A festive tide of young people poured into the streets of the Holy Land. More than eight thousand U.S. young people, belonging to the Neocatechumenal Way, experienced a couple of weeks in the footsteps of Jesus, to touch his presence in their lives. JACOB SUAZO Catechist - New Jersey - United States We do this pilgrimage to help us see God’s love for us in our lives. And how we do that? It’s by going to the places where Jesus Christ walked, seeing that His history is our history, that it’s a fact that Jesus Christ came, that He died for you and for me. From Nazareth to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, from climbing the Via dolorosa to dancing in front of the walls of Jerusalem, the word so many times read in the Gospel slowly took flesh and God's love became something concrete. GIACOMO GALLO New Jersey – United States I see how much sinner I am, not be able to forgive myself and the slavery I have within me… in this pilgrimage I see how He loves me anyway, He’s really forgiving me. I see how important this is, how fundamental. I need God in my life, it’s important for me. JACOB SUAZO Catechist - New Jersey - United States Many of the young people have come with many big sufferings: of abandonment, of abuse, of being neglected, and yet Jesus Christ comes in this pilgrimage with all of us, really, he’s able to give us a word of hope, of life: “I want to be with you, I love you, I’m leading your history”. And many of these young people come with these big sufferings are able to see really that God loves them and many of them have been able to say: ‘I want this life! I want this happiness This is what happened in the great meeting at the Domus Galilaeae, on the Mount of Beatitudes, one of the highlights of the pilgrimage. The meeting was presided over by the Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins, HB Pierbattista Pizzaballa: "We can call this land almost an Eighth Sacrament," he said in his homily, "because it helps us to better understand and meet the Man who changed the life of the world and whom we want to change ours as well. All pilgrimage participants gathered here in front of the Sea of Galilee, like the apostles around Jesus who delivered the famous "Sermon on the Mount" on these hills. And as the apostles listened to Jesus sound out the beatitudes, so these young people heard again the proclamation of the "kerygma": God loves you just the way you are. From here comes the possibility of new life, one just needs to open the heart to God. ERNIE United States When Caetano was speaking about how Christ gives you the best, how he has this freaking, amazing life because of this calling to God, when he said that God loves you as you are, I see that the Lord was calling me. At the time of the "vocation call," 200 boys and 300 girls ran to the stage to say their desire to respond to God's call by giving their whole lives to him. So did 200 families, giving their readiness for mission. ARIANNA Maryland – United States I always wanted to be the center of the attention, the one that everybody loves, but in this pilgrimage, I’ve seen that all the love from all these people won’t make me happy, only He can. This why I stood up. The patriarch invoked God's blessing and the gift of the Spirit on young people and their families so that they may walk according to God's will, in the style of the Beatitudes. HB PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins "The beatitudes are the Christian style, it is Christ, it is the life of Christ, which is always relevant and is always a strong and clear word for those who want to be truly happy." Read More