Amal and all children fleeing from warsPope Francis has echoed two appeals in recent days. The first: Arise! -which refers to a verse from the Acts of the Apostles - is addressed to young people and is the theme of the upcoming World Youth Day, the 36th, which will be celebrated in dioceses around the world on the Solemnity of Christ the King, November 21.
The second appeal - Listen! -not associated with a specific biblical passage, but significant nonetheless-is addressed to the world of communications in general and to individual communicators in particular. It also relates here to the theme of the next World Communications Day, the 56th, which will take place in May 2022.
This shows that there is a call in the first person, a request for direct commitment both for young people and for communicators, stimulating them to be protagonists in this time of change - as the Pope has reiterated on several occasions - assuming in the first person the challenges and opportunities that present themselves.
It is not by chance that, addressing young people, Francis invites them to meditate on the conversion of St. Paul, who went from being a "persecutor of justice" to being a "disciple-witness. The merit, however, undoubtedly belongs to God, who chooses those who persecute him, who are hostile to him, and changes his heart. He showed that it is always possible to start over and that "no young person is beyond the reach of God's grace and mercy".
Resurgence
The Pontiff often repeats this attitude of not becoming "demoralized" in the face of his own failures. He did so, for example, at the last General Audience. It does not matter if we fall and how many times we fall, but what counts is our desire to get up again - like Paul on the road to Damascus - to bear witness that every failed existence can be rebuilt and that "people who have already died in the spirit can rise again".
The Pope goes so far as to say that when a young person falls, in a certain sense humanity falls. At the same time, it is also true that "when a young person rises, it is as if the whole world rises". A very significant image to highlight the great potential that young people have in their hands and carry in their hearts.
Humility
And again: "to rise again, the world needs the strength, enthusiasm and passion that you have". But in all this dynamism there is an element to be considered, which also has to do with the life and experience of Saul: humility, the "awareness of one's own limit", which is fundamental for realizing that one is small and fragile. Only in this way can one come to recognize Christ, after having recognized oneself for what he really is.
The Pontiff is concerned, however, that young people should not waste their best years devoting themselves to "senseless battles," to causes that while apparently defending just values can turn into destructive ideologies. Rather, they should take advantage of their gifts and talents and put them at the service of evangelization "to the ends of the earth," as did St. Paul, known as the "Apostle of the Gentiles."
"This is the mission that the Lord entrusts to every person, and in particular to every young person, and to which they must dedicate themselves," Francis explains, "in order to change lives. And from here the invitation to witness that the communion of the Church overcomes all loneliness, that love and respect spring from healthy human relationships, that social justice, truth, the poor, the vulnerable and creation must be defended, and that for this very reason "Christ lives!".
A message of love, salvation and hope, which must be transmitted in schools, in universities, in the digital world, at work and everywhere.
As you will recall, the new indications for World Youth Day, starting from the change of date - previously it was celebrated on Palm Sunday only in Rome, when there was no international event - were disseminated by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life with the Pastoral Guidelines document, as a help to make the diocesan celebration even more fruitful for local communities and youth ministry.
The international edition of WYD will be held in Lisbon in 2023, and this time the reference to getting up is to the Virgin Mary, who "in haste" ran to her cousin Elizabeth, as recounted in Lk 1:39, and pronounced her Magnificat.
