facebook Flame 2017 - Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
31 Mar 2017

Flame 2017 took place in London on Saturday, March 11th, at the SSE Arena in Wembley. Flame is an international youth event attended by young Catholics from all over the world, and this year’s event, with the theme “10,000 Reasons”, included headline speakers such as Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Cardinal Charles Bo, and singer and worship leader Matt Redman. Travis, a member of the Cork NET Team, attended the event with the group and now shares his London adventure…

Flame Festival 2017, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

Flame Festival 2017, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

“Flame for us, as the NET Team, started with a phone call from Fr Alan Neville MSC, who got in touch with us to ask if we would be interested in attending the youth event in London in March. We learned that the Catholic Youth Ministers Federation were responsible for organising Flame, and that the purpose of the event was to encourage us, and Catholic youths everywhere, to begin making positive changes through Jesus Christ.

The Cork NET Team, myself included, were incredibly excited to learn that we would be given the opportunity to attend the Flame event as volunteers with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We were delighted to be able to learn more about performing acts of service in our daily lives, especially with an awareness of the current events that are taking place all over the world.

The team and I arrived in Heathrow, London, at around 9.00am on Friday, March 10th, the day before the event. We spent a fantastic day in London, and we then went to St Alban’s Church to stay the night with the MSC community there. We joined forces with other youths and youth volunteers the next morning, ready to share this new experience with each other.

Flame Festival 2017, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

We when finally settled in the stadium, we were amazed to be greeted by the sight of over 10,000 people who were equally as excited to be there! Some of those attending didn’t have a full awareness of what the event involved, but were still glad to be somewhere new, meeting others who shared their passion.

In addition, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart invited us to Flame to help them with their exhibit there. This involved sharing more about the ways that Catholic youths can make changes for the better, as well as sharing information about the different events that the MSC run throughout the year. We were delighted to be on the receiving end of encouraging responses all round.

Overall, Flame was a hugely positive experience for us all. We attended three sessions on the day, which involved talks, testimonies, prayer, reflection, music, and much more. I was astonished to be in the presence of so many faithful people, who all wanted to be there and to share this experience together. I felt so affirmed, and on reflection, I can safely say that this must be one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had!”

Flame Festival 2017, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart