Courtney McGrailThrough Youth 2000, I found a real relationship with God, writes Ciara Ferry
"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.” – St John Paul II
This quote is probably familiar to most people. St John Paul II said it first, but for me personally, the place where I learnt what it means – that happiness could be possible for my life – was at a Youth 2000 retreat.
I first rolled up to a Youth 2000 retreat in the summer of 2010 – just days before my Leaving Cert results were due. My granny had been lighting candles for me like only an Irish granny can, but I figured a weekend off work at a Catholic festival could be the thing that would get me over the line and into college.
I was your average student – going to Mass because my mother made me, praying when I needed something and not really having a clear idea of what was happening or what it had to do with me. Without one word of exaggeration, that weekend changed my life.
When I got to Clonmacnois (where the festival was held that year), and saw people my age playing football with friars, laughing with priests and sharing meals with nuns I began to see I had been missing something about this whole faith thing. When they welcomed me into their groups of friends with open arms I started to think that being a Catholic had something going for it after all.
And when I saw them going to Mass and Confession, not only willingly but happily, I knew I wanted whatever these people had.
Their joy was both palpable and baffling. How was it that they could welcome someone they didn’t know so easily? My experience with school was cliques of people based on looks, popularity, hobbies and background. You stuck with your own friends and there was to be no mixing. These people didn’t put labels on anyone – they all seemed like one huge family.
As the weekend wore on, and I listened to the talks, attended the workshops, hung out in the main hall, enjoyed the concert on the Saturday night, and finally went to Confession myself, I realised that what I was missing was a real relationship with a God who had up until then seemed so far away.
Youth 2000’s motto is “youth leading youth to the heart of the Church”. That weekend, they led me to see that there was a place for me in the Church. They showed me that there could be something more to life – that it could be extraordinary, that even I could live with extraordinary love. They led me to discover that faith wasn’t ticking items off a list in order to get to a fluffy, sickly sweet vision of Heaven – that it was allowing myself to be loved by the Love that died on the cross for me.
When I went to college a month later, the first thing I did was seek out the weekly Youth 2000 prayer meeting – and the rest, as they say, is history! In the five years since I’ve made more friends than the previous 19 put together, I’ve attended retreats all over the country, and hope to travel to World Youth Day in Krakow next summer.
Meaning
I’ve learned the meaning of the word friendship and have discovered a purpose, a meaning to life that I might never have found without Youth 2000 – to love the Lord Jesus and to make him loved by all!
As for the festival, I’ll be volunteering again this summer and this year it will be held in the Mount St Joseph Cistercian Abbey in Roscrea from August 13-16. I challenge you to join us. I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone – amazing things await you! There are free buses going from all over the country – check out our website www.youth2000.ie. If you don’t believe me about the craic we have, our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages will give you all the proof you need.
Don’t worry, the festival is donation only, as money shouldn’t be an obstacle to people coming . However, we can’t run it on our own. If you are in a position to help us lead more young people to the heart of the Church, please contact dublin@youth2000.ie – we would love to hear from you.
St Catherine of Siena says that “if you are who God has created you to be, you will set the world on fire”. Youth 2000 is lighting the spark that is the love of Jesus in the hearts of the young people of Ireland – and you can be a part of the inferno. It will change your life.