A delegation of young adults and young adult ministers will be traveling to Madrid World Youth Day 2011 on Aug. 16-21. as part of a special project of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

This special project is a collaborative endeavor to share the experience of World Youth Day, as seen through the lens of cultural diversity, with young adults in the United States.

World Youth Day is a coming together of young people from the different parts of the world. It is a testimony of what the late Pope John Paul II repeatedly said, “Young people are not only the future of the church, but are also its present.”

World Youth Day is not just a meeting of young people of the world, but a time to put trust and confidence in them; the fervent, active and energetic young people of the world.

The Lord Jesus prays that we may be one just as He and the Father are one. They are one in love; we become one in love.

It is through the words, gestures and rituals during the World Youth Day activities that all the pilgrims and participants experience God’s love and presence of the Holy Spirit. It is through worship, sacred Scripture, catechesis, the sacraments, the cross, pilgrimage and youth activities that young people and all the participants can return their love for God.

I still remember the World Youth Day I have attended where a great number of youth from the four corners of the world gathered to worship, read the sacred Scripture, listened to catechesis and celebrated the sacraments. It was a great opportunity to share a common love of Christ, grow spiritually and to connect more strongly with the church.

World Youth Day is an experience of a lifetime. It is something that the youth carry with them for the rest of their lives. Those who attend will change their life for the better.

Certainly, World Youth Day is an adventure of a lifetime.