Panama City, Panama, Jan 27, 2019 / 15:20 pm
Pope Francis met with World Youth Day volunteers Sunday, thanking them for their service and reminding them of the importance of preceding their endeavors with prayer.
"Thank you all, because in these days you have been attentive to even the smallest details, however ordinary and apparently insignificant, like offering someone a glass of water," the pope said Jan. 27 at Panama City's Rommel Fernandez Stadium.
"You prepared every detail with joy, creativity and commitment, and with much prayer. For when we pray about things, we feel them more profoundly. Prayer gives force and vitality to everything we do. In praying, we discover that we are part of a family larger than what we can see or imagine. In praying, we open everything we do to the Church that supports and accompanies us from heaven, to the saints who have shown us the way, but above all, we open it all to God."
He said faith "comes more alive, dynamic and real … when we come together to serve others."