Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) –
The Holy Father Francis has sent a video message to the young of
Buenos Aires for National Youth Day. The message, in which the Pope
speaks off the cuff, had been requested in advance by Cardinal Mario
Aurelio Poli, archbishop of Buenos Aires, and was rebroadcast on
Saturday afternoon.
“While making this recording I was
thinking of what they would say”, says the Pope in the video.
“'What are you going?', I have already said. 'That they must not be
afraid': I have already told them'. 'That they are free': I have
already said so. Then some of the young people in the Gospel came to
mind. The young people who came across Jesus, or those he spoke
about. … I thought about the young apostles, the young rich man,
the prodigal son who seeks a new life with his father's inheritance,
the widow's son, dead; … how they were moved by Jesus, filled with
enthusiasm, with that wonder that comes from the encounter with
Jesus. .. And some of the apostles faltered, some did not behave so
well. … There is the struggle to be faithful to this encounter, the
encounter with Jesus. … God is very good”, he continues. “God
takes advantage of our failures to speak to our hearts. God doesn't
say, 'You're a failure, look what you have done'. He reasons with
us”.
Pope Francis lists a number of examples
of young men in the Gospel, and remarked that young women might
complain, “'Father, you are unjust … your examples are all men.
What about us?' … You aspire in your lives to consolidate
tenderness and fidelity. You are on the path of the women who
followed Jesus, through thick and thin. Women have the great gift of
being able to give life, of being able to give tenderness, of being
able to give peace and joy. There is one model for you, Mary: the
woman of fidelity, who did not understand what was happening to her
but obeyed nonetheless; who, as soon as she knew her cousin needed
her, ran to her, the Virgin of Readiness. Mary, who helped to raise
her Son and to accompany Him, and followed Him when he began to
preach; who suffered through all that happened to the boy as he grew.
She who stayed by His side and told Him of problems: 'Look, they have
no wine'. She who, at the moment of the Cross, stayed next to Him. …
You are women of the Church … who is female, like Mary. This is
your place. Being Church, forming the Church, being with Jesus, with
tenderness, to accompany the Church and help her grow”.
Pope Francis joked with the young
women, with a cheerful tone and Argentine accent, “So don't be
angry, you got a better deal than the men!”, and he commended them
to “Mary, Lady of the Caress, Lady of Tenderness, Lady of the
Readiness to Serve”, who shows them the way. Addressing all the
young people, he concluded, “May each one of you encounter Jesus,
the Risen Jesus. And I say one thing to you: do not be afraid! Look
at Jesus, look at Mary, and go forward!”.
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