Flame Youth Congress: 'Dynamic, joyful, faith-filled'

'Dynamic' - 'joyful' - 'faith-filled' - 'It exceeded all my expectations' - these are just a few of the comments made about the Flame Youth Congress which took place at Wembley Arena on Saturday. Up to 10,000 young people from England and Wales took part - making it the largest-ever Catholic youth event here.

The morning began with prayer, live music, animated by Edwin Fawcett, who composed a special anthem for the day, dance, drama and multimedia presentations, testimonies and reflections, before a keynote speech by Fr Timothy Radcliffe on the theme of Respect.

More live music and speakers followed after. There were heartfelt testimonies from young people whose lives had been changed by Catholic homeless projects in London and Leeds, the Mizen Family, on building peace in the community. Paralympic runner Stephanie Reid and Olympic rower Debbie Flood spoke of how their faith inspired their lives. There was constant sense of engagment throughout the day. At one point the entire arena broke into a giant Mexican Wave. For some time Flame was Trending on Twitter.

Later in the afternoon there was a period of quiet reflection introduced by Fr Christopher Jamison and a homily from Archbishop Vincent Nichols before a time of silent Adoration. Before the Blessed Sacrament was brought onto the stage, Archbishop Nichols said: "Consider the love of God which brought you into existence. Consider how total that love is, for it brought Jesus to give himself entirely for you and to you, on the Cross and here in the Blessed Sacrament. In this light you are truly extraordinary. Maybe you have never thought of that before. We won't all be Olympic or Paralympic athletes , but we definitely all have our races to run, our finishing lines to cross. Consider the people you have heard today - the athletes, the Mizen family, Fr Timothy, Fr Christopher and Sr Catherine. Are there things in their words that have encouraged you? What are the gifts that the Lord has given you that he might fan into a flame, to share with the world? Name these gifts and ask God to help you to use them well, always for the glory of his name."

The evening ended with a concert featuring several bands. Many groups stayed on in London and made a weekend of it. They will be sending us their reports later in the week. We will also be publishing some interviews and talks from the Congress later today. Film from the Flame Youth Congress will be online soon here: www.cymfed.org/flame