Pope Francis reveals to young people the keys to strengthening hope

Pope Francis sent a message to all the young people of the world within the framework of the XXXIX World Youth Day, which will be celebrated in particular Churches on November 24 with the motto “Those who wait in the Lord walk without tiring.” .

In his message, the Holy Father presents young people with some keys to travel “a path of hope” in the face of current tragedies, which can cause sadness and uncertainty about the future.

“The final reward is wonderful”

First of all, the Pontiff highlighted that our life “is a pilgrimage” and a path in search of happiness. Furthermore, for Christians it is “a path to God.”

For this reason, he stressed that those successes that remain in the material realm “leave us longing for a deeper meaning,” since “they do not fully satisfy our soul.”

In this way, he stressed that “seeing life from the balcony” for a young person cannot be enough, and encouraged them to live fully despite the inner fatigue caused by “social pressures”, both at work and in life. staff.

“This produces depression, since we live in the desire of empty activism that leads us to fill the day with thousands of things and, despite this, have the feeling of never doing enough and never measuring up,” he said. .

Faced with this fatigue and boredom, the Holy Father invited young people to “get their hands dirty” and leave their “comfort zone,” stopping seeing “the world behind a screen.”

The solution to this fatigue is, according to Pope Francis, not to stop to rest, but to “get on the road and become pilgrims of hope.”

“This is my exhortation: walk in hope! “Hope conquers all fatigue, all crisis and all anxiety, giving us strong motivation to move forward, because this hope is a gift that we receive from God himself,” he highlighted.

Furthermore, he specified that God “fills all our time with meaning, illuminates us on the path, indicates the direction and goal of our life.”

“Hope is precisely a new strength, which God instills in us, which allows us to persevere on the path, which makes us have a broad view that goes beyond the difficulties of the moment and directs us towards a concrete goal: communion with God and the fullness of eternal life.”

He also insisted that “if there is a grandiose objective, if life is not directed towards nothing, if none of my dreams, projects and achievements will be lost, then it is worth continuing to walk and sweat, enduring obstacles and facing fatigue, because the final reward is wonderful.”

Crises are “periods of purification of hope”

Next, Pope Francis reflected on the feeling of loneliness and moments of crisis, which “are not lost or useless, but can be transformed into important occasions for growth, periods of purification of hope.”

In those moments, according to the Holy Father, “the Lord does not abandon us; He becomes close to us, showing us his fatherhood and always gives us the bread that revives our strength and sets us back on our path.”

Referring to the love of Blessed Carlo Acutis for the Eucharist, he invited young people to rediscover its value and advised in moments of fatigue to “rest the soul”, that is, “rest like Jesus and in Jesus”.

An inner journey like pilgrims without “selfies” and superficiality

Pope Francis encouraged young people especially to “set out, to discover life in the footsteps of love, in search of the face of God.”

“But I recommend this: do not set out as simple tourists, but as pilgrims. May your walk not be simply passing through the places of life in a superficial way: without capturing the beauty of what you find, without discovering the meaning of the paths traveled, capturing brief moments, fleeting experiences to preserve them in a selfie.

On the contrary, he invited them to be pilgrims, those who immerse themselves “fully in the places they find” and who make an “inner journey” to reach the final destination.

In this sense, he expressed his wish that many young people can make a pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Hope 2025 and that they live it with gratitude, search for the Lord and repentance of sins.

“The example of the saints sustains us”

Likewise, he invited them to feel “the Merciful embrace of God” and of the Church”, represented in Bernini’s famous colonnade in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“As we walk, let us raise our eyes, with the gaze of faith turned toward the saints who have preceded us on the path, who have reached the goal and give us their encouraging testimony,” Pope Francis also requested.

Finally, he pointed out that “the example of the saints attracts us and sustains us” and he entrusted their path to the Virgin Mary, so that, following her example, “they know how to wait with patience and confidence for what they expect, remaining on the path like pilgrims.” of hope and love.”