By Jay Sorgi • Posted March 31, 2026

It was a day of wordplay, of Word and Eucharist, and of the rising sun symbolizing the Son of God’s rising from the dead, which will be celebrated in the Easter Triduum this week.

“The sun always rises, and it actually rises from the darkness, as you did too,” Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez told some 60 young adult pilgrims Saturday morning, March 28 inside the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown during his homily at the Mass climaxing the 2026 SonRise Festival.

The rays of the rising sun shone on those adoring the Body of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament  for the first time in the festival’s four-year history. Sunrise adorations during the first three festivals happened under cloudy, sometimes rain-filled skies.

“The sun did rise (then), you just didn’t see it because it was covered,” the Archbishop added. “Sometimes the clouds of our emotions don’t let us see. Our sadness, our own depression, they don’t let us see because they cloud.”

The festival, co-led by the archdiocesan Office of Ministry for Young Adults, the group Czestochowa Young Adults, and event co-founder and spiritual director Heather Makowicz, explored the theme “Even darkness is not dark for You” in Psalm 139.

The pilgrims, some of whom drove 90 minutes or stayed overnight on the grounds, started with praise and worship music followed by a walk through the shrine’s stations of the cross at 5 a.m., long before sunrise.

They walked their dark path “to follow the path of our Savior, to overcome fear of the darkness that often surrounds us,” said Pauline Father Timothy Tarnacki, director of the archdiocesan Office for Ministry with Young Adults during the stations. “Overcoming fear is a key element in the process.”

“His light is brighter than anything else,” said Sarah Johnson, a young adult who attends St. Mary Parish in Kutztown, Pa. as she took in the pre-sunrise stations.

“The whole time I was watching the candles and the crucifix that the altar servers were carrying, and even if the wind blew out the flame, they were relighting it, and the light was always there. Even with the bitter wind, the dark and the cold, we were persevering and He was there with us in that.”

The Son and the sun then made their joint appearance on the balcony at 6:49 a.m. during adoration.

“Give all of your burdens and all of your joys to Him and share them with Him during this time,” said Ashley Bennett, the coordinator of ministry with youth and young adults for St. Jude Parish in Chalfont, advised the pilgrims as she offered reflective music.

“Just enjoy some moments of silence and allow him to encounter you. We thank you, Lord, for this time, this beautiful day, and everyone here. We just offer this time for your glory to you in Jesus’ name.”

The dual encounter of Son and sun was part of Makowicz’s vision for creating a powerful encounter with Christ through the event.

“This has continued to stick because the Archdiocese has been beautiful,” she said. “They’ve said, ‘We love it, so we will support it in any way we can to bring this to life.’ Everybody needs to know about the Eucharist, and if we can bring the Eucharist through the beauty of God’s creation, it can be mind blowing.”

Cathartic tears and joyful smiles beamed to match the sun’s rays as they touched the Blessed Sacrament in adoration.

The assembled pilgrims followed the Eucharist in procession to the church where they not only continued adoration while priests heard confessions, but also received a moment of spiritual closeness with Christ in the Eucharist.

Father Stephen DeLacy, the archdiocesan vicar for faith formation with youth and young adult ministry, placed the monstrance holding the sacrament in front of each individual who came to adore near the altar.

“It’s been so beautiful, especially the moment where Father processed the Eucharist in front of each person, and to just see Him looking at me as I am and loving me there,” Johnson said.

Then came Mass, where the first reading and Gospel helped set the stage for commemorating the passion, death and resurrection of Christ that we experience in Holy Week.

“We also walk towards our Jerusalem at different times. Sometimes that walk to Jerusalem is challenging and heart-wrenching,” said Archbishop Pérez.

“We find ourselves also in the midst of our own darkness. ‘I don’t see you. I don’t feel you. When are you going to answer? Why do I have to suffer all this stuff? Why do I have to feel betrayed and be betrayed?’ And somehow, in some way, all those things work together so that the Son rises.”

The day ended with breakfast and a question-and-answer session with the Archbishop, a time to get to know him a little more personally, as well as to build fellowship with fellow pilgrims and find Christ in each other just as they did in darkness, in the sunrise, in the sacrament.

“Through it all, God works His ways,” the Archbishop said. “Not always in our ways, and sometimes He writes crooked lines, but the Son always rises.”