“Thousands of young people from all over the world are going to Madrid to participate in the World Youth Day. They come with hope because they believe in Jesus; because they truly feel what the very theme puts forward: «Rooted and built up in Christ, Firm in Faith.» And thus, Miguel Miró, Prior General of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, begins his blog “A Friendly Word” that he has dedicated to the gathering of the youth, which will take place with the Pope in Madrid from August 15 to 21. There are more than 500 members of the Recollect Augustinian Youth (RAY) coming from 11 countries, who will participate.
We, Augustinian Recollects, Miró explains, put our hope in the youths of today and we tell them with Benedict XVI: «The Church counts on you. She needs your living faith, your creative charity and the dynamism of your hope. Your presence renews the Church, rejuvenates her and gives her a new force. »
Special coverage on the web of the Order
The official website of the Order of Augustinian Recollects offers a special coverage of the WYD and of the specific activities organized by the institution (ARWYD 2011) through the official blog (www.agustinosrecoletos.com//blog), in which a daily entry of the last moment of the gathering is to be posted, including videos of the most highlighted moments. As it is a common practice in our webpage, the posts are presented in Portuguese, Spanish and English, the three official languages of the Order. The same youths gathered in Madrid are in-charge of the translation, with which they render an important service to all Augustinian Recollects.
At the same time, the materials are also posted in the social networking like Facebook and Twitter. The videos remain incorporated in the official channel of the Order in Youtube.
Specific Program of Activities
Registration and delivery of materials
Half of a thousand Augustinian Recollect youths will participate for some days in what is named to be ARWYD, adding the official acronym (WYD) to that of the youth movement of the Order (RAY), which will have to go with the activities of this great encounter of Catholic youths from all over the world with Benedict XVI.
Among the activities proper which were organized, it is necessary to highlight two encounters in some of the Recollect parishes in Madrid, the visit to one of the two monasteries of the Augustinian Recollect nuns in the capital of Spain and the catechesis that the youths will receive from some Augustinian Recollect bishops, who came from various parts of the world.