In the middle of the spring semester, waiting for or looking back longingly at spring break, it can seem like the summer is impossibly far away — especially when the winter keeps delivering fairly large snowstorms.
So the idea that we’ll be in Brazil this summer at Magis and World Youth Day still doesn’t seem quite real. And then I watch a video of the 2013 Magis Hymn:
Note: the section with English lyrics starts at about 1:35
It’s not the music that’s caught my attention (It’ll grow on me, I’m sure. It took me a while to warm up to the 2011 Magis Hymn for WYD Madrid as well.)
Music aside, all those people in green Magis t-shirts: that’s impressive. There are hundreds of people already preparing to welcome us. And that’s just for the Jesuit-run Magis initiative. There are even more preparing for WYD itself, and they’ve got a hymn too.
“A single soul, a single voice / Nations are waiting for us.” One of the most powerful experiences of WYD is of the universality of the Church — of hundreds of thousands of people gathered together to pray and celebrate. The experience of universality is preceded by hospitality.
So for all those green-shirted Magis volunteers, getting ready for the rest of us to show up this summer: thank you. We’ll try to learn a bit of the song ahead of time.
