Cardinal Proposes a Spiritual GPS for Youth Day Goers

(August 18, 2011) Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga is recommending a "spiritual GPS", the Global Positioning System for young people in Madrid for World Youth Day. It should be tuned to the Word of God, the Bread of Life, and the Virgin Mary, the cardinal suggested. The Honduran prelate who is also the President of Caritas Internationalis made this recommendation on Wednesday when he offered the first of three catecheses that he will be presenting for World Youth Day participants and based it on an examination of the foundations of faith. The WYD began in Madrid Spain on the 16^th of August and will conclude on the 21^st. The Cardinal called young people to "build on rock, listening to the Word and putting it into practice." Only in this way can we "be living stones that love and defend life, and that build the community that is the Church," the cardinal said. This is possible because "although we here this morning are from different countries and different cultures, we have the same faith, which makes the construction solid." Cardinal Maradiaga concluded his catechesis by exhorting young people to "be witnesses of the faith and to live a Truth that is not isolated from life, to be established in the faith, which is the source that gives us reasons to live, to fight, to love, to have peace, to be happy, because happiness is not obtained by seeking it, but by making others happy." In another catecheses programme Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York spoke about faith as a logical gift from God and about what it means to keep that faith firm. The best way to maintain a strong faith, he said, is to acknowledge that it is weak. "When we admit our faith is weak, when we admit our faith is shaky, when we admit that our faith isn't what it should be, actually we're exercising it, and we're making it more and more firm," he said. "Our faith is weak, our faith is shaky. We want to be with a million other young people from around the world who love their faith and are trying to make it strong," he added. Archbishop-designate of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput said that an authentic relationship with Christ isn't based purely on emotions. “Ultimately, it will not be how you feel that will determine how genuine and profound your encounter with Jesus is,” he told pilgrims.