A shining moment
01.12.2009
We were proud of our heritage at WYD.
An unforgettable incident in my life occurred in July of last year in Sydney during World Youth Day. Fr Nemesio was the only priest travelling with the contingent from Fiji I could bank on.
I was the Team Leader of about 300 youths from the west and the northern parishes and as with any mission this big, hiccups will occur and things do go wrong. Rather than lecture me and point out my shortcomings as some were doing, Fr Neme was my source of support, constantly telling me "good job" and going that extra mile, when I wanted something done urgently.
He backed me all the way until the last Saturday when I told him that I couldn't spend the night under the stars with the rest of the group at the Randwick Racecourse because of the extremely cold weather. He turned to me and said, "Then it would have been better had you not come at all. Brought someone instead who would spend the night under the stars: and you had stayed back.
Come on Tim, this is the climax, where every youth from every corner of the globe will come together for one night to usher in the final Papal Mass the next morning." I stood my ground "Father I'm asthmatic," I said. "It's the middle of winter, the temperature is close to zero degrees and you're asking me to sleep outside. I don't even sleep outside in tropical Fiji." He shot back immediately, "I can see you're relying only on your strength. We are here
on a walk of faith."
Cold but happy
Suffice to say I spent the night under the stars, the temperature that night was amazingly bearable, and the memories will linger on in my mind forever. The memory of waking up half asleep on Sunday morning totally enclosed inside my sleeping bag and for those first few seconds confused as to where I was. Then as the realization slowly dawns, I slowly unzipped my sleeping bag, took in that first breath of fresh cold air and stuck my head out into the early Sydney sunrise.
I saw the hundreds of thousands of sleeping souls lie sprawling in every direction, in every imaginable colour sleeping bag. It's one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen, and before I realized it, there was a smile on my face, despite the cold, I was already warm.
The Fijian Dance at WYD closing Mass
The final Mass, at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, I almost missed. I watched the seminarians of the Pacific Regional Seminary in their traditional grass attire, half-naked, process the Bible up to the Altar to present to Pope Benedict XVI.
They were swaying rhythmically to the chants of a Fijian "vucu" composed specifically for this procession.
I also scanned around me to see the look of shock, bewilderment and utter surprise on the faces of European and American delegates.
At the end of the Mass, some understood it and some didn't get it. Some thought it was a pre-Christianity pagan ritual that had no place at the World Youth Day Mass, and some thought it was the most beautiful moment in that Mass of a hundred nationalities. Some did not know what to think. As a Pacific Islander, my heart was brimming with pride during that Bible procession. It was our moment when Pacific Island Catholics shone, proud of their national heritage, and proud to be themselves on the international stage, in the largest gathering that Australia has ever seen.
Who are we, as Fijian Catholic youth?
While the Church is in the process of discerning our new Archbishop through vigil and prayer, it's time to look at ourselves and our Church and how we can be more effective instruments of bringing our vision to fruition, and to carry it onwards from where our Archbishop will relinquish his charge of the vision to us.
Timoci Tuiqali is the Vice-President of the Fijian National Catholic Youth Council.
