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Last May 17th to 20th 2024 I accompanied the group from our school and parish as an animator in a program for the young adolescents. This is called FRAT and it was the gathering of the students aged 13-15 of Dioceses of Ile-de-France (Paris) and its regions during the Pentecost holiday. With all the participants, animators, volunteers and different committees there were more than 14000 people. Different dioceses had different colour codes and according to that each parish made distinctive signs like hats and jackets. With these signs it was easier to locate different groups. All of them stayed in the tents in Jambville (in the woods). It was the first experience of camping for me.
These few days for this big number of people were very well organized. Every day we had separate Mass for each diocese and a common gathering of all 14 000 in a big tent. A famous French Christian band “Glorious” was present all the time t
here and kept up the spirits of these young people through their lively concerts. It was amazing to see how these youngsters knew all the songs by heart and was praising God by singing and dancing enthusiastically. On the last evening we had a common Mass in the big tent and there were 11 baptisms. Imagine having your baptism before 14 000 people! We had many more spiritual experiences throughout these days. When we had the adoration of Blessed Sacrament on one evening, all of them went through profound silence and when we asked our group about the most precious moment of this program, most of them mentioned this experience. It was a wonderful experience for them and for me as well. It was a time of getting to know each other and connecting more with these young people.
Beauty Benedicta Gosal, RNDM
