Whatever Happens, Happens (World Youth Day 2011)

Yesterday, I went to an event called Camino, a day-long send-off event for all of the Vancouver World Youth Day pilgrims. The day was filled with good company, beautiful weather, pilgrimage, talks, mass (duh), and even an evening concert. It was a great way for a lot of the pilgrims to come together, celebrate faith, and even in the smallest way, prepare ourselves for our pilgrimage to Madrid.

However, what really set the mood for not only the day's activities, but for World Youth Day as a whole, were the talks given by keynote speaker Makani Marquis. Now this guy leads an interesting life. Back when World Youth Day was in Denver in 1993, he walked there. When WYD was in Toronto in 2002, he biked there - in 3 and a half weeks. Nowadays, for 6 months of the year, he works for the archdiocese of Vancouver as their webmaster. The other 6 months? He lives as a hermit, seeking solitude in the middle of nowhere, in order to become more in tune with God. He brings some spiritual reading with him, and makes it back into civilization proper every week for mass. Other than that, he doesn't speak to anyone, read any newspapers, listen to music, or watch tv. He doesn't even speak to himself. As you might expect, he had some very insightful and challenging things to say to all of the pilgrims.