SUMMARY:
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The Pope offers Mass in the Sanctae Marthae Chapel to the Copts
killed in Libya
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Pope's Message for World Youth Day: “Have the courage to be happy”
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Other Pontifical Acts
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The
Pope offers Mass in the Sanctae Marthae Chapel to the Copts killed in
Libya
Vatican
City, 17 February 2015 (VIS) – Pope Francis offered this morning's
Mass in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae to the 21 Egyptian
Copts murdered yesterday in Libya, whose funerals will be held today.
“Let
us offer this Mass for our 21 brother Copts, beheaded for the simple
fact of being Christians. Let us pray for them, so that the Lord may
welcome them as martyrs, for their families, and for my brother
Tawadros, who suffers deeply”.
He
went on to pronounce the antiphon from Psalm 31: “For You are my
rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name’s sake, lead me and
guide me”.
Yesterday
afternoon the Holy Father telephoned the Patriarch, His Holiness Pope
Tawadros II, to express his participation in the profound sorrow of
the Orthodox Coptic Church for the recent barbaric massacre of
Egyptian Copts at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. He assured
him of his prayers and today, the day of the victims' funerals,
joined spiritually in the prayers and the suffering of the Coptic
Church, in the morning Eucharistic celebration.
Pope's
Message for World Youth Day: “Have the courage to be happy”
Vatican
City, 17 February 2015 (VIS) - “Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God” is the title of the Holy Father's message for
the thirtieth World Youth Day, celebrated every year on Palm Sunday.
The Pope continues his reflection on the Beatitudes, and after
referring to his previous messages on “revolutionary meaning” and
the “powerful summons of Jesus to embark courageously upon the
exciting quest for happiness”, he goes on to focus on “the desire
for happiness”, starting from the first chapters of the Book of
Genesis which “shows to us the splendid beatitude to which we are
called” and “consists in perfect communion with God, with others,
with nature, and with ourselves”.
Francis
divides his message into four parts. After speaking about the desire
for happiness, he analyses the sixth beatitude paragraph by
paragraph, explaining purity of heart. If the heart is considered in
the Bible to be the “centre of the emotions, thoughts and
intentions of the human person”, its purity consists fundamentally
in the absence of contaminants such as hate, cowardice, and envy. He
then turns to the care for creation, so that it does not become
contaminated, and invites a “human ecology” that “ will help us
to breathe the pure air that comes from beauty, from true love, and
from holiness”. Francis also urged the young not to allow their
ability to love or be loved be instrumentalised or impaired, and not
to trivialise love.
In
the third part, “... for they shall see God”, he recalls that
Jesus “awaits us always with open arms”, and calls to all “in
whatever place or situation you find yourself”. “Encountering God
in prayer, the reading of the Bible and in fraternal life will help
you better to know the Lord and yourselves”, writes the Pope. “Like
the disciples on the way to Emmaus, the Lord’s voice will make your
hearts burn within you. He will open your eyes to recognise his
presence and to discover the loving plan he has for your life”.
“Have
the courage to be happy”, Francis concludes, recalling that this
year's World Youth Day begins the final stage in preparation for the
next great global event to be held in Krakow, Poland in 2016, thirty
years after St. John Paul II instituted the World Youth Days in the
Church. This “pilgrimage of young people from every continent under
the guidance of the Successor of Peter has truly been a providential
and prophetic initiative”.
The
full text of the message is given below:
Dear
Young Friends,
We
continue our spiritual pilgrimage toward Krakow, where in July 2016
the next international World Youth Day will be held. As our guide for
the journey we have chosen the Beatitudes. Last year we reflected on
the beatitude of the poor in spirit, within the greater context of
the Sermon on the Mount. Together we discovered the revolutionary
meaning of the Beatitudes and the powerful summons of Jesus to embark
courageously upon the exciting quest for happiness. This year we will
reflect on the sixth beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God”.
1.
The desire for happiness
The
word “blessed”, or “happy”, occurs nine times in this, Jesus’
first great sermon. It is like a refrain reminding us of the Lord’s
call to advance together with him on a road which, for all its many
challenges, leads to true happiness.
Dear
young friends, this search for happiness is shared by people of all
times and all ages. God has placed in the heart of every man and
woman an irrepressible desire for happiness, for fulfilment. Have you
not noticed that your hearts are restless, always searching for a
treasure which can satisfy their thirst for the infinite?
The
first chapters of the Book of Genesis show us the splendid
“beatitude” to which we are called. It consists in perfect
communion with God, with others, with nature, and with ourselves. To
approach God freely, to see him and to be close to him, was part of
his plan for us from the beginning; his divine light was meant to
illumine every human relationship with truth and transparency. In the
state of original purity, there was no need to put on masks, to
engage in ploys or to attempt to conceal ourselves from one another.
Everything was clear and pure.
When
Adam and Eve yielded to temptation and broke off this relationship of
trusting communion with God, sin entered into human history. The
effects were immediately evident, within themselves, in their
relationship with each other and with nature. And how dramatic the
effects are! Our original purity as defiled. From that time on, we
were no longer capable of closeness to God. Men and women began to
conceal themselves, to cover their nakedness. Lacking the light which
comes from seeing the Lord, they saw everything around them in a
distorted fashion, myopically. The inner compass which had guided
them in their quest for happiness lost its point of reference, and
the attractions of power, wealth, possessions, and a desire for
pleasure at all costs, led them to the abyss of sorrow and anguish.
In
the Psalms we hear the heartfelt plea which mankind makes to God:
“What can bring us happiness? Let the light of your face shine on
us, O Lord”. The Father, in his infinite goodness, responded to
this plea by sending his Son. In Jesus, God has taken on a human
face. Through his Incarnation, life, death and resurrection, Jesus
frees us from sin and opens new and hitherto unimaginable horizons.
Dear
young men and women, in Christ you find fulfilled your every desire
for goodness and happiness. He alone can satisfy your deepest
longings, which are so often clouded by deceptive worldly promises.
As Saint John Paul II said: “He is the beauty to which you are so
attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness
that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you
to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts
your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It
is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your
lives”.
2.
Blessed are the pure in heart
Let
us now try to understand more fully how this blessedness comes about
through purity of heart. First of all, we need to appreciate the
biblical meaning of the word heart. In Hebrew thought, the heart is
the centre of the emotions, thoughts and intentions of the human
person. Since the Bible teaches us that God does not look to
appearances, but to the heart, we can also say that it is from the
heart that we see God. This is because the heart is really the human
being in his or her totality as a unity of body and soul, in his or
her ability to love and to be loved.
As
for the definition of the word pure, however, the Greek word used by
the evangelist Matthew is katharos, which basically means clean,
pure, undefiled. In the Gospel we see Jesus reject a certain
conception of ritual purity bound to exterior practices, one which
forbade all contact with things and people (including lepers and
strangers) considered impure. To the Pharisees who, like so many Jews
of their time, ate nothing without first performing ritual ablutions
and observing the many traditions associated with cleansing vessels,
Jesus responds categorically: “There is nothing outside a man which
by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a
man are what defile him. For from within, out of the heart of man,
come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride,
foolishness”.
In
what, then, does the happiness born of a pure heart consist? From
Jesus’ list of the evils which make someone impure, we see that the
question has to do above all with the area of our relationships. Each
one of us must learn to discern what can “defile” his or her
heart and to form his or her conscience rightly and sensibly, so as
to be capable of “discerning the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect”. We need to show a healthy concern for
creation, for the purity of our air, water and food, but how much
more do we need to protect the purity of what is most precious of
all: our heart and our relationships. This “human ecology” will
help us to breathe the pure air that comes from beauty, from true
love, and from holiness.
Once
I asked you the question: “Where is your treasure? In what does
your heart find its rest?”. Our hearts can be attached to true or
false treasures, they can find genuine rest or they can simply
slumber, becoming lazy and lethargic. The greatest good we can have
in life is our relationship with God. Are you convinced of this? Do
you realise how much you are worth in the eyes of God? Do you know
that you are loved and welcomed by him unconditionally, as indeed you
are? Once we lose our sense of this, we human beings become an
incomprehensible enigma, for it is the knowledge that we are loved
unconditionally by God which gives meaning to our lives. Do you
remember the conversation that Jesus had with the rich young man? The
evangelist Mark observes that the Lord looked upon him and loved him,
and invited him to follow him and thus to find true riches. I hope,
dear young friends, that this loving gaze of Christ will accompany
each of you throughout life.
Youth
is a time of life when your desire for a love which is genuine,
beautiful and expansive begins to blossom in your hearts. How
powerful is this ability to love and to be loved! Do not let this
precious treasure be debased, destroyed or spoiled. That is what
happens when we start to use our neighbours for our own selfish ends,
even as objects of pleasure. Hearts are broken and sadness follows
upon these negative experiences. I urge you: Do not be afraid of true
love, the love that Jesus teaches us and which St. Paul describes as
“patient and kind”. Paul says: “Love is not jealous or
boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own
way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong,
but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things”.
In
encouraging you to rediscover the beauty of the human vocation to
love, I also urge you to rebel against the widespread tendency to
reduce love to something banal, reducing it to its sexual aspect
alone, deprived of its essential characteristics of beauty,
communion, fidelity and responsibility. Dear young friends, “in a
culture of relativism and the ephemeral, many preach the importance
of ‘enjoying’ the moment. They say that it is not worth making a
life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, ‘for ever’,
because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead,
to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am
asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as
temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of
responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love. I have
confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the courage to ‘swim
against the tide’. And also have the courage to be happy”.
You
young people are brave adventurers! If you allow yourselves to
discover the rich teachings of the Church on love, you will discover
that Christianity does not consist of a series of prohibitions which
stifle our desire for happiness, but rather a project for life
capable of captivating our hearts.
3.
… for they shall see God
In
the heart of each man and woman, the Lord’s invitation constantly
resounds: “Seek my face!”. At the same time, we must always
realise that we are poor sinners. For example, we read in the Book of
Psalms: “Who can climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in
his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart”. But
we must never be afraid or discouraged: throughout the Bible and in
the history of each one of us we see that it is always God who takes
the first step. He purifies us so that we can come into his presence.
When
the prophet Isaiah heard the Lord’s call to speak in his name, he
was terrified and said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man
of unclean lips”. And yet the Lord purified him, sending to him an
angel who touched his lips, saying: “Your guilt is taken away, and
your sin is forgiven”. In the New Testament, when on the shores of
lake Genessaret Jesus called his first disciples and performed the
sign of the miraculous catch of fish, Simon Peter fell at his feet,
exclaiming: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.
Jesus’ reply was immediate: “Do not be afraid; henceforth you
will be fishers of men”. And when one of the disciples of Jesus
asked him: “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied”,
the Master replied: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.
The
Lord’s invitation to encounter him is made to each of you, in
whatever place or situation you find yourself. It suffices to have
the desire for “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or
at least an openness to letting him encounter you; I ask all of you
to do this unfailingly each day”. We are all sinners, needing to be
purified by the Lord. But it is enough to take a small step towards
Jesus to realise that he awaits us always with open arms,
particularly in the sacrament of Reconciliation, a privileged
opportunity to encounter that divine mercy which purifies us and
renews our hearts.
Dear
young people, the Lord wants to meet us, to let himself “be seen”
by us. “And how?”, you might ask me. St. Teresa of Avila, born in
Spain five hundred years ago, even as a young girl, said to her
parents, “I want to see God”. She subsequently discovered the way
of prayer as “an intimate friendship with the One who makes us feel
loved”. So my question to you is this: “Are you praying?” Do
you know that you can speak with Jesus, with the Father, with the
Holy Spirit, as you speak to a friend? And not just any friend, but
the greatest and most trusted of your friends! You will discover what
one of his parishioners told the Curé of Ars: “When I pray before
the tabernacle, ‘I look at him, and he looks at me’”.
Once
again I invite you to encounter the Lord by frequently reading sacred
Scripture. If you are not already in the habit of doing so, begin
with the Gospels. Read a line or two each day. Let God’s word speak
to your heart and enlighten your path. You will discover that God can
be “seen” also in the face of your brothers and sisters,
especially those who are most forgotten: the poor, the hungry, those
who thirst, strangers, the sick, those imprisoned. Have you ever had
this experience? Dear young people, in order to enter into the logic
of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must recognise that we are poor with the
poor. A pure heart is necessarily one which has been stripped bare, a
heart that knows how to bend down and share its life with those most
in need.
Encountering
God in prayer, the reading of the Bible and in the fraternal life
will help you better to know the Lord and yourselves. Like the
disciples on the way to Emmaus, the Lord’s voice will make your
hearts burn within you. He will open your eyes to recognise his
presence and to discover the loving plan he has for your life.
Some
of you feel, or will soon feel, the Lord’s call to married life, to
forming a family. Many people today think that this vocation is
“outdated”, but that is not true! For this very reason, the
ecclesial community has been engaged in a special period of
reflection on the vocation and the mission of the family in the
Church and the contemporary world. I also ask you to consider whether
you are being called to the consecrated life or the priesthood. How
beautiful it is to see young people who embrace the call to dedicate
themselves fully to Christ and to the service of his Church!
Challenge yourselves, and with a pure heart do not be afraid of what
God is asking of you! From your “yes” to the Lord’s call, you
will become new seeds of hope in the Church and in society. Never
forget: God’s will is our happiness!
4.
On the way to Krakow
“Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Dear young men and
women, as you see, this beatitude speaks directly to your lives and
is a guarantee of your happiness. So once more I urge you: Have the
courage to be happy!
This
year’s World Youth Day begins the final stage of preparations for
the great gathering of young people from around the world in Krakow
in 2016. Thirty years ago St. John Paul II instituted World Youth
Days in the Church. This pilgrimage of young people from every
continent under the guidance of the Successor of Peter has truly been
a providential and prophetic initiative. Together let us thank the
Lord for the precious fruits which these World Youth Days have
produced in the lives of countless young people in every part of the
globe! How many amazing discoveries have been made, especially the
discovery that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life! How many
people have realised that the Church is a big and welcoming family!
How many conversions, how many vocations have these gatherings
produced! May the saintly Pope, the Patron of World Youth Day,
intercede on behalf of our pilgrimage toward his beloved Krakow. And
may the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace,
all-beautiful and all-pure, accompany us at every step along the way.
Other
Pontifical Acts
Vatican
City, 17 February 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed
Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, apostolic nuncio in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, as apostolic nuncio in Australia.
You
can find more information at: www.visnews.org
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