Are you willing to say “Yes”?
Tuesday 29th January 2019The World Youth Day held in January in Panama was another great success. The 15th international World Youth Day ended Sunday with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis attended by hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world.
Pope Francis key question to those in attendance was: Are you willing to say “Yes”?
Pope Francis presented Mary as the supreme example of how to say ‘yes’ and to “trust in the love and promises of God”. It is this, he said, that makes Mary, “the ‘influencer’ of God”.
He challenged the young people present to say:
“Yes” to embracing life
“Saying ‘yes’ to the Lord means embracing life as it comes”, said the Pope, “with all its fragility”. “It is through our frailties and flaws that the Lord wants to write our love story”, he said. “What a gift it is to know we have a Father who embraces us despite our imperfections”.
“Yes” to building community
The Pope spoke of how impossible it is for us to grow “unless we have strong roots to support us”: the roots of an education , employment, a family, a community. Without these we cannot “dream of a future”, he said. “Because dreaming of a future” means answering the question what am I living for, and who am I living for”.
“Yes” to being guardians
To be an “influencer” in the 21st Century, said Pope Francis, “is to be guardians of roots”, of everything that makes us “feel part of one another”, that makes us “feel we belong”.
Willingness to say “Yes”
“Are you willing to say ‘yes’?”, challenged the Pope. “Are you willing to be an ‘influencer’ like Mary?”, he asked. “Only love makes us more human and fulfilled”, he concluded.
So do not be afraid to tell Jesus you want to be “part of His love story in this world”.
You can read the full text here.
At the end of the event it was announced that the next World Youth Day will be held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2022.
If 2022 is too long to wait why not join us at World Youth Day At Home, Pentecost Weekend 7-9th June 2019, Alton Castle. Details on how to book via the Youth Office coming soon!
The below artwork on the patron saints for World Youth Day were produced for the event:
Tagged | Youth
