VATICAN CITY, JUN 6, 2006 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, Benedict XVI inaugurated the diocesan ecclesial congress, which is being held from June 5 to 8 on the theme: "The joy of faith and the education of new generations."
In his remarks, the Pope pointed out how "educating new generations in the faith is a great and fundamentally important task that involves the entire Christian community," one that has become "particularly difficult" today and, hence, is "even more important and urgent."
The "certainty and joy of being loved by God must, in some way, be made palpable and concrete for each of us, and especially for the young generations who are entering the world of faith," he said.
The Holy Father then highlighted the importance of the new generations feeling that the Church "is a company of friends, one that is truly trustworthy and remains close in all the moments and circumstances of life, ... and that will never abandon us even in death, because it carries in itself the promise of eternity."
Young people and adolescents, he went on, "must be disabused of the widespread prejudice that Christianity, with its commandments and its prohibitions, places too many obstacles to the joy of love, and in particular that it prevents the full enjoyment of the happiness that man and woman find in their mutual love. ... The Ten Commandments are not a series of 'nos', but a big 'yes' to love and to life. Human love must be purified, it must mature and go beyond its own limits in order to become truly human, to be the origin of true and lasting joy, to respond to that demand for eternity it carries within itself and which it cannot relinquish without betraying itself. This is the fundamental reason for which love between man and woman is fully realized only in marriage."
Benedict XVI highlighted how the theme of truth "must occupy a central position." In the faith, he said, "we welcome and accept the Truth that our minds cannot fully understand, that they cannot posses." This "enables us to arrive at the Mystery in which we are immersed and to rediscover in God the definitive meaning of our existence."
Another dimension of the faith, the Pope went on, "is entrusting oneself to a person: not to any person but to Jesus Christ" Who "fills our hearts, expanding them and imbuing them with joy, spurring our intelligence towards unexplored horizons, offering His decisive standpoint to our freedom, thus raising it up from the straits of egoism and making it capable of authentic love."
"Scientific progress," the Pope went on, "is often presented as opposed to the affirmations of the faith, giving rise to confusion and making it more difficult to accept Christian truth." On this matter he added: "Dialogue between faith and reason, if conducted sincerely and firmly, makes it possible to gain a more effective and convincing vision of the rationality of faith in God - not in any God but in the God Who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ - and to show how the fulfillment of all authentic human aspirations lies in Jesus Christ Himself."
Alongside the experience of faith, there exists a "privileged space in which this meeting [with God] takes place more directly: ... prayer," said the Pope. And he called on all the Church in Rome, especially consecrated people, to be "assiduous in prayer" and to adore "the living Christ in the Eucharist, falling ever more in love with Him, Who is our brother and true friend, the Bridegroom of the Church, the faithful and merciful God Who loved us first. Thus, you young people will be ready and willing to welcome His call, if He wants you totally for Him in the priesthood or in consecrated life."
"The Pope concluded his remarks: "In the extent to which we nourish ourselves from Christ and love Him, we also feel within ourselves the stimulus to bring others to Him. Indeed, we cannot keep the joy of the faith to ourselves, we must transmit it. This need becomes even stronger and more impelling in the presence of that strange forgetfulness of God that exists today in vast areas of the world and, to some extent, even here in Rome."
AC/FAITH:YOUNG PEOPLE/... VIS 20060606 (730)
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