Pope celebrates Mass for Myanmar's young people: Full
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| Pope Francis talks to Myanmar's young people during his homily at Mass n St Mary's Cathedral, Yangon, on Thursday morning.- AFP |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday morning celebrated
Mass for young people at St Mary’s Cathedral in Yangon, the last event on his
schedule in Myanmar ahead of his departure for Bangladesh later in the day.
Please find below the English translation of Pope
Francis’ words to the young people in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Yangon.
As my visit to your beautiful country draws to a close, I join you in thanking
God for the many graces we have received in these days. Looking out at
you, the young people of Myanmar, and all those who are united with us outside
this cathedral, I want to share with you a phrase from today’s first reading
that resonates within me. Taken from the prophet Isaiah, it was echoed by
Saint Paul in his letter to the young Christian community in Rome. Let us
listen once again to those words: “The footsteps of those who bring good news
are a welcome sound” (Rom 10:15; cf. Is 52:7).
Dear young people of Myanmar, hearing your young voices and listening to you
sing today, I want to apply those words to you. Yes, you are “a welcome
sound”; you are a beautiful and encouraging sight, for you bring us ‘good
news’, the good news of your youth, your faith and your enthusiasm.
Indeed, you are good news, because you are concrete signs of the Church’s faith
in Jesus Christ, who brings us a joy and a hope that will never die.
Some people ask how it is possible to speak of good news when so many people
around us are suffering? Where is the good news when so much injustice,
poverty and misery cast a shadow over us and our world? But I want a very
clear message to go out from this place. I want people to know that you,
the young men and women of Myanmar, are not afraid to believe in the good news
of God’s mercy, because it has a name and a face: Jesus Christ. As
messengers of this good news, you are ready to bring a word of hope to the
Church, to your own country, and to the wider world. You are ready to
bring good news for your suffering brothers and sisters who need your prayers
and your solidarity, but also your enthusiasm for human rights, for justice and
for the growth of that “love and peace” which Jesus brings.
But I also have a challenge to set before you. Did you listen carefully
to the first reading? There Saint Paul repeats three times the word
unless. It is a little word, but it asks us to think about our place in
God’s plan. In effect, Paul asks three questions, and I want to put them
to each of you personally. First, how are people to believe in the Lord
unless they have heard about him? Second, how are people to hear about
the Lord unless they have a messenger, someone to bring the good news?
And third, how can they have a messenger unless one is sent?” (Rom 10:14-15).
I would like all of you to think deeply about these questions. But don’t
be worried! As a loving “father” (or better, a “grandfather”!), I don’t
want you to wrestle with these questions alone. Let me offer a few
thoughts that can guide you on your journey of faith, and help you to discern
what it is that the Lord is asking of you.
Saint Paul’s first question is: “How are people to believe in the Lord unless
they have heard about him?” Our world is full of many sounds, so many
distractions, that can drown out God’s voice. If others are to hear and
believe in him, they need to find him in people who are authentic. People
who know how to listen! That is surely what you want to be! But
only the Lord can help you to be genuine, so talk to him in prayer. Learn
to hear his voice, quietly speaking in the depths of your heart.
But talk also to the saints, our friends in heaven who can inspire us.
Like Saint Andrew, whose feast we keep today. Andrew was a humble
fisherman who became a great martyr, a witness to the love of Jesus. But
before he became a martyr, he made his share of mistakes, and he needed to be
patient, and to learn gradually how to be a true disciple of Christ. So
do not be afraid to learn from your own mistakes! Let the saints lead you
to Jesus and teach you to put your lives in his hands. You know that
Jesus is full of mercy. So share with him all that you hold in your
hearts: your fears and your worries, as well as your dreams and your
hopes. Cultivate your interior life, as you would tend a garden or a
field. This takes time; it takes patience. But like a farmer who
waits for the crops to grow, if you wait the Lord will make you bear much
fruit, a fruit you can then share with others.
Paul’s second question is: “How are they to hear about Jesus without a
messenger?” Here is a great task entrusted in a special way to young
people: to be “missionary disciples”, messengers of the good news of Jesus,
above all to your contemporaries and friends. Do not be afraid to make a
ruckus, to ask questions that make people think! And don’t worry if
sometimes you feel that you are few and far between. The Gospel always
grows from small beginnings. So make yourselves heard. I want you
to shout! But not with your voices. No! I want you to shout
with your lives, with your hearts, and in this way to be signs of hope to those
who need encouragement, a helping hand to the sick, a welcome smile to the
stranger, a kindly support to the lonely.
Paul’s last question is: “How can people have a messenger unless one is
sent?” At the end of this Mass we will all be sent forth, to take with us
the gifts we have received and to share them with others. This can be a
little daunting, since we don’t always know where Jesus may be sending
us. But he never sends us out without also walking at our side, and
always just a little in front, leading us into new and wonderful parts of his
kingdom.
How does our Lord send Saint Andrew and his brother Simon Peter in today’s
Gospel? “Follow me!”, he tells them (Mt 4:19). That is what it means
to be sent: to follow Christ, and not to charge ahead on our own! The
Lord will invite some of you to follow him as priests, and in this way to
become “fishers of men”. Others he will call to become religious or
consecrated men and women. And yet others he will call to the married
life, to be loving fathers and mothers. Whatever your vocation, I urge
you: be brave, be generous and, above all, be joyful!
Here in this beautiful cathedral dedicated to Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception,
I encourage you to look to Mary. When she said “yes” to the message of
the angel, she was young, like yourselves. Yet she had the courage to
trust in the “good news” she had heard, and to express it in a life of faithful
dedication to her vocation, total self-giving, and complete trust in God’s
loving care. Like Mary, may all of you be gentle but courageous in
bringing Jesus and his love to others.
Dear young people, with great affection I commend all of you, and your
families, to her maternal intercession. And I ask you, please, to
remember to pray for me.
God bless Myanmar! [ Myanmar pyi ko Payarthakin Kaung gi pei pa sei ]
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