John Angotti - WYD Madrid 2011
I’ve waited almost a month for this final blog for multiple reasons. One of which is because I was so busy as soon as I got back. The other reason became clear as I delayed the blog. I wanted to see the effects of WYD on me and remember. All to often we go to church and by Sunday afternoon it’s all forgotten. What the homily was; what songs were played; and what about God? Has God been forgotten too? It’s easy to fall back into an unconscious state of the transcendent reality that is immanent or present always.
The question for me becomes, is what is immanent reflect the transcendent? Does all of life reflect God somehow? If it doesn’t then I need to see through the eyes of God.
As I close this blog for WYD I must say that even through the logistical craziness we experienced, the heat, the thousands of people blocked from entering the main park, the protestors, and the language barrier, God was revealed. It didn’t matter what human obstacles we came across, God was revealed through word and deed. I may not have agreed with all that was said, but God was revealed. It didn’t matter that the equipment wasn’t right, God was revealed. It didn’t matter Saturday night thousands were kept from the main park and sleep on the street, God was revealed. The many thousands of protesters were met with compassion and non-violence of the Catholic Christians, God was revealed. In all of the mess, God is revealed.
Revealed in a way that is beyond my comprehension and bias opinion.
At one of the locations in Madrid, I asked if there was another microphone. I never thought that people worship a different way outside of the US and that there must be another way to fix the problem. He looked at me and said, “no one sings in church, just the priest.” What we were bringing in terms of music in Worship was foreign to him. After the mass, he came to me and thanked me for the experience. As I reflect back, I needed to thank him for the experience. Because it enabled me to see that even though we would like to have more than one mic, and we want great sound equipment, we were there to reveal God to each other. I was blest to uncover the God of many sounds and cultures who continues to teach me to sing a new song.
The US Mass we played for had over 50 bishops, about 15,000 people and Arch Bishop Dolan preaching. Arch Bishop Dolan’s homily is still vivid in my mind and how he spoke about how Jesus turned Peter’s life upside down. He called for all of us to let Jesus turn our lives upside down. He reminded us that power comes in serving others not in money or material wealth. Jesus turned our world upside down in Madrid in a small way, but opened me up to how Jesus constantly shows us the path that turns our perspectives of what we think upside down. In turning our world upside down we see through the eyes of God. It is only our humanness that says we are turned upside down. I think in reality was God does is turn us upside right. For if our lives don’t reveal something beyond ourselves, what do they reveal? WYD was inspiring because we weren’t there to be rock stars, we were there to serve and as God was revealed through the many different languages and customs and music, the world was turned upside right.
I heard a priest the Friday before WYD in San Francisco Cathedral put it simply, we have a choice: we can be either bitter or better. May we all recognize that the worship of God must lead us to serve each other and that we become better in revealing God to a world who is in needs to see through the eyes of God.
