Source | 7/25/2007 | Catholic Online
VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – Young people are being called to be missionaries burning with the love of God to proclaim the good news of Jesus to their contemporaries in an increasingly secularized world, said Pope Benedict XVI in his message for World Youth Day 2008.
In a message released in English July 24 “to the young people of the world” in anticipation of the XXIII World Youth Day, Pope Benedict urged “my dear young friends” to prepare over the next year to welcome the Holy Spirit into their lives “as the guide of our souls, as the teacher of the interior life who introduces us to the mystery of the trinity.”
Pope Benedict will be present for the July 15-20 international celebration of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia, which will focus on the theme of the Holy Sprit and mission.
Acknowledging the many questions about the future asked and the apprehension felt by youths, he urged them to see that “placing oneself at the service of the gospel is not an optional extra.”
The pope said that young people must pick up the burden “of the urgency of transmitting this good news” to other youths to whom adults have not been able to reach.
“The spirit of Jesus today is inviting you young people to be bearers of the good news of Jesus to your contemporaries,” the pope said. “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,” he added, “the ideals, the language, and also the wounds, the expectations, and at the same time the desire for goodness felt by your contemporaries.”
The pope stressed that presenting Christ to those who don’t know him is not to be “intolerant towards them” or “to impose him” on others.
“Throughout the centuries,” he said, “the gospel has continued to spread by means of men and women inspired” by a missionary fervor.
“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,” Pope Benedict said.
The call to mission, he reminded the young people, is directly connected to the call to holiness. “You must be holy and you must be missionaries since we can never separate holiness from mission,” he said. “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.”
He urged them to “explore during this year of preparation” their depth of faith in the Holy Spirit.
“Rediscover it if it is lost, strengthen it if it has become weak, savor it,” Pope Benedict said. “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.”
Noting that the Holy Spirit “renewed the Apostles from within, filling them with a power that would give them courage to go out and boldly proclaim,” the pope stressed that “missionary fruitfulness” is not founded on “programs and pastoral methods that are cleverly drawn up and efficient.”
It is the result of “the community’s constant prayer,” he said. “For the mission to be effective, communities must be united, that is, they must be of one heart and soul, and they must be ready to witness to the love and joy that the Holy Spirit instills in the hearts of the faithful.”
“We carry within us the seal of the father’s love in Jesus Christ which is the Holy Spirit,” the pope told young people. “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.”
“Together,” the pope said, “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.”
