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Pope Benedict XVI- World Youth Day |
Papal Message for
22nd Youth Day
"A 'Discovery' of Love"
H.H. Benedict XVI
January 27, 2007
www.zenit.org
For the diocesan-level World Youth Day, to be observed April 1.
* * *
"Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (Jn
13:34)
My dear young friends,
On the occasion of the 22nd World Youth Day that will be celebrated
in the dioceses on Palm Sunday, I would like to propose for your
meditation the words of Jesus: "Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
Is it possible to love?
Everybody feels the longing to love and to be loved. Yet, how
difficult it is to love, and how many mistakes and failures have to
be reckoned with in love! There are those who even come to doubt
that love is possible. But if emotional delusions or lack of
affection can cause us to think that love is utopian, an impossible
dream, should we then become resigned? No! Love is possible, and the
purpose of my message is to help reawaken in each one of you -- you
who are the future and hope of humanity --, trust in a love that is
true, faithful and strong; a love that generates peace and joy; a
love that binds people together and allows them to feel free in
respect for one another. Let us now go on a journey together in
three stages, as we embark on a "discovery" of love.
God, the source of love
The first stage concerns the source of true love. There is only one
source, and that is God. Saint John makes this clear when he
declares that "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8,16). He was not simply saying
that God loves us, but that the very being of God is love. Here we
find ourselves before the most dazzling revelation of the source of
love, the mystery of the Trinity: in God, one and triune, there is
an everlasting exchange of love between the persons of the Father
and the Son, and this love is not an energy or a sentiment, but it
is a person; it is the Holy Spirit.
The Cross of Christ fully reveals the love of God
How is God-Love revealed to us? We have now reached the second stage
of our journey. Even though the signs of divine love are already
clearly present in creation, the full revelation of the intimate
mystery of God came to us through the Incarnation when God himself
became man. In Christ, true God and true Man, we have come to know
love in all its magnitude. In fact, as I wrote in the Encyclical
Deus caritas est, "the real novelty of the New Testament lies not so
much in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives
flesh and blood to those concepts -- an unprecedented realism" (n.
12). The manifestation of divine love is total and perfect in the
Cross where, we are told by Saint Paul, "God proves his love for us
in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rm 5:8).
Therefore, each one of us can truly say: "Christ loved me and gave
himself up for me" (cf Eph 5:2). Redeemed by his blood, no human
life is useless or of little value, because each of us is loved
personally by Him with a passionate and faithful love, a love
without limits. The Cross, -- for the world a folly, for many
believers a scandal --, is in fact the "wisdom of God" for those who
allow themselves to be touched right to the innermost depths of
their being, "for God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God's weakness is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor 1:25).
Moreover, the Crucifix, which after the Resurrection would carry
forever the marks of his passion, exposes the "distortions" and lies
about God that underlie violence, vengeance and exclusion. Christ is
the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sins of the world and
eradicates hatred from the heart of humankind. This is the true
"revolution" that He brings about: love.
Loving our neighbor as Christ loves us
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our reflection. Christ
cried out from the Cross: "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:28). This shows us
his burning thirst to love and to be loved by each one of us. It is
only by coming to perceive the depth and intensity of such a mystery
that we can realize the need and urgency to love him as He has loved
us. This also entails the commitment to even give our lives, if
necessary, for our brothers and sisters sustained by love for Him.
God had already said in the Old Testament: "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18), but the innovation introduced by
Christ is the fact that to love as he loves us means loving everyone
without distinction, even our enemies, "to the end" (cf Jn 13:1).
Witnesses to the love of Christ
I would like to linger for a moment on three areas of daily life
where you, my dear young friends, are particularly called to
demonstrate the love of God. The first area is the Church, our
spiritual family, made up of all the disciples of Christ. Mindful of
his words: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35), you should stimulate,
with your enthusiasm and charity, the activities of the parishes,
the communities, the ecclesial movements and the youth groups to
which you belong. Be attentive in your concern for the welfare of
others, faithful to the commitments you have made. Do not hesitate
to joyfully abstain from some of your entertainments; cheerfully
accept the necessary sacrifices; testify to your faithful love for
Jesus by proclaiming his Gospel, especially among young people of
your age.
Preparing for the future
The second area, where you are called to express your love and grow
in it, is your preparation for the future that awaits you. If you
are engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future
as a couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you
discover it with the help of the Church, free from the common
prejudice that says that Christianity with its commandments and
prohibitions places obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you
from fully enjoying the happiness that a man and woman seek in their
reciprocal love. The love of a man and woman is at the origin of the
human family and the couple formed by a man and a woman has its
foundation in God's original plan (cf Gen 2:18-25). Learning to love
each other as a couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a
demanding "apprenticeship". The period of engagement, very necessary
in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation
that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you
to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it
helps you to practice self-control and to develop your respect for
each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not
place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare.
In your prayer together, ask the Lord to watch over and increase
your love and to purify it of all selfishness. Do not hesitate to
respond generously to the Lord's call, for Christian matrimony is
truly and wholly a vocation in the Church. Likewise, dear young men
and women, be ready to say "yes" if God should call you to follow
the path of ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life. Your
example will be one of encouragement for many of your peers who are
seeking true happiness.
Growing in love each day
The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily
life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to
family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate
your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help
others to "grow". Develop your capacities, not only in order to
become more "competitive" and "productive", but to be "witnesses of
charity". In addition to your professional training, also make an
effort to acquire religious knowledge that will help you to carry
out your mission in a responsible way. In particular, I invite you
to carefully study the social doctrine of the Church so that its
principles may inspire and guide your action in the world. May the
Holy Spirit make you creative in charity, persevering in your
commitments, and brave in your initiatives, so that you will be able
to offer your contribution to the building up of the "civilization
of love". The horizon of love is truly boundless: it is the whole
world!
"Dare to love" by following the example of the saints
My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to love". Do
not desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong
and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your
existence a joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God
and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who
vanquished hatred and death forever through love (cf Rev 5:13). Love
is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person
and of all humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men
and women, between rich and poor, between cultures and
civilizations. This is shown to us in the lives of the saints. They
are true friends of God who channel and reflect this very first
love. Try to know them better, entrust yourselves to their
intercession, and strive to live as they did. I shall just mention
Mother Teresa. In order to respond instantly to the cry of Jesus, "I
thirst", a cry that had touched her deeply, she began to take in the
people who were dying on the streets of Calcutta in India. From that
time onward, the only desire of her life was to quench the thirst of
love felt by Jesus, not with words, but with concrete action by
recognizing his disfigured countenance thirsting for love in the
faces of the poorest of the poor. Blessed Teresa put the teachings
of the Lord into practice: "Just as you did it to one of the least
of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40).
The message of this humble witness of divine love has spread around
the whole world.
The secret of love
Each one of us, my dear friends, has been given the possibility of
reaching this same level of love, but only by having recourse to the
indispensable support of divine Grace. Only the Lord's help will
allow us to keep away from resignation when faced with the enormity
of the task to be undertaken. It instills in us the courage to
accomplish that which is humanly inconceivable. Contact with the
Lord in prayer grounds us in humility and reminds us that we are
"unworthy servants" (cf Lk 17:10). Above all, the Eucharist is the
great school of love. When we participate regularly and with
devotion in Holy Mass, when we spend a sustained time of adoration
in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, it is easier to
understand the length, breadth, height and depth of his love that
goes beyond all knowledge (cf Eph 3:17-18). By sharing the
Eucharistic Bread with our brothers and sisters of the Church
community, we feel compelled, like Our Lady with Elizabeth, to
render "in haste" the love of Christ into generous service towards
our brothers and sisters.
Towards the encounter in Sydney
On this subject, the recommendation of the apostle John is
illuminating: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,
but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from
the truth" (1 Jn 3:18-19). Dear young people, it is in this spirit
that I invite you to experience the next World Youth Day together
with your bishops in your respective dioceses. This will be an
important stage on the way to the meeting in Sydney where the theme
will be: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). May Mary, the Mother
of Christ and of the Church, help you to let that cry ring out
everywhere, the cry that has changed the world: "God is love!" I am
together with you all in prayer and extend to you my heartfelt
blessing.
From the Vatican, 27 January 2007
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
[Translation of Italian original issued by the Holy See]
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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