Pope in Mexico: young people are the hope and the treasure of Mexico
A festive meeting with 50 thousand young people in Moreila. The word of hope is called Jesus, and "the principal threat to hope is to allow yourself to believe that you begin to be valuable when you start wearing the right clothes, the latest brands and fashions, or when you enjoy prestige, are important because you have money; but in the depths of your heart you do not believe that you are worthy of kindness or love".
Morelia (AsiaNews) - The word hope is called Jesus; Jesus wants followers like Juan Diego; everything in Him is "an invitation to life" and "never an invitation to be killers." But "the principal threat to hope is to allow yourself to believe that you begin to be valuable when you start wearing the right clothes, the latest brands and fashions, or when you enjoy prestige, are important because you have money; but in the depths of your heart you do not believe that you are worthy of kindness or love". The roar of the 50 thousand young people gathered in the stadium Morelia responded to the words of Francis.
The meeting with the young people of Mexico, at 16.30 (local time) was a festival of choirs, dances, traditional costumes, tens of thousands of multicolored handkerchiefs and a long banner with the image of a dove. And the Pope appeared smiling and amused, singing along with the young people to "Vive Jesus, el Senor".
"You - he told them - you are the wealth of Mexico." But wealth must be turned into hope and "the biggest threats to hope are those words which devalue you, which make you feel second rate. The biggest threat to hope is when you feel that you do not matter to anybody or that that you have been left aside". Moreover: "It is hard to feel the wealth of a nation when there are no opportunities for dignified work, no possibilities for study or advancement, when you feel your rights are being trampled on, which then leads you to extreme situations".
The Pope recalled that "in the family one learns closeness, solidarity, to share, to discern, to help bear the problems of others, to quarrel and argue, but to draw closer, hugging and kissing. The family is the first school in the nation. The family is the basic building block of a great nation".
And "it is a lie that the only way to live as young people here is in poverty and exclusion; in the exclusion of opportunities, in the exclusion of spaces, in the exclusion of training and education, in the exclusion of hope. It is Jesus Christ who refutes all attempts to render you useless or to be mere mercenaries of other people’s ambitions".
"Today the Lord continues to call you, he continues to draw you to him, just as he did with the Indian, Juan Diego. He invites you to build a shrine. A shrine that is not a physical place but rather a community, a shrine called “Parish”, a shrine called, “Nation”. Being a community, a family, and knowing that we are citizens is one of the best antidotes to all that threatens us, because it makes us feel that we are a part of the great family of God".
Then he urged young people to "be clever as serpents and humble as doves". But be careful also to the lure of the world, " he principal threat to hope is to allow yourself to believe that you begin to be valuable when you start wearing the right clothes, the latest brands and fashions, or when you enjoy prestige, are important because you have money; but in the depths of your heart you do not believe that you are worthy of kindness or love".
Today, the last day of his visit to Mexico, the Pope will travel to Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States. The program includes a visit to the CERESO 3 prison, an encounter with the world of work and the last Mass of his visit. From Ciudad Juarez Francis will leave for Rome, where he is expected to arrive tomorrow at 14.45.
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