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Here's hoping GipperGal gets the brewery .... Octoberfest in August :-)

If you don't forget me in your prayers this Sunday, I might get that brewery after all! I'll take the castle too. (But if I end up in the cowshed, you'll hear all about.)

I just bought all my camping gear yesterday! I've got my backpack, my super lightweight air mattress, etc. All ready to face the elements.

I’ll be attending WYD with a group of 3000 pilgrims (mostly students from Jesuit colleges and universities from around the world) organized by the German Jesuits. The pilgrimage site is www.magis2005.de -- check it out for details. As you'll see, the Jesuits have called this pilgrimage "['magis]".

We even have a special ['magis] song:

The ['magis] song text reads: "Te magis novisse, magis amare, magis te sequi, te Christe rogamus" (we ask you Lord that we might know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly).
The text comes from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, paragraph 104, where Ignatius asks those on retreat during the second week to pray for an "interior knowledge of the Lord, who became human for us, that we might love, know, and follow him more easily."

I'll be meeting up with the group on August 13th at the Loreley. We're camping at the Loreley (out in the middle of nowhere!) for two days in tents. And then we're taking a boat up the Rhine to Cologne for WYD.

Here's the Magis itinerary (note: the organizers are Germany so cut them some slack for the weird grammar issues):

August 15: Magis Pilgrims depart Loreley on boats up the Rhine River to arrive in Bad Godesberg (a suburb of Cologne).

Details from Magis Coordinating Team: “We have reserved the two biggest ships from the company ‘KD’. The ships are: MS RheinEnergie and MS Wappen von Köln. On August 15, we will hike from the Loreley-rock to the Rhine (1,5 kilometer). There, in St. Goarshausen we go onto the ships until 1 p.m., but it depends on the water level and if we can ascend at the same time on both ships. The navigation duration is around 5 hours, so that we reach Bonn at 6 p.m.”

Here's some pics of the boats:

August 16: World Youth Day - Opening Mass with Cardinal Meissner

August 17-19: Morning Catechesis and Mass

August 18: Afternoon welcome celebration for the Pope

August 19: Evening Way of the Cross

August 20: Pilgrimage to final meeting and vigil with the Pope

August 21: Closing World Youth Day Mass

Some other ['magis] info:

Here is Pope Benedict's special benediction for the ['magis] pilgrims:

After the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the ['magis] team sent a letter of congratulations and support. A few days ago, we received a letter in reply from the Vatican: "With joy, his holiness Pope Benedict XVI received your letter in the name of your coworkers on the WYD project ['magis] and the German Province of the Jesuits on the occasion of his election as successor to the Holy Apostle Peter. He conveys his blessing and prayers as you labour for the universal church. The Holy Father thanks you sincerely for your thoughts and indication of fidelity to the Chair of Peter. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God, the Holy Father extends to you, and the young people you are working with during the preparations for World Youth Day, his Holy Apostolic Benediction."

Here's some more interesting info sent to me from the ['magis] organizers:

Benedict XVI will use the same ship as us - the "Rheinenergie".
On Tuesday, the Vatican officially released the travel plans of Benedict XVI to Germany. On 18 August at 12:00 pm, he will land on the civilian section of the Cologne-Bonn airport where he will be received by Horst Köhler, the President of the Federal Republic.
Subsequently, the Holy Father will drive to the Archbishop's house in Cologne where he will stay during the events. After his arrival, he will participate in a welcoming celebration on the ship named the "Rheinenergie." Youth will be standing alongside the shore and on the Poller meadows and the Pope will speak to them from the water. He will then go to the right shoreline and travel on foot to the Cathedral. From there, the Pope will use the Pope-mobile to travel through Cologne.
The Pope will come on Friday, 19 August to Bonn in a private vehicle, and in the villa Hammerschmidt, he will have a second service with the President of the Federal Republic. His return journey is planned for Sunday, 21 August at 7:15 pm, and the detailed information will be published in July.

Talk about a "triumphant entry" into his native land! Entering Cologne on foot to march up to the Cathedral! All that's missing is the donkey and palms leaves!