VATICAN - Benedict XVI in Angola (13) - Encounter with young people: “ you are a seed which God has sown in the world, a seed that contains power from on high, the power of the Holy Spirit”

Luanda (Agenzia Fides) - “Meeting young people is good for everyone! You may have your share of difficulties, but you are filled with great hope, great enthusiasm and a great desire to make a new beginning. My young friends, you hold within yourselves the power to shape the future.” With these words, the Holy Father Benedict XVI addressed the crowds of young people gathered in the “Stadio Dos Coquieros” in Luanda, on the afternoon of Saturday, March 21. Recalling the similar encounter held in Luanda on June 7, 1992 with Pope John Paul II, the Pope said: “First of all I want to thank you for this celebration which you have planned for me, for the festive atmosphere which you yourselves generate, for your presence and for your joy...I greet all the young people present, Catholics and others, who are looking for an answer to their questions and difficulties.”
The Pope continued, saying: “Yes, my friends! God makes all the difference… and more! God changes us; he makes us new! This is what he has promised...In ascending to Heaven and entering eternity, Jesus Christ has become the Lord of all ages. So he can walk with us as a friend in the present, carrying in his hand the book of our days. In his hand he also holds the past, the foundation and source of our life. He also carefully holds the future, allowing us to catch a glimpse of the most beautiful dawn we will ever see: the dawn that radiates from him, the dawn of the Resurrection. God is the future of a new humanity, which is anticipated in his Church.”
The Holy Father then addressed the representatives from among the thousands of young Angolans mutilated by war and mines: “I think of the countless tears that have been shed for the loss of your relatives and friends. It is not hard to imagine the dark clouds that still veil the horizon of your fondest hopes and dreams.” He then exhorted them to take confidence in the Word of the Lord and in the power of the Holy Spirit: “See how Jesus does not leave us without an answer; he tells us one thing very clearly: renewal starts from within; you will receive a power from on high. The power to shape the future is within you. It is within you, but how? Just as life exists within a seed. That is how Jesus explained it at a critical juncture in his ministry...deep within the seed, the future is already present, since the seed contains tomorrow’s bread, tomorrow’s life. The seed seems almost nothing. But it is the presence of the future, the promise already present. When it falls on good soil, it produces fruit, thirty, sixty and even a hundredfold.”
The Pope continued: “My dear friends, you are a seed which God has sown in the world, a seed that contains power from on high, the power of the Holy Spirit. And yet, the only way to pass from the promise of life to actually bearing fruit is to give your lives in love, to die for love...This is what Jesus said, and this is how he acted. His crucifixion seems like complete failure, but it is not!...Thus, once he fell to the earth, he could bear fruit in every time and place. In your midst you have the new Bread, the Bread of future life, the Most Holy Eucharist, which nourishes us and pours out the life of the Trinity into the hearts of all people.” In the concluding part of his address, the Holy Father exhorted the youth to “sprout up before the warmth of the Eucharist, in which the Lord’s testament is fulfilled: he gives himself to us and we respond by giving ourselves to others, for love of him.”
In response to a dominant societal culture that does not help in living out Jesus' word or the practice of self-giving, the Pope exhorted the youth not to be afraid to “make definitive decisions,” whether in marriage or in a life of special consecration. “I say to you: Take courage! Dare to make definitive decisions, because in reality these are the only decisions which do not destroy your freedom, but guide it in the right direction, enabling you to move forward and attain something worthwhile in life. There is no doubt about it: life is worthwhile only if you take courage and are ready for adventure, if you trust in the Lord who will never abandon you. Young people of Angola, unleash the power of the Holy Spirit within you, the power from on high!” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 23/3/2009)