Pope Leo XIV: “You are all pilgrims of hope, and you come to meet thousands of other young people to celebrate the Jubilee together. When I see you, I also think of your families and the many people in your parish communities who have surely helped you, with great sacrifice and hard work, to make this long-awaited trip possible.”
Pope Leo XIV addresses Jubilee Youth from Peru
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you.
Thank you very much. Happy Independence Day to all Peruvians!
Dear young people:
I welcome you to this house of Peter, where you come as pilgrims of hope. You are all pilgrims of hope, and you come to meet thousands of other young people to celebrate the Jubilee together. When I see you, I also think of your families and the many people in your parish communities who have surely helped you, with great sacrifice and hard work, to make this long-awaited trip possible. I greet you all with gratitude and joy.
On the eve of this event so important for young people throughout the world, today’s Gospel at Mass enlightens us in a special way. There are two parables that help us on our Christian journey: the first speaks of a tiny mustard seed and the second of a little yeast (cf. Mt 13:31-35). As we can see, these are two elements that we might consider almost insignificant; however, with the life force they carry within them, they can transform, grow, and ultimately serve the purpose for which they were created.
We too are small, but we are not alone; the Lord has wanted us to be part of a large family, the family of the Church. Incorporated into it in Christ, like the clusters to the vine, we can grow and bear fruit, aided by the grace of the Lord. St. Augustine speaks of these two parables when commenting on one of the psalms, Psalm 68, and he also expresses that power of the small, which when it grows takes root in a people, the people of God that spreads throughout the earth (cf. Commentary on Psalm 68, I, 1).
In these days of joy during the Youth Jubilee, all of you will have the beautiful experience of feeling part of the people of God, part of the universal Church, which encompasses and embraces the whole earth, without distinction of race, language, or nation, spreading like the mustard bush and fermenting like yeast.
Dear young people, I would like you to keep everything you experience during these days in your hearts forever, but do not keep it only for yourselves. This is very important: what you are going to experience here should not be only for yourselves. We have to learn to share. Please, don’t let all this remain only as a memory, only as some nice photos, only as something from the past. I would like you, when you return to Peru, to flood those lands with the joy and strength of the Gospel, with the Good News of Jesus Christ. May all the people you meet see in you the face of Christ who loves and gives himself, who is still present in every baptized person. Therefore, love and serve freely, in everyday life, in small things, in hidden ways, because you have experienced the joy of being loved first, and because you have received everything freely from our Father God.
The backpacks that will accompany you during these days, carrying only the essentials, are a sign of the mission that the Pope entrusts to you today: be missionaries wherever you go, be transparent to the presence of the Lord, as our beloved Peruvian saints were. You know that Pope Francis always spoke of Peru as a “land of saints,” so many saints, but not only from the past, saints also from today and tomorrow.
May God bless you and may Our Lady of Evangelization always protect you. Thank you.
[Blessing]
Long live Christ!
[Translated by DeepL.com)
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