ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF
RECONCILIATION AND BEGINNING OF THE VIGIL OF PRAYER WITH YOUNG PEOPLE ADDRESS OF HIS
HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
Cathedral
Square, Bangui (Central African Republic)
Sunday, 29 November 2015
Sunday, 29 November 2015
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO KENYA, UGANDA AND THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
(25-30 NOVEMBER 2015)
TO KENYA, UGANDA AND THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
(25-30 NOVEMBER 2015)
Dear Young Friends,
I greet all of you with affection. Your
friend who spoke in your name said that your symbol is the banana tree, because
it is a symbol of life: banana trees keep growing, they spread, they bear fruit
which always gives nourishment and strength. Banana trees are also resilient. I
think that this tells us clearly the road before you at this difficult time of
war, hatred and division: it is the road of resilience.
Your friend said that some of you want to
leave home. Fleeing from life’s challenges is never a solution! It is necessary
to be resilient, to have the courage to resist, to fight for what is right!
Those who flee do not have the courage to give life. Banana trees give life,
they spread and keep giving new life because they are resilient, they remain,
they stay put. Some of you will say: “But Father, what can we do? How can we be
resilient?” Let me tell you two or three things that may be helpful for you, in
order to be resilient.
First of all, prayer. Prayer
is powerful! Prayer conquers evil! Prayer makes you draw near to God who is
all-powerful. Let me ask you a question: Do you pray? I can’t hear you! [the
young people respond: Yes!]. Don’t forget this!
Second, work for peace. Peace
is not a document which gets signed and then filed away. Peace is built day by
day! And peace is crafted; it is the work of our hands; it is built up by the
way we live our lives. But someone may say: “Tell me, Father, how can I build
peace? How can I be a peacemaker?” First: never hate anyone. If someone wrongs
you, seek to forgive. No hatred! Much forgiveness! Let us all say this
together: “No hatred! Much forgiveness!” [all repeat in Sango]. And if
hatred does not dwell in your heart, if you forgive, then you will be a winner.
Because you will win the hardest battle in life; you will win in love. And from
love comes peace.
Do you want to be winners or losers in
life? What do you want? [We want to be winners!] But we only win if we
take the road of love. The road of love. Can we love our enemies? Yes! Can we
forgive those who do us wrong? Yes! So, through love and forgiveness, you will
be winners. With love you will win in life and you will always give life. Love
will never make you losers.
Now I wish you all the best. Think of the
banana tree. Think of resilience in the face of problems. Fleeing, going away
is not a solution. You must be courageous. Have you understood what it means to
be courageous? Courageous in forgiving, courageous in loving, courageous in
building peace. Is that right? [Yes!] Let’s say it together! “Courageous
in love, in forgiveness, in building peace”.
Dear young people of Central Africa, I’m
very happy that I met you. Today we opened this Door. It is a sign of the Door
of God's Mercy. Trust in God! Because he is merciful; he is love; he is capable
of giving you peace. That is why I told you at the beginning to pray: we need
to pray in order to be resilient, to love and not to hate, to be peacemakers.
Thank you for coming. Now I’m going to go
in and hear some of your confessions.
Are your hearts ready to be resilient? Yes
or no? [Yes!] Are your hearts ready to work for peace? [Yes!] Are
your hearts ready to forgive? [Yes!] Are your hearts open to
reconciliation? [Yes!] Are your hearts ready to love this beautiful
country of yours? [Yes!] And now let me go back to the very first thing.
Are your hearts ready to pray? [Yes!]
I ask you also to pray for me, so that I
can be a good bishop, a good Pope. Will you promise to pray for me? [Yes!]
And now I will give my blessing to you and
your families. A blessing and a prayer, that the Lord will give you his love
and his peace.
Have a good evening and pray for me!
Prepared address by the Holy Father:
Dear Young Friends,
Good evening! It is a great joy for me to
be here with you this evening, as we enter upon a new liturgical year with the
beginning of Advent. Is this not, for each one of us, an occasion to begin
anew, a chance to “go across to the other side?” (cf. Lk 8:22).
During this, our meeting I will be able to
celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation with some of you. I encourage each of
you to reflect on the grandeur of this sacrament, in which God comes to meet us
personally. Whenever we ask, he comes to us and helps us to “go across to the
other side”, to that side of our life where God forgives us and bathes us in
his love which heals, soothes and raises up! The Jubilee of Mercy,
which I just opened particularly for you, dear Central African and African
friends, rightly reminds us that God is waiting for us, with arms wide open, as
we see in the beautiful image of the Father who welcomes the prodigal son.
The forgiveness which we receive comforts
us and enables us to make a new start, with trusting and serene hearts, better
able to live in harmony with ourselves, with God and with others. The
forgiveness which we receive enables us in turn to forgive others. There is
always a need for this, especially in times of conflict and violence, as you
know all too well. I renew my closeness to all those among you who are have
experienced sorrow, separation and the wounds inflicted by hatred and war. In
such situations, forgiving those who have done us harm is, humanly speaking,
extremely difficult. But God offers us the strength and the courage to become
those artisans of reconciliation and peace which your country greatly needs.
The Christian, as a disciple of Christ, walks in the footsteps of his Master,
who on the Cross asked his Father to forgive those who were crucifying him (cf. Lk 23:34).
How far is this sentiment from those which too often reign in our hearts!
Meditating on the attitude and the words of Jesus, “Father, forgive them”, can
help to turn our gaze and convert our heart.
For many people, it is a scandal that God
came to be one of us. It is a scandal that he died on a cross. Yes, it is
scandalous: the scandal of the cross. The cross continues to scandalize. Yet it
remains the one sure way: the way of the cross, the way of Jesus who came to
share our life and to save us from sin (cf. Meeting with Young Argentineans, 25 July
2013). Dear friends, this cross speaks to us of the closeness of God: he is
with us, he is with each one of you, in your joys and in your trials.
Dear young people, the most precious good
which we can have in this life is our relationship with God. Are you convinced
of this? Are you aware of the inestimable value that you have in God’s eyes? Do
you know that you are loved and accepted by him, unconditionally, as you are?
(cf. Message for the World Youth Day 2015, 2).
Devoting time to prayer and the reading of Scripture, especially the Gospels,
you will come to know him, and yourselves, ever better. Today too, Jesus’
counsels can illumine your feelings and your decisions. You are enthusiastic
and generous, pursuing high ideals, searching for truth and beauty. I encourage
you to maintain an alert and critical spirit in the face of every compromise
which runs contrary to the Gospel message.
Thank you for your creative dynamism,
which the Church greatly needs. Cultivate this! Be witnesses to the joy of
meeting Jesus. May he transform you, strengthen your faith and help you to
overcome every fear, so that you may embrace ever more fully God’s loving plan
for you! God wills the happiness of every one of his children. Those who open
themselves to his gaze are freed from sin, from sorrow, from inner emptiness
and from isolation (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 1). Instead, they can see
others as brothers or sisters, accepting their differences and recognizing that
they are a gift for all of us.
It is in this way that peace is built, day
by day. It calls for setting out on the path of service and humility, and being
attentive to the needs of others. To embrace this mindset, we need to have a
heart capable of bending low and sharing life with those most in need. That is
where true charity is found. In this way solidarity grows, beginning with small
gestures, and the seeds of division disappear. In this way dialogue among
believers bears fruit, fraternity is lived day by day and it enlarges the heart
by opening up a future. In this way, you will be able to do so much good for
your country. I encourage you do so.
Dear young friends, the Lord is alive and
he is walking at your side. When difficulties seem to abound, when pain and
sadness seem to prevail all around you, he does not abandon you. He has left us
the memorial of his love: the Eucharist and the sacraments, to aid our progress
along the way and furnish the strength we need to daily move forward. This must
be the source of your hope and your courage as you “go across to the other
side” (cf. Lk 8:22), with Jesus, opening new paths for
yourselves and your generation, for your families, for your country. I pray
that you will be filled with this hope. May you be ever anchored in it, so that
you can give it to others, to this world of ours so wounded by war and
conflicts, by evil and sin. Never forget: the Lord is with you. He trusts you.
He wants you to be missionary disciples, sustained in times of difficulty and
trial by the prayers of the Virgin Mary and those of the entire Church. Dear
young people of Central Africa, go forth! I am sending you out!
© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Post a Comment