«In those days, when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned his disciples and said: ‘my heart is moved with pity…’»
When our heart is «moved with pity», then Jesus comes into action. And we dare to share… even… that!…
It was the World Youth Days in Germany. Hundreds of thousands of us bundled into thousands of buses and coachliners, from all over Europe, and far beyond. Those extraordinary days always have a sudden ending: as soon as the final mass is over, everybody leaves… Like a river flowing out of the immense campus in incredible disorder…
Crowds after crowds of exhausted, dirty, dizzy young men and women, as well as unshaved priests and bishops, young nuns in wrinkled garb and thousands of tottering teenagers, worn out with sleepless night and hoarse from yelling and screaming for hours on end, slowly hobble their way to the awaiting buses.
When a stranded youth happened to be missing, all the others had to sit and wait, in the buzzing bus. At that point, a young Pole appeared at the door of our coachliner, his face pale with pain, and obviously fighting to find some hidden spot, or, at last, any spot, away from the walking crowd.
Somebody on the bus was moved with pity. She opened her rucksack, fumbled among its contents and produced a couple of tissues, that she handed over to the agonizing pilgrim. His grateful smile was worth a thousand gifts. He vanished behind a new surge of youths eager to climb into the awaiting buses…
How could I ever forget the relieved face of that «little one», who disappeared, consoled and speechless, into the ocean of the loud world youth?…
Is there a single act of compassion toward a suffering being which is too small as to be neglected?…
Fr.Dominique+
I was never able to attend the World Youth Day but I’m so glad to catch a glimpse of the atmosphere! Hoping every participant has such a gem in his heart to remember among the rest…