Nearly 80,000 youth offer thanks for rescue of Chilean miners

Santiago, Chile, Oct 26, 2010 / 20:06 pm

Some 80,000 young people joined in the 20th Youth Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Teresa of the Andes to thank God for the rescue of the 33 miners trapped for 69 days in the San Jose mine.

Thousands of young people gathered at 3 a.m. on Oct. 23 and began the nearly 17-mile journey to the shrine. By that evening, the pilgrims had assembled for a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, Archbishop of Santiago.

In his homily, the cardinal said, “Today the gospel asks us to make Chile a table for all.” He remarked that Christ wants everyone to share at the “table he prepares” as equals.

“Because we have faith and believe in the Lord, we want to fulfill this desire, which is a demanding task that requires that we return to the foundations of our faith.”

Referring to the 33 rescued miners, Cardinal Errazuriz said that like them, young people ought to be capable of saying, “We are all okay in the refuge chamber, which is Christ.”  “We must all carry out the task of rescuing each other from marginalization, overcoming difficulties of every kind, whether they be social, economic or racial.”

He encouraged them to look to St. Teresa of the Andes, Chile's first saint, as an example of achieving a profound encounter with Jesus Christ.

“Let us pray to little Teresa to intercede so that we can have such a personal encounter with the Lord, in order to be his collaborators in inviting our country to participate in this table for all,” the cardinal said.