Cross comes in many ways to people of Sale

A big day of events with the Cross and Icon began in Neerim with a Witness Walk. A group of true pilgrims set off after an early breakfast together to walk the 7.5km to Neerim South. Here a mass was held on the local oval, attended by primary and secondary schools from the local area. A special part of today was observing the colourful crosses that the primary school students had prepared to lay around the WYD Cross.
The outline of the Cross made by the students’ smaller crosses (as shown in the photos) will remain on the ground like this until the end of the week! The Cross & Icon were then taken to Marist Sion School at Warragul for a liturgy on the school oval that concluded with the students surfing the cross and with a lively Christian band entertaining the students.
A small procession then was led to the church by a group of students who will be coming to Sydney for World Youth Day. It was lovely to chat to these students about their hopes for WYD and their dreams for the future as we walked along towards St Joseph’s Church. A liturgy was held in the church and there was plenty of time for quiet prayer time and veneration before the Cross was taken to St John’s, Trafalgar.
Later in the evening a crowd gathered at Logan Park for a Youth Festival, which featured youth bands and speakers who played in preparation for the arrival of the Cross & Icon.
There was truly something special to see the young people process the Cross & Icon in on this chilly night, as the liveliness and movement of the evening came to a halt as everyone in the crowd stood in silence to welcome these special symbols to the event.

Bernadette :)