date: 26.07.2023.
Beloved!
With joy I address all of you who are participating in the Youth Festival in Medjugorje, which is an opportunity to celebrate and renew your faith. It is my desire that you may live these days as a spiritual pilgrimage which will lead you to an encounter with the Lord in the Eucharist, in Adoration, in Confession, in biblical catechesis, in the silent prayer of the Rosary, but also through the testimonies.
The theme proposed for your reflection this year is: "Here are my mother and my brothers" (Mt 12:49). The evangelist Matthew recounts that while Jesus was speaking to the crowd, He is told that His mother and brothers were standing outside and were looking for Him. Jesus answers with the question: "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" (Mt 12:48). Then, stretching His hand towards His disciples, He said: Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Mt 12:49-50).
We are deeply struck by the gesture and words of Jesus, because at first sight they seem to show a lack of respect for His Mother and relatives. In fact, with this affirmation, He wanted to show us that submitting to the will of the Father, strengthening oneself in union with Him, is a stronger bond than the closest blood relation.
Dear young people, God's will is a priceless treasure! For this reason, the Virgin Mary establishes a kinship with Jesus even before giving birth to Him. She becomes a disciple and a mother of her Son at the moment when she accepts the angel's words by replying: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: may it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). From that moment on, her entire life was a continuous carrying out of God's will.
Nonetheless, we often find ourselves in conflict with this will: sometimes it is difficult for us to understand it and accept it, we would like to have a different life, without challenges, without suffering; we would like ourselves to be different, perhaps more intelligent, richer in instilled talents and gifts. However, there is no better will for us than that of the Father, which is the plan of love for us in view of the perspective of His Kingdom and our full happiness. We are often afraid of this will, because we fear that God might impose something on us by pure chance, and not for our good; we fear that accepting His will would mean to renounce our freedom.
Instead, we must seek diligently - to ask God the Father to grant us to come to know His will and to ask for it be fulfilled in us. It is Jesus who shows us the greatest reason to desire it: carrying out the Father's will makes us His children, brothers, sisters, mothers - and we grow in love for Him and for others.
Dear young people, God has a plan of love for each one of you. Do not be afraid of His will, but put all your trust in His grace. For Him, you are truly precious, you are important to Him, because you are the work of His hands (cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit, 115). Only He knows your heart and your deepest desires.
Only He, who loves you with complete love, is capable of fulfilling your longings. No one except God can give you true happiness. Following Mary's example, know how to give Him your unconditional ‘yes’. May there be no room for egoism or laziness in your life. Take advantage of your youth to build, together with the Lord, the foundations of your existence, because your personal, professional and social future will depend on the decisions you take in these years.
On this journey, beloved young people, may the Most Holy Mother Mary accompany you and teach you to discern and accept the will of the Heavenly Father in your life. Imprint with your youth a sign of hope and enthusiasm in the present moment. Be enthusiastic missionaries of the new evangelization! Bring to those who suffer, to those who are searching, the joy that Jesus wants to give. Bring it to your families, to your schools and colleges, to your workplaces and to your friends wherever you live. If you let God's grace work in you, if you are generous and persevering in your daily work, you will make this world a better place for everyone.
I bless you with all my heart. Please pray for me.
Rome, at San Giovanni Laterano,
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles, June 29th, 2023
