Reflection on The Joshua Camp & World Youth Day

Lucy Mackain-Bremner Working for The Joshua Camp.

Surrounded by three million Catholics last summer, in an airfield a short pilgrimage out of Madrid, was perhaps one of the most defining moments of my life as a young Catholic. In the scorching heat of the afternoon, followed by the thunder and lightning of the electrical storm that hit us that evening, I found my place as a young person who felt personally loved by the Holy Father and called to be so much more than the humdrum English life expected of me.

The call to be a courageous witness to the Gospel seemed all at once to satisfy and to deepen a hunger as Pope Benedict XVI addressed us: "Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world."

It struck a deep note of familiarity as my spirit recognised the call marked on my soul at my Baptism to evangelise, and as he encouraged us to "Speak with courage and Humility" of Christ as "the source of hope for our lives" I began to trust that it was possible for me to do this.

This summer I see a great opportunity to live this, as millions of people flood into London for the Olympic Games; the Church will open her doors and her heart to welcome them. The Joshua Camp, something I see as a miniature World Youth Day, will reflect on the call to evangelise, will be fuelled by the Eucharist and will hit the streets with Joy and music to witness the depth of Christ's Love.

The Church is not afraid to go humbly searching for the lost and broken, to make herself available for the World, and I want to be a part of that.

Lucy Mackain-Bremner is working for The Joshua Camp.

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