Reflections on World Youth Day
I would like to share with you some of my reflections on the 23rd World Youth Day held in Sydney, Australia from July 15 to July 20, which I recently returned from. Pope Benedict XVI gave a wonderful summary of this great event just this past Sunday, when he referred to it as “a multicolored mosaic, formed by young men and women from every part of the globe, all gathered together in the one faith in Jesus Christ” (Angelus, 27 July 2008).
Origins of World Youth Day
The concept of World Youth Day was introduced by Pope John Paul II in 1984. It is celebrated annually on the local, diocesan level and on a world-wide level every few years. Pope John Paul drew the concept of World Youth Day from his own experiences as a young priest working with youth. While Father Wojtyla was a university chaplain in Cracow, he gathered together groups of young people, who would discuss religious and intellectual ideas. The sharing of ideas and the benefit of mutual support among young people was seen by the future Pope as a means of encouraging wholesome lifelong friendships which would not only add to the joy of life which comes from healthy relationships but also as a means of living out the Christian life with the support of others who share the same goals. In 1985, Pope John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Letter entitled “To the Youth of the World.” In this letter, he reflected on his own experiences in working with young people and he worked into this document his own philosophical concepts concerning the dignity and value of our human experiences. He explained the reason for his appeal to youth in this way: “The period of youth is the time of a particularly intense discovery of the human “I” and of the properties and capacities connected with it. Before the inner gaze of the developing personality of the young man or woman, there is gradually and successively revealed that specific and in a sense unique and unrepeatable potentiality of a concrete humanity, in which there is as it were inscribed the whole plan of future life. Life presents itself as the carrying out of that plan: as “self-fulfillment” (Dilecti Amici, 31 March 1985).
One of the primary characteristics of the World Youth Days is the representation of many different cultures from throughout the world, all gathered in the unity of Jesus Christ. It was thrilling to not only see so many young people from various parts of the world, carrying the distinctive signs of their own countries but also the sharing of these signs with one another as symbols of Christian charity and unity in Christ. Pope Benedict also referred to this aspect, which he experienced himself at Sydney, when he said: “These gatherings form the stages of a great pilgrimage across the world, to show how faith in Christ makes us all children of one Father who is in heaven and builders of a civilization of love. World Youth Day was transformed into a new Pentecost, from which the mission of the young people, called to be apostles to their contemporaries, was relaunched” (Angelus, 27 July 2008).
Theme for this year’s World Youth Day
It has been the custom from the beginning of the celebration of World Youth Day to assign a particular theme to each year’s celebration. In this way, both during the preparations that lead up to the actual celebration and the events themselves, there can be a unifying and challenging theme for the world’s young people. This year’s theme was: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). It is interesting to note how appropriate this quotation from the Acts of the Apostles is. While in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, Jerusalem is the destination of Jesus, in the Acts of the Apostles, it is the starting point from which the message of Jesus goes forth to the ends of the earth. It is the fulfillment of the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who wrote: “For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).
Many of us realize that the period of youth is filled with wonderful adventure, courage and seemingly endless possibilities. It is also filled with mysterious feelings of fear and inadequacy. The message of Jesus puts all of those feelings into their proper perspective and gives to the young people who wish to follow Him faithfully a sense of a clear mission, profound hope and great joy because of their faith in His Paschal Mystery. I thought it was particularly touching that the relics of youthful saints and blesseds had been brought to the Cathedral in Sydney. These relics were a sign of the fact that not only are our young people, and indeed all of us, presented with the challenge of the Christian life but we are also presented with so many examples of those who have gone before us and lived that life courageously and with great effect.
One of the young blesseds, whose relics were venerated in a particular way, was Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati (1901 1925), whose body was actually transported to Sydney for World Youth Day. Blessed Piergiorgio was a talented and personable young man who had been born into a prominent Italian family in Turin. He was a great athlete and very popular with the young people who knew him. He was also a very fine Christian, whose life was imbued with the Spirit of Jesus, while he enjoyed that life to the full. He is known as the “Saint of the Beatitudes,” because of his active pursuit of the virtues of the Gospel. He died of polio at a young age, with great courage and resignation to God’s will. When his body was exhumed in 1981, it was found to be completely preserved from corruption, which is sometimes seen as one of the signs of God’s pleasure with a person’s earthly life. Blessed Piergiorio was one of the first pilgrims to arrive for World Youth Day, as his body was taken there so that the young people could learn more about his heroic life and be inspired to follow his example. It was very moving to see the young pilgrims visiting his remains in the cathedral of Sydney. They seemed to go away with a renewed vigor and purpose as they were inspired by his example.
Our local representatives
Our own local Church of Philadelphia was also represented by a considerable group of young people, under the guidance of several priests and youth leaders, who made the trip to beautiful Sydney for World Youth Day. I was very proud of them and admired their energy, zeal and fervent faith in Jesus and His message. I know that they returned to our local Church with renewed zeal and many of us will benefit from what they brought home with them from World Youth Day.
In closing, I would like to present the challenging words of our Holy Father, made to the young people of the world, calling upon them, and us, to “make a difference” as committed followers of Jesus. Here is what he said: “Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the “power” which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make?” (Homily, Randwick Racecourse, 20 July 2008).
31 July 2008