Elbow to Elbow

Madrid truly is a beautiful city. It feels like Rome would be if it was clean, organized and less expensive. This evening, Joyce and I tried to attend the opening mass at Plaza Cibeles, which is only about six or seven blocks from our apartment. Within four blocks of the Plaza we were elbow to elbow with people. Chains of humans interlocked at the arm, some more than a dozen deep formed moving walls that made it nearly impossible to navigate. I broke a chain of Americans and the girl who let go was scolded and told to be more aggressive. I told her to just follow me and I’d follow her group because I wasn’t about to wait for her chain to pass.  I couldn’t even see the end of it! And then they decided to turn around!

After about 20 minutes, we had enough. Enduring a lot of weight shifting and dodging of proud patriots from around the world, Joyce and I finally emerged at a quiet side street. We decided I’d cook dinner and we’d watch the mass on TV. We hit up the grocery store, I made some kind of snapper-like fish with garlic, olive oil, salt and cherry tomatoes, and we sorta half watched the mass as it ended.

I must say, I’ve never experienced anything like this before. LA’s Religious Education Congress is amazing with some 40,000 Catholics gathering in Anaheim. But World Youth Day makes that gathering look like a small prayer group. No lie. Everywhere are the red or yellow t-shirts of the event. During the mass, though there were hundreds of thousands of people gravitating toward that square, it was relatively silent. That tells me in part how strong the faith and reverence is here. Already, I’m astounded by the magnitude of this event. Thanks JP2!