The Cardinal Speaks to Young People

Last August 5, in the city of Valencia, almost 10,000 young people gathered for the closing Mass of the Second National Meeting of Young Catholics, ENAJÓ 2012. It was a joy to see young people from every corner of the country sharing their faith, their joy and their hope in Jesus Christ and in His Holy Catholic Church. In his homily, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino gave a very clear message to these young people, eager for direction and guidance. Below I copy some excerpts:

…”Jesus has the words of eternal life. He is also ‘the light of the world,’ and he tells us: ‘whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (Jn 8:12). These astonishing statements of the Lord are in harmony with those we have just heard: ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will have eternal life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst’ (cf. Jn 6:35, 51)… It is not drugs or alcohol, or sexual and emotional license, or violence or religious indifference that will make us happy, but following Jesus and keeping his Word…”

“Through this living faith in Jesus we are united to him; we are his brothers and sisters, his friends, called to be with him always, here and in eternal life. But Jesus is demanding, ‘a demanding friend,’ as John Paul II used to say. And Jesus asks all of us: do you want to follow me, do you want to proclaim and celebrate the faith?… You have the words of eternal life, and that is why we believe in you and want to follow you here in Venezuela, in our daily lives, at this moment in history! That is why we feel, proclaim and celebrate our faith. That is why we are Catholic Christians, and why we want to follow you and live according to your word, which is a word of life and happiness. Because by believing in you, our Lord, we reach the wonderful Christian condition of children of God, your disciples and members of the Catholic Church.”

“Our faith in Jesus… must be a living, concrete and active faith… And today, my dear young people, I would like to point out some serious problems that threaten society, and above all young people, and that challenge the faith of us Christians in Venezuela today. First: secularism, confusion and religious indifference… In the face of these threats, we Christians need to feel awareness and joy, a holy pride in believing in Jesus Christ… And for this we must intensify and be constant in our religious practice, especially in celebrating our faith and taking part in the Eucharistic banquet, attending the Sunday Eucharist every Sunday and holy day of obligation…”

“Second: we are challenged and threatened by contempt for human life in many ways… And we respond to this challenge of the culture of death with respect for people and for life… from the moment of conception until natural death… We Christians know that every person has been created in the image and likeness of God, that we have an immortal soul and inalienable rights, the most important of which is the right to life. With Christ we affirm our decision to respect and love life… because in every person we see Jesus himself. That is why the Church is the people of peace and of life… We reject all violence, physical, verbal, political, social and so on. We reject abortion, which is an abominable crime… we reject drugs, kidnapping, homicide, robbery, the criminal violence that is cutting short more than 15,000 lives every year… we must be people of peace, of coexistence, of respect for others, removing from our hearts every trace of selfishness, of indifference… of resentment and hatred.”

“And third, I want to stress a threat to all human beings and especially to young people: the emotional and sexual license of the modern world… In the face of this we respond with a commitment to promote and strengthen love for the family and respect for people… We must promote the holiness of the family, and for this we must value Christian marital union, sanctified by Jesus himself in the holy sacrament of marriage… we must reject the sexual and emotional license that has done and is doing so much harm in our homeland, and promote the practice of the virtue of chastity, which is respect for the person. How much pain, how many tears, how many abandoned children, how many incomplete families sunk in poverty because of this sexual and emotional license! This license that makes an idol of sexual pleasure and sacrifices to that idol the family and the respect owed to women and children, and that leads to so many tragedies. Because sin, my dear young people, leads to death; the Lord leads us to life. Let us promote respect and self-control. Sexual activity cannot be separated from true love, from marriage, which gives protection and stability to spouses and children, from a stable, loving and united family. Sexual intimacy must be the expression of authentic love and must take place within a family united forever, with respect, affection and fidelity for life”…