ALLOW GOD TO ACT WITHIN AND THROUGH YOU

VATICAN CITY, APR 17, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope received 5,000 participants in the International University Congress UNIV 2000, the theme of which is "man's image 2,000 years on."

John Paul II told professors and students from 56 countries, that they should be "deeply convinced that society must find, in your coherent testimony as young Christians, an important stimulus for solid spiritual and social renewal."

Speaking English, the Holy Father said: "We could say that the two thousand years just ended are not just two millennia after Christ, but in a more real sense two millennia of Christ. This is the truth expressed in the theme of the Great Jubilee: 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever'!"

"True progress," he went on, speaking Spanish, "tends towards Christ, towards that full union with Him, sanctity, that is also human perfection."

"Dear youth of UNIV, ... Christian struggle is never in vain. The Christian never works alone. Do not forget this. All believers are instruments of God and Christ acts with them, through the strength of the Holy Spirit. Allow God to act in you and through you. For this to happen, you well know the means to which you must turn: the Sacraments, prayer, the practice of virtue, sanctification of work and spiritual guidance. You need Christ, but Christ also needs you to make Him known to your peers with whom you share experiences and hopes. ... Remain ever open to thinking of others, forgetting yourselves in order to bring your brothers to God."

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