Journal of My Experiences
Bruges
On Thursday, we traveled by bus to Bruges. After a short tour to the center of the town with our guide, we were allowed to freely roam the city. It was quite an enjoyable day. First, a large group of us climbed up to the top of the �Belfry� in the main market of the city. It was a very narrow, windy, circular staircase with people going up and down in a very small space. It was quite fun and entertaining going up and I think was a kind of �icebreaker� for us to get to know the other pilgrims. (Tight quarters have that effect). The view of the city from the top was magnificent and we saw the many churches in the town. (In Europe driving along you see oodles of villages, every single one of them has one prominent feature the steeple, Again a sign of the centrality of Christianity to European Culture).
When we came down, we went shopping throughout the streets. There were a lot of �lace� shops, and we passed by a neat place called the �bier temple� with a beer called �Petrus� the label having St. Peter holding a beer along with the keys to the kingdom.
A small group of us went to a local restaurant and ordered �mussels and fries�, one of the delicacies of Belgium. The group included John, myself, Stephanie, Aurevelia, Andrew B and L, and Kendra Jones. It was a good time to begin to get to know each other. The platters were so huge that we shared one serving between two people. We also tried some Belgian beer �Leffe� They were truly delicious � I found out that �lecker� means �delicious� both in German and Dutch � our waitress was ecstatic to hear me say that. We left a tip, which was considered very generous to the locals.
Our next stop was the Basilica of the Precious Blood. Here is contained a vial that is believed to contain some drops of blood from our Lord�s crucifixion. Providentially the relic was out for veneration. A priest allowed us to touch the vial briefly. The chapel was gloriously decorated, some very medieval looking paintings and high altar in the sanctuary. Unfortunately, I have no good pictures of the chapel. We remained there for some time, and I was able to pray Daytime prayer. It was a very special place, as they were praying for World Youth Day pilgrims in many languages when we arrived. I think it was special spiritually. Below was another chapel, even more ancient, which is said to house the relics of St. Basil the Great. Unfortunately, I did not know this at the time.
After this trip we had a short period of time left. John, Aurevelia and myself booted it to the Cathedral, to see it while we still could. We both wanted to take in as many churches as we could. I felt sort of guilty visiting so many holy sites so quickly, without taking much time to pray. I always made a point of stopping at the Blessed Sacrament chapel or somewhere else and at least saying a short prayer. The business of the days made it hard to concentrate even when I did have some time to pray � my mind was spinning. I decided the first day, that I would not allow this to cause any serious bother. I would intake now, and take some time to go over the sites I saw and pray later. I have begun and hope to continue the long process of digesting the rich fare that the Lord provided on this trip.
Arrival in Drongen
After our stay in Bruges, we got back on the bus and traveled to Drongen, the site where we were staying for the days in the dioceses. Upon our arrival we were greeted by �Lein� a young woman who directed the days in Belgium. We were all given �Treat Bags� which were quite comical as they were almost entirely composed of corporate donations � CDs, a �Quick� hat, the McDonalds of Belgium, hair gel and directions, numerous stickers rulers and other paraphernalia in Dutch. Yet it was still a joy to receive them.
We were all staying in Military style tents in groups of about 5-8. I found out when we arrived that I had lost my key to my luggage. I spent over an hour borrowing keys from others to try and get into my bag. None worked. I tried a hairpin � also no luck. I even tried to bust it with a pen. Just as I had given up, and was looking for a screw driver or bolt cutters to break in, Rebecca Mombourquette heard my story and offered to help. She was all ecstatic and said; �I can do it! I have the key!� I was without any faith whatsoever and even told her not to bother. But she ran to her tent, got a handful of about 7 different keys and had one that actually worked. She let me keep the key afterwards.
The Belgians invited us to play games in the field while we waited. They were �quite� physical. The one game �Bossman� was like a form of �tag� or �British Bulldog� only in order to stop a person, you had to pick them physically off the ground. We also played another game that involved lying very close to one another and literally �rolling� over top of each other. Very strange. Few men wished to join.
We had supper that night in a big tent, according to the groups we were placed in. My captain �Gert� was a priest � but as with all the priests in Belgium � he did not wear clericals, and people did not call him �Father�. It was funny, as throughout the week I kept on meeting new priests whom I did not realize were priests.
First they had opening ceremonies. It began with various skits trying to adjust us to each other�s culture. I found the whole thing hilarious, although many of my confreres did not get most of the jokes. First, there were Canadians coming to Belgium upset about the size of the pop and chips � In Canada the chips are THIS BIG! � other things like sleeping in Tents. Then they had a Belgian, dressed as a preppy with his mother yelling at him. It was quite witty � he said �Mom I don�t know my purpose in Life? Where do I find God? Is he inside of me? Or is he found in the Church?� �Oh Mark, you are being influenced by all this secular humanism in our society, I hope that World Youth Day will fix you up� HILARIOUS genuinely funny. They also had two Belgians dress as �Hans und Gretel� pretending to be the German organizing team. They wore traditional German dress, sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic and yodeled. They kept on making fun of Canadians about how they pronounced Koln, saying we pronounced in �Colonia.� Lots of good clean fun.
We had some nice prayer services, with rather nice chanting of psalms, and a lot of Taize style music. For the audience, I think it was quite appropriate. I found out that the priest leading the prayers was the liturgist of the diocese.
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