Address by the Holy Father at his Meeting with Young People in the Municipal
Stadium of Pacaembu “Paulo Machado de Carvalho” São Paulo, 10 May 2007
No. 3 - Address by the Holy Father at his Meeting with Young People in the Municipal
Stadium of Pacaembu “Paulo Machado de Carvalho” São Paulo, 10 May 2007
My
dear young friends! “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give
to the poor…and come, follow me” (Mt 19:21).
1. I was particularly eager
to include a meeting with you during this my first journey to Latin America. I have
come to inaugurate the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America which,
according to my wish, will take place at Aparecida, here in Brazil, at the Shrine
of Our Lady. It is she who leads us to the feet of Jesus so that we can learn his
teachings about the Kingdom, and it is she who stirs us up to be his missionaries
so that the people of this “Continent of Hope” may have full life in him. In their
General Assembly last year, your Bishops here in Brazil reflected on the theme of
the evangelization of youth and they placed a document into your hands. They asked
you to receive that document and add your own reflections to it in the course of the
year. At their most recent Assembly, the Bishops returned to the theme, enriched
now by your collaboration, in the hope that the reflections and guidelines proposed
therein would serve as a stimulus and a beacon for your journey. The words offered
by the Archbishop of São Paulo and the Director of Pastoral Care for Young People,
both of whom I thank, confirm the spirit that moves your hearts. While flying
over the land of Brazil yesterday evening, I was already anticipating our encounter
here in the Stadium of Pacaembu, anxious to extend to all of you a warm Brazilian
embrace and to share with you the sentiments which I carry in the depths of my heart,
and which are very appropriately indicated to us in today’s Gospel. I have always
felt a very special joy at these encounters. I remember especially the Twentieth
World Youth Day at which I was able to preside two years ago in Germany. Some of you
gathered here today were also present! It is an emotional memory for me on account
of the abundant fruits of the Lord’s grace poured out upon those who were there.
Among the many fruits which I could point to, there is little doubt that the first
was the exemplary sense of fraternity that stood as a clear witness to the Church’s
perennial vitality throughout the world.
2. For this reason, my dear friends,
I am certain that today the same impressions I received in Germany will be renewed
here. In 1991, during his visit to Mato Grosso, the Servant of God Pope John Paul
II, of venerable memory, said that “youth are the first protagonists of the third
millennium … they are the ones who will be charged with the destiny of this new phase
in human history” (16 October 1991). Today, I feel moved to make the same observation
regarding all of you. The Christian life you lead in numerous parishes and small
ecclesial communities, in universities, colleges and schools, and most of all, in
places of work both in the city and in the countryside, is undoubtedly pleasing to
the Lord. But it is necessary to go even further. We can never say “enough”, because
the love of God is infinite, and the Lord asks us—or better—requires us to open our
hearts wider so that there will be room for even more love, goodness, and understanding
for our brothers and sisters, and for the problems which concern not only the human
community, but also the effective preservation and protection of the natural environment
of which we are all a part. “Our forests have more life”: do not allow this flame
of hope which your National Hymn places on your lips to die out. The devastation
of the environment in the Amazon Basin and the threats against the human dignity of
peoples living within that region call for greater commitment in the different areas
of activity than society tends to recognize.
3. Today I would like to reflect
on the text we have just heard from Saint Matthew (cf. 19:16-22). It speaks of a young
man who ran to see Jesus. His impatience merits special attention. In this young
man I see all of you young people of Brazil and Latin America. You have “run” here
from various regions of this Continent for this meeting of ours. You want to listen
to the words of Jesus himself—spoken through the voice of the Pope. You have
a crucial question—a question that appears in this Gospel—to put to him. It is the
same question posed by the young man who ran to see Jesus: What good deed must I do,
to have eternal life? I would like to take a deeper look at this question with you.
It has to do with life. A life which—in all of you—is exuberant and beautiful. What
are you to do with it? How can you live it to the full? We see at once that in
the very formulation of the question, the “here” and “now” are not enough; to put
it another way, we cannot limit our life within the confines of space and time, however
much we might try to broaden their horizons. Life transcends them. In other words:
we want to live, not die. We have a sense of something telling us that life is eternal
and that we must apply ourselves to reach it. In short, it rests in our hands and
is dependent, in a certain way, on our own decision. The question in the Gospel
does not regard only the future. It does not regard only a question about what will
happen after death. On the contrary, it exists as a task in the present, in the “here”
and “now”, which must guarantee authenticity and consequently the future. In short,
the young man’s question raises the issue of life’s meaning. It can therefore be
formulated in this way: what must I do so that my life has meaning? How must I live
so as to reap the full fruits of life? Or again: what must I do so that my life is
not wasted? Jesus alone can give us the answer, because he alone can guarantee
us eternal life. He alone, therefore, can show us the meaning of this present life
and give it fullness.
4. But before giving his response, Jesus asks about a
very important aspect of the young man’s enquiry: why do you ask me about what is
good? In this question, we find the key to the answer. This young man perceives
that Jesus is good and that he is a teacher—a teacher who does not deceive. We are
here because we have the very same conviction: Jesus is good. It may be that we do
not know how to explain fully the reason for this perception, but it undoubtedly draws
us to him and opens us up to his teaching: he is a good teacher. To recognize the
good means to love. And whoever loves—to use a felicitous expression of Saint John—knows
God (cf. 1 Jn 4:7). The young man in the Gospel has perceived God in Jesus Christ. Jesus
assures us that God alone is good. To be open to goodness means to receive God.
In this way, he invites us to see God in all things and in everything that happens,
even where most people see only God’s absence. When we see the beauty of creation
and recognize the goodness present there, it is impossible not to believe in God and
to experience his saving and reassuring presence. If we came to see all the good
that exists in the world—and moreover, experience the good that comes from God himself—we
would never cease to approach him, praise him, and thank him. He continually fills
us with joy and good things. His joy is our strength. But we can only know in
an imperfect, partial way. To understand what is good, we need help, which the Church
offers us on many occasions, especially through catechesis. Jesus himself shows what
is good for us by giving us the first element in his catechesis: “If you would enter
life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19:17). He begins with the knowledge that the young
man has surely already acquired from his family and from the synagogue: he knows the
commandments. These lead to life, which means that they guarantee our authenticity.
They are the great signs which lead us along the right path. Whoever keeps the commandments
is on the way that leads to God. It is not enough, however, simply to know them.
Witness is even more important than knowledge; or rather, it is applied knowledge.
The commandments are not imposed upon us from without; they do not diminish our freedom.
On the contrary: they are strong internal incentives leading us to act in a certain
way. At the heart of them we find both grace and nature, which do not allow us to
stay still. We must walk. We are motivated to do something in order fulfil our potential.
To find fulfilment through action is, in reality, to become real. To a large extent,
from the time of our youth, we are whatever we want to be. We are, so to speak, the
work of our own hands.
5. At this point, I turn once more to you, young people,
because I want to hear you give the same response that the young man in the Gospel
gave: all these I have observed from my youth. The young man in the Gospel was good.
He kept the commandments. He was walking along the way of God. Jesus, therefore,
gazing at him, loved him. By recognizing that Jesus was good, he showed that he too
was good. He had an experience of goodness, and therefore of God. And you, young
people of Brazil and Latin America, have you already discovered what is good? Do
you follow the Lord’s commandments? Have you discovered that this is the one true
road to happiness? These years of your life are the years which will prepare you
for your future. Your “tomorrow” depends much on how you are living the “today” of
your youth. Stretching out in front of you, my dear young friends, is a life that
all of us hope will be long; yet it is only one life, it is unique: do not let it
pass it vain; do not squander it. Live it with enthusiasm and with joy, but most
of all, with a sense of responsibility. Many times, we who are pastors feel a
sense of trepidation as we take stock of the situation in today’s world. We hear
talk of the fears of today’s youth. These fears reveal an enormous lack of hope:
a fear of death, at the very moment when life is blossoming and the young are searching
to find how to fulfil their potential; fear of failure, through not having discovered
the meaning of life; fear of remaining detached in the face of a disconcerting acceleration
of events and communications. We see the high death rate among young people, the
threat of violence, the deplorable proliferation of drugs which strike at the deepest
roots of youth today. For these reasons, we hear talk of a “lost youth”. But
as I gaze at you young people here present—you who radiate so much joy and enthusiasm—I
see you as Christ sees you: with a gaze of love and trust, in the certainty that you
have found the true way. You are the youth of the Church. I send you out, therefore,
on the great mission of evangelizing young men and women who have gone astray in this
world like sheep without a shepherd. Be apostles of youth. Invite them to walk with
you, to have the same experience of faith, hope, and love; to encounter Jesus so that
they may feel truly loved, accepted, able to realize their full potential. May they
too may discover the sure ways of the commandments, and, by following them, come to
God. You can be the builders of a new society if you seek to put into practice
a conduct inspired by universal moral values, but also a personal commitment to a
vitally important human and spiritual formation. Men and women who are ill-prepared
for the real challenges presented by a correct interpretation of the Christian life
in their own surroundings will easily fall prey to all the assaults of materialism
and secularism, which are more and more active at all levels. Be men and women
who are free and responsible; make the family a centre that radiates peace and joy;
be promoters of life, from its beginning to its natural end; protect the elderly,
since they deserve respect and admiration for the good they have done. The Pope also
expects young people to seek to sanctify their work, carrying it out with technical
skill and diligence, so as to contribute to the progress of all their brothers and
sisters, and to shed the light of the Word upon all human activities (cf. Lumen Gentium,
36). But above all, the Pope wants them to set about building a more just and fraternal
society, fulfilling their duties towards the State: respecting its laws; not allowing
themselves to be swept along by hatred and violence; seeking to be an example of
Christian conduct in their professional and social milieu, distinguishing themselves
by the integrity of their social and professional relationships. They should remember
that excessive ambition for wealth and power leads to corruption of oneself and others;
there are no valid motives that would justify attempting to impose one’s own worldly
aspirations—economic or political—through fraud and deceit. There exists, in the
final analysis, an immense panorama of action in which questions of a social, economic
and political nature take on particular importance, as long as they draw their inspiration
from the Gospel and the social teaching of the Church. This includes building a more
just and fraternal society, reconciled and at peace, it includes the commitment to
reduce violence, initiatives to promote the fullness of life, the democratic order
and the common good and especially initiatives aimed at eliminating certain forms
of discrimination existing in Latin American societies: avoiding exclusion, for the
sake of mutual enrichment. Above all, have great respect for the institution of
the sacrament of Matrimony. There cannot be true domestic happiness unless, at the
same time, there is fidelity between spouses. Marriage is an institution of natural
law, which has been raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament; it is a great
gift that God has given to mankind: respect it and honour it. At the same time,
God calls you to respect one another when you fall in love and become engaged, since
conjugal life, reserved by divine ordinance to married couples, will bring happiness
and peace only to the extent that you are able to build your future hopes upon chastity,
both within and outside marriage. I repeat here to all of you that “eros tends to
rise . . . towards the Divine, to lead us beyond ourselves; yet for this very reason
it calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing” (Encyclical
Letter Deus Caritas Est, 5). To put it briefly, it requires a spirit of sacrifice
and renunciation for the sake of a greater good, namely the love of God above all
things. Seek to resist forcefully the snares of evil that are found in many contexts,
driving you towards a dissolute and paradoxically empty life, causing you to lose
the precious gift of your freedom and your true happiness. True love “increasingly
seeks the happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows
itself and wants to ‘be there for’ the other” (ibid., 7) and therefore will always
grow in faithfulness, indissolubility and fruitfulness. In all these things, count
upon the help of Jesus Christ who will make them possible through his grace (cf. Mt
19:26). The life of faith and prayer will lead you along the paths of intimacy with
God, helping you to understand the greatness of his plans for every person. “For
the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12), some are called to a total and definitive
self-giving, by consecrating themselves to God in the religious life—an “exceptional
gift of grace”, as the Second Vatican Council expressed it (cf. Decree Perfectae Caritatis,
12). Consecrated persons, by giving themselves totally to God, prompted by the Holy
Spirit, participate in the Church’s mission, bearing witness before all people to
their hope in the heavenly Kingdom. I therefore bless and invoke divine protection
upon all those religious who have dedicated themselves to Christ and to their brothers
and sisters within the vineyard of the Lord. Consecrated persons truly deserve the
gratitude of the ecclesial community: monks and nuns, contemplative men and women,
religious men and women dedicated to apostolic works, members of Secular Institutes
and Societies of Apostolic Life, hermits and consecrated virgins. “Their existence
witnesses to their love for Christ as they walk the path proposed in the Gospel and
with deep joy commit themselves to the same style of life which he chose for himself”
(Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life,
Instruction Starting Afresh from Christ, 5). I pray that in this moment of grace
and profound communion in Christ, the Holy Spirit will awaken in the hearts of many
young people an impassioned love, prompting them to follow and imitate Jesus Christ,
chaste, poor and obedient, totally devoted to the glory of the Father and to love
for their brothers and sisters.
6. The Gospel assures us that the young man
who went to meet Jesus was very rich. We may understand this wealth not only on the
material level. Youth itself is a singular treasure. We have to discover it and
to value it. Jesus appreciated it so much that he went on to invite the young man
to participate in his saving mission. He had great potential and could have accomplished
great things. But the Gospel goes on to say that this young man, having heard
the invitation, was saddened. He went away downcast and sad. This episode causes
us to reflect further on the treasure of youth. It is not, in the first place, a
question of material wealth, but of life itself, and the values inherent in youth.
This wealth is inherited from two sources: life, transmitted from generation to generation,
at the ultimate origin of which we find God, full of wisdom and love; and upbringing,
which locates us within a culture, to such an extent that we might almost say we are
more children of culture and therefore of faith, than of nature. From life springs
freedom, which manifests itself, especially in this phase, as responsibility. There
comes the great moment of decision, in a twofold choice: firstly, concerning one’s
state of life, and secondly concerning one’s profession. It is about providing an
answer to the question: what do I do with my life? In other words, youth appears
as a form of wealth because it leads to the discovery of life as a gift and a task.
The young man in the Gospel understood that his youth was itself a treasure. He went
to Jesus, the good Teacher, in order to seek some direction. At the moment of the
great decision, however, he lacked the courage to wager everything on Jesus Christ.
In consequence, he went away sad and downcast. This is what happens whenever our
decisions waver and become cowardly and self-seeking. He understood that what he
lacked was generosity, and this did not allow him to realize his full potential.
He withdrew to his riches, turning them to selfishness. Jesus regretted the sadness
and the cowardice of the young man who had come to seek him out. The Apostles, like
all of you here today, filled the vacuum left by that young man who went away sad
and downcast. They, and we, are happy, because we know the one in whom we believe
(cf. 2 Tim 1:12). We know and we bear witness with our lives that he alone has the
words of eternal life (cf. Jn 6:68). Therefore, we can exclaim with Saint Paul:
Rejoice always in the Lord! (cf. Phil 4:4).
7. My appeal to you today, young
people present at this gathering, is this: do not waste your youth. Do not seek
to escape from it. Live it intensely. Consecrate it to the high ideals of faith
and human solidarity. You, young people, are not just the future of the Church
and of humanity, as if we could somehow run away from the present. On the contrary:
you are that young man now; you are that young man in the Church and in humanity
today. You are his young face. The Church needs you, as young people, to manifest
to the world the face of Jesus Christ, visible in the Christian community. Without
this young face, the Church would appear disfigured. My dear young people, soon
I shall inaugurate the Fifth Conference of the Bishops of Latin America. I ask you
to follow its deliberations attentively; to participate in its discussions; to receive
its fruits. As was the case with earlier Conferences, the present one will also leave
a significant mark on the next ten years of evangelization in Latin America and the
Caribbean. No one must stay on the sidelines or remain indifferent in the face of
this ecclesial initiative, least of all you young people. You are full members of
the Church, which represents the face of Jesus Christ for Latin America and the Caribbean. I
greet the French speakers who live on the Latin American continent, and I invite them
to be witnesses of the Gospel, and to be actively engaged in the life of the Church.
My prayer is addressed to you young people in a particular way: you are called to
build your lives on Christ and on fundamental human values. Everyone should feel
invited to work together in order to build a world of justice and peace. My dear
young friends, like the young man in the Gospel who asked Jesus: “What good deed
must I do, to have eternal life?”, you are all seeking ways to respond generously
to God’s call. I pray that you may listen to his saving words and that you may become
his witnesses for the peoples of today. May God pour out upon all of you his blessings
of peace and joy. My dear young people, Christ is calling you to be saints. He
himself is inviting you and wants to walk with you, in order to enliven with his Spirit
the steps that Brazil is taking at the beginning of this third millennium of the Christian
era. I ask the Senhora Aparecida to guide you with her maternal help and to accompany
you throughout your lives. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ!