"Cheerful, despite 90 degree heat and mud up to your ankles"

Over 1.6 million young people took part in World Youth Day in Krakow. Eva Guldner from Cologne recounts her personal experiences during this event.

“I have the feeling that I was not in Krakow; I was in a completely different world,” said Eva Guldner, a student at Muengersdorf student residence in Cologne. Along with fifty other young women from Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Aachen and Berlin, Eva has just returned from WYD in Krakow.

”My first World Youth Day was an experience that is hard to express in words. When I begin to describe what has happened during these days in this small Polish city, I have to say that without faith this event could never have taken place. Over a million young people from all around the world spent several days in almost 90 degree heat in the blazing sun and in heavy rain on a field where each step meant getting stuck in the mud up to your ankles. But all the young people there were in a good mood that was not fueled by alcohol; they sang joyful songs, and were very helpful and attentive to the needs of those around them.”

At the Field of Mercy

What impressed these young Christians the most was the vigil prayer service on Saturday evening with the Holy Father. ”Where else would you see a million young people kneeling in absolute silence and praying?”

The Pope’s words contained a very clear message: “Dear young people, we didn’t come into this world to 'vegetate,' to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: to leave a mark . . . Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, is calling you to leave your mark on history. He, who is Life, is asking each of you to leave a mark that brings life to your own history and that of many others. He, who is Truth, is asking you to abandon the paths of rejection, division and emptiness. Are you up to this?”

The young people experienced this week every type of discomfort: heat, strong showers, tents in the mud, long distances to traverse with heavy backpacks, standing in line for food, overcrowded railways…. But no one complained, and the atmosphere was constantly one of great joy. A happiness that was not superficial but that flowed from the strong faith that filled the whole city. And all this despite the massive police presence due to the threat of terrorism.

Before going to the “Campus Misericordiae” on Saturday, about 2000 of the young women and men had separate get-togethers with the Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarría, who challenged them to be very apostolic and not to be held back by the difficulties in their environment.

At the end, Eva expressed what was probably in most of the young people’s hearts: “The effort and tiredness of the last few days will be quickly forgotten. But what remains is the peace we have experienced, and the mission Pope Francis has given us to try to change the world, the world in which we live and work every day.”