BENEDICT ENCOURAGES YOUTH TO MAKE GOD PRESENT IN OUR SOCIETIES

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 9, 2006 - Ahead of Rome's diocesan World Youth Day, Benedict XVI invited tens of thousands of young people to "make God present in our societies."

The Bishop of Rome met with his young listeners last Thursday evening with an eye toward the diocesan-level Youth Day that coincided today with Palm Sunday.

At the meeting last week in St. Peter's Square, young people listened to a spontaneous discussion between the Pope and some youths. After the reading of a passage of the Gospel, a 21-year-old an engineering student named Simone asked the Holy Father how it is possible to perceive the Bible as the Word of God in daily life. "Sacred Scripture must not be read as if it were a historical book," like a classic, responded the Pope, "but as the Word of God, that is, as being in dialogue with God. The Word is not read in an academic atmosphere, but praying and saying to God: 'Help me to understand your Word.'" Benedict XVI then explained that one can read Scripture "accompanied by teachers of 'lectio divina,' like Cardinal [Carlo] Martini," he said, referring to the retired archbishop of Milan, a renowned biblicist. The Pope added: "It is important to read it in the great company of the People of God," in the communion of the Church, which transmits this Word through the centuries.

Love and happiness

Anna, 19, a literature student, acknowledged before the Pope that in today's world it is difficult to live what the Church proposes, especially in regard to sexual morality. The Holy Father in reply observed that the love that makes one happy is a committed love. "It is beautiful," he said, "to find in the first pages of Scripture the definition of love and marriage: Man will leave his father and mother, will follow the woman, and they will be only one flesh, only one life. It is a prophecy of marriage that remains identical in the New Testament." Citing medieval theologians, he explained that in a certain sense marriage was the first sacrament, since it was instituted by God in creation: "It is a sacrament inscribed in the human being himself. Therefore, it isn't an invention of the Church," the Pope added. He acknowledged that because of original sin, and the frailty of human beings, the demands of the sacrament seem difficult. "To live this vocation we need a 'new heart,' of flesh, as Ezekiel says," the Holy Father said. "In baptism, the Lord implants this heart in us. It isn't a physical transplant, but similar to a physical transplant, treatments are necessary for this spiritual transplant. In this way, marriage and the affection of a man and a woman become something possible, though it might seem impossible in the climate of our time." As proof of this, the Holy Father said that "despite the fact that there are so many models of life, there are many Christian families that live with joy."

The Apostolate

Inelde, 17, asked the Pope what he expects from young people, and he responded that it would be better to ask, "what does God expects from you." Noting that the world often lives as if the Almighty did not exist, the Pope invited young people "to make God present in our societies and in our lives." To the question "What is God like?," Benedict XVI replied: "He is the God who has shown us his face in Jesus, who loved us unto death, and has defeated violence." The Pontiff invited young people to "experience this God, with their friends and the great company of the Church," explaining that apostolate consists in this. Vittorio, 20, asked the Pope to tell his listeners how he decided to become a priest and to give advice to those youths thinking about the possibility of consecrating their lives to God. "I grew up in a very different world than today's, though things are similar," Benedict XVI said. "On one hand, it was something normal to go to Church. … [Yet,] the Nazi regime was there, which prophesied a world without priests. In face of this anti-human culture, I understood that the Gospel and the faith point out the correct path to us." Benedict XVI said that he was helped by two elements when he was young. First, "I discovered the beauty of the liturgy, loving it because it presents us the beauty of God and opens heaven to us." Second, "I discovered the beauty of God by engaging in dialogue with him through theology," he added. "Evidently, difficulties were not lacking and I wondered if I would be able to live my whole life in celibacy, aware that theology was not enough to be a good priest. "Theology is beautiful but it was necessary to be simple with the simple. The Lord helped me with the company of good priest friends." To youths thinking about responding to God's call to the consecrated life, the Pope recommended that they enter into "friendship with God, and not stay with the books, but live a personal relationship to understand what it is that he says specifically to me." To achieve this, one needs "courage and humility, confidence and openness to ask oneself what the Lord wants," the Holy Father said. "It is a great venture, but life can only be lived with the confidence that the Lord does not leave us alone."

Science and Faith

Finally, Giovanni, 17, asked the Pope to explain the relationship between science and faith. Benedict XVI explained that mathematics is a creation of the human mind, but that it corresponds to the objective laws of nature. He assured, however, that there is an intelligence that precedes mathematics and the natural laws, God's intelligence, that is "an intelligent plan" which has created nature with those laws as well as the human mind. "There are two options," he said. God either exists or does not exist, that is, there is a "creative reason" or only the "irrational. It is not possible to prove one or the other possibility. Christianity's option is the first. … That is, behind everything there is a great intelligence in which we can trust. We could ask ourselves then how evil is compatible with the Creator's rationality. On this we need to look at God again, dead on the cross to understand that reason is not just mathematics. With confidence, we can elaborate a vision of the world, according to which this creative reason is Love and, therefore, God."

After responding to these questions, the Pope handed the Bible symbolically to some youth, wishing to propose it to all those present as a "lamp for their steps." At the end of the meeting, Benedict XVI remembered "a great witness of the Word of God," Pope John Paul II. Accompanied by some youths, Benedict XVI went to pray at John Paul II's tomb in the Vatican Grottoes. Meanwhile, young people in the square cried out "John Paul II."

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