Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34)” (Jn 13,34) is the Gospel verse Pope Benedict XVI chose as the theme for the Message for World Youth Day 2007, which will be celebrated all over the world at the diocesan level on April 1st Palm Sunday.
The Pope begins his message with the affirmation “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”. He explains that the purpose of his message is to help young people “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”. Tracing a brief itinerary to "discover" of love, the message starts from the affirmation that the only source of true love is God. “God is Love” (1 Jn 4,8.16) “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:”. 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… The manifestation of divine love is total and perfect in the Cross … 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.”. 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 realise 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… 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).).”
The Holy Father identifies 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 “made up of all the disciples of Christ”. Pope Benedict XVI writes to the young people: “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.... 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.” The second area is preparation for the future which awaits them. “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… 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 practise 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… 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.”.
The third area is daily life and all the multiple relationships in the family, studies, work, and free time, the Pope writes and advises “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… 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
The Pope ends his message asking young people to “dare to love” because “love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity” as it is seen from the live of the Saints, Mother Teresa for example, “a humble witness of divine love”. “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 instils in us the courage to accomplish that which is humanly inconceivable” the Pope writes recalling the necessity of contact with the Lord in personal prayer, in the Eucharist, the great school of love and concludes. “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!".” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 6/2/2007, righe 58, parole 865)
