English 
The young people who are building the Church of faith … of solid foundations!
Tomal Chiran, young Bengali man, secretary of the Pastoral Youth Commission of the Diocese of Mymensingh, will participate in the WYD. He is preparing himself and has a lots of expectations and dreams in his heart.
Hello, everybody! I am Tomal Chiran, a young man from the Diocese of Mymensingh in Bangladesh, I am from the flourishing and beautiful village of Jalchatra, Parish of Christ the King. I just graduated from my university course of Economy and Business.
At present I am the secretary of the Pastoral Youth Diocesan Commission and it is in this role that I have the opportunity to be among the participants in the WYD 2023 in Portugal.
I think that this is for me a great opportunity and a big gift.
I think that the World Youth Day can be compared to a pilgrimage where all the young people together, united, are on a journey in order to receive something, to give something, to see their own hearts’ desires fulfilled. The WYD is not only a moment of feast and joy, it is a pilgrimage of the way of faith.
I think that the WYD can touch every young person and help him/her to discover his/her interiority; for every young person who at present is on a wrong path, who is in error or in difficulty, the WYD can be an opportunity to enlighten the right way, the way of life.
The young people who will leave from Bangladesh are 15, including myself: documents are ready, permits and visas obtained … we are preparing ourselves in different ways, but primarily joining some events and meetings where we listen the experiences of other youth who already participated in previous WYD and where we exchange advices and share the responsibilities and things to do! We are preparing ourselves from the practical, human, spiritual points of view … this is why we lived together a day of meditation of the WYD theme “Mary got up and went with haste” (Lk 1;39).
Is my heart preparing for the WYD? When I heard that I had the possibility to join, that I was chosen, I was very happy but also a little afraid and with a lots of questions in my heart. Now I can say that fear has given way to anticipation and excitement, since many questions were already answered on the journey of our preparation. For the first time I go abroad for a program organized on such a large importance, a unique event!
I am going with my head and heart full of dreams and expectations, knowing that I will be meeting young people from all over the world, representatives of many cultures which I would like to know, faithful belonging to many churches and dioceses, each one with their own story from which I would like to learn … I am leaving with the hope of learning how the other young people coming from different places in the world are working and arranging activities. Personally I hope to discover more about myself and to be able to root even more deep my faith and my relationship with the Lord. Sometimes we feel far from God but it is not like this! In the WYD I hope to find an opportunity to deepen my relationship with the Lord! My first task, my first desire is to discover even more deeply myself and deepen my relationship with the Lord in order to be with my life a gift for the good of the Church. My desire is that our church might be a church of faith growing and continue to journey on a path of radicality and gift.
Inspired by the theme of the WYD I close with a hope: that the young people of all the world, following the example of Mary, could be united and continue to build the church on the way of faith and remaining always united to her.
Tomal Chiran, Mymensingh – Bangladesh
