{"id":649,"date":"2016-05-02T17:09:18","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T16:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=649"},"modified":"2016-05-03T17:09:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T16:09:35","slug":"pope-francis-to-teens-love-is-the-christian-identity-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/pope-francis-to-teens-love-is-the-christian-identity-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis to Teens: \u201cLove is the Christian identity card\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the heart of Pope Francis\u2019 message during the Jubilee Mass for Teens, celebrated on Sunday 24th<\/sup> April, was quite simply one word: love.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Pope told the thousands of 13-16 year-olds gathered in St Peter\u2019s Square that \u201clove is the Christian\u2019s identity card, the only valid \u2018document\u2019 identifying us as Christians. If this card expires and is not constantly renewed, we stop being witnesses of the Master\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

He asked the teenagers gathered, \u201cDo you want to experience the love of Jesus? Let us learn from him, for his words are a school of life, a school where we learn to love\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Holy Father noted, however, that although love is beautiful and it is the path to happiness, it is not necessarily an easy path. It is demanding and it requires effort.<\/p>\n

The Lord, Pope Francis stressed, is generous: \u201cHe offers us his faithful friendship, which he will never take back. Even if you disappoint him and walk away from him, Jesus continues to want the best for you and to remain close to you; he believes in you even more than you believe in yourself.\u201d<\/em> This is very important, the Pope continued, because \u201cthe biggest threat to growing up well comes from thinking that no one cares about us, from feeling that we are all alone\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

During his homily, the Pope also warned the teens present to be on their guard against what he called \u201can instinctive desire to \u2018have to have\u2019 what we find pleasing\u201d<\/em>, adding, \u201cour consumerist culture reinforces this tendency\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be content with mediocrity, with \u2018simply going with the flow\u2019, with being comfortable and laid back,\u201d<\/em> the Holy Father said. He also told the teenagers to be sceptical about \u201cpeople who want to make you believe that you are only important if you act tough like the heroes in films or if you wear the latest fashions.\u201d Your happiness, the Pope continued, has no price. \u201cIt cannot be bought: it is not an app that you can download on your phones \u2013 nor will the latest update bring you freedom and grandeur in love\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pope Francis invited those present in St Peter\u2019s Square to be courageous and firm in their decisions, reasoning that it is only by doing this that they will realise their greatest dreams. He added: \u201cif a person of your age can\u2019t dream, they are already in retirement; this serves nothing\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Love does not happen because we talk about it, the Pope emphasised \u2013 \u201cbut when we live it\u201d.<\/em> He also said: \u201cIn the art of climbing, the important thing is not to remain on the ground when you fall\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Holy Father concluded his homily by saying to the teenagers: \u201cyou will do amazing things if you prepare well, starting now, by living your youth and all its gifts to the fullest and without fear of hard work. Be like sporting champions, who attain high goals by quiet daily effort and practice\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the heart of Pope Francis\u2019 message during the Jubilee Mass for Teens, celebrated on Sunday 24th April, was quite simply one word: love. The Pope told the thousands of 13-16 year-olds gathered in St Peter\u2019s Square that \u201clove is the Christian\u2019s identity card, the only valid \u2018document\u2019 identifying us as Christians. If this card […]<\/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":"","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-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","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=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}