Welcome to Inspire

There were more than 10,000 people, mostly school age, from across England and Wales at the OVO Arena in Wembley on 15 March. They cheered Bear Grylls and the disability campaigner Isaac Harvey, sang along with Adeniké Adewale and were hushed for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Going by the reports, everybody loved it and the CYMFed that organised the event can chalk it up as a success. Flame 2025 was a triumph for Catholic spreadsheets and bus timetabling.

To dwell on the logistics might seem to miss the point – what about the finely-judged programme, the sense of a shared sacred moment? Well, for those who like that sort of thing, it was the sort of thing they liked. Speakers and singers are professionals, specialists in enthusing crowds and getting sceptics on side. And there are lots of sacred moments, everywhere and all the time, which people don’t board a coach at 4 a.m. to share. The idea, even the plan, for something like Flame is one thing; making it happen is quite another.

Good intentions matter, but real intention is something substantial, something to make things so. In a list of “things mean and little” that win God’s love, St Francis de Sales included “the effort of going to bed early in order to rise early for prayer”. The conviction that something is worthwhile makes demands on us long before the actual moment. One of the most moving things about Lourdes is the realisation that each pilgrimage is the summation of so many unglamorous meetings through the winter.

What’s really heartening about Flame isn’t the turnout or the enthusiasm on the day, but the belief in the enterprise from when it was still far off. Its success is cause for gratitude, but that belief is the real cause for hope.

Ten thousand attend largest Catholic youth event in England and Wales

Flame 2025 will be ‘a wonderful day to fan the flame of hope’