Next week begins World Youth Day (WYD) in Kraków, Poland. Started by Pope Saint John Paul II, it is a time when the Holy Father gathers with young people from all over the world for a time of joy, reflection and challenge. Since 2013 the event organizers have answered the question "is there an app for that?" with the World Youth Day app available at Apple iTunes and Google Play.
In 1984 at the close of the Holy Year of Redemption, over 300,000 young people from around the world responded to the invitation of Pope John Paul II for an International Jubilee of youth on Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s square. Looking out to the crowds who answered his invitation he said, “What a fantastic spectacle is presented on this stage by your gathering here today! Who claimed that today’s youth has lost their sense of values? Is it really true that they cannot be counted on?” It was at this gathering that the Holy Father entrusted to the youth what is now known as the World Youth Day Cross, to be carried throughout the world as a symbol of the love of Christ for humanity. The following Palm Sunday, coinciding with the United Nation’s International Year of the Youth, the Pope announced World Youth Day on December 20, 1985, and the first official WYD was held in 1986 in Rome. Since then it has been held in cities throughout the world, including Buenos Aires (where the Pope briefly met with Fr. Jorge Bergoglio - the future Pope Francis), Denver, Paris and Rio de Janiero.
The theme for this year's WYD, so appropriate for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, is from the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 5, verse 7: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." At the festival, Pope Francis will expound on the concepts of blessings in the context of mercy, as he writes:
"The word “blessed”, or “happy”, occurs nine times in this, Jesus’ first great sermon (cf. Mt 5:1-12). It is like a refrain reminding us of the Lord’s call to advance together with him on a road which, for all its many challenges, leads to true happiness...in Christ you find fulfilled your every desire for goodness and happiness. He alone can satisfy your deepest longings, which are so often clouded by deceptive worldly promises. As Saint John Paul II said: “He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives...
We are all sinners, needing to be purified by the Lord. But it is enough to take a small step towards Jesus to realize that he awaits us always with open arms, particularly in the sacrament of Reconciliation, a privileged opportunity to encounter that divine mercy which purifies us and renews our hearts.” (Pope's Message to Young People to Prepare for World Youth Day in Krakow).
In this time that so desperately needs to hear Christ's message of blessing as our society struggles in darkness and and lack of firm direction, please pray for the young people making this pilgrimage, their guides and our Holy Father, Pope Francis.
In 1984 at the close of the Holy Year of Redemption, over 300,000 young people from around the world responded to the invitation of Pope John Paul II for an International Jubilee of youth on Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s square. Looking out to the crowds who answered his invitation he said, “What a fantastic spectacle is presented on this stage by your gathering here today! Who claimed that today’s youth has lost their sense of values? Is it really true that they cannot be counted on?” It was at this gathering that the Holy Father entrusted to the youth what is now known as the World Youth Day Cross, to be carried throughout the world as a symbol of the love of Christ for humanity. The following Palm Sunday, coinciding with the United Nation’s International Year of the Youth, the Pope announced World Youth Day on December 20, 1985, and the first official WYD was held in 1986 in Rome. Since then it has been held in cities throughout the world, including Buenos Aires (where the Pope briefly met with Fr. Jorge Bergoglio - the future Pope Francis), Denver, Paris and Rio de Janiero.
The theme for this year's WYD, so appropriate for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, is from the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 5, verse 7: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." At the festival, Pope Francis will expound on the concepts of blessings in the context of mercy, as he writes:
"The word “blessed”, or “happy”, occurs nine times in this, Jesus’ first great sermon (cf. Mt 5:1-12). It is like a refrain reminding us of the Lord’s call to advance together with him on a road which, for all its many challenges, leads to true happiness...in Christ you find fulfilled your every desire for goodness and happiness. He alone can satisfy your deepest longings, which are so often clouded by deceptive worldly promises. As Saint John Paul II said: “He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives...
We are all sinners, needing to be purified by the Lord. But it is enough to take a small step towards Jesus to realize that he awaits us always with open arms, particularly in the sacrament of Reconciliation, a privileged opportunity to encounter that divine mercy which purifies us and renews our hearts.” (Pope's Message to Young People to Prepare for World Youth Day in Krakow).
In this time that so desperately needs to hear Christ's message of blessing as our society struggles in darkness and and lack of firm direction, please pray for the young people making this pilgrimage, their guides and our Holy Father, Pope Francis.
People are made for happiness. Rightly, then, you thirst for happiness. Christ has the answer to this desire of yours. But he asks you to trust him. True joy is a victory, something which cannot be obtained without a long and difficult struggle. Christ holds the secret of this victory.