Vatican
City, 4 September 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis today recommenced the
Wednesday general audiences, following the summer break. Addressing
the faithful in a crowded St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father
selected as the theme of his catechesis the World Youth Day held at
the end of July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the continent “where
the majority of the world's Catholics live”.
To
summarise his experience of the World Youth Day in Brazil, the Pope
proposed three words: welcome, celebration and mission, remarking
that the welcome he received from Brazilian families and parishes was
one of the most beautiful features of his trip. “Pilgrimage always
involves some discomforts, but the welcome we receive helps us to
overcome them and, instead, to transform them into an opportunity for
knowledge and friendship. Bonds are created that remain, especially
in prayer. Also, in this way the Church grows throughout the world,
as a network of true friendship in Jesus Christ, a network that, when
it 'captures' you, liberates you”.
To
explain the second word describing the event – celebration -
Francis commented that this is always typical of World Youth Day
since “when a city is full of young men and women, walking the
streets carrying flags from all over the world, greeting each other,
embracing each other, this is a real celebration. It is a sign for
everyone, not only for believers”. But on this occasion there is
also “the greatest celebration of all, which is the celebration of
faith, when together we praise the Lord, we sing, we listen to the
Word of God … all this is the culmination of World Youth Day, the
true aim of the pilgrimage, and we live this in a special way in the
great Saturday evening Vigil and the final Mass. This is the great
celebration, the celebration of faith and brotherhood, which begins
in this world and is without end”.
Mission
is a key characteristic of this World Youth Day, the theme of which
was “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Pope Francis
emphasised that this is “Christ's mandate to his disciples: 'Go',
come out of yourselves … to bring the light and the love of the
Gospel to all, to the every extremes of existence”. And it is
precisely this, Jesus' mandate, which I entrusted to the young people
who filled the beach of Copacabana as far as the eye could see. A
symbolic place, the ocean shore, that recalls the shore of the Lake
of Galilee. Yes, as also today the Lord repeats, 'Go', and adds, 'I
am with you, every day'. … Even a boy, a girl, who in the eyes of
the world is of little or no account, is in the eyes of God an
apostle of His kingdom, a hope for God”.
“Do
you want to be a hope for God, hope for the Church?” the Holy
Father asked, addressing the young people present, recalling the
multitudes of their peers who in Rio de Janeiro encountered the Risen
Christ and are “filled with His love in their everyday lives, who
live and communicate it. They do not end up in the newspapers,
because they do not commit acts of violence; they do not provoke
scandals, and so they do not make the news. But, if they remain
united with Jesus, they build his Kingdom, they build fraternity,
sharing, they carry out merciful works, and they are a potent force
for making the world a more just and beautiful place, for
transforming it!”
“The
experience of World Youth Day”, he concluded, “reminds us of the
true great news of history, the Good News, even if it does not appear
in the newspapers or on television: we are loved by God, Who is our
Father and Who sent his Son Jesus to be near to every one of us and
to save us. Welcome, celebration, mission: may these words be not
only a memory of what took place in Rio; but also the spirit of our
lives and our communities”.