Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day 1995, Philippines
“What is needed today is a church which knows how to respond to the expectations of young people. Jesus wants to enter into dialogue with them and, through his body, which is the church, to propose the possibility of a choice, which will require a commitment of their lives. As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus, so the church must become the traveling companion of young people...”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Young People in New York 1987
The Church needs you. The world needs you, because it needs Christ and you belong to Christ. And so I ask you to accept your responsibility in the Church, the responsibility of your Catholic education: to help - by your words and above all by the example of your lives - to spread the Gospel. You do this by praying, and by being just, truthful and pure.
Dear young people: by a real Christian life, by the practice of your religion,
you are called to give witness to your faith. And because actions speak
louder than words you are called to proclaim by the conduct of your daily lives that you really do believe that Jesus
Christ is Lord!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To youth of Scotland 1982
Left alone to face the difficult challenges of life today, you feel conscious
of your inadequacy and afraid of what the future may hold for you. But
what I say to you is this: place your lives in the hands of Jesus. He
will accept you, and bless you, and he will make such use of your lives
as will be beyond your greatest expectations! In other words: surrender
yourselves, like so many loaves and fishes, into the all-powerful, sustaining
hands of God and you will find yourselves transformed with "newness
of life", with fullness of life. "Unload your burden on the
Lord, and he will support you .
It is not of primary importance what walk of life naturally attracts you
- industry or commerce, science or engineering, medicine or nursing,
the priestly or religious life, or the law, or teaching, or some other
form of public service - the principle remains always the same: hand
the direction of
your life over to Jesus and allow him to transform you and obtain the
best results, the one he wishes from you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To youth of New Zealand, 1986
This period in your life, the time of youth, is a period of special importance.
The decisions you make now, the friendships you form, the values you
choose to live by, the goals you set for yourselves - these will shape
your personal future and have an impact on the future of society. I am
always happy to be with young people because I enjoy your enthusiasm
and hope. As you face the challenges of youth, I am eager to assure you
of the love of Christ and to remind you of the
Gospel he preached, the Good News of truth, freedom and salvation .
Dear young friends: you are at a turning point in your lives, and by Christ's
grace and his love it may happen today. Some of you may have known doubt
and confusion; you may have experienced sadness and failure and serious
sin. For all of you, however, this is an important time in your lives.
It is a time of decision. It is a time to accept Christ: to accept his
friendship and love, to accept the truth of his word and to believe in
his promises; to acknowledge that his teaching will lead you to happiness
and finally to eternal life. It is a time to accept Christ as he lives
in his
Body, the Church
You have already been united with Christ in Baptism and the Eucharist,
and now he is seeking you out in a particular way in these years of your
youth. However great your love for Jesus may be, his love for you is
far greater. He knows each of you by name. He knows when you need forgiveness
and he knows your desire to forgive. He knows you better than you know
yourself
Jesus loves you immensely, for he laid down his life for you
All of us can get lost at times, lost within ourselves or lost in the world
about us. Allow Christ to find you, to speak to you, to ask of you whatever
he wants. Be sure of this: obedience to God's will
is the way to a fruitful life, the way to loving union with Christ.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To the Youth of Cuba 1998
Christ offers you his friendship. He gave his life so that those who wish
to answer his call can indeed become his friends. His is a friendship
which is deep, genuine, loyal and total, as all true friendship must
be. This is how young people ought to relate to one other, for youth
without friendship is impoverished and diminished. Friendship is nourished
by sacrifice for the sake of serving one's friends and truly loving them.
And without such sacrifice there can be no real friendship, no truly
healthy youth, no future for one's country, no genuine religion.
Listen, then, to the voice of Christ! In your lives, Christ is drawing
near and saying to you: "Follow me". Do not close yourselves
off from his love. Do not turn away. Heed his message. Each of you has
received a call from him. He knows each of you by name. Let yourselves
be guided by Christ as you seek that which can help you to achieve your
full potential. Open the doors of your heart and your life to Jesus, "the
true hero, humble and wise, the prophet of truth and love, the companion
and friend of young people”
Do not succumb to the lack of vision which leads to destroying one's personality
through alcoholism, drugs, sexual irresponsibility and prostitution,
the constant pursuit of new experiences. Do not take refuge in sects,
alienating spiritualist cults or groups which are completely foreign
to the culture and tradition of your country.
"
Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous. Let all that you do
be done in love" (1 Cor 16:13-14). But what does it mean to be courageous?
It means to overcome evil in all its forms. The worst evil is sin, which
causes all sorts of suffering and can even lurk within us, negatively affecting
our behaviour. And so, while it is right to be committed to the struggle
against evil in its public and social manifestations, the first duty of
believers is to fight against sin, the root of all the forms of evil which
can take root in the human heart, and to resist its enticements with God's help.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To youth at St Louis, USA, 1999
When
you were little, were you sometimes afraid of the dark? Today you are
no longer children afraid of the dark. You are teenagers and young
adults. But already you realize that there is another kind of darkness
in the world: the darkness of doubt and uncertainty. You may feel the
darkness of loneliness and isolation. Your anxieties may come from questions
about your future,
or regrets about past choices.
Sometimes the world itself seems filled with darkness. The darkness of
children who go hungry and even die. The darkness of homeless people
who lack work and proper medical care. The darkness of violence: violence
against the unborn child, violence in families, the violence of gangs,
the violence of sexual abuse, the violence of drugs that destroy the
body, mind and heart. There is something terribly wrong when so many
young people are overcome by hopelessness to the point of taking their
own lives. And already in parts of this nation, laws have been passed
which allow doctors to end the lives of the very people they are sworn
to help. God's gift of life is being
rejected. Death is chosen over life, and this brings with it the darkness
of despair.
But you believe in the light (cf. Jn 12:36)! Do not listen to those who
encourage you to lie, to shirk responsibility, to put yourselves first.
Do not listen to those who tell you that chastity is passé. In
your hearts you know that true love is a gift from God and respects his
plan for the union of man and woman in marriage. Do not be taken in by
false values and deceptive slogans, especially about your freedom. True
freedom is a wonderful gift from God, and it has been a cherished part
of your country's history. But when freedom is separated from truth,
individuals lose their moral direction
and the very fabric of society begins to unravel.
Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want, whenever we want. Rather,
freedom is the ability to live responsibly the truth of our relationship
with God and with one another. Remember what Jesus said: "you will
know the truth and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32). Let no
one mislead you or prevent you from seeing what really matters. Turn
to Jesus, listen to him, and discover
the true meaning and direction of your lives.
You are children of the light (cf. Jn 12:36)! You belong to Christ, and
he has called you by name. Your first responsibility is to get to know
as much as you can about him, in your parishes, in religious instruction
in your high schools and colleges, in your youth groups and Newman Centers
But you will get to know him truly and personally only through prayer.
What is needed is that you talk to him, and listen to him.
Today we are living in an age of instant communications. But do you realize
what a unique form of communication prayer is? Prayer enables us to meet
God at the most profound level of our being. It connects us directly
to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in a constant exchange of love.
Through prayer you will learn to become the light of the world, because
in prayer you become one with the source of our true light, Jesus himself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To youth at World Youth Day, Rome, 2000
Dear young people of the century now beginning, in saying "yes" to
Christ, you say "yes" to all your noblest ideals. I pray that
he will reign in your hearts and in all of humanity in the new century
and the new millennium. Have no fear of entrusting yourselves to him! He
will guide you, he will grant you the strength to follow him every day and in every situation.
Today you have come together to declare that in the new century you will
not let yourselves be made into tools of violence and destruction; you
will defend peace, paying the price in your person if need be. You will
not resign yourselves to a world where other human beings die of hunger,
remain illiterate and have no work. You will defend life at every moment
of its development; you will strive with all your strength to make this
earth ever more livable for all people.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To
young people in Damascus, 2001
Today you may be asking questions like: "What road should I take?", "What
should I do with my life?", "Whom should I follow?" Don't
be afraid to take time to reflect with older people, in order to consider
seriously the choices you have to make, choices which involve listening
to Jesus Christ as he invites you to follow him along the demanding path
of a courageous witness to values worth living for and worth giving your
lives for: values such as truth, faith, human dignity, unity, peace and
love. With the help of Christ and his Church, you will develop each day
into men and women who are free and responsible for their own lives, actively
involved in the life of their Church, in strengthening relationships between
their
religious and social communities, and in building an ever more just and
fraternal society.
The Lord Jesus asks his disciples to be signs in the midst of the world,
visible and credible agents of his saving presence wherever they live
and work. It is not merely in words but above all by a particular lifestyle,
one marked by a free heart and a creative spirit, that you will help
the young people of your generation to discover that your joy and the
source of your happiness is Christ. Do not separate your faith from your
daily life and your daily life from your faith, as so many people do
today. The life and the whole being of each Christian must be unified
around a central axis: fidelity to Jesus Christ. In this way each Christian
will constantly be able to repeat with the Apostle: "I
know him in whom I have believed" (2
Tim 1:12 ).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To young people at World Youth Day, Toronto, 2002
Dear friends, the aged Pope, full of years but still young at heart, answers
your youthful desire for happiness with words that are not his own. They
are words that rang out two thousand years ago. Words that we have heard
again tonight: "Blessed are they ..." The key word in Jesus'
teaching is a
proclamation of joy: "Blessed
are they ...
People
are made for happiness. Rightly, then, you thirst for happiness. Christ
has the answer to this desire of yours. But he asks you to trust
him. True joy is a victory, something which cannot be obtained
without a long and difficult struggle. Christ holds the secret of this
victory.
Blessing
for young people, World Youth Day, Toronto, 2002.
Lord Jesus Christ, proclaim once more
your Beatitudes in the presence of these young people,
gathered in Toronto for the World Youth Day.
Look upon them with love and listen to their young hearts,
ready to put their future on the line for you.
You have called them to be
the "salt of the earth and light of the world".
Continue to teach them the truth and beauty
of the vision that you proclaimed on the Mountain.
Make them men and women of the Beatitudes!
Let the light of your wisdom shine upon them,
so that in word and deed they may spread
in the world the light and salt of the Gospel.
Make their whole life a bright reflection of you,
who are the true light that came into this world
so that whoever believes in you will not die,
but will have eternal life (cf. Jn 3:16)!
Youth Ministry ... it takes an entire Church
“ This is what is needed: a Church for young people, which will know how
to speak to their heart and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in
it with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist; a Church
which will know how to invite and welcome the person who seeks a purpose
for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to
require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from
young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that
of the following of the Gospel.”
(Pope
John Paul II. 1995 World Day of Prayer for Vocations)
