Rejoice! From the East to the West! Rejoice!

This past weekend at the NAC was a travel weekend; and since all of our universities celebrated the feast of All Saints today- it was a rare three day travel weekend. So five friends and I made a trip over to Medjegorje in Bosnia. Medjegorje is a small and very simple town which has become a major place of prayer visited by thousands of people from around the world.

During our short stay there I was absolutely blown away by the universality and the immense generosity of our Church. On the boat ride across the Adriatic Sea we ran into a group of American pilgrims in a group called Totally Yours. We had the chance to talk with them for a while on the boat; and were blown away when they invited us to join them in their bus ride up into town (about 3 hours by bus) and then generously offered to pay for our transportation back to Split just so that we could join them for a conference Sunday afternoon. And while in town we were really overwhelmed with their generosity and the generosity of the people of Medjegorje.

There were thousands of people of all ages in Medjegorje from all over the world who had come to pray and to seek God. The parish church in the center of the town is always full. Whether it be for the Rosary, Adoration, Mass, or any other prayer service; the church building is shoulder-to-shoulder standing room only. It is busting at the seams with people surrounding the building on all sides. To the left of the church building is a row of confessional booths and pairs of chairs set up along the side of the church for confessions. And the crowd lining up for confessions is seemingly endless.

There is also a very strong Marian devotion in Medjegorje; I think that this devotion to Mary is one that leads people towards Jesus and towards a more selfless life of love. On Saturday night we went to Adoration and were lucky to get there when we did (almost 30 minutes before the service started) because we were just able to get a spot standing in the back of the church. During the service we, people from all around the world, joined together in song- singing in different languages as one voice of praise. It was amazing because they showed the words of the songs (each verse in a different language) that just about everyone joined in, trying their best to sing Spanish, Italian, Greek, etc. But what was most amazing was how the entire church, both inside and outside of the building, raised their voices just about as loud as possible whenever the chorus came: "Alleluia!" And as I stood there, in between an Italian man and a woman from Bosnia, it struck me that our international word- the word that we all know and need absolutely no translation for- is Alleluia. We are, as a community and as a Church, people who rejoice.

While reading for a class on the train ride from Ancora back to Rome I came across an interesting fact: The very first word which ushered into existence Christianity in a formal way was "Rejoice." The first thing that the Angel Gabriel said to Mary- "Rejoice!" And we too are met with that same challenge. And for me this past weekend was a great opportunity to do just that. In seeing the massive amounts of people coming together to pray and in seeing their generosity, willingness to work on their relationships with God, and their joy, and in growing closer to my brother seminarians, I was all the more renewed in my desire to be a priest- someone who

lives no longer for myself but for reconciliation, for peace, for love, for others.

When we got back to Rome and I had a chance to look at the news I was devastated to see what happened in Baghdad yesterday. It was jarring to come from the peace and joy of Medjegorje to this very bitter reality of division in the world. And in prayer down in the chapel I realized that this effects all of us. All of us were in that chapel in Baghdad, united in praise of God. All of us were in that chapel in Baghdad participating in the sacrifice and rejoicing of the Mass. And so how do we respond? How do we support one another? How do we reach out to those for whom coming together to pray is an action of immanent danger? Based on the experiences of this past weeked for me, I'd say that our only response is love. The only response that we can offer is love-- love through prayer for all of those involved. And also, part of our response I believe, ought to be love for one another. A very real love lived out within our families- as we come together as families in prayer and supporting one another, and in our neighborhoods, our work-places, our parishes, etc. We respond and transcend hatred and division through love. It is the only just response.