Pope to youth in Madagascar:
Jesus entrusts you with a mission
Pope Francis participates in a vigil with young people at
Soamandrakizay Diocesan Camp, outside the capital Antananarivo, and challenges
them to ask if Jesus can count on them.
By Vatican News
The celebration began with the testimonies of two young
people, who told the Pope about their experiences in prison ministry and in
mission work, respectively.
A faith on the move
Pope Francis responded by saying, “how good it is to meet
two young people with a living faith, a faith on the move!” Jesus’ disciples,
he continued, “must not keep still… They need to be on the move, acting,
committed, certain that the Lord is supporting and accompanying them”.
What do you seek?
The Pope recalled the question Jesus asks His disciple on the
banks of the river Jordan: “What do you seek?”. “The Lord knows that we are
looking for the happiness for which we were created and which the world will
not be able to take from us”, he said.
Any search, born of faith, “helps make the world in which we
live a better place”, continued Pope Francis. What we do for others transforms
us; it changes our way of seeing and judging people. It makes us more
sensitive, and we understand and discover that the Lord is part of our life.
Called by name
“The Lord does not call us by our sins, errors, faults, or
our limits”, explained Pope Francis, “but by our name”. The Lord always reminds
us “how precious we are in His eyes, and He entrusts us with a mission”.
Making a fresh start
Referring to the prison ministry described in one of the
testimonies, the Pope described what that young person had learned. “You
abandoned the quick and easy criticism that always paralyzes us”, he said. “You
realized that a good number of those in prison were there not because they were
bad, but because they had made bad choices. They took the wrong path and they
realize it, but now they long to make a fresh start”.
Never give up
“One of the most beautiful gifts our friendship with Jesus
can offer us”, said the Pope, is that He is always with us and never abandons
us. We all know from experience, he continued, that people can “go astray”,
running after enticing illusions that end up “leaving our dreams and our soul
stranded along the way”. Those disillusionments can cause us to “become bitter”
or be tempted to “give up”.
Get your hands dirty
The Lord is the first to tell you “this is not the way to
go”, the Pope insisted. He calls you “to become missionary disciple here and
now”, he said. “He is the first to reject all those voices that would lull you
to sleep, make you passive, numb and apathetic… He tells us not to be afraid to
get our hands dirty”.
Can Jesus count on me?
“The Lord is the first to trust in you”, the Pope
told the youth of Madagascar, “but He also asks you to trust in yourselves and
your own skills and abilities”. The Lord asks you to “encourage one another and
join Him in writing the most beautiful page of your lives, rejecting apathy and
offering a Christian answer to the many problems that you face”. Pope Francis
challenged the young people to ask themselves: “Can Jesus count on me?”
You are not alone
The Lord entrusts us with a mission, insisted
the Pope, “but He does not send us out alone to the front lines”. Pope Francis
used the example of another testimony to illustrate how “it is impossible to be
a missionary disciple all by ourselves”. We may be able to accomplish great
things on our own, he said, “but together we can dream of and undertake things
undreamt of!”
The “yes” of Mary
Pope Francis reminded the young people that “we are one
great family” and that Mary is our Mother. She would never have said: “Let’s
see how things turn out”, continued the Pope. She simply said “yes”. This is
the “yes” of all those “willing to commit themselves and take risks, ready to
stake everything, with no guarantee except the sure conviction of knowing they
are bearers of a promise”, he said.
The light of hope
Mary, said Pope Francis, is “the Mother who watches over her
children as they walk in life, often weary and in need, but always anxious that
the light of hope not be extinguished. This is what we desire for Madagascar,
for each of you and your friends”, concluded the Pope: “that the light of hope
not be extinguished”.
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