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Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
Papal Address to Youth
"I Send You Out on the Great Mission of Evangelizing"
H.H. Benedict XVI
May 10, 2007
www.zenit.org
My dear young friends!
"If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor
… and come, follow me" (Mt 19:21).
1. I was particularly eager to include a meeting with you during this my
first journey to Latin America. I have come to inaugurate the Fifth
General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America which, according to
my wish, will take place at Aparecida, here in Brazil, at the Shrine of
Our Lady. It is she who leads us to the feet of Jesus so that we can
learn his teachings about the Kingdom, and it is she who stirs us up to
be his missionaries so that the people of this "Continent of Hope" may
have full life in him.
In their General Assembly last year, your Bishops here in Brazil
reflected on the theme of the evangelization of youth and they placed a
document into your hands. They asked you to receive that document and
add your own reflections to it in the course of the year. At their most
recent Assembly, the Bishops returned to the theme, enriched now by your
collaboration, in the hope that the reflections and guidelines proposed
therein would serve as a stimulus and a beacon for your journey. The
words offered by the Archbishop of São Paulo and the Director of
Pastoral Care for Young People, both of whom I thank, confirm the spirit
that moves your hearts.
While flying over the land of Brazil yesterday evening, I was already
anticipating our encounter here in the Stadium of Pacaembu, anxious to
extend to all of you a warm Brazilian embrace and to share with you the
sentiments which I carry in the depths of my heart, and which are very
appropriately indicated to us in today's Gospel.
I have always felt a very special joy at these encounters. I remember
especially the Twentieth World Youth Day at which I was able to preside
two years ago in Germany. Some of you gathered here today were also
present! It is an emotional memory for me on account of the abundant
fruits of the Lord's grace poured out upon those who were there. Among
the many fruits which I could point to, there is little doubt that the
first was the exemplary sense of fraternity that stood as a clear
witness to the Church's perennial vitality throughout the world.
2. For this reason, my dear friends, I am certain that today the same
impressions I received in Germany will be renewed here. In 1991, during
his visit to Mato Grosso, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II, of
venerable memory, said that "youth are the first protagonists of the
third millennium … they are the ones who will be charged with the
destiny of this new phase in human history" (16 October 1991). Today, I
feel moved to make the same observation regarding all of you.
The Christian life you lead in numerous parishes and small ecclesial
communities, in universities, colleges and schools, and most of all, in
places of work both in the city and in the countryside, is undoubtedly
pleasing to the Lord. But it is necessary to go even further. We can
never say "enough", because the love of God is infinite, and the Lord
asks us -- or better --requires us to open our hearts wider so that
there will be room for even more love, goodness, and understanding for
our brothers and sisters, and for the problems which concern not only
the human community, but also the effective preservation and protection
of the natural environment of which we are all a part. "Our forests have
more life": do not allow this flame of hope which your National Hymn
places on your lips to die out. The devastation of the environment in
the Amazon Basin and the threats against the human dignity of peoples
living within that region call for greater commitment in the different
areas of activity than society tends to recognize.
3. Today I would like to reflect on the text we have just heard from
Saint Matthew (cf. 19:16-22). It speaks of a young man who ran to see
Jesus. His impatience merits special attention. In this young man I see
all of you young people of Brazil and Latin America. You have "run" here
from various regions of this Continent for this meeting of ours. You
want to listen to the words of Jesus himself -- spoken through the voice
of the Pope.
You have a crucial question -- a question that appears in this Gospel --
to put to him. It is the same question posed by the young man who ran to
see Jesus: What good deed must I do, to have eternal life? I would like
to take a deeper look at this question with you. It has to do with life.
A life which -- in all of you -- is exuberant and beautiful. What are
you to do with it? How can you live it to the full?
We see at once that in the very formulation of the question, the "here"
and "now" are not enough; to put it another way, we cannot limit our
life within the confines of space and time, however much we might try to
broaden their horizons. Life transcends them. In other words: we want to
live, not die. We have a sense of something telling us that life is
eternal and that we must apply ourselves to reach it. In short, it rests
in our hands and is dependent, in a certain way, on our own decision.
The question in the Gospel does not regard only the future. It does not
regard only a question about what will happen after death. On the
contrary, it exists as a task in the present, in the "here" and "now",
which must guarantee authenticity and consequently the future. In short,
the young man's question raises the issue of life's meaning. It can
therefore be formulated in this way: what must I do so that my life has
meaning? How must I live so as to reap the full fruits of life? Or
again: what must I do so that my life is not wasted?
Jesus alone can give us the answer, because he alone can guarantee us
eternal life. He alone, therefore, can show us the meaning of this
present life and give it fullness.
4. But before giving his response, Jesus asks about a very important
aspect of the young man's enquiry: why do you ask me about what is good?
In this question, we find the key to the answer. This young man
perceives that Jesus is good and that he is a teacher -- a teacher who
does not deceive. We are here because we have the very same conviction:
Jesus is good. It may be that we do not know how to explain fully the
reason for this perception, but it undoubtedly draws us to him and opens
us up to his teaching: he is a good teacher. To recognize the good means
to love. And whoever loves -- to use a felicitous expression of Saint
John -- knows God (cf. 1 Jn 4:7). The young man in the Gospel has
perceived God in Jesus Christ.
Jesus assures us that God alone is good. To be open to goodness means to
receive God. In this way, he invites us to see God in all things and in
everything that happens, even where most people see only God's absence.
When we see the beauty of creation and recognize the goodness present
there, it is impossible not to believe in God and to experience his
saving and reassuring presence. If we came to see all the good that
exists in the world -- and moreover, experience the good that comes from
God himself -- we would never cease to approach him, praise him, and
thank him. He continually fills us with joy and good things. His joy is
our strength.
But we can only know in an imperfect, partial way. To understand what is
good, we need help, which the Church offers us on many occasions,
especially through catechesis. Jesus himself shows what is good for us
by giving us the first element in his catechesis: "If you would enter
life, keep the commandments" (Mt 19:17). He begins with the knowledge
that the young man has surely already acquired from his family and from
the synagogue: he knows the commandments. These lead to life, which
means that they guarantee our authenticity. They are the great signs
which lead us along the right path. Whoever keeps the commandments is on
the way that leads to God.
It is not enough, however, simply to know them. Witness is even more
important than knowledge; or rather, it is applied knowledge. The
commandments are not imposed upon us from without; they do not diminish
our freedom. On the contrary: they are strong internal incentives
leading us to act in a certain way. At the heart of them we find both
grace and nature, which do not allow us to stay still. We must walk. We
are motivated to do something in order fulfil our potential. To find
fulfilment through action is, in reality, to become real. To a large
extent, from the time of our youth, we are whatever we want to be. We
are, so to speak, the work of our own hands.
5. At this point, I turn once more to you, young people, because I want
to hear you give the same response that the young man in the Gospel
gave: all these I have observed from my youth. The young man in the
Gospel was good. He kept the commandments. He was walking along the way
of God. Jesus, therefore, gazing at him, loved him. By recognizing that
Jesus was good, he showed that he too was good. He had an experience of
goodness, and therefore of God. And you, young people of Brazil and
Latin America, have you already discovered what is good? Do you follow
the Lord's commandments? Have you discovered that this is the one true
road to happiness?
These years of your life are the years which will prepare you for your
future. Your "tomorrow" depends much on how you are living the "today"
of your youth. Stretching out in front of you, my dear young friends, is
a life that all of us hope will be long; yet it is only one life, it is
unique: do not let it pass it vain; do not squander it. Live it with
enthusiasm and with joy, but most of all, with a sense of
responsibility.
Many times, we who are pastors feel a sense of trepidation as we take
stock of the situation in today's world. We hear talk of the fears of
today's youth. These fears reveal an enormous lack of hope: a fear of
death, at the very moment when life is blossoming and the young are
searching to find how to fulfil their potential; fear of failure,
through not having discovered the meaning of life; fear of remaining
detached in the face of a disconcerting acceleration of events and
communications. We see the high death rate among young people, the
threat of violence, the deplorable proliferation of drugs which strike
at the deepest roots of youth today. For these reasons, we hear talk of
a "lost youth".
But as I gaze at you young people here present -- you who radiate so
much joy and enthusiasm -- I see you as Christ sees you: with a gaze of
love and trust, in the certainty that you have found the true way. You
are the youth of the Church. I send you out, therefore, on the great
mission of evangelizing young men and women who have gone astray in this
world like sheep without a shepherd. Be apostles of youth. Invite them
to walk with you, to have the same experience of faith, hope, and love;
to encounter Jesus so that they may feel truly loved, accepted, able to
realize their full potential. May they too may discover the sure ways of
the commandments, and, by following them, come to God.
You can be the builders of a new society if you seek to put into
practice a conduct inspired by universal moral values, but also a
personal commitment to a vitally important human and spiritual
formation. Men and women who are ill-prepared for the real challenges
presented by a correct interpretation of the Christian life in their own
surroundings will easily fall prey to all the assaults of materialism
and secularism, which are more and more active at all levels.
Be men and women who are free and responsible; make the family a centre
that radiates peace and joy; be promoters of life, from its beginning to
its natural end; protect the elderly, since they deserve respect and
admiration for the good they have done. The Pope also expects young
people to seek to sanctify their work, carrying it out with technical
skill and diligence, so as to contribute to the progress of all their
brothers and sisters, and to shed the light of the Word upon all human
activities (cf. Lumen Gentium, 36). But above all, the Pope wants them
to set about building a more just and fraternal society, fulfilling
their duties towards the State: respecting its laws; not allowing
themselves to be swept along by hatred and violence; seeking to be an
example of Christian conduct in their professional and social milieu,
distinguishing themselves by the integrity of their social and
professional relationships. They should remember that excessive ambition
for wealth and power leads to corruption of oneself and others; there
are no valid motives that would justify attempting to impose one's own
worldly aspirations -- economic or political -- through fraud and
deceit.
There exists, in the final analysis, an immense panorama of action in
which questions of a social, economic and political nature take on
particular importance, as long as they draw their inspiration from the
Gospel and the social teaching of the Church. This includes building a
more just and fraternal society, reconciled and at peace, it includes
the commitment to reduce violence, initiatives to promote the fullness
of life, the democratic order and the common good and especially
initiatives aimed at eliminating certain forms of discrimination
existing in Latin American societies: avoiding exclusion, for the sake
of mutual enrichment.
Above all, have great respect for the institution of the sacrament of
Matrimony. There cannot be true domestic happiness unless, at the same
time, there is fidelity between spouses. Marriage is an institution of
natural law, which has been raised by Christ to the dignity of a
sacrament; it is a great gift that God has given to mankind: respect it
and honour it. At the same time, God calls you to respect one another
when you fall in love and become engaged, since conjugal life, reserved
by divine ordinance to married couples, will bring happiness and peace
only to the extent that you are able to build your future hopes upon
chastity, both within and outside marriage. I repeat here to all of you
that "eros tends to rise . . . towards the Divine, to lead us beyond
ourselves; yet for this very reason it calls for a path of ascent,
renunciation, purification and healing" (Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas
Est , 5). To put it briefly, it requires a spirit of sacrifice and
renunciation for the sake of a greater good, namely the love of God
above all things. Seek to resist forcefully the snares of evil that are
found in many contexts, driving you towards a dissolute and
paradoxically empty life, causing you to lose the precious gift of your
freedom and your true happiness. True love "increasingly seeks the
happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved,
bestows itself and wants to 'be there for' the other" (ibid., 7) and
therefore will always grow in faithfulness, indissolubility and
fruitfulness.
In all these things, count upon the help of Jesus Christ who will make
them possible through his grace (cf. Mt 19:26). The life of faith and
prayer will lead you along the paths of intimacy with God, helping you
to understand the greatness of his plans for every person. "For the sake
of the kingdom of heaven" ( Mt 19:12), some are called to a total and
definitive self-giving, by consecrating themselves to God in the
religious life -- an "exceptional gift of grace", as the Second Vatican
Council expressed it (cf. Decree Perfectae Caritatis, 12). Consecrated
persons, by giving themselves totally to God, prompted by the Holy
Spirit, participate in the Church's mission, bearing witness before all
people to their hope in the heavenly Kingdom. I therefore bless and
invoke divine protection upon all those religious who have dedicated
themselves to Christ and to their brothers and sisters within the
vineyard of the Lord. Consecrated persons truly deserve the gratitude of
the ecclesial community: monks and nuns, contemplative men and women,
religious men and women dedicated to apostolic works, members of Secular
Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life, hermits and consecrated
virgins. "Their existence witnesses to their love for Christ as they
walk the path proposed in the Gospel and with deep joy commit themselves
to the same style of life which he chose for himself" (Congregation for
Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life,
Instruction Starting Afresh from Christ, 5). I pray that in this moment
of grace and profound communion in Christ, the Holy Spirit will awaken
in the hearts of many young people an impassioned love, prompting them
to follow and imitate Jesus Christ, chaste, poor and obedient, totally
devoted to the glory of the Father and to love for their brothers and
sisters.
6. The Gospel assures us that the young man who went to meet Jesus was
very rich. We may understand this wealth not only on the material level.
Youth itself is a singular treasure. We have to discover it and to value
it. Jesus appreciated it so much that he went on to invite the young man
to participate in his saving mission. He had great potential and could
have accomplished great things.
But the Gospel goes on to say that this young man, having heard the
invitation, was saddened. He went away downcast and sad. This episode
causes us to reflect further on the treasure of youth. It is not, in the
first place, a question of material wealth, but of life itself, and the
values inherent in youth. This wealth is inherited from two sources:
life, transmitted from generation to generation, at the ultimate origin
of which we find God, full of wisdom and love; and upbringing, which
locates us within a culture, to such an extent that we might almost say
we are more children of culture and therefore of faith, than of nature.
From life springs freedom, which manifests itself, especially in this
phase, as responsibility. There comes the great moment of decision, in a
twofold choice: firstly, concerning one's state of life, and secondly
concerning one's profession. It is about providing an answer to the
question: what do I do with my life?
In other words, youth appears as a form of wealth because it leads to
the discovery of life as a gift and a task. The young man in the Gospel
understood that his youth was itself a treasure. He went to Jesus, the
good Teacher, in order to seek some direction. At the moment of the
great decision, however, he lacked the courage to wager everything on
Jesus Christ. In consequence, he went away sad and downcast. This is
what happens whenever our decisions waver and become cowardly and
self-seeking. He understood that what he lacked was generosity, and this
did not allow him to realize his full potential. He withdrew to his
riches, turning them to selfishness.
Jesus regretted the sadness and the cowardice of the young man who had
come to seek him out. The Apostles, like all of you here today, filled
the vacuum left by that young man who went away sad and downcast. They,
and we, are happy, because we know the one in whom we believe (cf. 2 Tim
1:12). We know and we bear witness with our lives that he alone has the
words of eternal life (cf. Jn 6:68). Therefore, we can exclaim with
Saint Paul: Rejoice always in the Lord! (cf. Phil 4:4).
7. My appeal to you today, young people present at this gathering, is
this: do not waste your youth. Do not seek to escape from it. Live it
intensely. Consecrate it to the high ideals of faith and human
solidarity.
You, young people, are not just the future of the Church and of
humanity, as if we could somehow run away from the present. On the
contrary: you are that young man now; you are that young man in the
Church and in humanity today. You are his young face. The Church needs
you, as young people, to manifest to the world the face of Jesus Christ,
visible in the Christian community. Without this young face, the Church
would appear disfigured.
My dear young people, soon I shall inaugurate the Fifth Conference of
the Bishops of Latin America. I ask you to follow its deliberations
attentively; to participate in its discussions; to receive its fruits.
As was the case with earlier Conferences, the present one will also
leave a significant mark on the next ten years of evangelization in
Latin America and the Caribbean. No one must stay on the sidelines or
remain indifferent in the face of this ecclesial initiative, least of
all you young people. You are full members of the Church, which
represents the face of Jesus Christ for Latin America and the Caribbean.
I greet the French speakers who live on the Latin American continent,
and I invite them to be witnesses of the Gospel, and to be actively
engaged in the life of the Church. My prayer is addressed to you young
people in a particular way: you are called to build your lives on Christ
and on fundamental human values. Everyone should feel invited to work
together in order to build a world of justice and peace.
My dear young friends, like the young man in the Gospel who asked Jesus:
"What good deed must I do, to have eternal life?", you are all seeking
ways to respond generously to God's call. I pray that you may listen to
his saving words and that you may become his witnesses for the peoples
of today. May God pour out upon all of you his blessings of peace and
joy.
My dear young people, Christ is calling you to be saints. He himself is
inviting you and wants to walk with you, in order to enliven with his
Spirit the steps that Brazil is taking at the beginning of this third
millennium of the Christian era. I ask the Senhora Aparecida to guide
you with her maternal help and to accompany you throughout your lives.
Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ!
[Original text: Plurilingual]
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