Great Mosaic of Evangelization

World Youth Day 2013 is a little over seven months away, and Pope Benedict XVI is now calling on the young people of the Church to begin meditating on it’s theme: “Go and make disciples of all nations!” (cf. Mt 28:19). “To make Christ known is the most precious gift that you can give to others,” he said in a recent message published in preparation for the gathering in Rio de Janeiro. Young people, especially, have a very important role to play in making Christ known to the world.  

The Holy Father recognizes that, when young people notice difficulties in the world, their first response is to ask what they can do to help. In a world that is hostile to God, or in some places, just apathetic to His presence, young people still have this touching ability to shine the light of faith, which “illumines this darkness.” After Vatican II, Pope Paul VI made a call to young people: “Build with enthusiasm a better world than what we have today!” Pope Benedict encourages young people to do the same, because love “is the only thing that can fill hearts and bring people together.” It gives people the meaning and the joy they are looking for, and it points those lost souls towards a Father who is thirsting for them.

In order to genuinely spread the Gospel, Pope Benedict suggests that young people meet Jesus first. He writes, “Those who come to Jesus and have experienced his love, immediately want to share the beauty of the meeting and the joy born of his friendship.” Jesus Christ is the Good News, and a relationship with Him will give us the unity and the love necessary to go out and make disciples. The Holy Father gives St. Andrew as an example, who immediately after meeting Jesus, ran off to tell his brother Simon (cf. John 1:40-42). An awareness of His presence at all times and openness to His Holy Spirit will give us the words necessary to communicate the Good News.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that this mission to evangelize must be coupled with a better knowledge of the Faith, unity with the Church, a renewed commitment to become familiar with the Word of God, and a strong prayer life centered on the Sacraments. “Authentic evangelization is born of prayer and sustained by prayer,” he writes. He also suggests that young people recognize the broad call to evangelize “all nations,” yet accept the task at a closer level—to focus on bringing the joy of the Good News to those around them. He says:

 Dear friends, open your eyes and look around you. So many young people no longer see any meaning in their lives. Go forth! Christ needs you too. Let yourselves be caught up and drawn along by his love…Some people are far away geographically, but others are far away because their way of life has no place for God. Some people have not yet personally received the Gospel, while others have been given it, but live as if God did not exist. Let us open our hearts to everyone. Let us enter into conversation in simplicity and respect. If this conversation is held in true friendship, it will bear fruit.

This friendship is so important, because when we are close to someone, we know how to love him or her. We desire for our friends to know the hope and joy that we know in the Lord, and it is precisely through this intimate relationship with them that “God can touch their hearts.”

“Let us make God’s desire our own,” Pope Benedict urges, and “Let us never forget that we are links in a great chain of men and women who have transmitted the truth of the faith and who depend on us to pass it on to others.” Regardless of vocation or career, Pope Benedict reminds young people: “Each of you is a precious piece in the great mosaic of evangelization.” Let us pray with Pope Benedict for these young people, then, that they may open their hearts to the New Evangelization.  They are the future of the Church!