BE AUTHENTIC TEACHERS OF LIFE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

VATICAN CITY, APR 6, 2000 (VIS) - Sixty participants in the General Chapter of the Congregation of the Brothers of Christian Education of Ploermel, France, were welcomed at noon today by the Holy Father who highlighted the chapter's theme of "Rediscovering and Living the Mennaisien Charism in Creative Fidelity."

"Seeing God and wishing only God in everything," said the Pope, "this is how one can translate the motto which inspired the entire existence of Venerable Jean-Marie de la Mennais, your founder together with Fr. Gabriel Deshayes, and which he left you as an inspiration in your mission of educating young people: God alone." He added that "Numerous youth formed in your schools have been marked by these two words which sum up so well your spirituality."

"In abandoning yourselves to Providence," observed John Paul II, "you can consecrate yourselves with ardor to your work of educating and of being for young people authentic teachers of life. In a world marked by fragility and social and family difficulties, it is important to prepare the future by proposing to youth an integral formation, which will help them discover spiritual, moral and human principles, so that they may fashion their personality and participate actively in the life of society."

In closing, the Pope cited the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Vita Consecrata" and told the Brothers that, in pursuing their "efforts to form young people, especially in socially deprived milieux or amongst the most deprived peoples, you are courageously showing that 'the preferential love for the poor finds a special application in the choice of means capable of freeing people from that grave form of poverty which is the lack of cultural and religious training'."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 6, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of the Republic of Yemen, accompanied by an entourage.
- Juan Somavia, director of the International Labor Office.
- Assad Kotaite, president of the International Civil Aviation Organization, accompanied by his wife.
- Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, archbishop of Boston, U.S.A.

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THE BLESSED TRINITY OPERATES IN THE INCARNATION

VATICAN CITY, APR 5, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square, the Pope spoke on "the glory of the Trinity in the Incarnation."

"The glory of the Trinity," said John Paul II to the 40,000 pilgrims present, "is manifested in time and space and reaches its high point in Jesus, in His Incarnation and in His story."

The Pope indicated that "the Holy Spirit also participates in the Incarnation and it is precisely this intervention that renders that generation unique and unrepeatable. ... The Father, the Son and the Spirit are, therefore, present and operate in the Incarnation in order to involve us in Their life."

"To know God and His Son," he said, recalling the Encyclical "Evangelium vitae," "is to accept the mystery of the loving communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit into one's own life, which even now is open to eternal life because it shares in the life of God. Eternal life is therefore the life of God Himself and at the same time the life of the children of God. As they ponder this unexpected and inexpressible truth which comes to us from God in Christ, believers cannot fail to be filled with ever new wonder and unbounded gratitude."

The Holy Father affirmed that "in the Incarnation, we contemplate the trinitarian love that takes shape in Jesus, a love that does not remain closed in a perfect circle of light and glory but radiates out in man's flesh and history. It pervades all men and women, regenerating them and rendering them sons in the Son."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 5, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Jean Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris, France.

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PRESS CONFERENCE ON WORLD YOUTH DAY

VATICAN CITY, APR 5, 2000 (VIS) - Cardinals James Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and Camillo Ruini, the Holy Father's vicar general for the diocese of Rome and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), will preside at a press conference on the 15th World Youth Day on Monday, April 10 at 12 noon in the Holy See Press Office.

Also scheduled to participate are: Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, secretary general of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000; Bishop Cesare Nosiglia, president of the Italian committee for World Youth Day 2000; Msgr. Renato Boccardo, head of the Youth Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; Lorenzo Serri, secretary general of the Italian committee for the youth day and Fr. Claudio Giuliodori, director of the office of social communications of the CEI and head of the press office for World Youth Day 2000.

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