If you did not feel empowered by Pope Francis' homily during the welcoming ceremonies at World Youth Day, then you weren't really listening. The Holy Father game a passioned speech about the hope that we carry for the Church as young people. 

There’s so much I could say about World Youth Day: I could probably write a short book about my experiences. There are so many themes I could pull from it, so many lessons I could draw out. But as I reflected, a hymn came to mind that tied together so many different threads it wouldn’t let go: “Jesus calls us here to meet him.”

KRAKÓW, POLAND – The most impressive moment of World Youth Day had to be at the Saturday evening vigil, with Pope Francis leading more than a million young people in praying the Divine Mercy chaplet before the Blessed Sacrament. Not only was it a powerful witness of prayer, invoking mercy upon the Church and the world, but a confirmation of the marvellous ways of Providence.

In the short two weeks I spent in Poland for WYD, I underwent a profound spiritual revival, one which I had been searching for over the last few years.

KRAKOW, POLAND – From the outside, a church can look cold and dark. The stained glass windows don’t reveal much of what’s inside. But when you walk in, the sunlight streams through the multi-coloured glass and the church comes alive.

Two weeks ago I left my home in Mission, BC, about an hour outside of Vancouver, and embarked on my pilgrimage to Kraków, Poland. There I would meet with two million other Catholics, Pope Francis and Christ Himself in the Eucharist. The prospect of seeing old friends at Kraków Airport and spending the next two weeks with them in a foreign country was enough to get me excited and yet there was something else that was calling me there. I was going to Poland, and I would spend two weeks in hard core prayer mode with the big guy asking Him all the big questions I needed answers to. Yes, I was finally going to get it all figured out. But no. That didn’t happen. Not even close.

Pope Francis delivered the homily at Mass in Krakow, Poland, on Sunday - World Youth Day - for a crowd of pilgrim faithful estimated at upward of one million people. The theme of the Holy Father's remarks to the gathered youth was how to overcome obstacles to building a real relationship with Jesus - whether they be obstacles that arise in one's own soul or obstacles one will inevitably encounter in the world and in society.

“SDM Krakow 2016” flags flying from every street lamp, banners with Pope Francis’ picture above the doors of numerous churches, and groups of youth from all over the world singing hymns from every corner of Poland- this is just a small portion of the incredible transformation I had the pleasure of witnessing over my past month here.

KRAKOW, Poland – Pope Francis thanked World Youth Day organizers and volunteers and urged them to be "the hope of the future."

KRAKOW Poland – Cosmos Nandi-Esom said he is a politician back home in Nigeria.

KRAKOW, Poland – At least for a few minutes at World Youth Day, the physical barriers between Palestinian and Israeli communities were nonexistent.

KRAKOW, Poland – Take risks and do not let life's obstacles get in the way of encountering the true joy and life that Jesus can give, Pope Francis told more than 1 million young people.

KRAKOW, Poland – In a giant circus tent on Piastowska Street, next to the Jagiellonian University's sports center, a rock band wound up its full-volume refrain against a dazzling background of lights and streamers.

There is something about welcoming and initiation that connects so much to this idea of mercy. Baptism is first, of course, an introduction and welcoming of a new person into the Catholic community, but it also results in the automatic washing away of all sins. This cleansing, this figurative flood of forgiveness, just given automatically without need for confession or admission of sin or anything, is such a monumental act of mercy. As a baptized-as-an-adult Catholic, it is this act of mercy that’s recently begun to stick out to me, and it’s what’s been on my mind as I travel on this pilgrimage with my group.

VATICAN CITY – Fear nothing, break the chains that may bind you and bring hope to the world, Pope Francis told young people attending a special World Youth Day gathering in Cuba.