WORLD YOUTH DAY IN LISBON-PORTUGAL 2023

“Young people, you are invited by Jesus to shine, to listen and not to be afraid” (message of Pope Francis to the youth).

We thank God for the opportunity He has given us to participate and accompany a group of young people from the schools we have as a Congregation in Chile (Colegio Nuestra Señora de Ayquina, Colegio Ascensión Nicol, Colegio Femenino Madre del Rosario). It has been a very meaningful experience because it has allowed the young students to broaden their horizons, to be warmly welcomed by our sisters in Madrid and Lisbon, to be imbued with our Dominican spirituality in Caleruega, to visit Fatima and experience communion with young people from all over the world, to feel like a young Church and to welcome the message of the Pope who invited them to live their Christianity with joy and enthusiasm, contributing their youthfulness in a world that needs the joy and the transforming commitment of young people.

Being welcomed in Lisbon at the 6 de Mayo Social Center was very meaningful because it allowed us to perceive the beautiful mission that the sisters carry with the migrant children of the neighborhood and their families.

Below, we share with you some testimonies of some of the young women who participated in the Colegio Nuestra Señora de Ayquina de Calama.

“My name is Carolayn Farfan Contreras, and I am one of the lucky ones to be able to enjoy WYD. Before being invited to this meeting I was lost, I was receiving negative news every day so I began to doubt who I should believe/trust. Thankfully I got the call telling me somehow “Hey, here I am, I have not abandoned you”. The message the Pope delivered made me realize somehow that adversities are part of life and that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us, he loves us all”.

Unique moments, this trip was full of them. The whole experience was a world and a new teaching for my spiritual and personal growth, thanks to this opportunity I was able to meet and live with people that deeply marked in my heart. I must admit that before embarking on this trip I was a little insecure about venturing alone for the first time and in a place so far away from home, but the whole journey was pleasant because of the support I could find in the people around me.

This path that helped me to clear my mind and give me answers that I was looking for, an internal change that I did not dare and that thanks to the change of environment helped me to venture, explore the roots of a congregation that has helped me in my spiritual formation, with values that I have learned for 12 years and managing to connect with the religion to which I belong, in a church that is full of young people from all over the world and with a message full of positivity, transparency and love. Besides the experience of being in a place full of young people with different motives but connected by the same faith. With a fullness and a mission given to be a good person who actively helps in society” (Natalie Pasten).

“For me, it was a very valuable experience, I met many people and lived with many different personalities, I would not say it was easy but not horrible either, actually it was quite nice, there were good and bad moments, I think the part that meant a lot to me was the first day of WYD, the fact of seeing how many people gathered there for a single cause and that they would sing, The simple fact of meeting so many different cultures was something VERY nice, since I had never witnessed something so full of feeling and joy, it was clearly a unique experience and I hope that more girls can experience what I lived, it really helped me to see things that maybe before I saw differently and give them another approach, WYD is a very meaningful and beautiful experience” (Sofía Contreras).

Jacqueline Sothers

Community of Calama- Chile.