On April 8th, 2001, I was one of the lucky young Canadians to receive the World Youth Day Cross from Pope John Paul II. Wow! What an experience! When I close my eyes, I can still see the 275,000 people at Saint-Peter's Square. I can still feel the excitement of receiving such a special gift from the Pope. I felt overwhelmed in knowing that, on behalf of all Canadians, we were being given this Cross by John Paul and that we were the ones who would now be responsible to make it come to life.

The night we arrived in Rome we visited one of the local churches where I encountered the WYD Cross for the first time. The lights were off and hundreds of candles were burning around this Cross. It reminded me of when Jesus asked his disciples to stay up with him the night before his crucifixion. We stayed at the Church for a while and prayed around this simple wooden Cross.

The next day, we went back to that same church to bring the Cross back to St. Peters Square for Palm Sunday Celebrations. Seven thousand people were waiting for us at this church. I remember entering the church, there were some speeches in Italian, and some singing. We then processed out of the church with the Cross to the Vatican. I felt a tremendous amount of sorrow in my heart, when I saw the Cross put on its back with six people carrying it horizontally out of the Church. It reminded me of a funeral procession when we follow behind the casket of a loved one. For the first time in my life, I could feel the tremendous sacrifice Christ made for us when he died on the Cross. At one point during the walk, I remembered the words that Pope John Paul II had spoken to the 2.4 million youth from 150 countries that were gathered at World Youth Day in Rome in 2000. He said, " Be not afraid to follow Christ. Be not afraid to follow in the footsteps of the apostles Paul and Peter. Be not afraid to be witnesses of the gospel in your every day lives. You are the Saints of the new millennium." While following the WYD Cross, I realized that I had it in my heart and mind to be a Saint of the New Millennium. All I needed to do was to follow Christ.

At the Palm Sunday celebrations John Paul announced the theme of the next World Youth Day in 2002, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." He gave us the Cross to bring back to Canada as a symbol of the World Youth Day. The challenge is now ours to make the dreams of the World Youth Day come to life. This Cross will bring many gifts to our young adults from 16 to 35 years of age and it will be a rallying point to prepare us for the World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. I invite you to be part of the celebrations of the WYD Cross. Furthermore, I invite you to venerate, and pray before the Cross. Open your hearts to the Cross so that you may hear it speak to you. During this holiday season let us pray for peace in the world.

Yours in Christ,