apostles, the Church of the martyrs, the Church of the saints, the Church which Newman loved and to whose mission he devoted his entire life.
I thank Archbishop Peter Smith for his kind words of welcome in your name, and I am especially pleased to see the many young people who are present for this vigil. This evening, in the context of our common prayer, I would like to reflect with you about a few aspects of Newman’s life which I consider very relevant to our lives as believers and to the life of the Church today.
Let me begin by recalling that Newman, by his own account, traced the course of his whole life back to a powerful experience of conversion which he had as a young man. It was an immediate experience of the truth of God’s word, of the objective reality of Christian revelation as handed down in the Church. This experience, at once religious and intellectual, would inspire his vocation to be a minister of the Gospel, his discernment of the source of authoritative teaching in the Church of God, and his zeal for the renewal of ecclesial life in fidelity to the apostolic tradition. At the end of his life, Newman would describe his life’s work as a struggle against the growing tendency to view religion as a purely private and subjective matter, a question of personal opinion. Here is the first lesson we can learn from his life: in our day, when an intellectual and moral relativism threatens to sap the very foundations of our society, Newman reminds us that, as men and women made in the image and likeness of God, we were created to know the truth, to find in that truth our ultimate freedom and the fulfilment of our deepest human aspirations. In a word, we are meant to know Christ, who is himself “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).
Newman’s life also teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly. The truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves; it calls for testimony, it begs to be heard, and in the end its convincing power comes from itself and not from the human eloquence or arguments in which it may be couched. Not far from here, at Tyburn, great numbers of our brothers and sisters died for the faith; the witness of their fidelity to the end was ever more powerful than the inspired words that so many of them spoke before surrendering everything to the Lord. In our own time, the price to be paid for fidelity to the Gospel is no longer being hanged, drawn and quartered but it often involves being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied. And yet, the Church cannot withdraw from the task of proclaiming Christ and his Gospel as saving truth, the source of our ultimate happiness as individuals and as the foundation of a just and humane society.
Finally, Newman teaches us that if we have accepted the truth of Christ and committed our lives to him, there can be no separation between what we believe and the way we live our lives. Our every thought, word and action must be directed to the glory of God and the spread of his Kingdom. Newman understood this, and was the great champion of the prophetic office of the Christian laity. He saw clearly that we do not so much accept the truth in a purely intellectual act as embrace it in a spiritual dynamic that penetrates to the core of our being. Truth is passed on not merely by formal teaching, important as that is, but also by the witness of lives lived in integrity, fidelity and holiness; those who live in and by the truth instinctively recognize what is false and, precisely as false, inimical to the beauty and goodness which accompany the splendour of truth, veritatis splendor.
Tonight’s first reading is the magnificent prayer in which Saint Paul asks that we be granted to know “the love of Christ which surpasses all understanding” (Eph 3:14-21). The Apostle prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith (cf. Eph 3:17) and that we may come to “grasp, with all the saints, the breadth and the length, the height and the depth” of that love. Through faith we come to see God’s word as a lamp for our steps and light for our path (cf. Ps 119:105). Newman, like the countless saints who preceded him along the path of Christian discipleship, taught that the “kindly light” of faith leads us to realize the truth about ourselves, our dignity as God’s children, and the sublime destiny which awaits us in heaven. By letting the light of faith shine in our hearts, and by abiding in that light through our daily union with the Lord in prayer and participation in the life-giving sacraments of the Church, we ourselves become light to those around us; we exercise our “prophetic office”; often, without even knowing it, we draw people one step closer to the Lord and his truth. Without the life of prayer, without the interior transformation which takes place through the grace of the sacraments, we cannot, in Newman’s words, “radiate Christ”; we become just another “clashing cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1) in a world filled with growing noise and confusion, filled with false paths leading only to heartbreak and illusion.
One of the Cardinal’s best-loved meditations includes the words, “God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another” (Meditations on Christian Doctrine). Here we see Newman’s fine Christian realism, the point at which faith and life inevitably intersect. Faith is meant to bear fruit in the transformation of our world through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives and activity of believers. No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that the patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society. We know that in times of crisis and upheaval God has raised up great saints and prophets for the renewal of the Church and Christian society; we trust in his providence and we pray for his continued guidance. But each of us, in accordance with his or her state of life, is called to work for the advancement of God’s Kingdom by imbuing temporal life with the values of the Gospel. Each of us has a mission, each of us is called to change the world, to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of each human person. As our Lord tells us in the Gospel we have just heard, our light must shine in the sight of all, so that, seeing our good works, they may give praise to our heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:16).
Here I wish to say a special word to the many young people present. Dear young friends: only Jesus knows what “definite service” he has in mind for you. Be open to his voice resounding in the depths of your heart: even now his heart is speaking to your heart. Christ has need of families to remind the world of the dignity of human love and the beauty of family life. He needs men and women who devote their lives to the noble task of education, tending the young and forming them in the ways of the Gospel. He needs those who will consecrate their lives to the pursuit of perfect charity, following him in chastity, poverty and obedience, and serving him in the least of our brothers and sisters. He needs the powerful love of contemplative religious, who sustain the Church’s witness and activity through their constant prayer. And he needs priests, good and holy priests, men who are willing to lay down their lives for their sheep. Ask our Lord what he has in mind for you! Ask him for the generosity to say “yes!” Do not be afraid to give yourself totally to Jesus. He will give you the grace you need to fulfil your vocation. Let me finish these few words by warmly inviting you to join me next year in Madrid for World Youth Day. It is always a wonderful occasion to grow in love for Christ and to be encouraged in a joyful life of faith along with thousands of other young people. I hope to see many of you there!
And now, dear friends, let us continue our vigil of prayer by preparing to encounter Christ, present among us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Together, in the silence of our common adoration, let us open our minds and hearts to his presence, his love, and the convincing power of his truth. In a special way, let us thank him for the enduring witness to that truth offered by Cardinal John Henry Newman. Trusting in his prayers, let us ask the Lord to illumine our path, and the path of all British society, with the kindly light of his truth, his love and his peace. Amen.
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