In every age, and in every language, the Church throughout the world continues to proclaim the marvels of God and to call all nations and peoples to faith, hope and new life in Christ.
In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia.
I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christs Spirit and the richness of his gifts.
I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people from every nation under heaven (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room.
May the fire of Gods love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ!
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at todays Mass.
But they are also addressed to each of us to all those who have received the Spirits gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist.
At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lords body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, one body, one spirit in Christ.
But what is this power of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life!
It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21).
He himself came among us to bring us that Spirit.
As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.
Here in Australia, this great south land of the Holy Spirit, all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the Spirits presence and power in the beauty of nature.
Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it truly is: charged, as the poet says, with the grandeur of God, filled with the glory of his creative love.
Here too, in this great assembly of young Christians from all over the world, we have had a vivid experience of the Spirit’s presence and power in the life of the Church.
We have seen the Church for what she truly is: the Body of Christ, a living community of love, embracing people of every race, nation and tongue, of every time and place, in the unity born of our faith in the Risen Lord.
Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day in Sydney.
In the darkness, in the light, in the voices of tactic and concern, in crisis and in health, moved to action, down on his knees preying fervently, lost in a daze watching the birds in the trees, all this was part of his fragmented reorientation to a different world. He could feel the presence of the old maid so clearly. She was very pleased he was working on the house; very pleased she would once be the proud owner of the best house in the village. He let her have her vanities. The only surprise was that an incorporeal being could be so vain; so concerned with their place in the physical world.
But that, in the magic place that was Tambar, was all important, a tiny, happy place on the remote slopes of the Liverpool Plains, a place where no one was ever going to find you. They weren't grand plans, the dreams of the people around here. A convulsion, a setting tide, a hope to be far away from trouble, that was all, the smell of lavender, roses in bloom. Chokos growing in profusion over the water tank, for water was always a problem in these parts. How proud she was, in their garden, showing off, assuming her natural status in life, at the top of the heap.
Now everything is in ruins. The bowling club still has views across the Liverpool Plains, beautiful at sunset, the place to relax and socialise and talk about things. How well known she had been there. Where's Marge, people would ask if she wasn't there. And when she arrived, all of a bustle but always done nicely, it was as if the complement was complete, as if this was the best and only time, as if the wars that had been fought so far away had never happened, as if all was safe. And while she had her own private problems, it was that feeling of safety around her that people loved the most; and made her so popular.
Old white paint peels off the Bowling Club now. Nobody has danced there for many a year. No man has had a well earnt beer at the end of the day after working on the sheep spreads, no old geezer has gazed cheerfully, or even murkily, into his drink at the end of the day. The shouts of success are long gone. As for the bowling green itself; you can still see how amazing it must have been, here in this astonishing spot, a fragment of civilisation a long long way from anywhere. He was certain of defeat. He was cowed and gloom laden. He wanted out.
The old maid in his head, the swirling city outside, all of it conflicted. The World Youth Day events are over, and the streams of pilgrims, by their thousands and then their tens of thousands, streamed down Devonshire Street. Normally a nowhere street on the way to nowhere, flanked by public housing and only coming to life in a gaggle of shops near Central, was entirely transformed. They sang, they waved flags, and they streamed down towards the station with a cheer and a fervour never seen here before. Normally there's nothing but dismal, bashed up ice addicts skulking despairingly around the doctor's surgery, or chained office workers, those modern slaves, heading to their offices for the day.
Nothing could change this. We are transported. Their fervour and enthusiasm, their unquestioning belief in God, their profound love of life, of the gospel, of nature and nurture and suckling hope. Oh no, some of the pilgrims are going to stay, my 17-year-old son says from the lounge room, watching the television. They're going to crash the transport system. So handsome, some of them, and wasted, in the modern lexicon, by not putting it about, by not trashing themselves, by saving themselves for the love of another. If he could do it all over again, would he take a straighter, truer path? Would he rise up in confidence and denounce the soothsayers? Would he bless God and bask in the glow of love and light, truth and nature? Could he be true to a different self, profoundly decent, humble, honest, smiling nicely upwards. Nanna, nanna, I'm a good boy now.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/21/2309012.htm
Two Indian soldiers, including an officer, and four suspected Muslim militants were killed in separate gun battles in Kashmir, while two others died in a grenade attack, the army said.
The violence flared up across the Himalayan region ahead of a new round of India-Pakistan peace talks on Monday that are opposed by Kashmiri separatist militants.
The two soldiers died in a firefight with militants in Rajouri area of south Kashmir, a day after nine Indian troops were killed in a landmine blast near Srinagar.
"The encounter broke out on Saturday and still continues," Indian army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel SD Goswami said.
Separately, an Indian tourist and a local picnicker were killed and at least five others wounded on Sunday when suspected Muslim militants threw a grenade at a hill resort in Gulmarg, west of Srinagar, police said.
The valley of Gulmarg, ringed by pine forests and famous for its ski slopes and cable car, lies close to the Line of Control dividing Indian and Pakistani Kashmir.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24049141-661,00.html
IF patience is indeed a virtue, Pope Benedict XVI had better be returning to Australian shores soon.
There were a few hundred thousand folks at Randwick yesterday who probably deserved a sainthood.
The holy mob spent Saturday trudging 10km from North Sydney to the racecourse, then bundled into sleeping bags to spend the night out in single-digit temperatures; all to gain the blessing of the Pope, and gamble on eternal happiness in heaven.
With racecourse dust in their lungs, but a spiritual song still blasting in their hearts, thousands of pilgrims then moved towards the toilet blocks for morning ablutions; straight into the paths of thousands more, pouring into the course with their day-ticket for the Pope's Mass.
For the occasion, traditional home to vice, Randwick was dubbed "Southern Cross Precinct"; but traffic flow was more Southern Cross Station on Cup Day . . . during a worker strike . . . immediately after a bomb scare.
The result was human gridlock, with hour-long waits to get anywhere; but these meek took the wait like they were inheriting the earth.
"We've spent the whole week waiting for stuff to happen, waiting for lunch and for buses; but it's all been worth it, to get to see the Pope," said Californian pilgrim Katie Greeves.
And 400,000 miraculously melted into order as Pope Benedict began his popemobile lap of the racecourse, stopping to kiss a couple of babies, then to a giant shed-altar for Sunday Mass.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-07-20-voa21.cfm
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has repeated a call for more US troops and greater funding for Afghanistan as part of his plan to overhaul America's war on terrorism. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, Senator Obama spoke after meeting with Afghanistan's president in Kabul.
Barack Obama concluded a two-day visit to Afghanistan Sunday, the first major stop in a lengthy trip that will also take the senator to Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Europe. Before departing Kabul, he spoke on the CBS television network, which aired the interview on the US domestic program Face the Nation.
Obama said the government of President Hamid Karzai must do more to confront terrorist elements in Afghanistan, but said the United States also has a critical role to play.
"The situation is precarious and urgent here in Afghanistan, and I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front in our battle against terrorism," said Barack Obama.
The Illinois senator has been a harsh critic of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, saying the true terrorist threat facing America is based, not in Baghdad, but in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's northern regions.
"That global network is centered in this area, and I think one of the biggest mistakes we [the United States] have made, strategically, after 9/11 was to fail to finish the job here," he said. "We got distracted by Iraq. And now we have a chance to correct some of those errors."
Abercrombie Street, Redfern, Sydney, Australia, at dawn.
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