Homily of Pope Francis at the Youth Jubilee Mass | salt + light media (2023)

On Sunday, April 24, 2016, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the Jubilee of Youth. Read the full text of his sermon below:

St. Peter's Square - Sunday, April 24, 2016"By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another"Dear young people, what an enormous responsibility the Lord has given us today! It tells us that the world will know Jesus' disciples by the way they love each other. In other words, love is the Christian's identity card, the only valid "document" that identifies us as Christians. It is the only valid document. When this letter expires and is not continually renewed, we cease to be the Master's witnesses. That's why I ask you: do you want to say yes to Jesus' invitation to be his disciples? Do you want to be his faithful friends? The true friends of Jesus are essentially characterized bytrue love; not just any pie in the sky love; no, it's a true love that shows in their way of life. Love is always shown in real actions. Those who are not genuine and genuine and who talk about love are like characters in a soap opera, a false love story. Do you want to experience his love? Do you want this love: yes or no? Let us learn from him, because his words are oneschool of Life, a school where we learn to love. This is a task we must face every day: learning to love. above all loveIt's beautifulIt is the path to happiness. But it is not an easy path. It is demanding and requires effort. For example, think about it when we receive a gift. It makes us happy, but receiving a gift means someone generous has put time and effort into it; for their gift, they also give us a piece of themselves, a sacrifice they made. Think also of the gift your parents and group leaders gave you when they allowed you to come to Rome on this jubilee day dedicated to you. They planned, organized and prepared everything for you and that made them happy, even if they had to do without a trip. It puts love into action. Lovemeans to give, not just something material, but also something of yourself: your own time, your friendship, your own skills. We receive so many gifts from him and we must thank him every day... Let me ask you something. Do you thank the Lord every day? Even if we forget, he never forgets to give us a special gift every day. It is not something material and tangible that we can use, but something even greater, a gift for a lifetime. What is the Lord giving us? he offers usyour faithful friendshipthat you'll never come back. The Lord is an eternal friend. Even if you let him down and walk away from him, Jesus still wants the best for you and remains close to you; He believes in you even more than you believe in yourself. This is an example of true love that Jesus teaches us. This is very important! Because the biggest danger of growing up well is thinking that nobody cares about us, and that's always sad when we feel like we're alone. The Lord, on the other hand, is always with you and is happy to be with you. As he did with his first disciples, he looks you in the eye and calls you to follow him, to "throw yourself into the sea" and "cast the nets well", trusting his words and using your talents in life . Union with him without fear. . Jesus patiently waits for you. He waits for his answer. He is waiting for you to say "yes". Dear young people, at this stage of your life, the desire to show and receive affection grows. If you let yourself be taught by him, the Lord will show you how to further embellish tenderness and affection. He will lead your hearts to "love without being possessive", to love others without intending to possess them, but to set them free. Because love is free! There is no true love that is not free! The freedom the Lord gives us is his love for us. He is always close to each one of us. There is always the temptation to let our affections be contaminated by an instinctive desire to "have" what pleases us; this is selfishness. Our consumer culture reinforces this trend. But when we get too attached to something, it fades away, it dies, and then we feel confused, empty inside. The Lord, if you listen to his voice, will reveal to you the secret of love. ANDto careothers, respect them, protect them and wait for them. That puts tenderness and love into action. At this point in life, you feel verya great longing for freedom. Many people will tell you that freedom means doing what you want. But here you have to know how to say no. If you don't know how to say no, you are not free. Free is he who can say "yes" and say "no". Freedom is not the ability to simply do what I want. It makes us self-centered and distant and prevents us from being open and genuine friends; it is not true to say "enough if it works for me". No, that is not correct. Rather, freedom is the gift ofchoose good: This is true freedom. The free man is the one who chooses the good that pleases God, even if it requires effort, even if it is not easy. I believe that you young men and women are not afraid to put in the effort, be really brave! It is only through bold and firm decisions that we achieve our biggest dreams, the dreams to which our entire lives are worth dedicating. Bold and noble choices. Don't settle for mediocrity, go with the flow and feel comfortable and relaxed. Do not believe those who distract you from the true treasure,what are you, saying that life is only beautiful when you have many possessions. Beware of people who try to say that you only matter if you are tough like movie heroes or dress in the latest fashion. Your happiness is priceless. Cannot be purchased: It is not an app to download on your phones, nor will the latest update bring you freedom and greatness in love. True freedom is something else entirely. That's because I love onefree presentwho yearns for an open heart; Love is a responsibility, howevera noble responsibilitywhich is for life; ANDa daily taskfor those who can dream big! Woe to your people who do not know how to dream, who do not dare to dream! If a person your age can't dream when you retire... that's not good. Love lives on trust, respect and forgiveness. Love is not born from talking, but from living it: it is not a sweet poem to study and memorize, it is a life choice to put into action! How can we grow in love? The mystery is once again the Lord: Jesus gives himself to us in the Mass, he offers us forgiveness and peace in confession. There we learn to receive his love, make it ours and give it to the world. And when love seems difficult, when it's hard to say no to something bad, look to Jesus on the cross, embrace the cross and never let go of his hand. He will always judge you higher and pick you up every time you fall. Throughout life we ​​will fall many times because we are sinners, we are weak. But there is always the hand of God that lifts us up, that lifts us up. Jesus wants us to rise up! Think of the beautiful words Jesus said to the paralytic: "Get up!" God created us to stand. There is a beautiful song that climbers sing as they climb. It goes like this: “The important thing in climbing is not to fall, but not to stay on the ground! Have the courage to get up, to let yourself be carried away by Jesus. And many times your hand is given by the hand of a friend, by the hand of parents, by the hand of those who accompany us in life. Jesus himself is present in them. So get up! God wants us to be on our feet, always on our feet! I know you are capable of acts of great friendship and kindness. With them you are called to build the future,togetherwith others and for others, but nevercontraall! It is never constructed "against"; this is called "destruction". You will achieve amazing things if you prepare well from now on, living your youth and all your gifts to the fullest and not being afraid of hard work. Be like athletic champions who achieve lofty goals through daily, silent effort and practice. May your daily program be works of mercy. Practice them with enthusiasm to beteacher in life,passionate teacher! Thus you will be recognized as a disciple of Jesus. This is how you obtain a Christian identity card. And I promise you: your joy will be complete.

<<