Dear Friends,
You have come here in great numbers to be with the Successor of
Peter, and you represent so many other young people who are one
with us in spirit. You have come to join me in proclaiming
openly the joy of our faith in Jesus Christ, and in renewing
your commitment to be his faithful disciples in our time. A
meeting much like this took place here in Luanda on June 7, 1992
with our beloved Pope John Paul II. Today another Pope stands
before you: with a different appearance, but with the same love
in his heart, and he embraces all of you in Jesus Christ, who is
"the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb 13:8).
First of all I want to thank you for this celebration which you
have planned for me, for the festive atmosphere which you
yourselves generate, for your presence and for your joy. I
cordially greet my brother Bishops and priests and all those who
are engaged in youth ministry. I likewise greet with gratitude
all who have prepared this event, especially the Bishops'
Commission for Young People and Vocations, and its President,
Bishop Kanda Almeida, whom I thank for his warm words of
welcome. I greet all the young people present, Catholics and
others, who are looking for an answer to their questions and
difficulties. Some of these have been expressed by your
representatives, and I have listened to them with gratitude and
appreciation. The embrace I exchanged with them is, naturally,
an embrace which I offer to all of you.
Meeting young people is good for everyone! You may have your
share of difficulties, but you are filled with great hope, great
enthusiasm and a great desire to make a new beginning. My young
friends, you hold within yourselves the power to shape the
future. I encourage you to look to that future through the eyes
of the Apostle John. Saint John tells us: "I saw a new Heaven
and a new earth ... and I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of Heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, 'Behold the dwelling of God is with men'" (Rev 21:1-3).
Dear young people, God makes all the difference. His special
presence among us begins with his easy intimacy with the first
couple in the garden of Eden; it continues with the divine glory
which shone forth from the Tent of Meeting in the midst of the
People of Israel during their journey through the desert, and it
culminates in the incarnation of the Son of God who became
inseparably one with humanity in Jesus Christ. Jesus himself
traversed the desert of our humanity and, passing beyond death,
he rose from the dead and now draws all humanity with himself
towards God. Jesus is no longer confined to a particular place
and time. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, flows forth from him,
enters our hearts and thus joins us to him, and with him to the
Father -- to the God who is one and three.
Yes, my friends! God makes all the difference ... and more! God
changes us; he makes us new! This is what he has promised:
"Behold, I make all things new" (Rev 21:5). It is true! The
Apostle Paul tells us: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come. All
this is from God, who through Christ reconciled himself to us"
(2 Cor 5:17-18). In ascending to Heaven and entering eternity,
Jesus Christ has become the Lord of all ages. So he can walk
with us as a friend in the present, carrying in his hand the
book of our days. In his hand he also holds the past, the
foundation and source of our life. He also carefully holds the
future, allowing us to catch a glimpse of the most beautiful
dawn we will ever see: the dawn that radiates from him, the dawn
of the Resurrection. God is the future of a new humanity, which
is anticipated in his Church. When you have a chance, take time
to read the Church's history. You will find that the Church does
not grow old with the passing of the years. Rather, she grows
younger, for she is journeying towards her Lord, day by day
drawing nearer to the one true fountain overflowing with
youthfulness, rebirth, the power of life.
Dear young people, the future is God. As we have just heard, "he
will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no
more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying nor pain any
more, for the former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4). At
present though, and even in our midst, I see some of the many
thousands of young Angolans who have been maimed or disabled as
a result of the war and the landmines. I think of the countless
tears that have been shed for the loss of your relatives and
friends. It is not hard to imagine the dark clouds that still
veil the horizon of your fondest hopes and dreams. In your
hearts I see doubt, a doubt which you have expressed to me
today. You are saying: "Here is what we have. There is no
visible sign of the things you are talking about! The promise is
backed by God's word -- and we believe it -- but when will God
arise and renew all things?" Jesus' answer is the one he gave to
his disciples: "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God.
Believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many rooms;
if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a
place for you?" (Jn 14:1-2). But you persist, dear young people:
"Yes! But when will this happen?" The Apostles asked Jesus a
similar question, and his answer was: "It is not for you to know
times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own
authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses ... to the ends of
the earth" (Acts 1:7-8). See how Jesus does not leave us without
an answer; he tells us one thing very clearly: renewal starts
from within; you will receive a power from on high. The power to
shape the future is within you.
It is within you, but how? Just as life exists within a seed.
That is how Jesus explained it at a critical juncture in his
ministry. The beginning of his ministry was accompanied by great
enthusiasm. People saw the sick healed, demons cast out, the
Gospel proclaimed, but otherwise the world had not changed: the
Romans remained in power and everyday life continued to be hard,
despite those miracles and those beautiful words. People's
enthusiasm was waning so much that even some of his disciples
had left the Master (cf. Jn 6:66) who preached but did not
change the world. Everyone was asking: deep down, what value
does this message have? What has this prophet of God brought us?
It was then that Jesus spoke about the sower who sows in the
field of the world, and he explained that the seed is his word
(Mk 4:3-20) and his miracles of healing. These are so few in
comparison to the immense needs and demands of everyday life.
And yet, deep within the seed, the future is already present,
since the seed contains tomorrow's bread, tomorrow's life. The
seed seems almost nothing. But it is the presence of the future,
the promise already present. When it falls on good soil, it
produces fruit, thirty, sixty and even a hundredfold.
My dear friends, you are a seed which God has sown in the world,
a seed that contains power from on high, the power of the Holy
Spirit. And yet, the only way to pass from the promise of life
to actually bearing fruit is to give your lives in love, to die
for love. Jesus himself said: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to
the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears
much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his
life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (Jn 12:24-25).
This is what Jesus said, and this is how he acted. His
crucifixion seems like complete failure, but it is not! Jesus,
in the power of "the eternal Spirit, offered himself without
blemish to God" (Heb 9:14). Thus, once he fell to the earth, he
could bear fruit in every time and place. In your midst you have
the new Bread, the Bread of future life, the Most Holy
Eucharist, which nourishes us and pours out the life of the
Trinity into the hearts of all people.
Dear young people, as seeds filled with the power of the same
eternal Spirit, sprout up before the warmth of the Eucharist, in
which the Lord's testament is fulfilled: he gives himself to us
and we respond by giving ourselves to others, for love of him.
This is the way that leads to life; it can be followed only by
maintaining a constant dialogue with the Lord and among
yourselves. The dominant societal culture is not helping you to
live by Jesus' word or to practise the self-giving to which he
calls you in accordance with the Father's plan. Yet, dear
friends, you have the power within you, just as it was in Jesus
when he said: "the Father who dwells in me does his works... he
who believes in me, will also do the works that I do; and he
will do greater works than these, because I go to the Father" (Jn
14:10,12). So do not be afraid to make definitive decisions. You
do not lack generosity -- that I know! But the idea of risking a
lifelong commitment, whether in marriage or in a life of special
consecration, can be daunting. You might think: "The world is in
constant flux and life is full of possibilities. Can I make a
life-long commitment now, without knowing what unforeseen events
lie in store for me? By making a definitive decision, would I
not be risking my freedom and tying my own hands?" These are the
doubts you feel, and today's individualistic and hedonist
culture aggravates them. Yet when young people avoid decisions,
there is a risk of never attaining to full maturity!
I say to you: Take courage! Dare to make definitive decisions,
because in reality these are the only decisions which do not
destroy your freedom, but guide it in the right direction,
enabling you to move forward and attain something worthwhile in
life. There is no doubt about it: life is worthwhile only if you
take courage and are ready for adventure, if you trust in the
Lord who will never abandon you. Young people of Angola, unleash
the power of the Holy Spirit within you, the power from on high!
Trusting in this power, like Jesus, risk taking a leap and
making a definitive decision. Give life a chance! In this way
islands, oases and great stretches of Christian culture will
spring up in your midst, and bring to light that "holy city
coming down out of Heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband". This is the life worthy of being lived, and I
commend it to you from my heart. May God bless the young people
of Angola!
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Apostolic
Journey:
March 17-23, 2009. Visit to Cameroon and Angola, Vatican Coverage...
Look at the One they
Pierced!
