|
Muslim women welcome the Pope in Lebanon |
The full texts. To quote Our Holy Father:
You have a special place in my heart and in the whole Church, because
the Church is always young! The Church trusts you. She counts on you! Be
young in the Church! Be young with the Church! The Church needs your
enthusiasm and your creativity! Youth is the time when we aspire to
great ideals, when we study and train for our future work. All this is
important and it takes time. Seek beauty and strive for goodness! Bear
witness to the grandeur and the dignity of your body which "is for the
Lord" (1 Cor 6:13b). Be thoughtful, upright and pure of heart! In the
words of Blessed John Paul II, I say to you: "Do not be afraid! Open the
doors of your minds and hearts to Christ!" An encounter with Jesus
"gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction" (Deus Caritas Est,
1). In Christ you will find the strength and courage to advance along
the paths of life, and to overcome difficulties and suffering. In him
you will find the source of joy. Christ says to you: "Salàmi ō-tīkum"
This is the true revolution brought by Christ: that of love.
The frustrations of the present moment must not lead you to take
refuge in parallel worlds like those, for example, of the various
narcotics or the bleak world of pornography. As for social networks,
they are interesting but they can quite easily lead to addiction and
confusion between the real and the virtual. Look for relationships of
genuine, uplifting friendship. Find ways to give meaning and depth to
your lives; fight superficiality and mindless consumption! You face
another temptation, too: that of money, the tyrannical idol which blinds
to the point of stifling the person at the heart. The examples being
held up all around you are not always the best. Many people have
forgotten Christ’s warning that one cannot serve both God and mammon
(cf. Lk 16:13). Seek out good teachers, spiritual masters, who will be
able to guide you along the path to maturity, leaving behind all that is
illusory, garish and deceptive. (Read entire article.)