By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

“Even if you were the quietest person, all you could do was scream.” (Joshua Kapika)

“You have family everywhere just because you’re Catholic.” (Jeremy Sabugo)

“It’s amazing how one little man can hold so much charisma and power over so many people.” (Julia Mundo-Cambra)

“The Holy Spirit hits you right there.” (Derik Sagaysay)

“Now I look forward to going to church every single day.” (Keelan Barcina)

“We were all just praising God at the same time.” (Nichole Rego)

“That was the most that I’ve seen the body of Christ come together.” (Karl Sandbo)

“It was a time for myself but most importantly a time with God.” (Elaine Pinacate)

These were thoughts spoken by youth and young adults from St. Michael Church, Waialua, and St. Peter and Paul Mission, Waimea, as they shared their experience at World Youth Day 2008 during a wrap-up potluck at their parish on Aug. 4. While covering World Youth Day in Sydney for the Hawaii Catholic Herald, I got a chance to know them and share in the amazing Spirit (with a capital S) of this international Catholic gathering.

Everything they said I would second. I was in Sydney as a Catholic journalist and it was an incredible opportunity not only to challenge my reporting and photography skills but as a way to challenge the status quo of my beliefs. It reminded me how lucky I am to work at a job where my faith and my career can easily mesh.

When I got back from Sydney I went from being surrounded by thousands of people to an empty house, a post-trip cold, and the sense that I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. I had a hunch I’d get World Youth Day withdrawal. It was similar to the feeling I’d experience back in my ballet days when my dance school and company would spend months rehearsing, several weekends performing, and then be finished.

Now that I’d returned to Hawaii, Australian Cardinal George Pell’s words at the WYD Opening Mass came back to me: “But these days will pass too quickly and next week we shall return to earth. For a time some of you will find the real world of home and parish, work or study, flat and disappointing.”

That certainly came true. But what we were told in Sydney over and over, by the cardinal, pope, catechesis leaders, and our own hearts was that while we can’t be at World Youth Day every day of our lives, we can take the energy and inspiration we found there back home with us and incorporate them into daily life. We can live the WYD theme, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”

If you haven’t heard the World Youth Day 2008 theme song, “Receive the Power,” I’d encourage you to look it up at http://www.wyd2008.org/index.php/en/pilgrims_registration/song. And imagine yourself standing with hundreds of thousands of others, waving your arms in the air, and singing like you’ve never sung before. That’s the power of World Youth Day.

To ease myself back from that 24-7 energy to everyday normalness, I’ve reread the homilies and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Pell and other church leaders. Two quotations particularly struck me now that I’m back:

“Don’t spend your life sitting on the fence, keeping your options open, because only commitments bring fulfillment. Happiness comes from meeting our obligations, doing our duty, especially in small matters and regularly, so we can rise to meet the harder challenges.” (Cardinal Pell, Opening Mass homily)

“To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God’s love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you too can transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!” (Pope Benedict, Evening Vigil)

My other post-WYD “coping” mechanisms have included looking up the audio recordings of talks given throughout World Youth Day on xt3.com, the WYD inspired social networking site, listening to local Christian radio station 95.5 The Fish, and downloading iTunes songs from Christian artists. I wouldn’t have done much of this before Sydney but, like many other pilgrims, I now feel called to do more with my Catholic faith. And I’m looking for further ways to do just that.

A few evenings after I got back from Sydney, I was driving home from Hawaii Kai to Kailua, listening to Catholic artist Matt Maher’s recent CD “Empty and Beautiful” to keep me energized at that late hour. In front of me I spotted a red convertible with the license plate “SINNER” (I’m not making this up). SINNER-man was speeding, and I was chilling, listening to Matt Maher and remembering World Youth Day. If SINNER had been in Sydney, by the end of the week, I think he’d have changed his plates to “BELIEVR.”