Assisi: with the youth of Umbria

On Friday afternoon at 5:30pm, after having traversed the adjacent piazza to the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, all the while greeting the young people who were waiting there, the Holy Father entered the Basilica and was welcomed by the Custodian of the Convent of Porziuncola, Father Fabrizio Migliasso, OFM, and by the religious community.  Also present was the Pontifical Legate for the Basilicae of Saint Francis and Saint Mary of the Angels, Cardinal Attilio Nicora.

After having visited and prayed silently in the Porziuncola, at 6:15pm, Pope Francis met the youth of Umbria in the piazza of the Basilica.

An official welcome was offered to the Holy Father by the Archbishop of Spoleto-Norcia, His Excellency, Renato Boccardo, President of the Regional Commission for Youth, as well as by eight young people, representing the eight dioceses of Umbria.  These eight young people asked the Holy Father four questions on the subjects of the family, work, vocations and mission.

Questions asked by the youth

FAMILY: Nicola and Chiara Volpi (Perugia-City of Pieve)

We young people live in a society centred on feeling good, having fun and thinking of yourself.  Living a marriage is a complex and difficult thing for young people, being open to life is frequently a fearful and challenging reality.  As a young couple, we feel the joy of living our marriage but we experience fatigue and daily challenges.  How can the Church help us?  How can our pastors support us?  What should we do?

 WORK: Danilo Zampolini (Spoleto-Norcia) and David Girolami (Foligno)

Even in Umbria, the general economic crisis in these past few years has created situations of hardship and poverty.  The future is uncertain and threatening.  At risk is the potential loss of economic security and even hope.  How should a young Christian look toward the future?  On which roads should we embark in order to build a society worthy of God and worthy of man?

VOCATIONS: Benedetto Fattorini (Orvietto-Todi) and Maria Chiaroli (Terni-Narni-Amelia)

What should I do in life?  How and where should I use the talents the Lord has given me?

Sometimes I am fascinated by the idea of the priesthood or consecrated life, but suddenly there is fear.  Then I think: A commitment like this is, forever? How can I recognize the call of God?  What do you recommend for those who want to dedicate their lives to the service of God and neighbor?

MISSION: Luca Nassurato (Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino), Mirko Pierli (City of Castello) and Petra Sannipoli (Gubbio)

It is good for us to be here with you, to listen to your words, words that encourage us and warm our hearts.  The Year of Faith which ends in a few weeks’ time re-proposed to all believers the urgency of proclaiming the Good News.  We too would like to participate in this exciting adventure.  But how?  How can we contribute?  What should we do?

Responses provided by the Holy Father

Dear young people of Umbria, good evening!

Thank you for coming.  Thank you for this party!  Truly, this is a party!  And thank you for your questions.

I am glad to see that the first question came from a young couple.  What a beautiful witness!  … two young people who have chosen, who decided with joy and with courage to build a family.  Yes, because it’s really true: it takes courage to build a family!  It takes courage!  And your question, young spouses, is connected to the question about vocations.  What is marriage?  It’s a true vocation, as are priesthood and the religious life.  Two Christians who decide to marry have recognized a call from the Lord in their love, a vocation to form one person, one flesh, one life from two persons, one male and the other female.  The Sacrament of Marriage enwraps this love with the grace of God, rooted in God himself.  With this gift, with the certainty of this call, you can rest assured of safety, you need not be afraid of anything, you can face everything together.

We can think of our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents.  They were married in much poorer conditions than ours, some of them in wartime, or in post-wartime, some of them are immigrants, like my parents were.  Where did they find their strength?  They found it in the certainty that the Lord was with them, that the family is blessed by God in the Sacrament of Matrimony, and that the mission of bringing children into the world and educating them in the faith is also a blessing.  Because of these certainties, they were able to overcome even the most trying times.  These were simple convictions, but true, formed and supported by the columns of their love.  Their lives were often not easy and there were problems, many problems, but these simple certainties helped them to move on, and they managed to create a nice family, giving life to their children and raising them in faith.

Dear friends, this moral and spiritual base is necessary in order to build well, to build a solid structure!  These days, this basis is not so much guaranteed by families or by social tradition.  Indeed, the society into which you were born favors individual rights rather than the rights of the family – these rights of individuals favor relationships that last until difficulties arise, and for this reason we sometimes hear talk of relationships between couples, in families and in marriage which are superficial and misleading.  It’s enough to watch certain television programs in order to see these values demonstrated.  How many times do pastors hear this story – I myself heard it many times – when a couple comes to them, saying that they want to be married: Do you believe that marriage is for life?  Ah, we love each other so, but … we’ll remain together for as long as the love endures.  When it’s over, one of us will go one way, and the other will go the other way.  This is selfishness: when I don’t feel it, I stop the marriage and I forget the one flesh which no one has the right to divide.  It’s risky to get married: it’s risky!  Selfishness is always threatening us, because within us there is always the possibility of a double personality: the one that says: I’m free.  I want this, and the other which says: I, me, my, with me, for me … There is always selfishness that returns and cannot open itself to another.  The other difficulty is this culture of waste: it seems that nothing is definitive.  Everything is conditional.  Like I said at first:  ah, love, as long as it lasts.  I once heard a seminarian – he was a very good man – he would say: I want to become a priest, but only for ten years.  Afterward, I’ll consider the options.  This is the voice of a culture of conditions, but Jesus didn’t save on condition; his salvation is definitive.

But the Holy Spirit always provides new answers for new situations, so we have many different paths in the church for those who are engaged, there are courses in preparation for Marriage, groups of young couples in parishes, family based movements … These are an immense richness!  They are points of reference for all people: youth who are seeking, couples in crisis, parents in difficulty with their children and vice versa.  We all have to help each other!  And then there are different ways of welcoming: foster care, adoption, foster families of various sorts … The fantasy – I permit myself to use this word – the fantasy of the Holy Spirit is infinite, but it is also very concrete!  So I want to tell you not to be afraid to take the final and definitive steps: don’t be afraid to do it.  How many times I have heard mothers who would say to me: But, Father, I have a 30-year-old son and he is not yet married: I don’t know what to do!  He has a beautiful girlfriend, but they can’t decide.  But, my dear lady, don’t be worried about this.  This is how it is.  Don’t be afraid to make up your mind, to choose a path in your life, like marriage: deepen your love, respecting the times and the expressions, pray, prepare well, but then trust that the Lord will never leave you alone!  Let him enter into your home like a member of the family.  He will always sustain you.

The family is the vocation that God has written into the nature of man and woman, but there is another complementary vocation: the call to celibacy and to virginity for the Kingdom of heaven.  This is the vocation that Jesus himself lived.  How can it be recognized?  How can we follow it?  It was the third question that was asked of me, but someone among you might think: but this bishop, how good he is!  We asked the questions and he answered them all right away, in writing!  I received the questions a few days ago.  This is why I know them.  I answer with two essential elements about how to recognize this vocation to the priesthood or to consecrated life.  Pray and stay close to the Church.  These two things belong together; they are intricately connected. Every vocation to the consecrated life begins with a personal experience of God, an experience that we can never forget, that we remember for the rest of our lives!  This is the experience that Francis had.  None of us can determine or program such an experience.  God always surprises us!  God is the one who calls; but it’s important to have a daily encounter with Him, to listen to him in silence before te Tabernacle and in the intimacy of our own hearts, to speak to him, to frequent the Sacraments.  Having a close relationship with the Lord, this is how we keep the window of our life open so that he can make his voice heard and tell us what he wants us to do.  It would be good to hear you, to hear the testimonies of the priests who are here with us, the sisters … It would be beautiful, because every vocation story is unique, but they all begin with an encounter that deeply illuminates, that touches the heart and envelopes the entire person: affection, intellect, the senses, everything.  A relationship with God isn’t only concerned with one part of us, it involves every part of us.  It is such an enveloping love, so beautiful, so true, that it is worthy of everything, of our trust.  There is one thing that I want to say to you, especially today: virginity for the Kingdom of God is not a no; it is a yes!  True, it means that we renounce a conjugal relationship and our own families, but at its root, it is a yes, a total response of yes to Christ in our midst, and this yes makes this choice fruitful.

Here in Assisi, we don’t need words!  We have Francis, we have Clare, they do the talking!  Their charism continues to speak to many young people throughout the whole world: young men and women who leave everything in order to follow Jesus on the paths of the gospel.

Ah, gospel.  I want to consider the word gospel in order to respond to the other two questions that were asked of me, the second one and the fourth one.  One of them concerns the social concerns in this period of crisis that threatens hope; and the other concerns evangelization, announcing Jesus to others.  I was asked: what can we do?  What can we contribute?

Here in Assisi, here not far from the Porziuncola, I seem o hear the voice of Saint Francis repeating: Gospel, Gospel!  I say these words also to myself, in fact, first to me: Pope Francis is a servant of the Gospel!  If I can’t be a servant of the gospel, my life is worthless!

But the Gospel, dear friends, doesn’t only concern religion, it concerns men and women, all men and women; it concerns the world, society, human society.  The Gospel is the message of God’s salvation for humanity.  When we say message of salvation, it’s not a figure of speech; these are not mere words, empty words, like so many of the words today!  Humanity really needs to be saved!  We see it every day when we flip through the newspapers, or when we listen to the news on television; but we see it also inside of ourselves, in people, in situations; and we see it in ourselves!  Every one of us needs salvation!   We can’t achieve salvation alone!  We need salvation!  Salvation from what?  From evil.  Evil is always at work, accomplishes its task.  But evil is not invincible and the Christian does not give up when faced with evil.  You young people, do you want to give up in the face of evil, surrender to injustice, when you are faced with difficulty?  Do you want to give up or not?  (The young people responded: No!)  Ah, ok.  I’m glad!  Our secret is that God is greater than evil: it’s true!  God is greater than evil.  God is infinite love, limitless mercy and this Love has overcome the evil through the death and resurrection of Christ.  This is the Gospel, the Good News:  the love of God has already won!  Christ died on the cross for our sins and he rose again.  With Him we can fight against evil and win every day.  Do we believe this or not?  (The youth respond: Yes!)  And this yes is for life!  If I believe that Jesus has overcome evil and saves, I must follow Jesus, I must follow the path of Jesus for my whole life.

So, the Gospel, the message of salvation, has two destinations that are related: the first, to awaken faith, and this is evangelization; the second, transforming the world according to the plan of God, and this is Christian guidance for society.  They are not two separate things, they are one unified mission: to share the Gospel through the witness of our lives in order to transform the world!  This is life: sharing the Gospel through the witness of our lives.

Let’s look at Francis: he did both these things, with the strength of the Gospel.  Francis helped the faith to grow, he rebuilt the Church; and at the same time he rebuilt society, he made it more fraternal, but always with the Gospel, through witness.  Do you know what Francis once said to his brothers?  Always preach the Gospel and if necessary, also use words!  But how?  Can we preach the Gospel without words?  Yes!  Through our witness!  Begin with your witness, and afterward, use words!  Witness!

Youth of Umbria: you also should do this!  Today, in the name of Saint Francis, I say to you: I have no gold, no silver to give, but something that is much more precious, the Gospel of Jesus.  Go forward courageously!  With the Gospel in your heart and in your hands, be witnesses of faith throughout your lives: take Christ into your homes, speak about him among your friends, welcome him and serve him in the poor.  Young people, share with Umbria a message of life, of peace and of hope!  You can do it!

Together, they recited the Our Father, and then the Pope gave his blessing.

And please, I ask you: pray for me!

At the end of the meeting with the youth of Umbria, the Holy Father travelled by car to the Shrine at Rivotorto.  Shortly after 7:00pm, the Holy Father, Pope Francis visited the Shrine of Rivotorto privately.  Upon his arrival, His Holiness was welcomed by the Superior of the Shrine, Father Gianmarco Arrigoni, OFM Conv., and by the community of religious nuns.  After having visited the Tugurio of Saint Francis, the Pope addressed parting words to the Authorities who had welcomed him that morning on the Rivotorto sports field.  Afterward, around 7:30pm, the papal helicopter lifted off and returned to the Vatican.