By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper

Photography: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

KRAKOW, Poland | What a brilliant idea!

I didn’t realize the power of a World Youth Day until last night, toward the end of the opening Mass celebrated here at Blonia Park.

A thunderstorm came through in the afternoon so the ground was muddy. But that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the young people from around the world who began gathering here since early morning. They were singing and waving flags and yes, kneeling in the mud to pray.

There was joy and enthusiasm and faith and hope and pride and laughter and music and everything else that is good about youth.

Wow! What a “scathingly brilliant” idea St. John Paul II came up with: Showing the world’s young people at their most joyful and hopeful. Letting them meet one another. And spreading that contagion around the globe.

Contagion is an apt word, given the amount of high-fiving taking place. As we exited the park, or even earlier in the day, gauntlets formed as pilgrim groups passed each other on the crowded streets. Those passing on one side would high-five their counterparts on the other side, all the time asking: Where are you from?

Somehow, they understood each other. Some of the pilgrims figured out that if those passing did not understand “Where are you from?” they could simply shout “Miami!” and elicit a similar response from their counterparts.

Groups from France seemed particularly enthusiastic. And of course Brazil. We saw flags from Cambodia and Indonesia, Spain and Slovenia, Colombia and Ecuador. It certainly brought home the message that the Church is catholic — that is, universal.

And as Archbishop Thomas Wenski put it at the catechesis this morning, one of the best lessons of World Youth Day is precisely that: “You’re not alone.”

Which is great from the figurative point of view. Not so great when it’s 80 degrees — yes, it’s hot and humid in Poland, with afternoon showers usually threatening — and you’re lined up under the sun for two hours, bumping bodies with dozens of others trying to push their way into the Sanctuary for Divine Mercy. (Disney World’s snaking lines haven’t arrived in Krakow.)

This World Youth Day has definitely answered the question: How many people can you cram into a streetcar? As many as can stand and move as one body when the streetcar takes a curve or stops and starts. Then pack a few more in for good measure.

That’s what all the pilgrims, from Miami and elsewhere, are experiencing as they go to the different venues. Hundreds of others are going to the same places, all at the same time. Those wishing to cheat the system and take taxis soon find out that many of Krakow’s streets are now open only to pedestrians.

World Youth Day veterans tell me that’s the norm.

Inconvenience aside — we’re pilgrims, not tourists, Archbishop Wenski keeps reminding us — it does create camaraderie. It allows teens from Fort Lauderdale to chat with teens from France and Sweden. It permits Roman Catholics from Miami to speak to Chaldean Catholics from Erbil, Iraq.

“This is us,” said one man after pointing out the N for Nazarene on a button he was handing out. “It’s very difficult. We thank you for your support through your prayers. They make it possible for us to come here and be connected with the family of Catholics.”

So there’s good news here to counteract so much of the recent bad news. To give participants some hope that the future could be different.

“Large Catholic events like World Youth Day help us encounter one another in Christian faith, hope, and charity,” said Stephen Colella, director of the archdiocesan Secretariat of Evangelization, who is making his sixth WYD trip. “This way leads to the culture of life that the founder of World Youth Day, St. Pope John Paul II, invites us to embrace and live for. It also becomes a light in the darkness for the world.”

Imagine that: Entrusting the future to the most hopeful and idealistic among us. A “scathingly brilliant” idea, indeed.

(By the way: Can anyone recall the name of the film from which I borrowed that term, “scathingly brilliant”? It was one of my favorites when I was growing up. Give it a guess and I’ll let you know if you’re right.)