By Carol Glatz, OSV
The fullness of life depends on how much one welcomes and shares it with joy, living also with a constant longing for those things that come only from God, Pope Leo XIV told young people.
"Aspire to greatness, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. Then you will see the light of the Gospel grow every day, in you and around you," he said in his homily during the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Youth on Aug. 3.
The open-air Mass, celebrated in Rome's Tor Vergata neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, marked the culmination of a week-long series of events on the occasion of the Jubilee of Youth.
"Good morning!" he said in six languages from the huge stage set up for the Mass.
"I hope you have had some rest," he said in English . "Shortly we will begin the greatest celebration that Christ left us: his presence in the Eucharist."
Central homily
In his homily during the Mass, the Pope once again stressed the importance of the Eucharist, as "the sacrament of the Lord's total gift to us." It is Christ, the Risen One, he said, "who transforms our life and enlightens our affections, desires and thoughts."
"We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and is static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through the gift of self in love," he said.
Just as in a field of flowers, where each small, delicate stem can dry out, bend and flatten, he said, each flower is "immediately replaced by others that sprout later, generously nourished and fertilized by the first as they decompose in the soil. This is how the field survives: by constant regeneration."
"This is why we continually aspire for something 'more' that no created reality can give us; we feel a deep, burning thirst that no drink of this world can quench," he said. "Knowing this, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to quench them with cheap imitations!"
Pope Leo XIV urged young people to listen to this longing and to "transform this thirst into a stepping stone, like children who stand on tiptoe to lean out of the window of the encounter with God," who has been "waiting for us, knocking gently at the window of our soul."
Open the heart
"It is truly beautiful, especially at a young age, to open wide your heart, let him in and embark with him on this adventure into eternity," he said.
Speaking briefly in English , the Pope said, "There is a burning question in our hearts, a need for truth that we cannot ignore, that leads us to ask: what is true happiness? What is the true meaning of life? What can free us from the trap of meaninglessness, boredom and mediocrity?"
"Buying, accumulating and consuming are not enough," he said. The fullness of existence "has to do with what we welcome and share with joy."
"We need to lift up our gaze, to look upwards, towards the things above, to realize that everything in the world has meaning only to the extent that it serves to unite us to God and to our brothers in charity, helping us to grow in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, forgiveness and peace, all in imitation of Christ," he said.
Evoking the words of St. John Paul II during the prayer vigil of the 15th World Youth Day held in the same place 25 years ago, Leo XIV reminded young people that "Jesus is our hope."
