BRAZIL, Sr. M. Shaiane Machado/Sr. M. Nilza. At each venue where the youth will be participating in WYD Rio2013, they will meet the MTA, who with her Pilgrim Mother image, will be present with all of the graces of the Shrine.
The sending out of the seventy-seven images that will be present in all of Rio2013 WYD venues took place at the Tabor Redemption of the Family Shrine in Rio de Janeiro/RJ on 23 June, exactly one month before the start of the WYD. Volunteers from France, Poland, Germany, Argentina and Brazil were present. Two young people from Angola and Peru were also there.
Volunteers strengthened and sent out with graces from the Shrine
An International Holy Mass, imbued with a WYD atmosphere, Fr. Alexandre Awi celebrated, and the Local Organizing Committee for WYD Rio2013, consisting of national and international volunteers, was responsible for the music. They gave colour to the celebration with hymns in various languages: The entrance hymn was in Latin, the set parts of the Mass were in Portuguese, the offertory was in Polish, communion in French, the prayer after communion was in German and the final hymn, a Marian hymn, was sung in French. This internationality could also be seen in the Liturgy of the Word: The first reading was in Spanish, the responsorial psalm in German and the second reading was proclaimed in English.
In his homily, Fr. Alexandre provided a parallel between the pilgrimage graces of the shrine and being a volunteer. He spoke about the importance of welcoming all youth during WYD, he praised the work of the volunteers who have made themselves available for this great task and made special reference to the German volunteer, Conrad Bruno Krämer, who came to help out at WYD and brought his pregnant wife. Johana Krämer was born two months ago. By this example, the couple who was present in Mass, when it comes to service, nothing is impossible.
A very touching moment in the celebration was the sending out of the Pilgrim Mothers images to the WYD cultural activity venues. Stéphanie Nizery from France, who has been working in the Cultural Activities Department, received one of the images and prayed the missionary commitment prayer, adapted specifically for this event.
United for WYD Rio2013
At the end of the celebration, the volunteers who participated in the Mass introduced themselves to one another and more than 12,000 rosaries of the “I Prayed This Rosary For You” campaign were blessed. The number of blessed rosaries now total 80,000. It was clear that during this celebration the Blessed Mother deeply touched all those who attended, because after Mass, many of them offered to become volunteers at the Shrine and were thankful that the Mass gave them an opportunity to enter into the WYD spirit.
After a shared lunch, everyone prayed in the Shrine, asking for the Blessed Mother’s blessing for this last month of preparation and for WYD. Everyone was happy to have visited the Shrine and spent the day with the Blessed Mother.
On 21 July, seventy-seven new missionaries will each receive their Pilgrim Mother image during Mass. These images will remain at the venues the youth will visit during WYD. In this way, not only will the Original Pilgrim Mother be present at WYD, but each young person will also be welcomed by a Pilgrim Mother at each of the events venues and be blessed as missionaries for our time.
Source: www.maeperegrina.org.br, editors: Maria Miguel Vidreiro da Rocha, Aveiro, Portugal, Cássio Leal, São Paulo, Brazil
Portuguese/English translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, South Africa
