{"id":5431,"date":"2020-03-23T12:10:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T12:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=5431"},"modified":"2020-03-20T17:33:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T17:33:48","slug":"pope-invites-young-people-to-take-a-risk-and-change-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2020\/03\/23\/pope-invites-young-people-to-take-a-risk-and-change-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope invites young people to take a risk and change the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s two years until the next World Youth Day, which will take place in the city of Lisbon in 2022. In that intervening time, Pope Francis is inviting young people to reflect on the themes for the diocesan World Youth Days of 2020 and 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYoung man, I say to you, arise!\u201d is the 2020 theme taken from Luke\u2019s Gospel. 2021 features the biblical text taken from the Acts of the Apostles: \u201cStand up. I appoint you as a witness of what you have seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing his attention on this year\u2019s message, Pope Francis says that for the young person who has lost his or her vitality, dreams, optimism and enthusiasm, there is hope. That hope is in Jesus, who the Pope says, \u201cstands before you as once he stood before the dead son of the widow, and with all the power of His resurrection He urges you: \u2018Young man, I say to you, arise.\u2019\u201d That passage in the Bible, the Pope explains, \u201ctells us how Jesus, upon entering the town of Nain in Galilee, came upon the funeral procession of a young person, the only son of a widowed mother. Jesus, struck by the woman\u2019s heartrending grief, miraculously restored her son to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the message, Pope Francis reflects on Jesus\u2019s \u201cability to see pain and death.\u201d He points out that Jesus, \u201cin the midst of the crowd, makes out the face of a woman in great pain. His ability to see generates encounter, the source of new life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world the Pope asks, \u201chow often do we end up being eyewitnesses of events without ever experiencing them in real time?\u201d Sometimes \u201cour first reaction is to take a picture with our cell phone, without even bothering to look into the eyes of the persons involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis goes on to say that many young people \u201cfeel hopeless.\u201d Others, he continues, \u201cwaste their lives with superficial things, thinking they are alive while in fact they are dead within.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNegative situations can also be the result of personal failure, whenever something we care about, something we were committed to, no longer seems to be working or giving the desired results.\u201d But failures, he underlines, \u201care part of the life of every human being; sometimes they can also end up being a grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pope says to continue \u201cto have compassion.\u201d He counsels young people not to be robbed of this sensitivity. \u201cIf you can learn to weep with those who are weeping, you will find true happiness. So many of your contemporaries are disadvantaged and victims of violence and persecution. Let their wounds become your own, and you will be bearers of hope in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis goes on to says that \u201cif you can feel God\u2019s immense love for every living creature \u2013 especially our brothers and sisters who experience hunger and thirst, or are sick or naked or imprisoned \u2013 then you will be able to draw near to them as He does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis writes that \u201cpeople who are not on a journey never fall; then again, neither do they move forward. This life is really a new creation, a new birth, not just a form of psychological conditioning.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also stresses that young people need to look deeper than mere fashionable phrases and words. It is Jesus\u2019s Word, he says, that has a deeper resonance, because \u201cit goes infinitely deeper. It is a divine and creative Word, which alone can bring the dead to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talking about \u201cliving the new life as \u2018risen ones,\u2019\u201d Pope Francis returns to the Gospel passage which recounts that the young man \u201cbegan to speak.\u201d Those touched and restored to life by Jesus, the Pope says, \u201cimmediately speak up and express without hesitation or fear what has happened deep within them: their personality, desires, needs and dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concluding his message, the Pope points out that today, \u201cwe are often \u2018connected\u2019 but not communicating. The indiscriminate use of electronic devices can keep us constantly glued to the screen.\u201d With this message, Pope Francis writes, \u201cI would like to join you, young people, in calling for a cultural change, based on Jesus\u2019s command to \u2018arise\u2019. He calls us to embrace a reality that is so much more than virtual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArise!\u201d he adds, is also an invitation to \u201cdream,\u201d to \u201ctake a risk,\u201d to be \u201ccommitted to changing the world, to rekindle your hopes and aspirations, and to contemplate the heavens, the stars and the world around you.\u201d The Pope then invites young people to \u201cgive their passions and dreams free rein, and, through them, offer the world, the Church and other young people something beautiful, whether in the realm of the spirit, the arts or society\u2026 Make your voices heard.\u201d Diocesan World Youth Day 2020 is marked on Palm Sunday, April 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s two years until the next World Youth Day, which will take place in the city of Lisbon in 2022. In that intervening time, Pope Francis is inviting young people to reflect on the themes for the diocesan World Youth Days of 2020 and 2021. \u201cYoung man, I say to you, arise!\u201d is the 2020 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}