As Pope Benedict XVI prepared for his first World Youth Day, many questioned whether youth would continue to come to the event, but the presence of one million young people from over 200 countries answered this question with a resounding “yes!” His message to them was from the heart of the Gospel: “Dear young people, the happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face; it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist. Only He gives the fullness of life to humanity!”

Eucharistic adoration was at the heart of this World Youth Day, whose theme, “We have come to worship Him,” was inspired by the relics of the Magi housed in the Cologne Cathedral. Many churches throughout Cologne, Bonn, and Düsseldorf had perpetual adoration, and they were constantly filled with youth.

At the Marienfeld vigil on Saturday night, the Holy Father led over 800,000 people in adoration and benediction. His message to the youth always returned to the Eucharist:

“The Eucharist releases the joy that we need so much, and we must learn to grasp it ever more deeply,” he said. “By making the bread into His Body and the wine into His Blood, Christ anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. This is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being—the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death.”

The Holy Father also challenged the young pilgrims, explaining that “adoration has a content and it involves giving.” He held up the saints as concrete examples given to us by God to teach us what it means to live eucharistic lives. “In the lives of the saints,” he said, “as if in a great picture-book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed.”

For so many pilgrims, the experience of worshipping together with youth from all over the world was a life-changing event.

“I have never felt so intensely the catholicity of the Church,” said Keri Kramper from Nebraska. “Seeing all of those people gathered in one place for one reason was amazing. I always knew there were going to be close to a million people there, but I never imagined the scene would be so powerful. It totally renewed my beliefs and reminded me of what each of us are here to do on this earth.”

Reflecting on the effect WYD will have on Germany, Kathy Green of Wisconsin said, “I could not help thinking about World Youth Day as a key event in the New Evangelization of Europe. How many places were sanctified in and through the prayers offered throughout that country? The trains and buses were jammed with people who had come in joy and peace to worship Christ and greet His Vicar on earth.”

“These events,” Pope Benedict XVI observed “are privileged occasions in which the Holy Spirit makes His call heard.” The Holy Father added a new dimension to this World Youth Day by scheduling a special meeting with just the seminarians and priests. He said that he wanted to highlight the vocational dimension and the flowering of many vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life because of these gatherings.

At the closing Mass, the Holy Father compared the journey of the Magi to the journey of the WYD pilgrims. When the Magi reached the newborn king, their outward journey had ended, he said, “but at this point a new journey began for them, an inner pilgrimage which changed their whole lives.” This inner pilgrimage, the pope explained, “is called adoration.” This is the pilgrimage that the WYD pilgrims now begin: this inner journey of seeking the face of Christ in the ordinary moments of everyday life.