Youthful tips from Benedict XVI

“The pope’s really cool!” Tod said as he checked out a new website launched by the Vatican.

“Why so?” Sheena asked as she curiously peeked behind his back to check out the pope’s historic tweet: “Dear Friends, I just launched news.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.”

“Dude! He’s soooo cool! He’s the only pope I’ve known who tweets, tweaks and ticks!” Tod replied.

“This pope is really catching up!” Sheena exclaimed.

“I guess, more than catching up, he’s not going to take things sitting down and is eager to tweak us with his ticking insights.”

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Pope’s Benedict XVI’s historic tweet made considerable media mileage. This isn’t only because he is the pope, but also because many who are still “stuck” with an archaic image of the Church find it “strangely attractive” that a divinely founded institution would have recourse to something so technologically synched with the times.

Benedict XVI stands faithful to his words on the day of his inauguration: “The Church is alive!” Not only is She alive, but in fact sets the pace for humanity’s destiny: “And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future.”

Thus, the pope does not tire in reminding both the young and not so young about the most important truths about man’s life here on earth. They can be summarized in the following points:

• Holiness and happiness. In his address to the youth of UK’s Catholic schools he expressed this most striking invitation: “I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century. What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine, and he wants the very best for you. And by far the best thing for you is to grow in holiness.” (UK Catholic Schools, London, IX-17-2010)

And one’s search for holiness becomes the answer to one’s longing for happiness: “The key to it is very simple—true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.” (Ibid.)

• Encounter with Christ. He then reveals to his listeners that this wonderful design of God for every person can only take place if we center ourselves in Christ. “He is your contemporary! He seeks you even before you seek Him… Put your trust in Him and He will never disappoint you.” (Message to Croatian Youth, Zagreb, VI-4-2011)

And this daily encounter becomes the starting and enduring conversion of every person. He says: “And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life… You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints.” (London, IX-17-2010)

• Spreading the faith. This encounter with Christ will allow one “to fully become the person he is meant to be.” And this will naturally flow outwards in one’s generosity to give witness of this encounter. “As you grow in friendship with the Lord through His word, the Eucharist and life in the Church, you will be able, with the help of your priests, to testify to the complete joy of having encountered the One who always stands at your side and enables you to live in confidence and hope.” (Zagreb, VI-4-2011)

• Pointing out the obstacles. The Pope warns us that this lofty goal can be thwarted if one is not vigilant against the world that can stifle God’s love in us. He says that many young people want to be happy, “but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places.” (London, IX-17-2010) He adds: “Do not let yourselves be led astray by enticing promises of easy success, by lifestyles which regards appearances as more important than inner depth. Do not yield to the temptation of putting all your trust in possessions, in material things, while abandoning the search for the truth which is always greater, which guides us like a star high in the heavens to where Christ would lead us.” (Zagreb, VI-4-2011)

• Pointing out the means. He says that this will be possible if—following the theme of the upcoming world youth day this August in Madrid—we are “rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith.” (Col. 2:7) This is made possible when we each take up seriously our commitment to Christ through a plan of prayer and sacrifice, a dynamic Sacramental life and generous service of the Church.

This is also accompanied with the company and example of the saints. “Let it (the truth) guide you to the very heights of God! In this springtime of your youth, you can find support in the witness which so many of the Lord’s disciples… Think of Francis and Clare of Assisi, Rose of Viterbo, Theresa of the Child Jesus, Dominic Savio: think of all the many young saints in the great company of the Church!” (Zagreb, VI-4-2011)

Finally, one’s struggle for holiness cannot be without the help of our Lady, Holy Mary. “This young life, completely given over to love, bears the fragrance of Christ; it invites all of us not to be afraid and to entrust ourselves to the Lord as did the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church… She did not fear to surrender Herself completely to God’s plan; in Her we see the goal to which we are called: full communion with the Lord. Our entire life is a journey towards the Unity and Trinity of Love which is God; we can live our lives in the certainty that we will never be abandoned.”(Zagreb, VI-4-2011)