POPE CALLS ON YOUNG PEOPLE TO FOLLOW CHRIST'S FOOTSTEPS

VATICAN CITY, 6 APR 2009 (VIS) - Seven thousand young people from the archdiocese of Madrid, Spain, who have come to Rome to collect the World Youth Day cross for 2011, were received in audience this morning by the Pope.

  Speaking of the cross, the Holy Father encouraged the young people to discover therein "the infinite measure of Christ's love. ... You too must respond to the love of Christ", he told them, "offering your own lives to Him with love. In this way preparations for World Youth Day, which you have begun with great enthusiasm and dedication, will be repaid with the hoped-for fruits of those events: renewal and strengthening of the experience of meeting Christ, Who died and rose again for us".

  "Follow Christ's footsteps! He is your goal, your path and your prize. In the theme I chose for WYD Madrid, St. Paul invites us to live 'rooted and built in Christ, established in the faith'", said the Pope.

  He then invited the young people to "form yourselves in the faith which gives meaning to your lives, and strengthen your convictions in order to remain firm in the face of the difficulties of everyday life. I also exhort you, as you journey towards Christ, to draw in your young friends, companions of study or work, that they too may recognise and confess Him as the Lord of their lives. In order to do this, let the power of the Most High that is within you - the Holy Spirit - reveal Himself in all His beauty".

  "Young people today", he went on, "need to discover the new life that comes from God, to quench themselves in the truth that has its source in Christ Who died and rose again, and that the Church received as a treasure for all mankind".

  Referring then to World Youth Days, the Pope expressed the view that "they reveal the dynamism of the Church and her eternal youth". In this context he pointed out that "those who love Christ love the Church with the same passion, because she enables us to live close to the Lord".

  "Cultivate, then, initiatives that enable young people to feel they are members of the Church, in full communion with her pastors and with Peter's Successor. Pray together, opening the doors of your parishes, associations and movements so that everyone may feel in the Church as in their own home, where they are loved with the love of God. Celebrate and live your faith with immense joy, which is the gift of the Spirit".

  The Holy Father explained that on the cross "Christ defeated sin and death by the total giving of Himself. For this reason", he concluded, "we must embrace and adore the Lord's cross, make it our own, accept its weight as Simon of Cyrene did, in order to participate in the only thing that can redeem all of humanity. ... Become ever more worthy of the cross and you will never be ashamed of this supreme sign of love".
AC/WYD CROSS/SPANISH YOUTH                VIS 20090406 (520)