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Pope Benedict XVI- World Youth Day |
Papal Message for
21st Youth Day
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"
H.H. Benedict XVI
April 9, 2006
www.zenit.org
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps 119
[118]:105)
My dear young friends!
It is with great joy that I greet you as you prepare for the 21st
World Youth Day, and I relive the memory of those enriching
experiences we had in August last year in Germany. World Youth Day
this year will be celebrated in the local Churches, and it will be a
good opportunity to rekindle the flame of enthusiasm that was
awakened in Cologne and which many of you have brought to your
families, parishes, associations and movements. At the same time, it
will be a wonderful chance to invite many of your friends to join
the young generation’s spiritual pilgrimage towards Christ.
The theme that I suggest to you is a verse from Psalm 119 [118]:
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v. 105).
Our dearly loved John Paul II commented on that verse of the psalm
as follows: "The one who prays pours out his thanks for the Law of
God that he adopts as a lamp for his steps in the often dark path of
Life" (General Audience, Wednesday 14 November 2001). God reveals
himself in history. He speaks to humankind, and the word he speaks
has creative power. The Hebrew concept "dabar", usually translated
as "word", really conveys both the meaning of word and act. God says
what he does and does what he says. The Old Testament announces to
the Children of Israel the coming of the Messiah and the
establishment of a "new" covenant; in the Word made flesh He fulfils
his promise. This is clearly specified in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church: "Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's
one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything;
there will be no other word than this one" (n. 65). The Holy Spirit
who has led the chosen people by inspiring the authors of the Sacred
Scriptures, opens the hearts of believers to understand their
meaning. This same Spirit is actively present in the Eucharistic
celebration when the priest, "in persona Christi", says the words of
consecration, changing the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of
Christ, for the spiritual nourishment of the faithful. In order to
progress on our earthly pilgrimage towards the heavenly Kingdom, we
all need to be nourished by the word and the bread of eternal Life,
and these are inseparable from one another!
The Apostles received the word of salvation and passed it on to
their successors as a precious gem kept safely in the jewel box of
the Church: without the Church, this pearl runs the risk of being
lost or destroyed. My dear young friends, love the word of God and
love the Church, and this will give you access to a treasure of very
great value and will teach you how to appreciate its richness. Love
and follow the Church, for it has received from its Founder the
mission of showing people the way to true happiness. It is not easy
to recognise and find authentic happiness in this world in which we
live, where people are often held captive by the current ways of
thinking. They may think they are "free", but they are being led
astray and become lost amid the errors or illusions of aberrant
ideologies. "Freedom itself needs to be set free" (cf the encyclical
Veritatis Splendor, 86), and the darkness in which humankind is
groping needs to be illuminated. Jesus taught us how this can be
done: "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and
you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (Jn
8:31-32). The incarnate Word, Word of Truth, makes us free and
directs our freedom towards the good. My dear young friends,
meditate often on the word of God, and allow the Holy Spirit to be
your teacher. You will then discover that God’s way of thinking is
not the same as that of humankind’s. You will find yourselves led to
contemplate the real God and to read the events of history through
his eyes. You will savour in fullness the joy that is born of truth.
On life’s journey, which is neither easy nor free of deceptions, you
will meet difficulties and suffering and at times you will be
tempted to exclaim with the psalmist: "I am severely afflicted" (Ps
119 [118]. v. 107). Do not forget to add as the psalmist did: "give
me life, O Lord, according to your word... I hold my life in my hand
continually, but I do not forget your law" (ibid. vv. 107; 109). The
loving presence of God, through his word, is the lamp that dispels
the darkness of fear and lights up the path even when times are most
difficult.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: "Indeed, the word of
God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to
judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (4:12). It is
necessary to take seriously the injunction to consider the word of
God to be an indispensable "weapon" in the spiritual struggle. This
will be effective and show results if we learn to listen to it and
then to obey it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: "To
obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to ‘hear or listen to’) in faith is
to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth
is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself" (n. 144). While Abraham
exemplifies this way of listening which is obedience, Solomon in his
turn shows himself to be a passionate explorer of the wisdom
contained in the Word. When God said to him: "Ask what I should give
you", the wise king replied: "Give your servant therefore an
understanding heart" (1 Kings 3:5,9). The secret of acquiring "an
understanding heart" is to train your heart to listen. This is
obtained by persistently meditating on the word of God and by
remaining firmly rooted in it through the commitment to persevere in
getting to know it better.
My dear young friends, I urge you to become familiar with the Bible,
and to have it at hand so that it can be your compass pointing out
the road to follow. By reading it, you will learn to know Christ.
Note what Saint Jerome said in this regard: "Ignorance of the
Scriptures is ignorance of Christ" (PL 24,17; cf Dei Verbum, 25). A
time-honoured way to study and savour the word of God is lectio
divina which constitutes a real and veritable spiritual journey
marked out in stages. After the lectio, which consists of reading
and rereading a passage from Sacred Scripture and taking in the main
elements, we proceed to meditatio. This is a moment of interior
reflection in which the soul turns to God and tries to understand
what his word is saying to us today. Then comes oratio in which we
linger to talk with God directly. Finally we come to contemplatio.
This helps us to keep our hearts attentive to the presence of Christ
whose word is "a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns
and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Pet 1:19). Reading,
study and meditation of the Word should then flow into a life of
consistent fidelity to Christ and his teachings.
Saint James tells us: "Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers
who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not
doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for
they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what
they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of
liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who
act - they will be blessed in their doing" (1:22-25). Those who
listen to the word of God and refer to it always, are constructing
their existence on solid foundations. "Everyone then who hears these
words of mine and acts on them", Jesus said, "will be like a wise
man who built his house on rock" (Mt 7:24). It will not collapse
when bad weather comes.
To build your life on Christ, to accept the word with joy and put
its teachings into practice: this, young people of the third
millennium, should be your programme! There is an urgent need for
the emergence of a new generation of apostles anchored firmly in the
word of Christ, capable of responding to the challenges of our times
and prepared to spread the Gospel far and wide. It is this that the
Lord asks of you, it is to this that the Church invites you, and it
is this that the world - even though it may not be aware of it -
expects of you! If Jesus calls you, do not be afraid to respond to
him with generosity, especially when he asks you to follow him in
the consecrated life or in the priesthood. Do not be afraid; trust
in him and you will not be disappointed.
Dear friends, at the 21st World Youth Day that we will celebrate on
9 April next, Palm Sunday, we will set out, in our hearts, on a
pilgrimage towards the world encounter with young people that will
take place in Sydney in July 2008. We will prepare for that great
appointment reflecting together on the theme The Holy Spirit and the
mission in successive stages. This year our attention will focus on
the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth, who reveals Christ to us, the Word
made flesh, opening the heart of each one to the Word of salvation
that leads to the fullness of Truth. Next year, 2007, we will
meditate on a verse from the Gospel of John: "Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another" (13:34). We will discover
more about the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Love, who infuses divine
charity within us and makes us aware of the material and spiritual
needs of our brothers and sisters. We will finally reach the world
meeting of 2008 and its theme will be: "You will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses"
(Acts 1:8).
From this moment onwards, my dear young friends, in a climate of
constant listening to the word of God, call on the Holy Spirit,
Spirit of fortitude and witness, that you may be able to proclaim
the Gospel without fear even to the ends of the earth. Our Lady was
present in the cenacle with the Apostles as they waited for
Pentecost. May she be your mother and guide. May she teach you to
receive the word of God, to treasure it and to ponder on it in your
heart (cf Lk 2:19) as she did throughout her life. May she encourage
you to declare your "yes" to the Lord as you live "the obedience of
faith". May she help you to remain strong in the faith, constant in
hope, persevering in charity, always attentive to the word of God. I
am together with you in prayer, and I bless each one of you with all
my heart.
From the Vatican, 22 February 2006, Feast of the Chair of Saint
Peter Apostle.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
© Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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