World Youth Day 2023- the Students' Graces

The Yooper Pilgrims had an eventful and life-changing journey across the pond for World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal this July! They've all made it back with lasting impressions of the gathering of 1.5 million young Catholics. Praise God!

"Thank you to everyone who prayed for us, everyone who donated to make this amazing pilgrimage possible! It was truly full of grace, we'll be unpacking that for a lot longer than our suitcases!" -Fr. Ben Hasse

See the Pilgrims itinery, and hear from the Pilgrims themselves below:




Graces & Testimonies


Imelia Meiser:

“Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

This verse sums up my graces from WYD. Amongst the big-ness and chaos of WYD, my favorite moments were the ones that brought the Catholic faith to a more personal level. The massive crowds of WYD showed me that God is indeed "exalted among the nations". Seeing Catholics from around the world and having conversations with some of them made the "universal church" way more personal. Along the same line, seeing Pope Francis with my own eyes and hearing him speak live from the same space I was in really changed the way I think about when we pray for him at Mass or during a rosary for his intentions and for him to lead the church well. Hearing Fr. Ben translate the words of Pope Francis for us live was a really special moment. Sometimes my moments of  "Be still, and know that I am God" were in places familiar to me like adoration. Then there were many times when I was feeling overwhelmed and I would pray a prayer along these lines: "Okay Lord, this is a lot. I would kind of rather be home right now, but I am not. I am right here, right now. So what are you trying to show me?" This prayer calls me to patience and intentionality with my actions, that these make a difference. These are the things that I have taken away from WYD so far, as with all things, the Lord works in mysterious ways and so I look forward to all of the other ways that God will weave in more reflections from WYD as time goes on.”

Mary Jane Schwartz:

“I had an amazing experience at World Youth Day. God touched my heart in a profound way because he answered my prayer. My prayer at the start of World Youth Day was to have charity towards people and to be more forgiving towards others. This prayer stemmed from the hurt and confusion I was feeling because of recently leaving the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. My prayer was answered on Thursday, August 3, 2023. This was the Welcoming Ceremony of Pope Francis. When I first saw Pope Francis on the screen I felt an overwhelming feeling of charity towards him. I felt that God was asking me to pray for Pope Francis in a special way and to remember all leaders and those in authority whose decisions can be misunderstood. God also touched me through the unexpected gift of friendships I made with several people of the group I was with and whom I hope to remain in contact with outside of World Youth Day. I will always remember with gratitude the chance I had to visit Fatima. It was such an incredible place and there I felt Our Blessed Mother Mary in a special way when I prayed for all the intentions people had asked me to pray for. These I offered to Our Lady of Fatima as a spiritual bouquet.”

Zachary Vandermissen:

“Going to WYD was a powerful experience.  Being able to go to Fatima, praying the rosary where Mary appeared, was very special as I grew up a part of the Armata Bianca in our area. Meeting people from all over the world, seeing the fire for Jesus in them that you can hear in their voices, was incredible. Having the opportunity to see so many people gathered to encounter Jesus during adoration and Mass with the Pope, was an experience I thank God that I was able to be a part of.”

Ethan Wilcox:

“World Youth Day was a beautiful experience of pilgrimage for me. It was wonderful to be able to share the Catholic faith with young people from around the world. One particularly graced part of WYD for me was the vigil with Pope Francis. Sleeping on the hard and rocky ground under the stars and battling the heat the next morning were all beautiful experiences of poverty for me. I am more aware of the joy that comes from abandoning the comforts of the world and embracing the poverty of Christ.”

Charlie Tackman:

“A grace I received while at WYD is one of detachment from expectations. Oftentimes, I attend events or have experiences in which what happens is about what I expected, whether it be a meeting with friends or a liturgical celebration. God used WYD to remind me that He is not bound by any of my expectations and that what He wills to happen in my heart and others is up to Him, not me. I expect (Ironic) that God will deepen this grace as I journey closer to priestly ministry because the things He is calling me to do for His people will be many and will certainly subvert my expectations of what I would think to do for His people by myself.”

Grace Murray:

“World Youth Day was very intense. Not only was it intense physically as we battled crowds and insane heat, it was also intense in the way that I experienced the love of God. When we first got to World Youth Day the love of our Lord did not really seem present to me. I felt like it was something I was aware of in the back of my mind but couldn't tangibly feel. By the third day I had even mentioned to some friends that I didn't feel God moving in my heart during these events the way I expected too or was told that He would. I didn't feel like I was experiencing some big, life changing, faithful encounter. However, the next day during the papal welcome we got to hear Pope Francis talk for the first time. A group of the pilgrims from our diocese were gathered around a small radio. Behind us was a large crowd with thousands of people waving flags of their home country. It was a beautiful sight to see so many people from all over the world gathered to hear the words of the successor of Peter. In that moment it really dawned on me how universal the Catholic church is.

Then the Pope began to speak. The radio was barely audible over the noise of the crowds. Pope Franics said, "God loves you where you are at, not where you want to be." These words seemed like they were meant for me to hear. Like God Himself was speaking directly to my heart. Telling me that all the things I believed about myself, all the ways that I was hard on myself or couldn't love myself, that He loved me even in those places. That He loved all the broken, unholy, struggling parts of my heart. He loved me in ways that I couldn't even fathom. In that moment I realized that I had never really believed God would love me unless I fixed everything that was wrong with me. I was so wrong, and the almighty God told me that right to my face. God knew what I had been needing to hear, the words that could change the things I believe about myself and about my faith. 

The rest of my World Youth Day I couldn't stop thinking about these words and the way my heart had been opened to the love of God. I still couldn't believe it and felt so much joy I was brought to tears. I excitedly went and shared the good news with the friends I had made on the trip and was able to share with them the joy I was feeling. God loves me. God loves you. I have never believed more fervently in these statements. World Youth Day was a life changing experience but not in the way that I expected it to be. Instead of meeting my expectations and what I thought I needed, God worked in my heart and soul in a totally different way. He knew what I needed and provided. God is good.”

Ethan Miller:

“It was a grace to meet Catholics from around the world and to know that the church is not dying but thriving. 1.5 million Catholics celebrating Mass on Sunday was an awesome delight, but to realize that it was only a small fraction compared to all the Catholics practicing in the world, in all of church history, and of all that are in heaven. We are a part of the greatest mystery, the mystery of the Faith that God calls each and every one of us to.”

Katie Pakenas:

“There were many graces throughout the pilgrimage, but the most impactful were in connection with my confirmation Saint, John Paul the Great. 

... At Fatima, I was able to reverence the Blessed Mother (whose statue's crown holds the bullet that shot JPII and miraculously missed his coronary artery by millimeters), to whom JPII had a special devotion. It was also laid on my heart throughout the pilgrimage that I need to learn more about the Divine Mercy, and the related apparitions of St Faustina Kowalska, another Polish saint.

...A major theme of world youth day was that we need to get off of our phones, or palantiri as Chris Stefanick would call them, and live in God's reality. As Imelia shared, we need to experience the moment, and as I heard on another recent pilgrimage, "If you're spending more time staring at your phone and laptop than at your Bible and the Eucharist, your anxiety is self-imposed!". I received such a deep conviction that I need to stop running away from God and start allowing silence back in my life.  

... I met so many people from places like Georgia and Palestine where they experience poverty, religious persecution, or other obstacles to earthly happiness. It was incredible to see their joy, their openness, and to realize just how lucky we are as Americans to have a country that is relatively open to us and where we can live so comfortably and safely. 

I met so many people, period. Throughout the week I was able to see John Paul the Great's love for his fellow man, his love for young people, for mothers (which I would imagine extends to "mom friends" like myself), his talent for learning languages and names play out in my own life as I made new friends and saw so much charity and joy around me in every direction. 

There was a very powerful moment when Jesus was brought out for adoration on the night of the World Youth Day vigil, and all 1.5 million of these wonderful young people went completely silent, stopping the chatter to worship the One Who had brought us here. I thought of JPII's love for the Eucharist, of Our Lady's love for the Body of her Son, and I felt it reinforcing my own.”

Anna Sepanic:

"It was a huge gift to experience World Youth Day with my sister and so many friends. At times it seemed so chaotic to have 1.5 million people gathered together but one thing that I noticed is that any time Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity, was present in the Eucharist, the entire crowd quieted down. It didn't matter if the Pope was talking, if different parts of the Mass were happening...unless Jesus was present, there was a constant din on chatter. But as soon as Jesus in the Eucharist entered the scene, 1.5 million people fell silent. To me, that affirms the true presence in the Eucharist. People from almost every country and culture were represented at World Youth Day, and the one thing we all knew to be true is that Jesus was there with us. I can't even put into words how crazy impactful that is. 

"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:9-11"