Go, Without Fear…!

Youth is a wonderful stage of life. It is the stage when you dream great things, when you dream of changing the world! Some of us grow older in years but keep the youth in our hearts just as it was, or even greater. That is the case with Pope Francis, who showed us in Brazil that, despite his 76 years, he is still a young man dreaming of changing this world into a better one. And who is he counting on to make that dream come true? All the young people (in age and in spirit) who follow Christ.

Below I gather, in my own words, some of the most significant things the Pope said in his speeches in Brazil. You can find all the speeches in full at this link, and they are well worth reading: http://www.aciprensa.com/ebooks/FranciscoenBrasil.pdf

He told young people that Jesus offers them something bigger than the World Cup, and asked them to be true athletes of Christ and play on his team. He urged them not to stand at the back of history’s line but to be protagonists, to play forward and build a better world: a world of brothers and sisters, of justice, love, peace, fraternity and solidarity.

He asked them to learn to pray every day, so that they would come to know Jesus and let him into their lives.

He reminded them that the bishops are the shepherds of God’s people and asked them to follow them with trust and courage, and he asked the priests who accompany young people to keep doing so with generosity and joy, helping them commit themselves actively in the Church, so that they never feel alone.

He said that God calls us to definitive choices and has a plan for each person; discovering it and answering one’s vocation is the path to a happy, fulfilled life. God calls everyone to holiness, but has a particular path for each. Some are called to become holy by building a family through the sacrament of marriage. Some say marriage is “out of fashion,” he noted; in a culture of the provisional and the relative, many preach that what matters is “enjoying” the moment and that it isn’t worth committing for life or making choices “forever,” because no one knows what tomorrow will bring. Instead, he asked young people to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide and rebel against this culture of the provisional, which deep down assumes they are incapable of taking on responsibility or of truly loving. He told them he trusts them and prays for them, and asked them to dare to go against the current, and to have the courage to be happy.

He spoke of how the Lord calls some to the priesthood, to give themselves totally to him and love everyone with the heart of the Good Shepherd, and others to serve in religious life, devoting themselves to prayer for the good of the world and to the many fields of apostolate, spending themselves for everyone, especially those most in need. He recalled that he would never forget September 21, when he was 17, when he went into the church of San José de Flores to make his confession and felt for the first time that God was calling him. Don’t be afraid of what God asks, he told them; it is worth saying “yes” to God, because in him is joy.

He sent them out to serve without fear. Faith, he said, is a flame that grows brighter the more it is shared and passed on. The Gospel is for everyone, not just for those who seem closest, most receptive or most welcoming. He urged them not to be afraid to bring Christ into every setting, even to the existential peripheries, even to those who seem most distant and indifferent, and to go and make disciples of all nations, because Brazil, Latin America and the whole world need Christ.

Spreading the Gospel, he said, means bringing God’s power to uproot evil and violence and to tear down the walls of selfishness, intolerance and hatred.

He asked them whether they knew the best way to evangelize young people, and answered: another young person. The Church, he said, needs their enthusiasm, creativity and joy. Jesus Christ is counting on them, the Church is counting on them, and the Pope is counting on them.

He praised them for showing with their lives that it is worth spending oneself for great ideals, valuing the dignity of every human being and staking everything on Christ and his Gospel, whom they had come to seek in those days because he had sought them first and set their hearts on fire to proclaim the Good News in big cities and small towns, in the countryside and in every corner of our vast world.

And he said he would keep nourishing an immense hope in the young people of Brazil and of the whole world, because through them Christ is preparing a new springtime for the world; he had seen the first fruits of this sowing, and others would enjoy the abundant harvest.

So it is, Holy Father: Christ is preparing a new springtime for the whole world. To see Copacabana beach, famous for its carnivals and concerts, filled with more than three and a half million young people ready to follow Christ is an immense witness of faith that confirms our Church is alive and Young. Long live Christ! Long live our Holy Catholic Church! Long live the Pope! Long live young people!