Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment

PRAYER VIGIL WITH YOUNG ITALIANS

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

Circus Maximus
Saturday, 11 August 2018

Dialogue with the young

Greeting of the Holy Father

DIALOGUE OF THE HOLY FATHER WITH THE YOUNG

Letizia, age 23, and Lucamatteo, age 21, expressed their perplexity concerning two aspects of the same issue: building personal identity and realizing one’s dreams. The young woman, a university student, recalled that when she had to make the important choice of what to do after high school, she was afraid to share what she really dreamt of becoming, but then decided to trust in the opinions of several adults whose professions and choices she admired. In particular she turned to her art teacher, whom she held in the highest regard, who taught her the things she was most passionate about. She told him that she wanted to follow his path, to become like him, but he told her that it was no longer as it used to be, that times had changed, that there was a crisis, that she wouldn’t find work, and that she should study economics instead. This was a great disappointment: Letizia felt betrayed, but in the end she chose her path and now she studies art. Then she spoke about her experience as a teacher in the parish youth centre, where one of the youngest girls in her group told Letizia that she trusted her, admired her choices and considered her a model she would like to imitate. Only then did she consciously decide to become an educator; she would not be like that disloyal adult who had disappointed her, but would give her time and energy to her passion, with all the sacrifice this might entail. Lucamatteo referred to the future that young people often imagine as grey, dark, threatening, or they compare it to a blank slate, where there is nothing. Indeed, he explained, when young people try to plan the future, they begin with a great project, like a great fresco from which, unfortunately, fearing the judgment of others, they later remove some details, and their plans and dreams become smaller than what they had started out to be. And in the end they wind up creating something they don’t always like, or that is not in line with their expectations.

Good evening, I’ll tell you the truth: I knew the questions and I drafted my responses, but also — hearing them — I would add something spontaneously. Because the way they asked the questions goes beyond what was written.

Letizia, you said a very important word, which is “dream”. And both of you said another very important thing: “fear”. These two words will enlighten us somewhat.

Dreams are important. They keep our view broad; they help us to embrace the horizon, to cultivate hope in every daily action. And the dreams of young people are the most important of all. A young person who cannot dream is an anaesthetized young person; he or she cannot understand life, the power of life. Dreams awaken you; they sweep you away; they are the most luminous stars, those that indicate a different path for humanity. So, dear young people, you have these brilliant stars, which are your dreams, in your heart: they are your responsibility and your treasure. Make them also be your future! This is the work you must do: to transform today’s dreams into the reality of the future, and for this it takes courage, as we heard from both [Letizia and Lucamatteo]. They told the young woman: “No, no: study economics because with [the arts] you will die of hunger”, and to the young man: “yes, the plan is good but let’s remove this piece and this one and this one...”, and in the end there is nothing left. No! Carry on with courage, courage in the face of resistance, of difficulties, of all that extinguishes our dreams.

Of course, dreams are to be nurtured, to be purified, to be put to the test and also to be shared. But have you ever asked where your dreams come from? Where do my dreams come from? Are they born from watching television? From listening to a friend? From daydreaming? Are they big dreams or small, meager dreams that settle for less? Dreams of comfort, dreams of only wellbeing: “No, no, I’m fine like this, I won’t go further”. But these dreams will make you perish in life! They will make nothing great of your life! Dreams of tranquility, dreams that lull young people to sleep and make a courageous young person become a couch potato. It is sad to see young people on the couch, watching as life passes before them. Young people — as I have said many times — without dreams, who retire at 20, 22 years old: what an awful thing, a young person in retirement! Instead, the young who dream great things go forward, they do not go into early retirement. Is that understood? Like this, young people.

The Bible tells us that great dreams are those capable of being fruitful, capable of sowing peace, of sowing fraternity, of sowing joy, like today: here, these are great dreams because they consider everyone as ‘we’. Once, a priest asked me: “Tell me, what is the opposite of ‘I’”. And I naively fell into the trap and said “the opposite of ‘I’ is ‘you’” — “No, Father: this is the seed of war. The opposite of ‘I’ is ‘we’”. If I say: the opposite is ‘you’, I create war; if I say that the opposite of selfishness is ‘we’, I make peace; I create community, I bring forth the dreams of friendship, of peace. Consider: true dreams are the dreams of ‘we’. Great dreams include, involve, are extroverted, share, create new life. And great dreams, to remain so, need an inexhaustible source of hope, of an Infinite that blows within and expands them. Great dreams need God so as not to become mirages or delusions of omnipotence. You can dream great things, but by yourself it is dangerous, because you can fall into the delirium of omnipotence. But with God do not fear: go forward. Dream big.

And then, the word the two of you used: “fear”. Do you know? The dreams of the young frighten adults somewhat. They frighten, because when a young person dreams, he or she goes a long way. Maybe because [the adults] have stopped dreaming and taking risks. So often life makes adults stop dreaming, stop taking risks; perhaps because your dreams call their life choices into question, dreams that cause you to be critics, to criticize them. But do not let yourselves be robbed of your dreams. There is a young man, here in Italy, 20, 22 years old, who began to dream and to dream big. And his father, a great businessman, tried to convince him, and he said: “No, I want to dream. I dream what I feel inside”. And in the end, he left, to dream. And his father followed him. And that young man took refuge in the bishop’s house, removed his clothes, gave them to his father [and said]: “Let me go on my path”. This young man, a 13th century Italian, was called Francis, and he changed the history of Italy. Francis took risks in order to dream big; he did not know the frontier and he ended his life dreaming. Let us think: he was a young man like us. But how he dreamed! They said he was crazy because he dreamed like this. And he did so much good and continues to do so. Young people frighten adults somewhat because adults have stopped dreaming; they have stopped taking risks; they have settled down comfortably. But, as I told you, do not let yourselves be robbed of your dreams. “And Father, how do I keep from being robbed of my dreams?”. Look for good teachers capable of helping you to understand [your dreams] and to make them tangible gradually and calmly. In your turn, be good teachers, teachers of hope and faith for the new generations who are at your heels. “But how? Can I become a teacher?”. Yes, young people who are able to dream become teachers through their witness. Because it is a witness that stirs, that moves hearts and shows the ideals that current life covers up. Do not stop dreaming, and teach others how to dream. Dreams are a great force. “Father, where can I buy pills that will make me dream?”. No, not that! Those do not make you dream: those lull the heart to sleep! They burn your neurons. They ruin your life. “And where can I buy dreams?”. Dreams cannot be bought. Dreams are a gift, a gift from God, a gift that God sows in your hearts. Dreams are given to us freely, but so that we may also give them freely to others. Offer your dreams: no one, by taking them, will impoverish you. Offer them freely to others.

Dear young people, say ‘no’ to fear. What that teacher told you! Was he afraid? Yes, perhaps he was afraid; but he had settled down; he was at ease. But why did he not want a girl to go her own way? He scared you. And what did he tell you? “Study economics: you will earn more”. This is a trap, the trap of having, of settling into wellbeing and not being a pilgrim on the path of our dreams. Boys and girls, be pilgrims on the path of your dreams. Take risks on that path: do not be afraid. Take risks because it will be you who achieve your dreams, because life is not a lottery: life is achieved. And we all have the ability to do so.

Saint Pope John xxiii said: “I never met a pessimist who concluded something good” (Sergio Zavoli’s interview of Msgr Capovilla in Jesus, n. 6, 2000). We have to learn this, because it will help us in life. Pessimism brings you down; it does not let you do anything. And fear makes you a pessimist. No pessimism. Take risks, dream and go forward.

The second question was asked by 24-year-old Martina and dealt with discernment in life and the idea of commitment and responsibility in today’s world. Her question was inspired by one of her teacher’s comments that made her reflect on how today’s young people are not even able to choose a programme on tv, much less commit themselves to a lifelong relationship. She confided that it is hard for her to say she is engaged, and instead prefers to say she “is with...”. It seems easier to her; it entails less responsibility, but deep down, Martina strongly feels the desire to be committed to planning and building a life with her fiancé. So she asked why the desire to weave authentic relationships, the dream of forming a family, are considered less important than others and must be subordinated to seeking professional achievement. In fact she perceives that adults expect this from her: that first she begin a profession, then start to be a ‘person’. Instead, she noted, young people need adults who remember how beautiful it is to dream as a couple; adults who wait patiently, being close to young people and in this way teaching them the patience of support; who listen to them in depth and teach them how to listen, rather than always needing to be right; they need enthusiastic and supportive points of reference. Moreover, she observed, it is rare to find adults who are truly stimulating. They are losing their sense of society, of mutual help, of commitment to the world and relationships. An issue that sometimes also affects priests and educators. Moreover, she concluded, it is always worthwhile to be mothers, fathers, friends, brothers and sisters ... for life! And she does not want to stop believing it!

Martina is brave, isn’t she? She shakes us off balance, and also speaks with fire! I would want to ask her, if perhaps she is the niece of Saint John Chrysostom because of how she speaks, so forcefully!

Choosing, being able to decide for yourself seems to be the highest expression of freedom. Choosing and being able to decide for yourself. And in a certain sense it is. But the idea of choice that we are expressing today is an idea of unfettered freedom, without commitments and always with an escape route: an “I choose, but...”. She put her finger in the wound: choosing that person for a lifetime, the choice of love.... There too we can say: “I choose, but not now; when I finish my studies”, for example. The “I choose, but”: that ‘but’ stops us, does not let us go, does not let us dream, takes away our freedom. There is always a ‘but’, which at times becomes bigger than the choice and smothers it. It is how freedom is crushed and no longer maintains its promises of life and happiness. And therefore we conclude that even freedom is a scam and that happiness does not exist.

Dear young people, the freedom of each of us is a great gift, a gift that has been given to you and that you must safeguard in order to make it grow, to make freedom grow, to make it develop. Freedom does not allow for half measures. And [Martina] aimed for the greatest of freedoms, which is the freedom of love. Why do I have to finish my university career before thinking about love? Love comes when it wants — true love. Is it a little dangerous to speak to young people about love? No, it is not dangerous. Because young people know very well when there is true love and when there is just a simple enthusiasm disguised as love. You recognize this well. You are not fools! And for this reason, we have the courage to speak about love.

Love is not a profession. Love is life and if love comes today, why do we have to wait three, four, five years to make it grow and to make it stable? In this matter, I ask that parents help young people mature when there is love; let the love mature; do not push it off till later and say: “no because if you marry now, then come the children and you will not be able to have a career and after all the effort we have made for you”. We all hear this story.... However, in life, we must always put love in first place, but real love. And there you must learn to discern: when there is real love and where there is simply enthusiasm. “Why do I find it hard” — she said — “to say that I am engaged?”; that is, to show, to reveal my life’s new i.d. card? Because it is all a world of conditioning. But there is another thing that is very important: “But do you want to get married?” — “We do something: you go ahead this way; you pretend not to love; you study, and then you begin living a double life”. Love’s greatest enemy is the double life. Do you understand? Or should I be clearer? Love’s greatest enemy is not just refusing to let it grow now, waiting to finish a career, but also leading a double life because if you begin to love the double life, love is lost; love leaves. Why do I say this? Because in real love, the man has one task and the woman has another task. Do you know what is the greatest task of men and women in real love? Do you know? Completeness. Love does not allow for half measures: all or nothing. And in order to make this love grow, one must avoid short cuts. Love must be sincere, open and brave. In love, you have to “throw all the meat on the fire”: that is what we say in Argentina.

There is one thing in the Bible which deeply strikes me. At the end of the Creation of the world, it says that God created man in His own image and likeness and it says that He created them “male and female in His image and likeness”. This is love. When you see a marriage, a couple made up of a man and a woman, who go forward in a life of love, there is the image and likeness of God. What is God like? Like that marriage. This is the image and likeness of God. It does not say that man is the image and likeness of God, that woman is the image and likeness of God. No: both, together, are the image and likeness of God. And then it continues in the new Testament: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh”. This is love. And what is the task of man in love? To make his wife or fiancée more ‘woman’. And what is the task of women in marriage? To make their husband or fiancé more ‘man’. It is a job for two people growing together. But man cannot grow alone in marriage if his wife does not let him grow, and the woman cannot grow in marriage if her husband does not let her grow. And this is the unity and the meaning of “one flesh”: they become “one” because one makes the other grow. This is the ideal of love and marriage.

Do you think that when such an ideal is truly felt, when it is mature, it should be postponed for other interests? No, it should not. One must take risks in love, but in real love — not the love-like enthusiasm disguised as love.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves, where is my love? Where is my treasure? Where is the thing that I hold most precious in life? Jesus speaks of a man who had sold everything he owned, in order to buy a precious pearl of great value. This is love: to sell everything to buy this precious pearl of great value. Everything. This is why love is faithful. When there is infidelity, there is no love; or it is a sick love or a small one that does not grow. Selling everything for one thing alone. Think carefully about love. Think about it seriously. Do not be afraid to think about love, but about the love that takes risks, faithful love, love that makes the other grow and in which you grow reciprocally. Think about fruitful love.

Here, as I [was being driven around the arena], I noticed children in their parents’ arms: this is the fruit of love, true love. Take a risk on love!

The third and last question was posed by 27-year-old Dario, a palliative care nurse; it dealt with the topic of faith and the search for meaning. He confided that in life, there have been rare moments in which he has been confronted with faith, and that in those times, he has understood that there are more doubts than certainties and that questions have answers that are not very concrete or plausible. He realizes that one should spend more time on them, but he observed that it is difficult amid the thousands of everyday concerns, just as it is not easy to find a guide who has the time to discuss such matters and seek the true answers. Dario then touched upon the greater questions: How is it possible that a good God can permit the world’s injustices and why do the poor and marginalized have to suffer so much? After all, in his line of work he confronts death on a daily basis, and seeing young mothers or fathers abandon their children causes him to ask why God allows this. Moreover, he added, the Church seems ever more distant and closed off in her rituals. For young people, “orders” from above are no longer enough. They need some proof and a sincere witness from a Church capable of accompanying them and of listening to the doubts that this generation expresses daily. What’s more, the pointless ostentation and frequent scandals weaken the Church’s credibility in the eyes of the young.

Dario has rubbed salt on the wound and repeated the word ‘why’ several times. Not all ‘whys’ have a reply. Why do children suffer, for example? Who can explain this to me? We do not have an answer. We can only find something in looking to Christ Crucified and his Mother: There, we will find a path to feel something in our hearts that may be an answer. In the ‘Our Father’ prayer, (cf. Mt 6:13) there is a request: “lead us not into temptation”. This translation, in Italian, was recently adjusted to the precise translation of the original text because it could sound ambiguous. Can God the Father “lead” us into temptation? Can he deceive his children? Of course not. And for this reason, the true translation is: “Abandon us not in temptation”. Keep us from doing evil, free us from evil thoughts.... At times, words, even when they speak of God, betray his message of love. Sometimes, it is we who betray the Gospel. And [Dario] spoke about betraying the Gospel: “the Church that proclaims the Word of God on earth seems ever more distant and closed off in her rituals”. What he said is powerful. It is a judgment of us all and also in particular, of — let us put it this way — pastors: a judgement of us, consecrated men and women. He told us that we are ever more distant and closed off in our rituals. Let us listen to this with respect. It is not always so, but it is true at times. For young people, ‘orders’ from above are no longer enough: “We need some proof and sincere witness to accompany us and listen to us regarding the doubts that our generation expresses daily”. And he asks all of us, pastors and faithful, to accompany, listen and bear witness. If I, a Christian, whether a faithful layman, a faithful laywoman, a priest, a sister, a bishop, if we Christians do not learn to listen to the suffering, to listen to problems, to be silent and let others speak and listen, we will never be able to give a positive response. And many times, positive answers cannot be given in words. They must be given by risking oneself in bearing witness. Where there is no witness, there is no Holy Spirit. This is serious.

It used to be said of early Christians: “look at how they love each other”. Because people could see their witness. They knew how to listen and furthermore, they lived according to the Gospel. Being Christian is not a status of life, a qualified status: “I thank you Lord because I am Christian and I am not like the others who do not believe in you”. Do you like this prayer? (They reply: ‘no’). This is the prayer of the Pharisee, the hypocrite: this is how hypocrites pray. “But poor people, they do not understand anything. They did not go to catechism. They did not attend a Catholic college. They did not attend a Catholic university ... but, they are poor people...”. Is this Christian? Is it Christian or not? (They reply: ‘no’). No! This is scandalous! This is sin! “Thank you Lord because I am not like the others: I attend Mass every Sunday. I do this. I have an ordered life. I go to confession. I am not like the others...”. Is this Christian? (They reply: ‘no’) No. We must choose to be witnesses. Once, at lunch with young people in Krakow, a young man said to me: I have a problem at university because I have a friend who is agnostic. Tell me Father, what should I say to this agnostic classmate to make him understand that ours is the true religion?”. I said to him: “My dear fellow, the last thing that you should do is say something. Begin by living like a Christian and he will be the one to ask you why you live that way”.

Dario continued: “the pointless ostentation and frequent scandals weaken the Church’s credibility in our eyes. Holy Father, through what eyes can we interpret all this?”. The scandal of a formal Church, one that does not witness; the scandal of a closed Church because she does not go forth. He has to come out of himself every day, whether he is happy or sad, but he must go out to caress the sick, to provide the palliative care that makes their passage to eternity less painful. And he knows what it means to come out of himself and to go towards others, to go beyond secure borders. In Revelation, there is a passage in which Jesus says: “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him”. Jesus wants to come in to us. But I think of the many times that Jesus knocks on our door, but from the inside, so that we can let him out, because many times, without our witness, we keep him a prisoner of our formalities, our closure, our selfishness, our clerical way of living. And clericalism is not just of the clergy. It is an attitude that touches all of us. Clericalism is a perversion of the Church. Jesus teaches us this path of going out of ourselves, the path of witnessing. And this is the scandal — because we are sinners! — not coming out of ourselves to bear witness.

I invite all of you to ask — Dario or anyone else — that one do this work, that one be able to come out of oneself to bear witness. And then, reflect. When I say that “the Church does not bear witness”, can I also say this about myself? Do I bear witness? He can say it because he bears witness every day with the sick. But can I say it? Can any of us criticize that priest, that bishop or that other Christian, if we are not capable of coming out of ourselves to witness?

Dear young people — and this is the last thing I will say — without witness, the Church, Jesus’ message, is just smoke.

GREETING OF THE HOLY FATHER

Dear Young People,

Thank you for this prayer meeting, in view of the upcoming Synod of Bishops.

I also thank you because this event was preceded by many interwoven journeys on which you have become pilgrims, along with your bishops and priests, following Italy’s roads and pathways, amid treasures of culture and faith that your forefathers have bequeathed to you. You have passed through the places where people live and work, rich in vitality and marked by struggles, in cities as well as in remote towns and villages. I hope you have breathed in deeply the joys and the difficulties, the life and faith of the Italian people.

In the Gospel passage we have heard (cf. Jn 20:1-8), John recounts to us that unimaginable morning that forever changed human history. Let us imagine that morning: in the first light of dawn on the day after the Sabbath, near Jesus’ tomb, everyone sets off running. Mary Magdalene runs to inform the disciples; Peter and John run toward the sepulchre.... Everyone runs, everyone feels the urgent need to move: there is no time to lose; they must make haste.... As Mary had done — do you remember? — as soon as she had conceived Jesus, going to help Elizabeth.

We have many reasons to run, often just because there are so many things to do and there is never enough time. At times we rush because something new, beautiful, interesting attracts us. To the contrary, at times we run to escape from a threat, from danger....

Jesus’ disciples run because they have received the news that Jesus’ body has disappeared from the tomb. The hearts of Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and John are full of love and beat fervently after the separation that seemed definitive. Perhaps the hope of seeing the Lord’s face again is rekindled in them! As on that first day when he had promised: “Come and see” (Jn 1:39). The one who runs the fastest is John, certainly because he is the youngest, but also because he has not ceased hoping after he had seen, with his own eyes, Jesus die on the Cross; and also because he had been close to Mary, and thus he was ‘infected’ by her faith. When we feel that faith is waning or is lukewarm, let us go to her, Mary, and she will teach us; she will understand us; she will help us feel faith.

Since that morning, dear young people, history has never been the same. That morning changed history. The hour in which death seemed to triumph, actually the hour of its defeat is revealed. Not even that heavy boulder, placed in front of the sepulchre, withstood it. And since that dawn of the first day after the Sabbath, every place in which life is oppressed, every space in which violence, war, misery dominate, there, where man is humiliated and downtrodden, in that place, a hope of life can still be rekindled.

Dear friends, you have set out on a journey and you have come to this meeting. And now it is my joy to hear that your hearts beat with love for Jesus, as did those of Mary of Magdala, Peter and John. And since you are young, I, like Peter, am happy to see you run faster, like John, impelled by the beating of your heart, sensitive to the voice of the Spirit who animates your dreams. Therefore I tell you: do not be content with the prudent pace of those who line up at the end of the queue. Do not be content with the prudent pace of those who line up at the end of the queue. It takes courage to risk a leap forward, a bold and fearless stride to dream and, like Jesus, to realize the Kingdom of God, and to commit yourself to a more fraternal humanity. We need fraternity: take a risk, go forward!

I will be happy to see you running faster — attracted by that most beloved Face that we adore in the Holy Eucharist and recognize in the flesh of a suffering brother or sister — than those in the Church who are rather slow and fearful. May the Holy Spirit encourage you in this race forward. The Church needs your enthusiasm, your intuition, your faith. We need it! And when you arrive where we have not yet come, may you have the patience to wait for us, as John awaited Peter before the empty tomb. And another thing: by walking together, in these days, you have experienced how much effort it takes to welcome a brother or sister who is beside me, but also how much joy his or her presence can give me, if I receive it in my life without prejudice and closure. Walking alone allows one to be unfettered by everything, perhaps faster; but walking together makes us become a people, the People of God. The People of God who give us certainty, the certainty of membership in the People of God.... And with the People of God we feel secure; within the People of God, in your belonging to the People of God, you have identity. An African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, run alone. If you want to go slow, go together with someone”.

The Gospel says that Peter was the first to enter the sepulchre and see the cloths on the ground and the shroud rolled up in a place by itself. Then, the other disciple entered and — the Gospel says — “he saw and believed” (v. 8). This pair of verbs is very important: to see and to believe. Throughout the Gospel of John it is recounted that seeing the signs that Jesus performed, the disciples believed in Him. To see and believe. What signs does this refer to? That of the water transformed into wine at the wedding; of several sick people healed; of a man born blind who acquired sight; of a great multitude satiated by five loaves and two fish; of the resurrection of his friend Lazarus, dead for four days. In all these signs Jesus reveals the invisible face of God.

What shines through from the signs of Jesus is not the representation of sublime divine perfection, but the story of human frailty which meets the Grace that uplifts. There is the wounded humanity that is healed by the encounter with Him; there is the fallen man who finds an outstretched hand to take hold of; there is the wonder of the defeated who discover a hope of redemption. And when John enters Jesus’ sepulchre, he carries in his eyes and in his heart those signs performed by Jesus, who immersed himself in the human drama so as to raise it. Dear young people, Jesus Christ is not a hero immune from death, but the One who transforms it with the gift of his life. And that carefully folded sheet means that he will never need it again: death no longer has power over him.

Dear young people, is it possible to encounter Life in places where death reigns? Yes, it is possible. One might answer ‘no’, that it is better to steer clear, to distance oneself. Yet this is the revolutionary novelty of the Gospel: Christ’s empty tomb becomes the ultimate sign in which the definitive victory of Life shines. And so let us not be afraid! Let us not avoid places of suffering, of defeat, of death. God has given us a power greater than all the injustices and frailties of history, greater than our sin: Jesus conquered death by giving his life for us. And he sends us to proclaim to our brothers and sisters that he is Risen; he is Lord; and he gives us his Spirit so as to sow with him the Kingdom of God. That Easter Sunday morning changed history: let us have courage!

How many tombs — so to speak — await our visit today! How many wounded people, even young people, have sealed their suffering ‘by putting’ — as they say — ‘a stone over it’. With the power of the Spirit and the Word of Jesus we can move those boulders aside and let rays of light enter those dark nooks and crannies.

The journey to come to Rome was beautiful and tiring; consider, how much effort, but how much beauty! But the return journey to your homes, to your towns, and to your communities will be just as beautiful and demanding. May you travel it with the faith and the energy of John, the ‘beloved disciple’. Yes, the secret is all there, in being and in knowing how to be ‘loved’ by Him, Jesus, the Lord; he loves us! And may each one of us, returning home, bear this in heart and in mind: Jesus, the Lord, loves me. I am loved. Feeling the tenderness of Jesus who loves me. Undertaking with courage and with joy the journey home, may you make your way with the awareness of being loved by Jesus. Then, with this love, life becomes a good journey, without worry, without fear — that word that destroys us. Without worry and without fear. A journey toward Jesus and toward brothers and sisters, with the heart full of love, faith and joy. May you go forth in this way!

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