Pope: Youth Visible Sign of Faith Generated by JPII
(02 Apr 09 - RV) The fourth anniversary of John Paul II’s death was marked in the
Vatican with a suffrage mass for the repose of his soul. Looking ahead to this Sunday’s
celebration of World Youth Day, a creation of his predecessor, Pope Benedict had launched
a special appeal to young people to join him in marking this anniversary and they
came in their hundreds. St Peter’s basilica was full, the square crowded with what
has been termed “the John Paul 2 generation”.
The Pope’s homily was all
for them. He called them the visible sign of the faith that John Paul II’s long pontificate
generated. In Pope Benedict’s words he was their “affectionate father and attentive
educator”, who offered them concrete points of reference in an increasingly confusing
world. So much so that “in the hour of agony and death, this new generation was able
to demonstrate to John Paul II that it had accepted his teaching, gathering silently
in prayer in St. Peter’s Square and in so many places throughout the world”. He had
given them the rock of faith.
“All that is human, requires a rock on which
to anchor itself” continued Pope Benedict. “The times we are living in prove that
nothing is stable or forever, even our own lives. Christians he said are called to
found their hope on God”.
He called on this young generation to apply that
gift of faith, by not just reciting the part of good Christians, but by being sources
of hope in uncertain and transient times. He warned against seeking easy refuge in
exclusive ideologies and asked them not to reduce their faith to a slogan or safe
haven. Because that’s not what being Christian means. Instead, he urged them to
take up the banner of John Paul II, to show by how they live that they are “sentinels
of the third millennium”, rooted in God “Yesterday, today and always”.