Dear Young
Friends,
After our prayerful
celebration of Vespers in Notre-Dame,
your enthusiastic greeting gives a warm and festive tone to our
meeting this evening. It reminds me of that unforgettable
gathering at
World Youth Day in Sydney this past July
– at which some of you were present. This evening I would like
to talk to you about two very closely related matters; they
represent a real treasure to be stored up in your hearts (cf.
Mt 6:21).
The first has to do with the theme which
was chosen for Sydney. It is also the theme of the prayer vigil
which is about to begin. I am referring to a passage taken from
the Acts of the Apostles, a book which has most appropriately
been called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit: “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be my
witnesses” (Acts 1:8). The Lord now says the same thing
to you! In
Sydney, many young people rediscovered
the importance of the Holy Spirit for the life of every
Christian. The Spirit gives us a deep relationship with God, who
is the source of all authentic human good. All of you desire to
love and to be loved! It is to God that you must turn, if you
want to learn how to love, and to find the strength to love. The
Spirit, who is Love, can open your hearts to accept the gift of
genuine love. All of you are seeking the truth; and all of you
want to live in truth! This truth is Christ. He is the only Way,
the one Truth and the true Life. To follow Christ means truly to
“put out to sea”, as is said several times in the Psalms. The
way of Truth is simultaneously one and manifold according to the
variety of charisms, just as Truth is one while at the same time
possessing an inexhaustible richness. Surrender yourselves to
the Holy Spirit in order to find Christ. The Spirit is our
indispensable guide in prayer, he animates our hope and he is
the source of true joy.
To understand more deeply these truths of
faith, I would encourage you to meditate on the importance of
the sacrament of Confirmation which you have received and which
leads you into a mature faith life. It is vital for you to
understand this sacrament more and more in order to evaluate the
quality and depth of your faith and to reinforce it. The Holy
Spirit enables you to approach the Mystery of God; he makes you
understand who God is. He invites you to see in your neighbours
the brothers and sisters whom God has given you, in order to
live with them in human and spiritual fellowship – in other
words, to live within the Church. By revealing who the crucified
and risen Lord is for us, he impels you to bear witness to
Christ. You are at an age marked by great generosity. You need
to speak about Christ to all around you, to your families and
friends, wherever you study, work and relax. Do not be afraid!
Have “the courage to live the Gospel and the boldness to
proclaim it” (Message
to the Young People of the World,
20 July 2007). So I encourage you to find ways of proclaiming
God to all around you, basing your testimony on the power of the
Spirit, whom we ask for in prayer. Bring the Good News to the
young people of your age, and to others as well. They know what
it means to experience difficulty in relationships, worry and
uncertainty in the face of work and study. They have experienced
suffering, but they have also known unique moments of joy. Be
witnesses of God, for, as young people, you are fully a part of
the Catholic community through your Baptism and our common
profession of faith (cf. Eph 4:5). The Church has
confidence in you, and I want to tell you so!
In
this year dedicated to Saint Paul, I would like to entrust you
with a second treasure, which was at the centre of the life of
this fascinating Apostle: I mean the mystery of the Cross. On
Sunday, in Lourdes, I will celebrate the feast of the Exaltation
of the Cross together with countless other pilgrims. Many of you
wear a cross on a chain around your neck. I too wear one, as
every Bishop does. It is not a mere decoration or a piece of
jewelry. It is the precious symbol of our faith, the visible and
material sign that we belong to Christ. Saint Paul explains the
meaning of the Cross at the beginning of his First Letter to the
Corinthians. The Christian community in Corinth was going
through a turbulent period, exposed to the corrupting influences
of the surrounding culture. Those dangers are similar to the
ones we encounter today. I will mention only the following
examples: quarrels and conflicts within the community of
believers, the seductiveness of ersatz religious and
philosophical doctrines, a superficial faith and a dissolute
morality. Saint Paul begins his Letter by writing: “The word of
the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Then,
the Apostle shows the clear contrast between wisdom and folly,
in God’s way of thinking and in our own. He speaks of this
contrast in the context of the founding of the Church in Corinth
and in connection with his own preaching. He ends by stressing
the beauty of God’s wisdom, which Christ and, in his footsteps,
the Apostles, have come to impart to the world and to
Christians. This wisdom, mysterious and hidden (cf. 1 Cor
2:7), has been revealed by the Spirit, because “those who are
unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they
are folly to them, and they are unable to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).
The
Spirit opens to human intelligence new horizons which transcend
it and enable to perceive that the only true wisdom is found in
the grandeur of Christ. For Christians, the Cross signifies
God’s wisdom and his infinite love revealed in the saving gift
of Christ, crucified and risen for the life of the world, and in
particular for the life of each and every one of you. May this
discovery of a God who became man out of love – this amazing
discovery lead you to respect and venerate the Cross! It is not
only the symbol of your life in God and your salvation, but also
– as you will understand – the silent witness of human suffering
and the unique and priceless expression of all our hopes. Dear
young people, I know that venerating the Cross can sometimes
bring mockery and even persecution. The Cross in some way seems
to threaten our human security, yet above all else, it also
proclaims God’s grace and confirms our salvation. This evening,
I entrust you with the Cross of Christ. The Holy Spirit will
enable you to understand its mysteries of love. Then you will
exclaim with Saint Paul: “May I never boast of anything, except
the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).
Paul had understood the seemingly paradoxical words of Jesus,
who taught that it is only by giving (“losing”) ones life that
one finds it (cf. Mk 8:35; Jn 12:24), and Paul
concluded from this that the Cross expresses the fundamental law
of love, the perfect formula for real life. May a growing
understanding of the mystery of the Cross lead some of you
discover the call to serve Christ unreservedly in the priesthood
and the religious life!
We
are about to begin the prayer vigil, for which you have gathered
here this evening. Remember the two treasures which the Pope has
presented to you this evening: the Holy Spirit and the Cross! As
I conclude, I would like to tell you once more that I have
confidence in you, dear young people, and I want you to
experience, today and in the future, the esteem and affection of
the whole Church! Now, we see the living Church here… May God be
at your side each day. May he bless you, your families and your
friends. I gladly grant my Apostolic Blessing to you, and to all
the young people of France!
Thank you for your faith, and a good vigil to all!
Look at the One they
Pierced!