A.M.D.G. World Youth Day Convocation Friday August 26, 2016 Good Morning ­Good Morning For those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Shane Eilers, and I’m a senior here at Jesuit. Three weeks ago today, a group of over 100 of your fellow students and faculty, including myself, returned to Tampa from our 17 day pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Europe. This fantastic event is held every three years by the Pope, who calls young Catholics from all over the world to partake in a pilgrimage to a particular country. World Youth Day 2016 ​ was held in Krakow, Poland, the place where St. John Paul II had grown up and been bishop before becoming Pope. I can think of many different highlights from World Youth Day: going to ​ mass every day, walking up to 15 miles in one day, and staying with a Polish family where we had to use Google Translate to communicate with them, and it was the greatest time of my life. Some went because they wanted to grow closer to God, some went because they wanted to go on an amazing vacation to three of the world’s most historic and beautiful countries, and some perhaps they knew that their friends were going. Whatever the case, I think it’s easy to say that we all strengthened our faith on this pilgrimage in some way. Personally, my faith grew the most in Rome. As soon as we enter Jesuit, we are taught about the history of the Church, and all of the amazing saints who have lived throughout the ages, including the basilicas where they are buried. It’s incredibly easy to think that these people don’t have a big impact on you or your faith because they existed hundreds of years ago and are buried in buildings scattered across the world. I was victim to this way of thinking as well. After going to Rome and witnessing these awe­inspiring structures first­hand, my mentality and my faith underwent a complete reversal. Everything that the Church had taught me held true, and my faith in the Lord couldn’t do anything else but grow. To know that places like St. Peter’s Basilica, the Jesu, and the Vatican Catacombs actually existed and weren’t just pictures in a textbook struck me in a way I had never experienced before. Another time on the pilgrimage that caused a transformation in my faith was at the actual World Youth Day event in Poland, where I witnessed literally millions of young people from all over the globe unite in one place. This pilgrimage made me realize that the Catholic faith doesn’t only exist at Jesuit High School or Tampa or even Florida, but it is evident throughout the entire world. While on this pilgrimage, not only did I form deep bonds with people that I may have seen once or twice in the halls, but, most importantly, I significantly strengthened my faith in God, and that’s something I would never trade for the world. Step aside and let Nick take over and stand behind him. .