November 16, 2012
(Romereports.com) (-ONLY VIDEO-) The Pope wrote a letter, addressed to all the youths who are planning on going to World Youth Day in Rio the coming month of July. He explains the significance of the theme, which is “Go and Make Disciples of All Nations.”
In
his letter, the Pope says that God loves all people, even those who are
far from Him, whether geographically, or because their culture gives no
place to God.
To prevent religious illiteracy, the Pope invites these young people to
re-read their own history and to understand their heritage. He goes on
to explain that many believers courageously transmitted their faith to other generations, despite the challenges of their own time.
When it comes to technology, the Pope encouraged them to speak about God on the internet and also as they travel, whether for study, work of fun.
READ POPE'S MESSAGE:
Pope Benedict XVI's message to young people
“Go and make disciples of all nations!” (cf. Mt 28:19)
Dear young friends,
I
greet all of you with great joy and affection. I am sure that many of
you returned from World Youth Day in Madrid all the more “planted and
built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). This year in
our Dioceses we celebrated the joy of being Christians, taking as our
theme: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). And now we are preparing
for the next World Youth Day, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in July 2013.
Before all else, I invite you once more to
take part in this important event. The celebrated statue of Christ the
Redeemer overlooking that beautiful Brazilian city will be an eloquent
symbol for us. Christ’s open arms are a sign of his willingness to
embrace all those who come to him, and his heart represents his immense
love for everyone and for each of you. Let yourselves be drawn to
Christ! Experience this encounter along with all the other young people
who will converge on Rio for the next World Youth Day! Accept Christ’s
love and you will be the witnesses so needed by our world.
I invite
you to prepare for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro by meditating even
now on the theme of the meeting: “Go and make disciples of all nations!”
(cf. Mt 28:19). This is the great missionary mandate that Christ gave
the whole Church, and today, two thousand years later, it remains as
urgent as ever. This mandate should resound powerfully in your hearts.
The year of preparation for the gathering in Rio coincides with the Year
of Faith, which began with the Synod of Bishops devoted to “The New
Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. I am happy
that you too, dear young people, are involved in this missionary
outreach on the part of the whole Church. To make Christ known is the
most precious gift that you can give to others.
1.A pressing call
History
shows how many young people, by their generous gift of self, made a
great contribution to the Kingdom of God and the development of this
world by proclaiming the Gospel. Filled with enthusiasm, they brought
the Good News of God’s Love made manifest in Christ; they used the means
and possibilities then available, which were far inferior to those we
have today. One example which comes to mind is Blessed José de Anchieta.
He was a young Spanish Jesuit of the sixteenth century who went as a
missionary to Brazil before he was twenty years old and became a great
apostle of the New World. But I also think of those among yourselves who
are generously devoted to the Church’s mission. I saw a wonderful
testimony of this at World Youth Day in Madrid, particularly at the
meeting with volunteers.
Many young people today seriously
question whether life is something good, and have a hard time finding
their way. More generally, however, young people look at the
difficulties of our world and ask themselves: is there anything I can
do? The light of faith illumines this darkness. It helps us to
understand that every human life is priceless because each of us is the
fruit of God’s love. God loves everyone, even those who have fallen away
from him or disregard him. God waits patiently. Indeed, God gave his
Son to die and rise again in order to free us radically from evil.
Christ sent his disciples forth to bring this joyful message of
salvation and new life to all people everywhere.
The Church, in
continuing this mission of evangelization, is also counting on you. Dear
young people, you are the first missionaries among your contemporaries!
At the end of the Second Vatican Council – whose fiftieth anniversary
we are celebrating this year – the Servant of God Paul VI consigned a
message to the youth of the world. It began: “It is to you, young men
and women of the world, that the Council wishes to address its final
message. For it is you who are to receive the torch from the hands of
your elders and to live in the world at the period of the most massive
transformations ever realized in its history. It is you who, taking up
the best of the example and the teaching of your parents and your
teachers, will shape the society of tomorrow. You will either be saved
or perish with it”. It concluded with the words: “Build with enthusiasm a
better world than what we have today!” (Message to Young People, 8
December 1965).
Dear friends, this invitation remains timely. We
are passing through a very particular period of history. Technical
advances have given us unprecedented possibilities for interaction
between people and nations. But the globalization of these relationships
will be positive and help the world to grow in humanity only if it is
founded on love rather than on materialism. Love is the only thing that
can fill hearts and bring people together. God is love. When we forget
God, we lose hope and become unable to love others. That is why it is so
necessary to testify to God’s presence so that others can experience
it. The salvation of humanity depends on this, as well as the salvation
of each of us. Anyone who understands this can only exclaim with Saint
Paul: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).
2.
Become Christ’s disciplesThis missionary vocation comes to you for
another reason as well, and that is because it is necessary for our
personal journey in faith. Blessed John Paul II wrote that “faith is
strengthened when it is given to others!” (Redemptoris Missio, 2). When
you proclaim the Gospel, you yourselves grow as you become more deeply
rooted in Christ and mature as Christians. Missionary commitment is an
essential dimension of faith. We cannot be true believers if we do not
evangelize. The proclamation of the Gospel can only be the result of the
joy that comes from meeting Christ and finding in him the rock on which
our lives can be built. When you work to help others and proclaim the
Gospel to them, then your own lives, so often fragmented because of your
many activities, will find their unity in the Lord. You will also build
up your own selves, and you will grow and mature in humanity.
What
does it mean to be a missionary? Above all, it means being a disciple
of Christ. It means listening ever anew to the invitation to follow him
and look to him: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart”
(Mt 11:29). A disciple is a person attentive to Jesus’ word (cf. Lk
10:39), someone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Teacher who has loved
us so much that he gave his life for us. Each one of you, therefore,
should let yourself be shaped by God’s word every day. This will make
you friends of the Lord Jesus and enable you to lead other young people
to friendship with him.
I encourage you to think of the gifts you
have received from God so that you can pass them on to others in turn.
Learn to reread your personal history. Be conscious of the wonderful
legacy passed down to you from previous generations. So many
faith-filled people have been courageous in handing down the faith in
the face of trials and incomprehension. Let us never forget that we are
links in a great chain of men and women who have transmitted the truth
of the faith and who depend on us to pass it on to others. Being a
missionary presupposes knowledge of this legacy, which is the faith of
the Church. It is necessary to know what you believe in, so that you can
proclaim it. As I wrote in the introduction to the YouCat, the
catechism for young people that I gave you at World Youth Day in Madrid,
“you need to know your faith with that same precision with which an IT
specialist knows the inner workings of a computer. You need to
understand it like a good musician knows the piece he is playing. Yes,
you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of
your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of
this time with strength and determination” (Foreward).
3.Go forth!
Jesus
sent his disciples forth on mission with this command: “Go into all the
world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who
believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:15-16). To evangelize
means to bring the Good News of salvation to others and to let them know
that this Good News is a person: Jesus Christ. When I meet him, when I
discover how much I am loved by God and saved by God, I begin to feel
not only the desire, but also the need to make God known to others. At
the beginning of John’s Gospel we see how Andrew, immediately after he
met Jesus, ran off to fetch his brother Simon (cf. 1:40-42).
Evangelization always begins with an encounter with the Lord Jesus.
Those who come to Jesus and have experienced his love, immediately want
to share the beauty of the meeting and the joy born of his friendship.
The more we know Christ, the more we want to talk about him. The more we
speak with Christ, the more we want to speak about him. The more we are
won over by Christ, the more we want to draw others to him.
Through
Baptism, which brings us to new life, the Holy Spirit abides in us and
inflames our minds and hearts. The Spirit shows us how to know God and
to enter into ever deeper friendship with Christ. It is the Spirit who
encourages us to do good, to serve others and to give of ourselves.
Through Confirmation we are strengthened by the gifts of the Spirit so
that we can bear witness to the Gospel in an increasingly mature way. It
is the Spirit of love, therefore, who is the driving force behind our
mission. The Spirit impels us to go out from ourselves and to “go forth”
to evangelize. Dear young people, allow yourselves to be led on by the
power of God’s love. Let that love overcome the tendency to remain
enclosed in your own world with your own problems and your own habits.
Have the courage to “go out” from yourselves in order to “go forth”
towards others and to show them the way to an encounter with God.
4. Gather all nations
The
risen Christ sent his disciples forth to bear witness to his saving
presence before all the nations, because God in his superabundant love
wants everyone to be saved and no one to be lost. By his loving
sacrifice on the cross, Jesus opened up the way for every man and woman
to come to know God and enter into a communion of love with him. He
formed a community of disciples to bring the saving message of the
Gospel to the ends of the earth and to reach men and women in every time
and place. Let us make God’s desire our own!
Dear friends, open
your eyes and look around you. So many young people no longer see any
meaning in their lives. Go forth! Christ needs you too. Let yourselves
be caught up and drawn along by his love. Be at the service of this
immense love, so it can reach out to everyone, especially to those “far
away”. Some people are far away geographically, but others are far away
because their way of life has no place for God. Some people have not yet
personally received the Gospel, while others have been given it, but
live as if God did not exist. Let us open our hearts to everyone. Let us
enter into conversation in simplicity and respect. If this conversation
is held in true friendship, it will bear fruit. The “nations” that we
are invited to reach out to are not only other countries in the world.
They are also the different areas of our lives, such as our families,
communities, places of study and work, groups of friends and places
where we spend our free time. The joyful proclamation of the Gospel is
meant for all the areas of our lives, without exception.
I would
like to emphasize two areas where your missionary commitment is all the
more necessary. Dear young people, the first is the field of social
communications, particularly the world of the internet. As I mentioned
to you on another occasion: “I ask you to introduce into the culture of
this new environment of communications and information technology the
values on which you have built your lives. [...] It falls, in
particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for
the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the
evangelization of this ‘digital continent’” (Message for the 43rd World
Communications Day, 24 May 2009). Learn how to use these media wisely.
Be aware of the hidden dangers they contain, especially the risk of
addiction, of confusing the real world with the virtual, and of
replacing direct and personal encounters and dialogue with internet
contacts.
The second area is that of travel and migration.
Nowadays more and more young people travel, sometimes for their studies
or work, and at other times for pleasure. I am also thinking of the
movements of migration which involve millions of people, very often
young, who go to other regions or countries for financial or social
reasons. Here too we can find providential opportunities for sharing the
Gospel. Dear young people, do not be afraid to witness to your faith in
these settings. It is a precious gift for those you meet when you
communicate the joy of an encounter with Christ.
5. Make disciples!
I
imagine that you have at times found it difficult to invite your
contemporaries to an experience of faith. You have seen how many young
people, especially at certain points in their life journey, desire to
know Christ and to live the values of the Gospel, but also feel
inadequate and incapable. What can we do? First, your closeness and your
witness will themselves be a way in which God can touch their hearts.
Proclaiming Christ is not only a matter of words, but something which
involves one’s whole life and translates into signs of love. It is the
love that Christ has poured into our hearts which makes us evangelizers.
Consequently, our love must become more and more like Christ’s own
love. We should always be prepared, like the Good Samaritan, to be
attentive to those we meet, to listen, to be understanding and to help.
In this way we can lead those who are searching for the truth and for
meaning in life to God’s house, the Church, where hope and salvation
abide (cf. Lk 10:29-37).
Dear friends, never forget that the
first act of love that you can do for others is to share the source of
our hope. If we do not give them God, we give them too little! Jesus
commanded his Apostles: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt
28:19-20). The main way that we have to “make disciples” is through
Baptism and catechesis. This means leading the people we are
evangelizing to encounter the living Christ above all in his word and in
the sacraments. In this way they can believe in him, they can come to
know God and to live in his grace. I would like each of you to ask
yourself: Have I ever had the courage to propose Baptism to young people
who have not received it? Have I ever invited anyone to embark on a
journey of discovery of the Christian faith? Dear friends, do not be
afraid to suggest an encounter with Christ to people of your own age.
Ask the Holy Spirit for help. The Spirit will show you the way to know
and love Christ even more fully, and to be creative in spreading the
Gospel.
6. Firm in the faith
When faced with difficulties in
the mission of evangelizing, perhaps you will be tempted to say, like
the prophet Jeremiah: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak,
for I am only a youth”. But God will say to you too: “Do not say, ‘I am
only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you you shall go” (Jer 1:6-7).
Whenever you feel inadequate, incapable and weak in proclaiming and
witnessing to the faith, do not be afraid. Evangelization is not our
initiative, and it does not depend on our talents. It is a faithful and
obedient response to God’s call and so it is not based on our power but
on God’s. Saint Paul knew this from experience: “But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs
to God and not to us” (2 Cor 4:7).
For this reason, I encourage
you to make prayer and the sacraments your foundation. Authentic
evangelization is born of prayer and sustained by prayer. We must first
speak with God in order to be able to speak about God. In prayer, we
entrust to the Lord the people to whom we have been sent, asking him to
touch their hearts. We ask the Holy Spirit to make us his instruments
for their salvation. We ask Christ to put his words on our lips and to
make us signs of his love. In a more general way, we pray for the
mission of the whole Church, as Jesus explicitly asked us: “Pray
therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his
harvest” (Mt 9:38). Find in the Eucharist the wellspring of your life of
faith and Christian witness, regularly attending Mass each Sunday and
whenever you can during the week. Approach the sacrament of
Reconciliation frequently.
It is a very special encounter with
God’s mercy in which he welcomes us, forgives us and renews our hearts
in charity. Make an effort to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation if
you have not already done so, and prepare yourselves for it with care
and commitment. Confirmation is, like the Eucharist, a sacrament of
mission, for it gives us the strength and love of the Holy Spirit to
profess fearlessly our faith. I also encourage you to practise
Eucharistic adoration. Time spent in listening and talking with Jesus
present in the Blessed Sacrament becomes a source of new missionary
enthusiasm.
If you follow this path, Christ himself will give you the
ability to be completely faithful to his word and to bear faithful and
courageous witness to him. At times you will be called to give proof of
your perseverance, particularly when the word of God is met with
rejection or opposition. In certain areas of the world, some of you
suffer from the fact that you cannot bear public witness to your faith
in Christ due to the lack of religious freedom. Some have already paid
with their lives the price of belonging to the Church. I ask you to
remain firm in the faith, confident that Christ is at your side in every
trial. To you too he says: “Blessed are you when people revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Mt 5:11-12).
7. With the whole Church
Dear
young people, if you are to remain firm in professing the Christian
faith wherever you are sent, you need the Church. No one can bear
witness to the Gospel alone. Jesus sent forth his disciples on mission
together. He spoke to them in the plural when he said: “Make disciples”.
Our witness is always given as members of the Christian community, and
our mission is made fruitful by the communion lived in the Church. It is
by our unity and love for one another that others will recognize us as
Christ’s disciples (cf. Jn 13:35). I thank God for the wonderful work of
evangelization being carried out by our Christian communities, our
parishes and our ecclesial movements. The fruits of this evangelization
belong to the whole Church. As Jesus said: “One sows and another reaps”
(Jn 4:37).
Here I cannot fail to express my gratitude for the
great gift of missionaries, who devote themselves completely to
proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I also thank the Lord
for priests and consecrated persons, who give themselves totally so that
Jesus Christ will be proclaimed and loved. Here I would like to
encourage young people who are called by God to commit themselves with
enthusiasm to these vocations: “It is more blessed to give than to
receive” (Acts 20:35). To those who leave everything to follow him,
Jesus promised a hundredfold as much and eternal life besides (cf. Mt
19:29).
I also give thanks for all those lay men and women who do
their best to live their daily lives as mission wherever they find
themselves, at home or at work, so that Christ will be loved and served
and that the Kingdom of God will grow. I think especially of all those
who work in the fields of education, health care, business, politics and
finance, and in the many other areas of the lay apostolate. Christ
needs your commitment and your witness. Let nothing – whether
difficulties or lack of understanding – discourage you from bringing the
Gospel of Christ wherever you find yourselves. Each of you is a
precious piece in the great mosaic of evangelization!
8. “Here I am, Lord!”
Finally,
dear young people, I would ask all of you to hear, in the depths of
your heart, Jesus’ call to proclaim his Gospel. As the great statue of
Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro shows, his heart is open with love
for each and every person, and his arms are open wide to reach out to
everyone. Be yourselves the heart and arms of Jesus! Go forth and bear
witness to his love! Be a new generation of missionaries, impelled by
love and openness to all! Follow the example of the Church’s great
missionaries like Saint Francis Xavier and so many others.
At
the conclusion of World Youth Day in Madrid, I blessed a number of young
people from the different continents who were going forth on mission.
They represented all those young people who, echoing the words of the
prophet Isaiah, have said to the Lord: “Here I am. Send me!” (Is 6:8).
The Church has confidence in you and she thanks you for the joy and
energy that you contribute. Generously put your talents to use in the
service of the proclamation of the Gospel! We know that the Holy Spirit
is granted to those who open their hearts to this proclamation. And do
not be afraid: Jesus, the Saviour of the world, is with us every day
until the end of time (cf. Mt 28:20).
This call, which I make to
the youth of the whole world, has a particular resonance for you, dear
young people of Latin America! During the Fifth General Conference of
the Latin American Bishops, in Aparecida in 2007, the Bishops launched a
“continental mission”. Young people form a majority of the population
in South America and they are an important and precious resource for the
Church and society. Be in the first line of missionaries! Now that
World Youth Day is coming back to Latin America, I ask you, the young
people on the continent, to transmit the enthusiasm of your faith to
your contemporaries from all over the world!
May Our Lady, Star
of the New Evangelization, whom we also invoke under the titles of Our
Lady of Aparecida and Our Lady of Guadalupe, accompany each of you in
your mission as a witness to God’s love. To all of you, with particular
affection, I impart my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 18 October 2012
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