Two French-speaking Magis routes led to World Youth Day in Lisbon.
An "expresso" route spent three days in Loyola, Spain, before heading to Lisbon, and an "international" route spent one week experimenting with young Magis from other countries, before taking part in the World Youth Day.
These routes were accompanied by religious from several Ignatian congregations, including Amélie and Gaëtane (RSCJ from BFN), Jesuits and lay people. 400 young Belgians and French were able to experience the universal Church, share their faith and daily lives, reflect on their questions, and pray with all the World Youth Day young people who gathered around the Pope.
It was a wonderful collaboration between congregations and lay people of Ignatian spirituality at the service of young people.
Here is the testimony of a young man:
"A universal, multi-faceted Church gathers in the streets and then on the banks of the Tagus for the great Vigil. An endless crowd, flags of every color: it's magnificent. `Be without fear’, we hear. Personally, it sounds like, `go for it, move forward, fall down, get involved’; I want to put my energy to good use. A million young people with so much energy, and so close to me; of course I can fall, my neighbor will pick me up.
Let's all go together! Let's be available, let's listen, and let's take advantage of Ignatius to discern correctly and move forward step by step, driven by God's love. This route will have been a necessary bubble to better understand how to get up in a hurry and set off, like Mary." (Alfred)
Amélie and Gaëtane, rscj
Province of BFN