(4 March 09-RV)“We have set our hope on the living God” that’s the theme for this
year’s world youth day celebrated in Parishes and diocese throughout the world on
Palm Sunday. Pope Benedict XVI’s message to young Catholics was issued today here
at the Vatican. Lydia O’Kane reports: Here we publish
the text of the Holy Father's message: MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER TO
THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE WORLD ON THE OCCASION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2009
“We have set our hope on the living God” (1Tim 4:10)
My dear friends,
Next Palm Sunday we shall celebrate
the twenty-fourth World Youth Day at the diocesan level. As we prepare for this annual
event, I recall with deep gratitude to the Lord the meeting held in Sydney in July
last year. It was a most memorable encounter, during which the Holy Spirit renewed
the lives of countless young people who had come together from all over the world.
The joy of celebration and spiritual enthusiasm experienced during those few days
was an eloquent sign of the presence of the Spirit of Christ. Now we are journeying
towards the international gathering due to take place in Madrid in 2011, which will
have as its theme the words of the Apostle Paul: “Rooted and built up in Jesus Christ,
firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). As we look forward to that global youth
meeting, let us undertake a path of preparation together. We take as our text for
the year 2009 a saying of Saint Paul: “We have set our hope on the living God” (1Tim 4:10), while in 2010 we will reflect on the question put to Jesus by the
rich young man: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk
10:17)
Youth, a time of hope
In Sydney, our attention
was focussed upon what the Holy Spirit is saying to believers today, and in particular
to you, my dear young people. During the closing Mass, I urged you to let yourselves
be shaped by him in order to be messengers of divine love, capable of building a future
of hope for all humanity. The question of hope is truly central to our lives as human
beings and our mission as Christians, especially in these times. We are all aware
of the need for hope, not just any kind of hope, but a firm and reliable hope, as
I wanted to emphasize in the Encyclical Spe Salvi. Youth is a special time
of hope because it looks to the future with a whole range of expectations. When we
are young we cherish ideals, dreams and plans. Youth is the time when decisive choices
concerning the rest of our lives come to fruition. Perhaps this is why it is the
time of life when fundamental questions assert themselves strongly: Why am I here
on earth? What is the meaning of life? What will my life be like? And again: How
can I attain happiness? Why is there suffering, illness and death? What lies beyond
death? These are questions that become insistent when we are faced with obstacles
that sometimes seem insurmountable: difficulties with studies, unemployment, family
arguments, crises in friendships or in building good loving relationships, illness
or disability, lack of adequate resources as a result of the present widespread economic
and social crisis. We then ask ourselves: where can I obtain and how can I keep alive
the flame of hope burning in my heart?
In search of “the great hope”
Experience
shows that personal qualities and material goods are not enough to guarantee the hope
which the human spirit is constantly seeking. As I wrote in the Encyclical Spe
Salvi, politics, science, technology, economics and all other material resources
are not of themselves sufficient to provide the great hope to which we all
aspire. This hope “can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who
can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain” (no. 31). This is why one
of the main consequences of ignoring God is the evident loss of direction that marks
our societies, resulting in loneliness and violence, discontent and loss of confidence
that can often lead to despair. The word of God issues a warning that is loud and
clear: “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and
shall not see when relief comes” (Jer 17:5-6).
The crisis of hope is
more likely to affect the younger generations. In socio-cultural environments with
few certainties, values or firm points of reference, they find themselves facing difficulties
that seem beyond their strength. My dear young friends, I have in mind so many of
your contemporaries who have been wounded by life. They often suffer from personal
immaturity caused by dysfunctional family situations, by permissive and libertarian
elements in their education, and by difficult and traumatic experience. For some
– unfortunately a significant number – the almost unavoidable way out involves an
alienating escape into dangerous and violent behaviour, dependence on drugs and alcohol,
and many other such traps for the unwary. Yet, even for those who find themselves
in difficult situations, having been led astray by bad role models, the desire for
true love and authentic happiness is not extinguished. But how can we speak of this
hope to those young people? We know that it is in God alone that a human person finds
true fulfilment. The main task for us all is that of a new evangelization aimed at
helping younger generations to rediscover the true face of God, who is Love. To you
young people, who are in search of a firm hope, I address the very words that Saint
Paul wrote to the persecuted Christians in Rome at that time: “May the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the
power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13). During this Jubilee Year dedicated
to the Apostle of the Gentiles on the occasion of the two thousandth anniversary of
his birth, let us learn from him how to become credible witnesses of Christian hope.
Saint
Paul, witness of hope
When Paul found himself immersed in difficulties
and trials of various kinds, he wrote to his faithful disciple Timothy: “We have set
our hope on the living God” (1Tim 4:10). How did this hope take root
in him? In order to answer that question we must go back to his encounter with the
Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. At that time, Saul was a young person like you
in his early twenties, a follower of the Law of Moses and determined to fight with
every means, and even to kill those he regarded as God’s enemies (cf. Acts
9:1). While on his way to Damascus to arrest the followers of Christ, he was blinded
by a mysterious light and he heard himself called by name: “Saul, Saul, why do you
persecute me?” He fell to the ground, and asked: “Who are you, Lord?” The reply
came: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:3-5). After that encounter,
Paul’s life changed radically. He received Baptism and became an Apostle of the Gospel.
On the road to Damascus, he was inwardly transformed by the Divine Love he had met
in the person of Jesus Christ. He would later write: “The life I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal
2:20). From being a persecutor, he became a witness and a missionary. He founded
Christian communities in Asia Minor and Greece, and travelled thousands of miles amid
all kinds of perils, culminating in his martyrdom in Rome. All this for love of Christ.
The
great hope is in Christ
For Paul, hope is not simply an ideal or sentiment,
but a living person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Profoundly imbued with this certainty,
he could write to Timothy: “We have set our hope on the living God” (1Tim
4:10). The “living God” is the Risen Christ present in our world. He is the true
hope: the Christ who lives with us and in us and who calls us to share in his eternal
life. If we are not alone, if he is with us, even more, if he is our present and
our future, why be afraid? A Christian’s hope is therefore to desire “the kingdom
of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises
and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817).
The way towards the
great hope
Just as he once encountered the young Paul, Jesus also wants
to encounter each one of you, my dear young people. Indeed, even before we desire
it, such an encounter is ardently desired by Jesus Christ. But perhaps some of you
might ask me: How can I meet him today? Or rather, in what way does he approach me?
The Church teaches us that the desire to encounter the Lord is already a fruit of
his grace. When we express our faith in prayer, we find him even in times of darkness
because he offers himself to us. Persevering prayer opens the heart to receive him,
as Saint Augustine explains: “Our Lord and God … wants our desire to be exercised
in prayer, thus enabling us to grasp what he is preparing to give” (Letter
130:8,17). Prayer is the gift of the Spirit that makes us men and women of hope,
and our prayer keeps the world open to God (cf. Spe Salvi, 34).
Make
space for prayer in your lives! To pray alone is good, although it is even more beautiful
and fruitful to pray together, because the Lord assured us he would be present wherever
two or three are gathered in his name (cf. Mt 18:20). There are many ways
to become acquainted with him. There are experiences, groups and movements, encounters
and courses in which to learn to pray and thus grow in the experience of faith. Take
part in your parish liturgies and be abundantly nourished by the word of God and your
active participation in the Sacraments. As you know, the summit and centre of the
life and mission of every believer and every Christian community is the Eucharist,
the sacrament of salvation in which Christ becomes present and gives his Body and
Blood as spiritual food for eternal life. A truly ineffable mystery! It is around
the Eucharist that the Church comes to birth and grows – that great family of Christians
which we enter through Baptism, and in which we are constantly renewed through the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. The baptised, through Confirmation, are then confirmed
in the Holy Spirit so as to live as authentic friends and witnesses of Christ. The
Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony enable them to accomplish their apostolic
duties in the Church and in the world. Finally, the Sacrament of the Sick grants
us an experience of divine consolation in illness and suffering.
Acting
in accordance with Christian hope
If you find your sustenance in Christ,
my dear young people, and if you live profoundly in him as did the Apostle Paul, you
will not be able to resist speaking about him and making him known and loved by many
of your friends and contemporaries. Be his faithful disciples, and in that way you
will be able to help form Christian communities that are filled with love, like those
described in the Acts of the Apostles. The Church depends on you for this
demanding mission. Do not be discouraged by the difficulties and trials you encounter.
Be patient and persevering so as to overcome the natural youthful tendency to rush
ahead and to want everything immediately.
My dear friends, follow the example
of Paul and be witnesses to the Risen Christ! Make Christ known, among your own age
group and beyond, to those who are in search of “the great hope” that would give meaning
to their lives. If Jesus has become your hope, communicate this to others with your
joy and your spiritual, apostolic and social engagement. Let Christ dwell within
you, and having placed all your faith and trust in him, spread this hope around you.
Make choices that demonstrate your faith. Show that you understand the risks of idolizing
money, material goods, career and success, and do not allow yourselves to be attracted
by these false illusions. Do not yield to the rationale of selfish interests. Cultivate
love of neighbour and try to put yourselves and your human talents and professional
abilities at the service of the common good and of truth, always prepared to “make
your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in
you” (1 Pet 3:15). True Christians are never sad, even if they have to face
trials of various kinds, because the presence of Jesus is the secret of their joy
and peace.
Mary, Mother of hope
May Saint Paul be your example
on this path of apostolic life. He nourished his life of constant faith and hope
by looking to Abraham, of whom he wrote in the Letter to the Romans: “Hoping against
hope, he believed that he would become the father of many nations” (Rom 4:18).
Following in the footsteps of the people of hope – composed of prophets and saints
of every age – we continue to advance towards the fulfilment of the Kingdom, and on
this spiritual path we are accompanied by the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope. She who
incarnated the hope of Israel, who gave the world its Saviour, and who remained at
the foot of the Cross with steadfast hope, is our model and our support. Most of
all, Mary intercedes for us and leads us through the darkness of our trials to the
radiant dawn of an encounter with the Risen Christ. I would like to conclude this
message, my dear young friends, with a beautiful and well-known prayer by Saint Bernard
that was inspired by one of Mary’s titles, Stella Maris, Star of the Sea: “You
who amid the constant upheavals of this life find yourself more often tossed about
by storms than standing on firm ground, do not turn your eyes from the brightness
of this Star, if you would not be overwhelmed by boisterous waves. If the winds of
temptations rise, if you fall among the rocks of tribulations, look up at the Star,
call on Mary … In dangers, in distress, in perplexities, think on Mary, call on Mary
… Following her, you will never go astray; when you implore her aid, you will never
yield to despair; thinking on her, you will not err; under her patronage you will
never wander; beneath her protection you will not fear; she being your guide, you
will not weary; with her assistance, you will arrive safely in the port” (Homilies
in Praise of the Virgin Mother, 2:17).
Mary, Star of the Sea, we ask you
to guide the young people of the whole world to an encounter with your Divine Son
Jesus. Be the celestial guardian of their fidelity to the Gospel and of their hope.
Dear
young friends, be assured that I remember all of you every day in my prayers. I give
my heartfelt blessing to you and to all who are dear to you.