MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE WORLD
ON THE OCCASION OF THE XXIII WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2007
"You will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you will be my witnesses " (Acts 1:8)
My
dear young friends!
1. The XXIII World Youth Day
I always remember with great joy the various occasions we spent
together in Cologne in August 2005. At the end of that unforgettable
manifestation of faith and enthusiasm that remains engraved on my
spirit and on my heart, I made an appointment with you for the next
gathering that will be held in Sydney in 2008. This will be the
XXIII World Youth Day and 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). The underlying theme of the spiritual
preparation for our meeting in Sydney is the Holy Spirit and
mission. In 2006 we focused our attention on the Holy Spirit as the
Spirit of Truth. Now in 2007 we are seeking a deeper understanding
of the Spirit of Love. We will continue our journey towards World
Youth Day 2008 by reflecting on the Spirit of Fortitude and Witness
that gives us the courage to live according to the Gospel and to
proclaim it boldly. Therefore it is very important that each one of
you young people -- in your communities, and together with those
responsible for your education -- should be able to reflect on this
Principal Agent of salvation history, namely the Holy Spirit or the
Spirit of Jesus. In this way you will be able to achieve the
following lofty goals: to recognize the Spirit's true identity,
principally by listening to the Word of God in the Revelation of the
Bible; to become clearly aware of his continuous, active presence in
the life of the Church, especially as you rediscover that the Holy
Spirit is the "soul", the vital breath of Christian life itself,
through the sacraments of Christian initiation -- Baptism,
Confirmation and the Eucharist; to grow thereby in an understanding
of Jesus that becomes ever deeper and more joyful and, at the same
time, to put the Gospel into practice at the dawn of the third
millennium. In this message I gladly offer you an outline for
meditation that you can explore during this year of preparation. In
this way you can test the quality of your faith in the Holy Spirit,
rediscover it if it is lost, strengthen it if it has become weak,
savour it as fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ, brought about by the indispensable working of the Holy
Spirit. Never forget that the Church, in fact humanity itself, all
the people around you now and those who await you in the future,
expect much from you young people, because you have within you the
supreme gift of the Father, the Spirit of Jesus.
2. The promise of the Holy Spirit in the Bible
Attentive listening to the Word of God concerning the mystery and
action of the Holy Spirit opens us up to great and inspiring
insights that I shall summarize in the following points.
Shortly before his Ascension, Jesus said to his disciples: "And
behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you" (Luke 24:49). This
took place on the day of Pentecost when they were together in prayer
in the Upper Room with the Virgin Mary. The outpouring of the Holy
Spirit on the nascent Church was the fulfilment of a promise made
much earlier by God, announced and prepared throughout the Old
Testament.
In fact, right from its opening pages, the Bible presents the spirit
of God as the wind that "was moving over the face of the waters"
(cf. Genesis 1:2). It says that God breathed into man's nostrils the
breath of life (cf. Genesis 2:7), thereby infusing him with life
itself. After original sin, the life-giving spirit of God is seen
several times in the history of humankind, calling forth prophets to
exhort the chosen people to return to God and to observe his
commandments faithfully. In the well-known vision of the prophet
Ezekiel, God, with his spirit, restores to life the people of
Israel, represented by the "dry bones" (cf. 37:1-14). Joel
prophesied an "outpouring of the spirit" over all the people,
excluding no one. The sacred author wrote: "And it shall come to
pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh ... Even
upon the menservants and maidservants, in those days, I will pour
out my spirit" (3:1-2).
In "the fullness of time" (cf. Galatians 4:4), the angel of the Lord
announced to the Virgin of Nazareth that the Holy Spirit, "the power
of the Most High", would come upon her and overshadow her. The child
to be born would be holy and would be called Son of God (cf. Luke
1:35). In the words of the prophet Isaiah, the Messiah would be the
one on whom the Spirit of the Lord would rest (cf. 11:1-2; 42:1).
This is the prophecy that Jesus took up again at the start of his
public ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth. To the amazement of
those present, he said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's
favour" (Luke 4:18-19; cf. Is 61:1-2). Addressing those present, he
referred those prophetic words to himself by saying: "Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). Again,
before his death on the Cross, he would tell his disciples several
times about the coming of the Holy Spirit, the "Counselor" whose
mission would be to bear witness to him and to assist believers by
teaching them and guiding them to the fullness of Truth (cf. John
14:16-17,25-26; 15:26; 16:13).
3. Pentecost, the point of departure for the Church's mission
On the evening of the day of resurrection, Jesus appeared to his
disciples, "he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy
Spirit'" (John 20:22). With even greater power the Holy Spirit
descended on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. We read in the
Acts of the Apostles: "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound
like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house
where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among
them, and a tongue rested on each of them" (2:2-3).
The Holy Spirit renewed the Apostles from within, filling them with
a power that would give them courage to go out and boldly proclaim
that "Christ has died and is risen!" Freed from all fear, they began
to speak openly with self-confidence (cf. Acts 2:29; 4:13; 4:29,31).
These frightened fishermen had become courageous heralds of the
Gospel. Even their enemies could not understand how "uneducated and
ordinary men" (cf. Acts 4:13) could show such courage and endure
difficulties, suffering and persecution with joy. Nothing could stop
them. To those who tried to silence them they replied: "We cannot
keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).
This is how the Church was born, and from the day of Pentecost she
has not ceased to spread the Good News "to the ends of the earth"
(Acts 1:8).
4. The Holy Spirit, soul of the Church and principle of communion
If we are to understand the mission of the Church, we must go back
to the Upper Room where the disciples remained together (cf. Luke
24:49), praying with Mary, the "Mother", awaiting the Spirit that
had been promised. This icon of the nascent Church should be a
constant source of inspiration for every Christian community.
Apostolic and missionary fruitfulness is not principally due to
programmes and pastoral methods that are cleverly drawn up and
"efficient", but is the result of the community's constant prayer
(cf. "Evangelii Nuntiandi," 75). Moreover, for the mission to be
effective, communities must be united, that is, they must be "of one
heart and soul" (cf. Acts 4:32), and they must be ready to witness
to the love and joy that the Holy Spirit instils in the hearts of
the faithful (cf. Acts 2:42). The Servant of God John Paul II wrote
that, even prior to action, the Church's mission is to witness and
to live in a way that shines out to others (cf. "Redemptoris Missio,"
26). Tertullian tells us that this is what happened in the early
days of Christianity when pagans were converted on seeing the love
that reigned among Christians: "See how they love one another" (cf.
Apology, 39 § 7).
To conclude this brief survey of the Word of God in the Bible, I
invite you to observe how the Holy Spirit is the highest gift of God
to humankind, and therefore the supreme testimony of his love for
us, a love that is specifically expressed as the "yes to life" that
God wills for each of his creatures. This "yes to life" finds its
fullness in Jesus of Nazareth and in his victory over evil by means
of the redemption. In this regard, let us never forget that the
Gospel of Jesus, precisely because of the Spirit, cannot be reduced
to a mere statement of fact, for it is intended to be "good news for
the poor, release for captives, sight for the blind ...". With what
great vitality this was seen on the day of Pentecost, as it became
the grace and the task of the Church towards the world, her primary
mission!
We are the fruits of this mission of the Church through the working
of the Holy Spirit. We carry within us the seal of the Father's love
in Jesus Christ which is the Holy Spirit. Let us never forget this,
because the Spirit of the Lord always remembers every individual,
and wishes, particularly through you young people, to stir up the
wind and fire of a new Pentecost in the world.
5. The Holy Spirit as "Teacher of the interior life"
My dear young friends, the Holy Spirit continues today to act with
power in the Church, and the fruits of the Spirit are abundant in
the measure in which we are ready to open up to this power that
makes all things new. For this reason it is important that each one
of us know the Spirit, establish a relationship with Him and allow
ourselves to be guided by Him. However, at this point a question
naturally arises: who is the Holy Spirit for me? It is a fact that
for many Christians He is still the "great unknown". This is why, as
we prepare for the next World Youth Day, I wanted to invite you to
come to know the Holy Spirit more deeply at a personal level. In our
profession of faith we proclaim: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the
Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son"
(Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed). Yes, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of the love of the Father and of the Son, is the Source of life that
makes us holy, "because God's love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).
Nevertheless, it is not enough to know the Spirit; we must welcome
Him as the guide of our souls, as the "Teacher of the interior life"
who introduces us to the Mystery of the Trinity, because He alone
can open us up to faith and allow us to live it each day to the
full. The Spirit impels us forward towards others, enkindles in us
the fire of love, makes us missionaries of God's charity.
I know very well that you young people hold in your hearts great
appreciation and love for Jesus, and that you desire to meet Him and
speak with Him. Indeed, remember that it is precisely the presence
of the Spirit within us that confirms, constitutes and builds our
person on the very Person of Jesus crucified and risen. So let us
become familiar with the Holy Spirit in order to be familiar with
Jesus.
6. The Sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist
You might ask, how can we allow ourselves to be renewed by the Holy
Spirit and to grow in our spiritual lives? The answer, as you know,
is this: we can do so by means of the Sacraments, because faith is
born and is strengthened within us through the Sacraments,
particularly those of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation
and the Eucharist, which are complementary and inseparable (cf. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1285). This truth concerning the
three Sacraments that initiate our lives as Christians is perhaps
neglected in the faith life of many Christians. They view them as
events that took place in the past and have no real significance for
today, like roots that lack life-giving nourishment. It happens that
many young people distance themselves from their life of faith after
they have received Confirmation. There are also young people who
have not even received this sacrament. Yet it is through the
sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and then, in an ongoing way, the
Eucharist, that the Holy Spirit makes us children of the Father,
brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of his Church, capable of a
true witness to the Gospel, and able to savour the joy of faith.
I therefore invite you to reflect on what I am writing to you.
Nowadays it is particularly necessary to rediscover the sacrament of
Confirmation and its important place in our spiritual growth. Those
who have received the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation should
remember that they have become "temples of the Spirit": God lives
within them. Always be aware of this and strive to allow the
treasure within you to bring forth fruits of holiness. Those who are
baptized but have not yet received the sacrament of Confirmation,
prepare to receive it knowing that in this way you will become
"complete" Christians, since Confirmation perfects baptismal grace
(cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1302-1304).
Confirmation gives us special strength to witness to and glorify God
with our whole lives (cf. Romans 12:1). It makes us intimately aware
of our belonging to the Church, the "Body of Christ", of which we
are all living members, in solidarity with one another (cf. 1
Corinthians 12:12-25). By allowing themselves to be guided by the
Spirit, each baptized person can bring his or her own contribution
to the building up of the Church because of the charisms given by
the Spirit, for "to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7). When the Spirit acts, he
brings his fruits to the soul, namely "love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"
(Galatians 5:22). To those of you who have not yet received the
sacrament of Confirmation, I extend a cordial invitation to prepare
to receive it, and to seek help from your priests. It is a special
occasion of grace that the Lord is offering you. Do not miss this
opportunity!
I would like to add a word about the Eucharist. In order to grow in
our Christian life, we need to be nourished by the Body and Blood of
Christ. In fact, we are baptized and confirmed with a view to the
Eucharist (cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1322; "Sacramentum
Caritatis," 17). "Source and summit" of the Church's life, the
Eucharist is a "perpetual Pentecost" since every time we celebrate
Mass we receive the Holy Spirit who unites us more deeply with
Christ and transforms us into Him. My dear young friends, if you
take part frequently in the eucharistic celebration, if you dedicate
some of your time to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Source
of love which is the Eucharist, you will acquire that joyful
determination to dedicate your lives to following the Gospel. At the
same time it will be your experience that whenever our strength is
not enough, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms us, filling us with
his strength and making us witnesses suffused by the missionary
fervour of the risen Christ.
7. The need and urgency of mission
Many young people view their lives with apprehension and raise many
questions about their future. They anxiously ask: How can we fit
into a world marked by so many grave injustices and so much
suffering? How should we react to the selfishness and violence that
sometimes seem to prevail? How can we give full meaning to life? How
can we help to bring it about that the fruits of the Spirit
mentioned above, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (No. 6), can fill this
scarred and fragile world, the world of young people most of all? On
what conditions can the life-giving Spirit of the first creation and
particularly of the second creation or redemption become the new
soul of humanity? Let us not forget that the greater the gift of God
-- and the gift of the Spirit of Jesus is the greatest of all -- so
much the greater is the world's need to receive it and therefore the
greater and the more exciting is the Church's mission to bear
credible witness to it. You young people, through World Youth Day,
are in a way manifesting your desire to participate in this mission.
In this regard, my dear young friends, I want to remind you here of
some key truths on which to meditate. Once again I repeat that only
Christ can fulfil the most intimate aspirations that are in the
heart of each person. Only Christ can humanize humanity and lead it
to its "divinization". Through the power of his Spirit he instils
divine charity within us, and this makes us capable of loving our
neighbour and ready to be of service. The Holy Spirit enlightens us,
revealing Christ crucified and risen, and shows us how to become
more like Him so that we can be "the image and instrument of the
love which flows from Christ" ("Deus Caritas Est," 33). Those who
allow themselves to be led by the Spirit understand that placing
oneself at the service of the Gospel is not an optional extra,
because they are aware of the urgency of transmitting this Good News
to others. Nevertheless, we need to be reminded again that we can be
witnesses of Christ only if we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy
Spirit who is "the principal agent of evangelization" (cf. "Evangelii
Nuntiandi," 75) and "the principal agent of mission" (cf. "Redemptoris
Missio," 21). My dear young friends, as my venerable predecessors
Paul VI and John Paul II said on several occasions, to proclaim the
Gospel and bear witness to the faith is more necessary than ever
today (cf. "Redemptoris Missio," 1). There are those who think that
to present the precious treasure of faith to people who do not share
it means being intolerant towards them, but this is not the case,
because to present Christ is not to impose Him (cf. "Evangelii
Nuntiandi," 80). Moreover, two thousand years ago twelve Apostles
gave their lives to make Christ known and loved. Throughout the
centuries since then, the Gospel has continued to spread by means of
men and women inspired by that same missionary fervour. Today too
there is a need for disciples of Christ who give unstintingly of
their time and energy to serve the Gospel. There is a need for young
people who will allow God's love to burn within them and who will
respond generously to his urgent call, just as many young blesseds
and saints did in the past and also in more recent times. In
particular, I assure you that the Spirit of Jesus today is inviting
you young people to be bearers of the good news of Jesus to your
contemporaries. The difficulty that adults undoubtedly find in
approaching the sphere of youth in a comprehensible and convincing
way could be a sign with which the Spirit is urging you young people
to take this task upon yourselves. You know the ideals, the
language, and also the wounds, the expectations, and at the same
time the desire for goodness felt by your contemporaries. This opens
up the vast world of young people's emotions, work, education,
expectations, and suffering ... Each one of you must have the
courage to promise the Holy Spirit that you will bring one young
person to Jesus Christ in the way you consider best, knowing how to
"give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your
hope, but [to] do it with gentleness and reverence" (cf. 1 Peter
3:15).
In order to achieve this goal, my dear friends, you must be holy and
you must be missionaries since we can never separate holiness from
mission (cf. "Redemptoris Missio," 90). Do not be afraid to become
holy missionaries like Saint Francis Xavier who travelled through
the Far East proclaiming the Good News until every ounce of his
strength was used up, or like Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus who
was a missionary even though she never left the Carmelite convent.
Both of these are "Patrons of the Missions". Be prepared to put your
life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of
Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to
proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth.
8. Invoking a "new Pentecost" upon the world
My dear young friends, I hope to see very many of you in Sydney in
July 2008. It will be a providential opportunity to experience the
fullness of the Holy Spirit's power. Come in great numbers in order
to be a sign of hope and to give appreciative support to the Church
community in Australia that is preparing to welcome you. For the
young people of the country that will host you, it will be an
exceptional opportunity to proclaim the beauty and joy of the Gospel
to a society that is secularized in so many ways. Australia, like
all of Oceania, needs to rediscover its Christian roots. In the
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania, Pope John
Paul II wrote: "Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church in
Oceania is preparing for a new evangelization of peoples who today
are hungering for Christ... A new evangelization is the first
priority for the Church in Oceania" (No. 18).
I invite you to give time to prayer and to your spiritual formation
during this last stage of the journey leading to the XXIII World
Youth Day, so that in Sydney you will be able to renew the promises
made at your Baptism and Confirmation. Together we shall invoke the
Holy Spirit, confidently asking God for the gift of a new Pentecost
for the Church and for humanity in the third millennium.
May Mary, united in prayer with the Apostles in the Upper Room,
accompany you throughout these months and obtain for all young
Christians a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit to set their hearts
on fire. Remember: the Church has confidence in you! We Pastors,
especially, pray that you may love and lead others to love Jesus
more and more and that you may follow Him faithfully. With these
sentiments I bless you all with deep affection.
From Lorenzago, 20 July 2007
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
