PASTORAL VISIT
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
IN POLAND
GREETING OF THE HOLY FATHER
MEETING WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE
Kraków-Błonie
27 May
2006
Dear Young Friends,
I offer all of you my
warmest welcome! Your presence makes me happy. I thank the Lord for
this cordial meeting. We know that “where two or three are gathered
in the name of Jesus, he is in their midst” (cf. Mt 18:20). Today,
you are much more numerous! Accordingly, Jesus is here with us. He
is present among the young people of Poland, speaking to them of a
house that will never collapse because it is built on the rock. This
is the Gospel that we have just heard (cf. Mt 7:24-27).
My friends, in the heart of
every man there is the desire for a house. Even more so in the young
person’s heart there is a great longing for a proper house, a stable
house, one to which he can not only return with joy, but where every
guest who arrives can be joyfully welcomed. There is a yearning for
a house where the daily bread is love, pardon and understanding. It
is a place where the truth is the source out of which flows peace of
heart. There is a longing for a house you can be proud of, where you
need not be ashamed and where you never fear its loss. These
longings are simply the desire for a full, happy and successful
life. Do not be afraid of this desire! Do not run away from this
desire! Do not be discouraged at the sight of crumbling houses,
frustrated desires and faded longings. God the Creator, who inspires
in young hearts an immense yearning for happiness, will not abandon
you in the difficult construction of the house called life.
My friends, this brings
about a question: “How do we build this house?” Without doubt, this
is a question that you have already faced many times and that you
will face many times more. Every day you must look into your heart
and ask: “How do I build that house called life?” Jesus, whose words
we just heard in the passage from the evangelist Matthew, encourages
us to build on the rock. In fact, it is only in this way that the
house will not crumble. But what does it mean to build a house on
the rock? Building on the rock means, first of all, to build on
Christ and with Christ. Jesus says: “Every one then who hears these
words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his
house upon the rock” (Mt 7:24). These are not just the empty words
of some person or another; these are the words of Jesus. We are not
listening to any person: we are listening to Jesus. We are not asked
to commit to just anything; we are asked to commit ourselves to the
words of Jesus.
To build on Christ and with
Christ means to build on a foundation that is called “crucified
love”. It means to build with Someone who, knowing us better than we
know ourselves, says to us: “You are precious in my eyes and
honoured, and I love you” (Is 43:4). It means to build with Someone,
who is always faithful, even when we are lacking in faith, because
he cannot deny himself (cf. 2 Tim 2:13). It means to build with
Someone who constantly looks down on the wounded heart of man and
says: “ I do not condemn you, go and do not sin again” (cf. Jn
8:11). It means to build with Someone who, from the Cross, extends
his arms and repeats for all eternity: “O man, I give my life for
you because I love you.” In short, building on Christ means basing
all your desires, aspirations, dreams, ambitions and plans on his
will. It means saying to yourself, to your family, to your friends,
to the whole world and, above all to Christ: “Lord, in life I wish
to do nothing against you, because you know what is best for me.
Only you have the words of eternal life” (cf. Jn 6:68). My friends,
do not be afraid to lean on Christ! Long for Christ, as the
foundation of your life! Enkindle within you the desire to build
your life on him and for him! Because no one who depends on the
crucified love of the Incarnate Word can ever lose.
To build on the rock means
to build on Christ and with Christ, who is the rock. In the First
Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul, speaking of the journey of
the chosen people through the desert, explains that all “drank from
the supernatural rock, which followed them, and the rock was Christ”
(1 Cor 10:4). The fathers of the Chosen People certainly did not
know that the rock was Christ. They were not aware of being
accompanied by him who in the fulness of time would become incarnate
and take on a human body. They did not need to understand that their
thirst would be satiated by the very Source of life, capable of
offering the living water which quenches every heart. Nonetheless,
they drank from this spiritual rock that is Christ, because they
yearned for this living water, and needed it. On the road of life we
may sometimes not be aware of Jesus’ presence. However, it is really
this presence, living and true, in the work of creation, in the Word
of God and in the Eucharist, in the community of believers and in
every man redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ, which is the
inexhaustible source of human strength. Jesus of Nazareth, God made
Man, is beside us during the good times and the bad times and he
thirsts for this relationship, which is, in reality, the foundation
of authentic humanity. We read in the book of Revelation these
important words: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and eat with
him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).
My friends, what does it
mean to build on the rock? Building on the rock also means building
on Someone who was rejected. Saint Peter speaks to the faithful of
Christ as a “living stone rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen
and precious” (1 Pet 2:4). The undeniable fact of the election of
Jesus by God does not conceal the mystery of evil, whereby man is
able to reject Him who has loved to the very end. This rejection of
Jesus by man, which Saint Peter mentions, extends throughout human
history, even to our own time. One does not need great mental acuity
to be aware of the many ways of rejecting Christ, even on our own
doorstep. Often, Jesus is ignored, he is mocked and he is declared a
king of the past who is not for today and certainly not for
tomorrow. He is relegated to a storeroom of questions and persons
one dare not mention publicly in a loud voice. If in the process of
building the house of your life you encounter those who scorn the
foundation on which you are building, do not be discouraged! A
strong faith must endure tests. A living faith must always grow. Our
faith in Jesus Christ, to be such, must frequently face others’ lack
of faith.
Dear friends, what does it
mean to build on the rock? Building on the rock means being aware
that there will be misfortunes. Christ says: “The rain fell and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house ... ” (Mt
7:25). These natural phenomena are not only an image of the many
misfortunes of the human lot, but they also indicate that such
misfortunes are normally to be expected. Christ does not promise
that a downpour will never inundate a house under construction, he
does not promise that a devastating wave will never sweep away that
which is most dear to us, he does not promise that strong winds will
never carry away what we have built, sometimes with enormous
sacrifice. Christ not only understands man’s desire for a lasting
house, but he is also fully aware of all that can wreck man’s
happiness. Do not be surprised therefore by misfortunes, whatever
they may be! Do not be discouraged by them! An edifice built on the
rock is not the same as a building removed from the forces of
nature, which are inscribed in the mystery of man. To have built on
rock means being able to count on the knowledge that at difficult
times there is a reliable force upon which you can trust.
My friends, allow me to ask
again: what does it mean to build on the rock? It means to build
wisely. It is not without reason that Jesus compares those who hear
his words and put them into practice to a wise man who has built his
house on the rock. It is foolish, in fact, to build on sand, when
you can do so on rock and therefore have a house that is capable of
withstanding every storm. It is foolish to build a house on ground
that that does not offer the guarantee of support during the most
difficult times. Maybe it is easier to base one’s life on the
shifting sands of one’s own worldview, building a future far from
the word of Jesus and sometimes even opposed to it. Be assured that
he who builds in this way is not prudent, because he wants to
convince himself and others that in his life no storm will rage and
no wave will strike his house. To be wise means to know that the
solidity of a house depends on the choice of foundation. Do not be
afraid to be wise; that is to say, do not be afraid to build on the
rock!
My friends, once again: what
does it mean to build on the rock? Building on the rock also means
to build on Peter and with Peter. In fact the Lord said to him: “You
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers
of death shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). If Christ, the
Rock, the living and precious stone, calls his Apostle “rock”, it
means that he wants Peter, and together with him the entire Church,
to be a visible sign of the one Saviour and Lord. Here, in Kraków,
the beloved city of my Predecessor John Paul II, no one is
astonished by the words “to build with Peter and on Peter”. For this
reason I say to you: do not be afraid to build your life on the
Church and with the Church. You are all proud of the love you have
for Peter and for the Church entrusted to him. Do not be fooled by
those who want to play Christ against the Church. There is one
foundation on which it is worthwhile to build a house. This
foundation is Christ. There is only one rock on which it is
worthwhile to place everything. This rock is the one to whom Christ
said: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” (Mt
16:18). Young people, you know well the Rock of our times.
Accordingly, do not forget that neither that Peter who is watching
our gathering from the window of God the Father, nor this Peter who
is now standing in front of you, nor any successive Peter will ever
be opposed to you or the building of a lasting house on the rock.
Indeed, he will offer his heart and his hands to help you construct
a life on Christ and with Christ.
Dear friends, meditating on
Christ’s words describing the rock as an adequate foundation for a
house, we cannot help but notice that the last word is a hopeful
one. Jesus says that, notwithstanding the harshness of the elements,
the house is not destroyed, because it was built on the rock. In his
word there is an extraordinary confidence in the strength of the
foundation, a faith that does not fear contradictions because it is
confirmed by the death and resurrection of Christ. This is the faith
that years later was professed by Saint Peter in his letter: “
Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and
precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame” (1
Pet 2:6). Certainly “he will not be put to shame.” Dear young
friends, the fear of failure can at times frustrate even the most
beautiful dreams. It can paralyze the will, making one incapable of
believing that it is really possible to build a house on the rock.
It can convince one that the yearning for such a house is only a
childish aspiration and not a plan for life. Together with Jesus,
say to this fear: “A house founded on the rock cannot collapse!”
Together with Saint Peter say to the temptation to doubt: “He who
believes in Christ will not be put to shame!” You are all witnesses
to hope, to that hope which is not afraid to build the house of
one’s own life because it is certain that it can count on the
foundation that will never crumble: Jesus Christ our Lord.
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