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Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of September 9, 2002

WYD transformed attitude to daily living

By JODY SLIGER
Edmonton

In my opinion, the height of World Youth Day in Toronto was coming home, coming home to day to day activities and routines, coming home to family, friends, and workplaces that very much need the spirit of World Youth Day but may not have attended World Youth Day.

The spirit of World Youth Day in Toronto is Christ's Spirit. Christ's Spirit permeated the streets of Toronto as Toronto and, indeed, the rest of Canada celebrated with the pope and Catholic faithful from all over the world the vitality and universality of the Church.

It wsas great to see the pope. It was great to see other Catholics from all over the world. It was great to be invigorated by it all. However, this is only the beginning.

The Spirit of Christ animates and graces our lives everyday.

Just as the wind finds its way through cracks and crevices, so too did the Spirit of Christ find its way into the hearts of those who attended World Youth Day and those somehow otherwise touched by it. As pilgrims took to the air or the road to return home, so too did the Spirit of Christ.

Indeed, the Spirit of Christ animates and graces our lives everyday. However, often we forget or simply get too caught up in daily living to appreciate and nurture a relationship with the living God that dwells within us.

So with an invigorated spirit that beckons me to live anew following the spiritually rejuvenating week in Toronto, I return to daily life. I can get caught up in life or I can be a "catcher of a ball thrown by (my) eternal partner, with accurate and measured swing towards (me), to (my) centre" (Rainer Maria Rilke).

My daily activities and routines may not be different, yet life is different because I have changed.

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