Ten years ago this week, hundreds of people at the archdiocesan and parish levels were scrambling to prepare for the arrival of Pope John Paul II. Outside Colorado, many people wondered if World Youth Day 1993 could be anything more than a modest success.

After all, Denver was stuck in the national imagination as a cow town, a long way from the big U.S. Catholic population centers in the East and Midwest. Skeptics doubted that more than 60,000 persons would show up for the event.

In reality, of course, more than 200,000 young people registered for World Youth Day from around the globe. As many as 700,000 took part in the closing Mass at Cherry Creek State Park. World Youth Day 1993 not only exceeded everyone's wildest hopes — despite the massive influx of visitors and pilgrims, Denver had virtually no violent crime for the week — but it also left a lasting impression on the Holy Father and on the course of the Church in Northern Colorado. Thousands of people came to the Church for the first time. Thousands more recovered their faith or found a new spirit and energy in their Catholic identity.

World Youth Day 1993 was a moment of grace for everyone involved, and the seed it planted still bears fruit a decade later. We can see it in the growth of our parishes, youth programs and Hispanic ministry, even in tough economic times. We can see it in the opening of our seminaries, and in the extraordinary faculty and candidates they draw. And we can see it in the growth of vigorous new Catholic communities and renewal movements like the Community of the Beatitudes, the Christian Life Movement and the Neocatechumenal Way. These are all wonderful signs of life.

But in remembering the events of a decade ago, what should we do today? The young people of 1993 now have the duties of adulthood. Many have children themselves, and the exhilaration of the pope landing by helicopter at Mile High Stadium to massive, chanting crowds may seem like a long time ago and very far away. When Jesus revealed himself to Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration, Peter's immediate desire was to remain on the mountaintop and keep the miraculous experience alive. But Christ meant the Transfiguration to be a glimpse of the joy to come and a spur to his apostles to bring the Good News to all peoples. Peter, James and John went back down the mountain, and began the serious work of converting the world — the work to which each of us is an heir.

I believe World Youth Day 1993 was a Transfiguration for the Church in Northern Colorado — a moment when Jesus smiled on us in a special, joyful, vivid way and invited us into his mission to the world. None of us will ever forget it. Our job this August is not just remembering the beauty and the power of the events of a decade ago, but — even more importantly — passing them on to a new generation of young Catholics who will carry the Church and Jesus Christ forward into the world. We've come a long way as a Church since 1993. We have a lot to be proud of and grateful for. But so much remains to be done.

On the solemnity of the Assumption, Friday, Aug. 15, Bishop Gomez and I will join Cardinal J. Francis Stafford to celebrate 5:30 p.m. Mass, honor World Youth Day, and bless new doors at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception that will permanently commemorate the pilgrims of 1993 and the Holy Father. We'll gather to pray and celebrate at the John Paul II Center later that evening. I hope you'll join us to remember a moment of conversion for our whole Church, and to kindle a new missionary fire in all our hearts for the work that lies ahead.