Full text: Homily of Pope Leo XIV in the conclusive mass of the Jubilee of Young

At 9.00 (local time), the Holy Father Leo XIV presided over the conclusive Mass of the Jubilee of Young people in the great esplanade of Tor Vergata in southern Rome. Then read the homily that the Holy Father pronounced after the proclamation of the Gospel:

Dear young people:

After the vigil that we live together yesterday afternoon, we meet again today to celebrate the Eucharist, sacrament of the total gift of himself that the Lord has done for us. We can imagine that we travel, in this experience, the road made Easter by the Emaus disciples (cf. Lc 24,13-35).

First they moved away from frightened and disappointed Jerusalem; They were convinced that, after the death of Jesus, there was nothing more to do, nothing to expect. And, on the other hand, they found them precisely with him, they welcomed him as a travel companion, they heard him while explaining the scriptures, and finally recognized him when leaving the bread.

Then, his eyes opened and the joyful Easter announcement found place in their hearts. Today’s liturgy does not speak to us directly about this episode, but it helps us to reflect on what is narrated there: the encounter with the resurrected that changes our existence, which illuminates our affections, desires and thoughts.

The first reading, of the book of Qohélet, invites us to make contact, as the two disciples of which we have spoken, with the experience of our limits, of the finitude of the things that happen (cf. qo 1,2; 2,21-23); And the responsorial psalm, which echoes, proposes the image of “the grass that sprouts in the morning: in the morning sprouts and blooms, and in the afternoon it dries and withers” (Ps 90.5-6).

They are two strong references, perhaps a little shocking, but that should not scare us, as if they were “taboo” arguments, which should be avoided. The fragility of which they speak, in effect, is part of the wonder we are. Let’s think about the grass symbol: isn’t a flowery meadow beautiful?

Certainly, it is delicate, made with thin, vulnerable stems, prone to dry, bend, break; But, at the same time, they are quickly replaced by others that flourish after them; And the former become generously for these food and fertilizer, when consumed in the field. Thus the field lives, renewing continuously, and even during the cold months of winter, when everything seems to shut up, its energy vibrates underground and prepares to explode in thousands of colors during spring.

We also, dear friends, are like that; We have been made for this. Not for a life where everything is firm and safe, but for an existence that is constantly regenerated in the gift, in love. And that is why we continually aspire to a “more” that no created reality can give us; We feel such a big and scoring thirst, that no drink of this world can satisfy.

Let’s not cheat our heart before this thirst, seeking to satisfy it with ineffective substitutes. Rather, let’s hear it. Let us make it a stool to climb and look out, like children, to tiptoe, to the window of the encounter with God. We will find ourselves before him, who awaits us; Rather, he kindly knocks on the door of our soul (cf. Ap 3,20). And it is beautiful, also with twenty years, to open the heart over the heart, allow him to enter, and then venture with him towards the eternal spaces of the infinity.

Saint Augustine, speaking of his intense search for God, wondered: «What is that long -awaited thing (…)? The earth? No. Something that originates on Earth, such as gold, silver, tree, mies, water? (…) All these things cause delight, they are beautiful, they are good ”(Sermon 313/F, 3). And he concluded: “Look for who made them: he is your hope” (Ibid.). Thinking, then, on the path I had traveled, he said saying: «And behold, you were inside me and I was, and on the outside I was looking for you (…). You called and cried out, and you broke my deafness; You shook and glowed, and you scared my blindness; You exhaled your fragrance and breathed, and I already sighed for you; I liked you, and I feel hungry and thirst; You touched me, and I burned in your peace »(Confessions, 10, 27).

They are very beautiful words, which remind us of what Pope Francis said in Lisbon, during the World Youth Day, to other young people like you: «Each is called to confront great questions that do not have (…) a simplistic or immediate response, but invite you to undertake a trip, to overcome themselves, to go beyond (…), to a takeoff without which there is no flight. We do not be alarmed, then, if we are internally thirsty, restless, incomplete, desire for meaning and future (…). We are not sick, we are alive! ” (Speech at the meeting with young university students, August 3, 2023).

There is an important concern in our heart, a need of truth that we cannot ignore, that leads us to ask ourselves: what is happiness really? What is the true taste of life? What frees us from the swamps of the nonsense, boredom and mediocrity?

During the past days you have had many beautiful experiences. They have been found among contemporaries from different parts of the world, belonging to different cultures. They have exchanged knowledge, they have shared expectations, they have talked with the city through art, music, computer science and sport. Then, in the maximum circus, approaching the sacrament of penance, they have received the forgiveness of God and have asked for their help for a good life.

An important response can be deduced from all this: the fullness of our existence does not depend on what we accumulate or what we possess, as we have heard in the Gospel (cf. Lk 12,13-21); Rather, it is linked to what we know how to host and share with joy (cf. Mt 10,8- 10; Jn 6,1-13). Buying, accumulating, consuming is not enough. We need to raise our eyes, look at the top, to the “heavenly things” (Col 3,2), to realize that everything makes sense, among the realities of the world, only to the extent that it serves to unite God and the brothers in charity, making grow in us “feelings of deep compassion, of benevolence, of humility, of sweetness, of patience” (cf. Col 3,12), of forgiveness (cf. Ibid., v. And in this horizon we will better understand what it means that “hope will not be disappointed, because the love of God has been shed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us” (RM 5,5).

Very dear young people, our hope is Jesus. It is he, as Saint John Paul II said, “the one who raises in you the desire to make your life something great, (…) to improve you and society, making it more human and fraternal” (XV World Youth Day, Prayer Vigil, August 19, 2000). Let us stay together with him, we remain in his friendship, always, cultivating it with prayer, worship, Eucharistic communion, frequent confession, generous charity, as the Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis have taught us, which will soon be proclaimed saints. They aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever they are. They do not meet with less.

Then you will see the light of the Gospel grow every day, in yourself and around. I entrust them to Mary, the Virgen de la Esperanza. With their help, when returning to their countries in the next few days, in each part of the world, continue walking with joy after the traces of the Savior, and infect those who find the enthusiasm and testimony of their faith. Good road!