BENEDICT XVI

Faith Is an Intimate
Relationship with Christ
PRAYER VIGIL WITH YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE WORLD YOUTH DAY. HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS
Cuatro Vientos Air Base, Madrid, August 20, 2011
WELCOME CEREMONY WITH YOUNG PEOPLE: ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS
Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, August, 18, 2011

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS
Dear Young Friends:... I greet all of you, especially the young people who have asked me their questions... that express the longing which all of you have to achieve something great in life, something which can bring you fulfillment and happiness. How can a young person be true to the faith and yet continue to aspire to high ideals in today's society? In the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus gives us an answer to this urgent question: "As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; abide in my love" (Jn 15:9).
Yes, dear friends, God loves us. This is the great truth of our life; it is what makes everything else meaningful. We are not the product of blind chance or absurdity; instead, our life originates as part of a loving plan of God. To abide in His love, then, means living a life rooted in faith, since faith is more than the mere acceptance of certain abstract truths: it is an intimate relationship with Christ....
If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ.
Nowadays, although the dominant culture of relativism all around us has given up on the search for truth, even if it is the highest aspiration of the human spirit, we need to speak with courage and humility of the universal significance of Christ as the Savior of humanity and the source of hope for our lives. He who took upon Himself our afflictions is well acquainted with the mystery of human suffering and manifests His loving presence in those who suffer. They, in their turn, united to the passion of Christ, share closely in His work of redemption.... Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, His name will continue to resound throughout the world.
During this prayer vigil, I urge you to ask God to help you find your vocation in society and in the Church, and to persevere in that vocation with joy and fidelity.... The Lord calls many people to marriage, in which a man and a woman, in becoming one flesh (cf. Gen 2:24), find fulfillment in a profound life of communion.... It is a project for true love which is daily renewed and deepened by sharing joys and sorrows, one marked by complete self-giving. For this reason, to acknowledge the beauty and goodness of marriage is to realize that only a setting of fidelity and indissolubility, along with openness to God's gift of life, is adequate to the grandeur and dignity of marital love. Christ calls others to follow Him more closely in the priesthood or in consecrated life. It is hard to put into words the happiness you feel when you know that Jesus seeks you, trusts in you, and with His unmistakable voice also says to you: "Follow Me!" (cf. Mk 2:14).
Dear young people, if you wish to discover and to live faithfully the form of life to which the Lord is calling each of you, you must remain in His love as His friends. And how do we preserve friendship except through frequent contact, conversation, being together in good times and bad? Saint Teresa of Jesus used to say that prayer is just such "friendly contact, often spending time alone with the one who we know loves us" (cf. Autobiography, 8).
And so I now ask you to "abide" in the adoration of Christ, truly present in the Eucharist. I ask you to enter into conversation with Him, to bring before Him your questions and to listen to His voice. Dear friends, I pray for you with all my heart. And I ask you to pray for me. Tonight let us ask the Lord to grant that, attracted by the beauty of His love, we may always live faithfully as His disciples. Amen.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS
Dear Friends:... In the reading which has just been proclaimed, we heard a passage from the Gospel which talks of welcoming the words of Jesus and putting them into practice. There are words which serve only to amuse, as fleeting as an empty breeze; others, to an extent, inform us; those of Jesus, on the other hand, must reach our hearts, take root, and bloom there all our lives. If not, they remain empty and become ephemeral. They do not bring us to Him and, as a result, Christ stays remote, just one voice among the many others around us which are so familiar.
Furthermore, the Master who speaks teaches, not something learned from others, but that which He Himself is, the only one who truly knows the path of man towards God, because He is the one who opened it up for us; He made it so that we might have authentic lives, lives which are always worth living, in every circumstance, and which not even death can destroy.... Dear young people, listen closely to the words of the Lord, that they may be for you "spirit and life" (Jn 6:63), roots which nourish your being, a rule of life which likens us–poor in spirit, thirsting for justice, merciful, pure in heart, lovers of peace–to the person of Christ. Listen regularly every day as if He were the one friend who does not deceive, the one with whom we wish to share the path of life.... Use these days to know Christ better and to make sure that, rooted in Him, your enthusiasm and happiness, your desire to go further, to reach the heights, even God Himself, always hold a sure future, because the fullness of life has already been placed within you. Let that life grow with divine grace, generously and without half-measures, as you remain steadfast in your aim for holiness. And, in the face of our weaknesses which sometimes overwhelm us, we can rely on the mercy of the Lord who is always ready to help us again and who offers us pardon in the sacrament of Penance.
If you build on solid rock, not only your life will be solid and stable, but it will also help project the light of Christ shining upon those of your own age and upon the whole of humanity, presenting a valid alternative to all those who have fallen short, because the essentials in their lives were inconsistent.... Indeed, there are many who, creating their own gods, believe they need no roots or foundations other than themselves.
They take it upon themselves to decide what is true or not, what is good and evil, what is just and unjust; who should live and who can be sacrificed in the interests of other preferences; leaving each step to chance, with no clear path, letting themselves be led by the whim of each moment.... We, on the other hand, know well that we have been created free, in the image of God, precisely so that we might be in the forefront of the search for truth and goodness, responsible for our actions, not mere blind executives, but creative co-workers in the task of cultivating and beautifying the work of creation. God is looking for a responsible interlocutor, someone who can dialogue with Him and love Him. Through Christ we can truly succeed and, established in Him, we give wings to our freedom....
Dear friends: be prudent and wise, build your lives upon the firm foundation which is Christ.
This wisdom and prudence will guide your steps, nothing will make you fear, and peace will reign in your hearts. Then you will be blessed and happy and your happiness will influence others. They will wonder what the secret of your life is and they will discover that the rock which underpins the entire building and upon which rests your whole existence is the very person of Christ, your friend, brother and Lord, the Son of God incarnate, who gives meaning to all the universe.
He died for us all, rising that we might have life, and now, from the throne of the Father, He accompanies all men and women, watching continually over each one of us....