BXVI Has a Message for Youth

From Pope Benedict XVI’s address to the youth gathered today in Madrid:

Dear young people, listen closely to the words of the Lord, that they may be for you “spirit and life” (John 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.  Of course, you know that when we do not walk beside Christ our guide, we get lost on other paths, like the path of our blind and selfish impulses, or the path of flattering but self-serving suggestions, deceiving and fickle, which leave emptiness and frustration in their wake.

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.