"Find a place in the church, close your eyes, be quiet for 10 minutes and notice what you feel and what moves you!“ Young people followed this invitation on Pentecost Saturday in the tent of the Holy Family Church in Kamen during the analogue part of the Pentecost vigil in the go4peace network. They realised and discovered how gently the Holy Spirit was at work in them. „I felt a burden lying on my soul for weeks and when I was able to allow the heaviness inside me in the moments of silence, it was taken away! For the first time, I was able to understand HOW the Holy Spirit works!“ one young participant shared. - „I feel a very deep gratitude for the gift of my life, which was already so threatened!“ Milena contributed. - „I felt a great joy in my heart that I can play basketball again after rupturing a ligament, the team spirit in my team is so good for me!“ said Maya.
These noticeable EFFECTS were also the focus of the digital part of the Vigil organised on the initiative of Renovabis. Young people from 11 nations met on the evening of Pentecost between 8 and 9 p.m. on the go4peace network on an internet platform. Viktoria from Poland passionately read what she had just experienced from the Acts of the Apostles: ‘They were all together in the same place!’ (Acts 2)
Edita from Kosovo had previously called the Holy Spirit into the midst of the meeting in a prayer: „Come, Holy Spirit, You, Spirit of truth, who sets us free. You, Spirit of storms, who shakes us up, You, Spirit of courage, who gives us strength. You, Spirit of fire, who makes us worthy of trust.“ In a short video, the more than 50 young participants experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in many social activities of the go4peace network, in which young people had given their hands and feet to bring concrete signs of love in their areas.
Then it was time to share experiences. Marc, a young priest from LeMans in France, told how he had spent an hour of vigilance and prayer with Vitali from Ukraine during the „24 hours connected-campaign“. - Mathilda, who is currently doing a volonteer service at the Ivan Pavao II Youth Centre in Sarajevo and was travelling in Serbia over Pentecost, told how she wanted to go to India for a year and was led through the circumstances to Sarajevo, where she was able to experience Europe in a completely new way. - Mariaklelia from Albania, now studying in Austria, had asked the Holy Spirit for his help in a difficult exam but she failed. After she had talked to the professor for some insight she passed it. - Milena from Germany spoke about difficult times in her life, which she had overcome during her voluntary service in Poland.
Halyna, sitting in a shelter in Kyiv, wrote during the meeting: „I am so deeply touched and tears are running down my face! But I am so grateful to share this experience with you in this difficult time for us here in Ukraine!“ Then we inivted the participants for some moments of silence. „Let us pray for the people of our continent“ someone said. A whiteboard was opened on all the connected computers and smartphones. In silence, many names were written down. They came from Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, from France, Kosovo, Germany, Austria, Poland, Serbia and Switzerland, from the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Lorena from Shkodra finished this time of prayer by saying the Our Father in albanian language, before Martina from Sarajevo prayed for God's spirit to bless all our projects and activities. After a passionate organ piece by Amelie Held from New York, it was time to say „Good Bye!“ Touched by the sometimes tender and sometimes captivating effects of the Holy Spirit, strengthened by this common experience, gathered in the ONE PLACE EUROPE and supported by the go4peace network, a spiritually rich evening came to an end.
