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“You are the
salt of the earth...
You are the light of the world”
(Mt 5:13-14)
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 the next. 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 that comes from
Christ (cf. Rom 6:4). The salt that 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 is 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 that 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 that
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 Phu Yen, Pedro Calungsod, Josephine
Bakhita, Therese of Lisieux, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Marcel Callo,
Francisco Castellĩ 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.
From Castel
Gandolfo, 25 July 2001
IOANNES PAULUS
II
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