Pope tells youth not to waste away life

(March 26, 2010) Life is nor meant to be wasted because God has a plan for each one of you, said Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday evening while addressing some 75,000 young people thronging St. Peter’s Square in Rome. They came from across Italy to prepare for the 25th anniversary of World Youth Day which will be celebrated on Palm Sunday, March 28. Thursday’s programme included prayers, sharing of testimonies, singing and dancing. To a girl who asked about how one could get a foretaste of eternal life in difficult days such as ours, Pope Benedict said that one cannot understand what life hereafter will be like because it is beyond our experience. But he said we can begin by trying to understand what it could be by living life fully. He urged the young people not to waste away life by living it selfishly day to day but to live it in its richness and fullness. Furthermore, they must respond to the commandments which invite us to love God and neighbour as ourselves. This is how we come to realize that life is not a random accident, but is willed by God from eternity. “I am loved and God has a plan for me in the totality of history.” Another youth remarked that the plan which calls for sacrifices is difficult to accept. The Pope replied that sacrifice and hardship which are a part of every sport, profession or artistic expression, help us in avoiding the abyss of drugs, alcohol, money, sexual slavery and laziness, which at first sight appear to be freedom but are in fact the beginning of slavery. Forging ahead in goodness brings true freedom and makes life precious, the Pope added.