Love in action

At each of the World Youth Day gatherings, participants are invited to celebrate the Way of the Cross on Friday evening.  Tonight on the Copacabana beach, the Stations of the Cross were celebrated with great grace and dignity.  At the conclusion of the Stations, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, who was in attendance, addressed the youth who were gathered there.

Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis

at the conclusion of the Way of the Cross

Dear young people!

We have come here today to accompany Jesus along his path of suffering and love, the way of the Cross, which is one of the significant moments of the World Youth Day.  At the end of the Holy Year of Redemption, Blessed John Paul II wanted to entrust the Cross to you, young people, asking you: Take it to the world as a sign of the love of Jesus for humanity and announce to all people that only in Christ, who has died and is risen can we find salvation and redemption (Address to youth, April 22, 1984): Insegnamenti VII, 1, 1984, 1105).  From that time, the Cross has travelled across all the continents and has gone through many different places of human existence, being left almost impregnated with the lived situations of many young people who have seen it and who have carried it.  Dear young people, no one can touch the Cross of Christ without leaving something of him or herself behind, and without bringing something of the cross of Jesus to bear on his or her own life.  As you accompany the Lord tonight, there are three questions that I would like you to allow to resonate in your heart: What have you left on the Cross – you dear young people of Brazil, during these last two years during which it has travelled across your immense country?  And what impression has the Cross of Jesus left on each of you?  Finally, what does the Cross teach us?

An ancient tradition of the Roman Church teaches that the Apostle Peter, leaving the city in order to escape the persecution of Nero, saw Jesus walking in the opposite direction and in amazement he asked him: Lord, where are you going?  Jesus responded: I am going to Rome to be crucified once more.  In that moment, Peter understood that he needed to follow the Lord with courage, even to the end, but he understood above all that he would never be alone along the way; this Jesus would always be with him, for Jesus had loved him even to the point of death.  Jesus carries his Cross, and travels our streets, taking upon himself our fears, our problems, our sufferings, even our deepest agonies.  With the Cross, Jesus joins in the silence of those who suffer violence, who can no longer cry, especially the innocent and the defenseless.  Jesus unites himself to families who are in trouble, who mourn the tragic loss of their children, as in the case of the tragic loss of 242 young victims of the fire in the town of Santa Maria earlier this year.  We pray for them.  With his Cross, Jesus unites himself to all those who suffer from hunger in a world which on the other hand allows us to throw away tons of food; with his Cross, Jesus unites himself to the many mothers and fathers who suffer as they see their own children fall victim toa artificial paradises such as drugs; with his Cross, Jesus unites himself to those who are persecuted for the sake of religion, for their thoughts, or simply for the colour of their skin; with his Cross, Jesus unites himself to many young people who have lost trust in political institutions because they have witnessed egotism and corruption, or who have lost faith in the Church, and even in God because they have witnessed the inconsistency of Christians and ministers of the Gospel.  How much Jesus suffers because of our inconsistencies!  In the Cross of Jesus’ suffering, our sin, even our own sin can be found, and He welcomes us all with open arms as he shoulders our crosses and says: Come to me!  You are not alone.  Bring your sufferings.  I’’ help you to overcome them, because I have overcome death and I have come to give you hope, to give you life (cf. Jn 3:16)

Now we can answer the second question:  what has the Cross left in those who have seen it and in those who have been touched by it?  What does the Cross leave in each of us?  It leaves a good thing that no one else can give us, the certainty of the faithful love of God for each of us: a love so great that it enters into our sins and forgives them; it enters into our suffering and gives us the strength to carry on; it also enters into death in order to win and save us.  In the Cross of Christ, we find the total love of God, his immense mercy.  And this is a love we can trust, in which we can believe.  Dear young people, let us trust in Jesus, let us trust in him (cf. Lumen fidei, 16) because he never disappoints anyone!  Only in Christ, who had died and who is risen, can we find salvation and redemption.  With him, evil, suffering and death do not have the last word, because He gives us hope and life is transformed.  The cross too is changed from an instrument of hatred, defeat and death, into a sign of love, victory, triumph and life.

The first name given to Brazil was that of Terra de Santa Cruz.  The Cross of Christ was planted not only on the beach more than five centuries ago, but also in history, in the hearts and lives of the people of Brazil and in many other nations.  We feel the suffering Christ close to us, as one of us who shares our journey.  There is no cross, large or small in our lives that the Lord does not take up along with us.

But the Cross of Christ calls us to become infected with this love, then it teaches us to always look to the other with mercy and love, especially to those who suffer, to those who need help, to those who await a word or a gesture.  The Cross invites us to go outside of ourselves in order to meet them and reach out to them.  We saw many faces along the Via Crucis.  Many people accompanied Jesus on his way to Calvary: Pilate, Simon of Cyrene, Mary … I ask you: Do you want to be like them?  Do you want to be like Pilate, who did not dare go against the law to save the life of Jesus, who instead washes his hands?  Tell me: are you one of those who washes his or her hands, who plays dumb and looks the other way?  Or are you like Simon of Cyrene, who helps Jesus to carry the heavy wood of his cross … or like Mary and the other women, who are not afraid to accompany Jesus, even to the end with love, with tenderness?  And you?  Which of these characters do you want to be like?  Like Pilate?  Like Simon of Cyrene?  Like Mary?  Jesus is watching you right now and says, I want to help carry the cross.  Brothers and sisters, with all the strength of youth, what is your answer?

Dear young people, to the Cross of Christ we bring our joys, our sufferings, our failures.  In the Cross we will find the open heart that understands us, forgives us, loves us and wants us to discover this same love in our lives, to love each of our brothers and sisters with the same life giving love.