Ask Christ ‘what do you want me to do with my life?’ Pope tells youth

Ask Christ ‘what do you want me to do with my life?’ Pope tells youth

Vatican City, Apr 28, 2008 / 10:42 am (CNA).- Every year young people from the Archdiocese of Paris make a pilgrimage and this year’s journey took them to Lourdes. In a letter that Pope Benedict wrote to the youth, he called on them to imitate the ‘yes’ of Mary because this will lead them to true happiness.

Benedict XVI sent the letter to Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois and the youth to mark the 100th anniversary of the annual pilgrimage. This year's pilgrimage, which began on April 22 and concluded April 27, is to Lourdes, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

The generosity of Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel, the Pope began, “led her to experience a joy of which all previous generations had sung".

This “'yes' to God", is what "makes the font of true happiness gush forth” he wrote to the young people.

Saying “yes” to God “frees the 'I' from everything that closes it in on itself. It brings the poverty of our lives into the richness and power of God's plan, without restricting our freedom and our responsibility. ... It conforms our lives to Christ's own life," the Pope added.

The freedom that you will find in God, should lead you to "enthusiastically to celebrate the joy of loving Christ and of believing and hoping in Him, and trustingly to follow the path of initiation you have before you,” Benedict encouraged.

The Holy Father also extended an invitation to the young pilgrims, “I particularly invite you to take up the witness of your ancestors in the faith, and to learn to welcome the Word of God - in silence and meditation - so that it can mould your hearts and produce generous fruits in you".

This pilgrimage, Pope Benedict concludes, "is also a good time to allow yourselves to be asked by Christ: 'What do you want to do with your lives?' May those among you who feel the call to follow Him in the priesthood or in consecrated life - as have so many young participants in these pilgrimages - reply to the Lord's call and put yourselves totally at the service of the Church, with a life completely dedicated to the Kingdom of heaven. You will never be disappointed".

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Pope ordains new priests, tells them to spread Gospel joy

Pope ordains new priests, tells them to spread Gospel joy

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI ordained 29 new priests, including an Iraqi, and told them their mission was to spread Gospel joy.

"To be collaborators in the joy of others in a world that often is sad and negative, the fire of the Gospel must burn within you, the joy of the Lord must dwell within you," the pope said April 27 at the ordination Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Twenty-eight of the new priests were ordained for the Diocese of Rome; the group consisted of 22 Italians and men from France, Haiti, Paraguay, Colombia, Chile and India.

The 29th ordinand was Father Jarjis Robert Sayd, 34, a Baghdad native who will serve the church in Iraq.

Reciting the "Regina Coeli" prayer after Mass with visitors in St. Peter's Square, the pope said that where Christ is preached with the strength of the Holy Spirit and welcomed with open hearts "society, even if it is full of many problems, becomes a 'city of joy.'"

He said the joy and hope that flows from the Gospel is the message he carried with him to the United States April 15-20.

"I thank God because he richly blessed this unique missionary experience of mine, and he allowed me to be an instrument of Christ's hope for that church and that country," he said.

"At the same time, I give thanks because I myself was confirmed in hope by American Catholics; in fact, I found a great vitality and a decisive will to live and witness to faith in Jesus," the pope said.

During the ordination Mass, Pope Benedict asked the new priests to "accept with faith and with love" the prayer of the church and the action of the Holy Spirit making them special participants in the priesthood of Christ.

The pope asked them to let faith and love "impress themselves on your hearts; let them accompany you along the journey of your entire existence."

"Remain faithful to the love of Christ and you will notice with an ever-new joy how his divine word will journey with you and grow in you," the pope told them.

Pope Benedict said they must cultivate "a personal relationship of love" with Christ, giving him the first and greatest place in their lives and allowing that love "to purify, enlighten and sanctify" all their other relationships.

He told them their task was to bring hope and forgiveness to their parishioners, to increase holiness in the church, to help nonbelievers open themselves to God, and to bring peace and comfort to those who are suffering.

"Dear friends, this is your mission: to bring the Gospel to all so that all will experience the joy of Christ and so that there will be joy in every city," he said.

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