Graduates Need to Hear These Words...From The Pope!

The Pope's Recent Words on Ancestors and to Our Youth. Excerpts from the Vatican Information Service on the Holy Father's activities....

DEVELOPING THE LEGACY OF FAITH LEFT BY OUR ANCESTORS

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUN 2011 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI travelled by helicopter from the Vatican to the Republic of San Marino where, at 10 a.m., he presided at Mass in the Serravalle Stadium.

...Turning to address the faithful, the Pope said: "You are called to carry this precious legacy forward at one of the most decisive moments of history", in the face of "profound and rapid cultural, social, economic and political transformations which have opened new horizons and altered mentalities, customs and sensibilities". ( We live in exciting times, where God has placed us. We have our cross to carry to follow Him.)

"An insidious temptation has led to the belief that man's richness lies not in faith but in his personal and social power, his intelligence, his culture and his ability to manipulate reality scientifically, technologically and socially. Thus, even in these lands, faith and Christian values are beginning to be substituted with a supposed wealth which, in the final analysis, shows itself to be inconsistent and incapable of bearing the weight of that great promise of truth, goodness and beauty which for centuries your forebears identified with the experience of the faith". ( Many do not worship a God other than themselves,the God of their "intellect" and yet there are countless minds, so brilliant, over many centuries, that conquered their pride and accepted and followed the wisdom of the teachings of the Catholic Faith.)

..."I exhort all the faithful to be a leaven in the world", the Pope concluded. "... show yourselves to be Christians, present, active and coherent. May priests and religious always live in cordial and effective ecclesial communion, helping and listening to their diocesan pastor. I appeal to families and young people to open their hearts and respond readily to the Lord's call. We will never repent of having been generous with God! I ask you lay men and women to commit yourselves actively in the community so that, alongside your specific civic, political, social and cultural tasks, you may find time for the life of faith, the pastoral life".

PV-SAN MARINO/ VIS 20110620 (700)

ONLY CHRIST HAS THE FUNDAMENTAL RESPONSES TO LIFE

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUN 2011 (VIS) - At 6.45 p.m. today the Pope arrived by helicopter at the sports ground in the Italian town of Pennabilli. ...Referring to the Gospel episode in which a rich young man asks "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?", the Pope said: "Perhaps we would not speak like this today, but the precise meaning of the question is this: what must I do, how must I live in order to live truly, in order to find life?"


"It is precisely by looking into ourselves with truth, sincerity and courage that we gain some intuition of the beauty of life, but also of its precariousness, and we feel a sense of dissatisfaction and disquiet which nothing tangible can fill", he said.


Benedict XVI invited his youthful audience not to be afraid to "ask yourselves the fundamental questions about the meaning and value of life. Do not be content with partial and immediate responses, which are certainly easier and more comfortable in the short term, which can give a moment or two of happiness and exaltation but which cannot bring you to the true joy of living, the joy that comes to those who build - as Jesus says - not upon sand but upon solid rock. Learn, then, to reflect upon and to read your human experience, not superficially but in depth. With wonder and joy you will discover that your heart is a window open to infinity!" ( How many of us really think about what's next? Where are the deep thinkers who go beyond the day, beyond this reality to think about last things...our eventual death?)


"Even in the era of scientific and technological progress (which has given us so much) man still desires more, he desires more than just comfort and wellbeing. He remains open to the entire truth of his existence, which cannot be limited to material things but is open to a much broader horizon".


The Holy Father warned young people against the risk "of becoming imprisoned in the material world, in the immediate, the relative, the useful; of losing sensibility towards things that concern our spiritual dimension. This does not mean despising the use of reason or rejecting scientific progress; quite the contrary, it means understanding that each of us has not only a 'horizontal' but also a 'vertical' dimension. Science and technology cannot replace the world of life, our horizons of meaning and freedom, the richness of relationships of friendship and of love".


"In Christ you can find the answers to the questions that accompany your journey, not in a superficial or facile way but walking and living with Jesus. The meeting with Christ is not limited to embracing a doctrine or a philosophy; what He proposes is sharing His very life and thus learning to live, learning who man is, who I am".


The Pope encouraged the young people "not to be afraid to face difficult situations, moments of crisis or the trials of life, because the Lord accompanies you, He is with you. I encourage you to grow in friendship with Him through frequent reading of the Gospel and of all Sacred Scripture, faithful participation in the Eucharist as a personal meeting with Christ, committed efforts within the ecclesial community, and following a good spiritual guide".


"Allow the mystery of Christ to illuminate your entire being! Then will you be able to bring others to this novelty which can change relations, institutions and structures, and so build a more just and united world animated by the search for the common good". (Change the world. Share these words with your graduates. They probably didn't hear this at their addresses. Our Holy Father's words inspire us to be all that we were meant to be.)