"A society grows strong, grows good, grows beautiful, and grows in truth if it's built on the foundation of a family"- Pope Francis at World Meeting of Families 2015
Thursday/Friday: Traveling Days
On Thursday afternoon, just after Amanda got out of class at the University of Nebraska Omaha, she came over to my apartment to find Amy (my roommate), Andrea (another student in her junior year at UNO) and I all packed into the rental car that would take the four of us from Omaha, NE to Philadelphia, PA and along the way we stayed with Amanda's family, both in Pittsburg and in Media which helped save us money since we did not have to rent a hotel room. Just before we left we attended daily mass at Christ the King Catholic Church in Omaha, and after mass received a special blessing from the priest for a safe and blessed trip. After a quick cup of coffee for the road, and lunch at Chipotle we left Omaha and were on our way! |
| Traveling from Omaha to Philadelphia |
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| Andrea, Jamie (me), Amy, and Amanda as we get ready to leave Omaha! |
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| Dinner with Amanda's Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dennis in Media, PA. |
Saturday: The day of great Joy and Surprise
There was not one moment of the day Saturday that I did not
feel the presence of God. He was with us every step of the way and everything
fell into place- it could not have gone better if we had tried to plan it because
we could not have orchestrated such an incredible plan. It was clear that we
were right where He wanted us to be and that each person we encountered, not
matter how brief, we met for a reason.
We left Media, PA at 4:00 am and drove to New Jersey so that
we could buy our PATCO (train) ticket into the city. We got there easily and
with no traffic, and began waiting in line (Amanda is convinced that the road
doesn’t actually exist because we couldn’t find it on a map and there was no
one else on the road! Who knows, but getting to the train station as quickly as
we did was a miracle!) While waiting to buy our PATCO pass we met Joe and
Chris, two men who were waiting to enter the city so that they could go to
work. It was clear they were less than enthused about waiting to enter the
station but said they had been expecting the crowd. Once we had our passes in
hand and on the train we were thrilled, because we were on our way into the
city.
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| One the train and on our way into the city! |
Once in Philadelphia we decided to go to St. John the
Evangelist Catholic Church for the 7:45 am mass. It was only 6:45. Time to
spare we arrived and began talking to a group of young people from Indiana, who
informed us that mass was actually at 8:30 and the Bishop from their diocese in
Indiana was celebrating the mass. More waiting, but without anywhere else to be
we didn’t mind and just began getting to know the people in the group. We
prayed Morning Prayer with them and their chaplain, and before we knew it they
opened the doors to the church and we headed in to get a seat. (It isn’t too
often that I get to church before it is even unlocked!)
Quickly the church filled with people- The Dominican Sisters
from Nashville, TN were there in their white habits and black veils. (We
continued to see them all throughout the city during our time in Philly.) During
his homily, the Bishop told us that we were inside the church that used to be the
cathedral for Philadelphia and St. John Neumann was the bishop at that time and
often offered the mass inside that same church. (Bishop Neumann is who the
Neumann centers across the country are named after. More information about him
can be found under my post about the JPII Neumann center.)
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| So excited to be in the city! (Amanda, me, Andrea, and Amy) |
After mass,
Amy, Andrea, and Amanda all made their way to the bathroom and as they left in
filed other people, one of whom was a woman from France named Vivi. Vivi just
happened to sit next to me because there wasn’t room next to her friends, and
the French mass was to start soon after the English mass ended. As we were
talking, a young man from the group we had met earlier walked up to me and
interrupted to give us four tickets to the independence hall talk by Pope Francis
on immigration and religious freedom that afternoon! I thanked him and as he
walked away Vivi looked at me and was shocked to find out that I had come all
that way without any tickets. She rushed over to her friend, and came back
holding 2 tickets to the meeting of families that night and 2 tickets to the
Papal mass Sunday afternoon. She apologized that they did not have more, and I
thanked her greatly for what she had just given me!
Once the girls came back I said good-bye to Vivi, promising
to pray for her and her son Orion (please do too! J) and headed out of the church
to share the great news with the group. We stood, so excited to have received
the tickets and not one thought as to how we were going to decide who was going
to which events. We just offered prayers of gratitude to God and as we walked
away from the crowded church we stopped to ask this group of women a quick
question. After a short time we find out that they are from the same small town
in Pennsylvania that Amanda had grown up in. They quickly handed over 1 more
ticket to both the gathering that night and for the Papal mass Sunday as well
as $20 for breakfast. We couldn’t believe what had happened. The same 4 young women
who had been told by so many people that they were crazy for driving to
Philadelphia without a plan had within 4 hours of being in the city received 4
tickets to the Independence hall address, 3 tickets to the evening gathering, 3
tickets to the Papal mass Sunday and $20. Still in need of 1 more ticket to the
World meeting of families that night and the Papal mass we were certain that
God would provide for us.
With our money we decided to stop into a small French
restaurant for a coffee and pastry. Who approaches us as our server but Chris,
the same Chris who we had met waiting in line at the train station! We could
not believe our eyes!
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| We saw Chris on the train into Philly and then just happened to go to the same restaurant he was working at about 4 hours later! |
The rest of the day continued to go well. We made our way to
the independence hall gathering area for the talk on immigration and while
waiting made our way to the street area in anticipation of the parade and a
chance to see Pope Francis up close. No one could confirm the rout he was going
to take, but sure enough he drove right past us and we were only 10 feet from him
as he came closer to kiss a baby right in front of us. (I have to be honest
though and admit that I couldn’t actually see him kissing the baby- I saw him
get close and then disappear behind the crowd. Amanda saw it though!) After
that we headed over to the grassy area to lay out our mats and lawn chairs and
listen to the Pope speak about immigration and religious freedom.
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| Waiting for the parade to start, and a group of high school boys showed up with a cut out of the Pope's face! |
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| At the parade we were able to see Pope Francis up close! |
At the conclusion, Pope Francis led us all in a prayer, the
Lords prayer, in English. It was a very touching moment for me. To say the same
prayer that I recite every day and have since I was a child with the Holy
Father in my native language, and with thousands of others brought tears to my
eyes.
Next we were off to the World meeting of families’ event that night at
the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, but we were still in need of 1 more ticket. I
decided to text me friend Jackie who I knew was in the city at the time with a
group from her campus and sure enough that had an extra ticket! We made it in
time to watch most of the performances, and hear the Pope speak about families.
It was a very touching night and I am still processing a lot of what was said
that night.
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| I ran into Jackie! And she gave us a ticket! |
**Visit (here) hear his speech at the gathering, with an
English translator.**
At the end of the long day we headed home and went to bed
around 12:00. I wish I could tell you more, but so much happened that I feel
like this would become a novel by the time I finished writing it all down. What
you need to remember most is that we were all so grateful for the many
unexpected blessings that God poured down upon us the entire day and left
exhausted but feeling the love of the Father in our hearts.
Sunday: The day of Endurance and Tenacity
Sunday we woke up to a new day, and soon it went from feeling like the start to another great day to feeling as if everything had gone wrong. From the outside looking in it is easy to think that Saturday was perfect and that Sunday was a complete fail. Let me explain a little bit more and soon you will understand. Knowing that we were to begin our journey home that night we decided it best to sleep in a little and arrive in Philadelphia around 11:30 since mass wasn’t to start until 4:00pm. We made our way to the line of people and soon found it filled with thousands and no security check point in sight. I would also like to point out we still only had 3 passes, but decided to go ahead and get in line and see what happened. We waited in line for over 6 hours, moving inches at a time, only to finally get past security just as everyone from the mass began filing out at 6:00pm. Standing, packed in the street with thousands of people for 6 hours, and in the end we still didn’t make it in time. Discouragement. Sadness. And we had gotten separated in the crowd so we were alone.
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| The beginning of the line to the Papal Mass. |
This is what it looks like for most people who might hear
that we waited for 6 hours and didn’t get in, but what I experienced was so
much more than that. The entire
time we were waiting, I had faith and hope that we were going to make it in
time, and even when it was 4:00pm and mass was starting I had faith that we
would make it in time to receive the Eucharist, and at 5:30 as communion was
ending I had hope that we might make it to the final blessing, and as the final
blessing happened at 5:55 and I was still outside, I bowed down and received
the blessing from where I was standing. Just 20 people behind making it through
security I was determined to make it inside. I looked behind me to see what was
left of the line, and there were only a few people. What had been hundreds
behind me had dwindled down to 3 rows of about 10. As I walked through
security, I had mixed emotions. I felt so glad to have met all the people that
I would have never had the opportunity to encounter, but at the same time in
complete honesty with myself and with God, my heart felt the pierce of sadness
as reality set in that I was not going to receive Communion and the mass had
ended. Tears welled in my eyes and began to fall as I began walking towards the
alter where mass had been said and I got as close as I could. Along the way I
had found Amy and so we unrolled a mat and kneeled together before God. After
praying and giving my sadness over to God, I rolled up the mat and we went off
to find Andrea and Amanda renewed in Christ who loves us and stood by us.
As I am reflecting on our experiences from the weekend, I
can’t help but reflect on what God taught me in those two long days and it is
something that I will hold onto for the rest of my life.
The same God who had meticulously planned my day and
showered me with graces on Saturday was the same God who planned my day and
showered me with graces on Sunday. Sure Sunday was filled with trials and
tribulation but He was with me. He never left me. And He had a plan. Each
person I encountered was for a reason. Rose, who gave us the last ticket we
needed to enter through security, the three ladies from New Jersey who we also
sat with on the train ride out of Philadelphia (2 hours later), Santiago and
Sophie, the two children around the ages of 9 and 11 who traveled from Mexico
to see the Pope with their family, the two business men from Minnesota who flew
in a day early to celebrate mass with the Holy Father before their meeting on
Monday morning, the couple that drove from Canada and had the most beautiful
voices, the family of 5 that lived right there in Philadelphia who invited me
to stay at their house the next time I am in Philadelphia to have some real
African food, and the girl I never met but who was right in front of me as she
went though the security line who when asked to leave her camera sick behind to
enter through security did not hesitate to give it up even though the mass had
ended. All of the people I encountered have affected my life, and I would have
never met them had I not endured waiting in that line.
This experience has taught me that it is easy to offer God
praises when life is easy, it is even easier to turn to God and ask for help
when times are hard, but when times are really hard and there is no end in
sight (literally), and all you want to do is to give up because you feel like
God is not giving you what you want, THAT is when it is the hardest to give God
praise. It was still in Gods plan, He allowed it to happen, but He still stood with me and never left
my side. When I felt discouraged, or sad he brought me hope and joy through
those around me. I may not have received Christ in the Eucharist waiting in
line for mass, but I received the love of Christ through each and every person
around me and that is something I will never forget.
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| After a long day of waiting, we packed up and began our drive home. |
