Pope to WYD volunteers: May you always be generous
Rio, July 29, 2013: In one of his final engagements in Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis
met Sunday with hundreds of volunteers who had helped make World Youth Day 2013 a
tremendous success.
Thanking them for their tireless efforts, he said, “With
your smiles, your acts of kindness, and your willingness to serve, you have shown
that ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’.”
The Holy Father tied the
volunteers’ service to the theme of World Youth Day. “Every one of you,” he said,
“each in his or her own way, was a means enabling thousands of young people to ‘prepare
the way’ to meet Jesus. And this is the most beautiful service we can give as missionary
disciples.” He called on them to continue to “be generous with God and with others.”
Turning
to the theme of vocations, Pope Francis said, “God calls you to make definitive choices,
and He has a plan for each of you.” Some, he said, are called to marriage. Although
many people consider marriage unfashionable, the Pope asked the young people “to be
revolutionaries, to swim against the tide.” “Yes,” he continued, “I am asking you
to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately
believes that you are incapable of responsibility, that you are incapable of true
love. I have confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the courage ‘to swim against
the tide’. Have the courage to be happy.”
Pope Francis spoke too about the
call to priesthood and religious life. “I will never forget the day, 21 September
– I was 17 years old – when, after stopping in the Church of San José de Flores to
go to Confession, I first heard God calling me.” He told the young people “Do not
be afraid of what God asks of you! It is worth saying ‘yes’ to God.”
Finally,
the Holy Father spoke to those who do not know yet what they are called to do. “Ask
the Lord,” he said, “and He will show you the way.”
Pope Francis concluded
his remarks by once again thanking the volunteers for all they had done. “You can
always count on my prayers,” he said, “and I know that I can count on yours.”
Read
the full text of Pope Francis’ remarks to the World Youth Day volunteers:
Apostolic
Journey of Pope Francis to Brazil Address of the Holy Father Meeting with World
Youth Day Volunteers (Rio de Janeiro – Rio Centro, 28 July 2013)
Dear
Volunteers, Good evening!
I could not return to Rome without first thanking
all of you in a personal and affectionate way for the work and dedication with which
you have accompanied, helped, and served the thousands of young pilgrims, and for
the countless little ways by which you have made this World Youth Day an unforgettable
experience of faith. With your smiles, your acts of kindness and your willingness
to serve, you have shown that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
The
service you have given during these days brings to mind the mission of Saint John
the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. Every one of you, each in his or her
own way, was a means enabling thousands of young people to “prepare the way” to meet
Jesus. And this is the most beautiful service we can give as missionary disciples.
To prepare the way so that all people may know, meet and love the Lord. To you who
in these days responded with such readiness and generosity to the call to be volunteers
for World Youth Day, I say: May you always be generous with God and with others: one
loses nothing thereby, but gains great enrichment in life.
God calls you to
make definitive choices, and he has a plan for each of you: to discover that plan
and to respond to your vocation is to move toward personal fulfilment. God calls each
of us to be holy, to live his life, but he has a particular path for each one of us.
Some are called to holiness through family life in the sacrament of Marriage. Today,
there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion; in a culture of relativism
and the ephemeral, many preach the importance of “enjoying” the moment. They say that
it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, “for
ever”, because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be
revolutionaries, to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this
culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes that you are
incapable of responsibility, that you are incapable of true love. I have confidence
in you and I pray for you. Have the courage “to swim against the tide”. Have the courage
to be happy.
The Lord calls some to be priests, to give themselves to him more
fully, so as to love all people with the heart of the Good Shepherd. Some he calls
to the service of others in the religious life: devoting themselves in monasteries
to praying for the good of the world, and in various areas of the apostolate, giving
of themselves for the sake of all, especially those most in need. I will never forget
that day, 21 September – I was 17 years old – when, after stopping in the Church of
San José de Flores to go to confession, I first heard God calling me. Do not be afraid
of what God asks of you! It is worth saying “yes” to God. In him we find joy!
Dear
young people, some of you may not yet know what you will do with your lives. Ask the
Lord, and he will show you the way. The young Samuel kept hearing the voice of the
Lord who was calling him, but he did not understand or know what to say, yet with
the help of the priest Eli, in the end he answered: Speak, Lord, for I am listening
(cf. 1 Sam 3:1-10). You too can ask the Lord: What do you want me to do? What path
am I to follow?
Dear friends, I thank you once more for all you have done during
these days. Do not forget what you have experienced here! You can always count on
my prayers, and I know I can count on yours.