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Dear
Young People!
1.
I have vivid memories of the wonderful moments we shared in
Rome during the Jubilee of the Year 2000, when you came on
pilgrimage to the Tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. In
long silent lines you passed through the Holy Door and
prepared to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation; then
the Evening Vigil and Morning Mass at Tor Vergata were
moments of intense spirituality and a deep experience of the
Church; with renewed faith, you went home to undertake the
mission I entrusted to you: to become, at the dawn of the
new millennium, fearless witnesses to the Gospel.
By now World Youth Day has become an important part
of your life and of the life of the Church. I invite you
therefore to get ready for the seventeenth celebration of
this great international event, to be held in Toronto,
Canada, in the summer of next year. It
will be another chance to meet Christ, to bear witness to
his presence in today’s society, and to become builders of
the "civilization of love and truth".
2.
"You
are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the
world" (Mt
5:13-14): this is the theme I have chosen for the next World
Youth Day. The images of salt and light used by Jesus are
rich in meaning and complement each other. In ancient times,
salt and light were seen as essential elements of life.
"You
are the salt of the earth...".
One of the main functions of salt is to season food, to give
it taste and flavour. This image reminds us that, through
Baptism, our whole being has been profoundly changed,
because it has been "seasoned" with the new life
which comes from Christ (cf. Rom 6:4). The salt which
keeps our Christian identity intact even in a very
secularized world is the grace of Baptism. Through Baptism
we are re-born. We begin to live in Christ and become
capable of responding to his call to "offer [our]
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God"
(Rom 12:1). Writing to the Christians of Rome, Saint Paul
urges them to show clearly that their way of living and
thinking was different from that of their contemporaries:
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is
the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect"
(Rom 12:2).
For a long time, salt was also used to preserve food. As
the salt of the earth, you are called to preserve the faith
which you have received and to pass it on intact to others.
Your generation is being challenged in a special way to keep
safe the deposit of faith (cf. 2 Th 2:15; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim
1:14).
Discover your Christian roots, learn about the Church’s
history, deepen your knowledge of the spiritual heritage
which has been passed on to you, follow in the footsteps of
the witnesses and teachers who have gone before you! Only by
staying faithful to God’s commandments, to the Covenant
which Christ sealed with his blood poured out on the Cross,
will you be the apostles and witnesses of the new millennium.
It
is the nature of human beings, and especially youth, to seek
the Absolute, the meaning and fullness of life. Dear
young people, do not be content with anything less than the
highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those
who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the
deepest and most authentic desires of their heart. You are
right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and
passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life. If
you have an ardent desire for the Lord you will steer clear
of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our
society.
3.
"You are the light of the world...".
For those who
first heard Jesus, as for us, the symbol of light evokes the
desire for truth and the thirst for the fullness of
knowledge which are imprinted deep within every human being.
When the light fades or vanishes altogether, we no longer
see things as they really are. In the heart of the night we
can feel frightened and insecure, and we impatiently await
the coming of the light of dawn.
Dear young people, it is up
to you to be the watchmen of the morning
(cf. Is 21:11-12)
who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ!
The light which Jesus speaks of in the Gospel is the light
of faith, God’s free gift, which enlightens the heart and
clarifies the mind. "It is the God who said, ‘Let
light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God on
the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). That is why the words
of Jesus explaining his identity and his mission are so
important: "I am the light of the world; whoever
follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the
light of life" (Jn 8:12).
Our personal encounter with Christ bathes life in new light,
sets us on the right path, and sends us out to be his
witnesses. This new way of looking at the world and at
people, which comes to us from him, leads us more deeply
into the mystery of faith, which is not just a collection of
theoretical assertions to be accepted and approved by the
mind, but an experience to be had, a truth to be lived, the
salt and light of all reality (cf. Veritatis Splendor, 88).
In this secularized age, when many of our contemporaries
think and act as if God did not exist or are attracted to
irrational forms of religion, it is you, dear young people,
who must show that faith is a personal decision which
involves your whole life. Let the Gospel be the measure and
guide of life’s decisions and plans! Then you will be
missionaries in all that you do and say, and wherever you
work and live you will be signs of God’s love, credible
witnesses to the loving presence of Jesus Christ. Never
forget: "No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a
bushel" (Mt 5:15)!
Just as salt gives flavour to food and light illumines the
darkness, so too holiness gives full meaning to life and
makes it reflect God’s glory. How many saints, especially
young saints, can we count in the Church’s history! In
their love for God their heroic virtues shone before the
world, and so they became models of life which the Church
has held up for imitation by all. Let us remember only a few
of them: Agnes of Rome, Andrew of Phú Yên, Pedro Calungsod,
Josephine Bakhita, Thérèse of Lisieux, Pier Giorgio
Frassati, Marcel Callo, Francisco Castelló Aleu or again
Kateri Tekakwitha, the young Iroquois called "the Lily
of the Mohawks". Through the intercession of this great
host of witnesses, may God make you too, dear young people,
the saints of the third millennium!
4.
Dear friends, it is time to get ready for the Seventeenth
World Youth Day. I invite you to read and study the
Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, which I wrote at
the beginning of the year to accompany all Christians on
this new stage of the life of the Church and humanity:
"A new century, a new millennium are opening in the
light of Christ. But not everyone can see this light. Ours
is the wonderful and demanding task of becoming its ‘reflection’"
(No. 54).
Yes, now is the time for mission! In your Dioceses and
parishes, in your movements, associations and communities,
Christ is calling you. The Church welcomes you and wishes to
be your home and your school of communion and prayer. Study
the Word of God and let it enlighten your minds and hearts.
Draw strength from the sacramental grace of Reconciliation
and the Eucharist. Visit the Lord in that "heart to
heart" contact that is Eucharistic Adoration. Day after
day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring
comfort to the suffering and peace to the world. Many people
are wounded by life: they are excluded from economic
progress, and are without a home, a family, a job; there are
people who are lost in a world of false illusions, or have
abandoned all hope. By contemplating the light radiant on
the face of the Risen Christ, you will learn to live as
"children of the light and children of the day" (1
Th 5:5), and in this way you will show that "the fruit
of light is found in all that is good and right and true"
(Eph 5:9).
5.
Dear young friends, Toronto is waiting for all of you who
can make it! In the heart of a multi-cultural and
multi-faith city, we shall speak of Christ as the one
Saviour and proclaim the universal salvation of which the
Church is the sacrament. In response to the pressing
invitation of the Lord who ardently desires "that all
may be one" (Jn 17:11), we shall pray for full
communion among Christians in truth and charity.
Come, and make the great avenues of Toronto resound with the
joyful tidings that Christ loves every person and brings to
fulfilment every trace of goodness, beauty and truth found
in the city of man.
Come, and tell the world of the
happiness you have found in meeting Jesus Christ, of your
desire to know him better, of how you are committed to
proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth!
The young people of Canada, together with their Bishops and
the civil authorities, are already preparing to welcome you
with great warmth and hospitality. For this I thank them all
from my heart. May this first World Youth Day of the new
millennium bring to everyone a message of faith, hope and
love!
My blessing goes with you. And to Mary Mother of the Church
I entrust each one of you, your vocation and your mission.
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