Pope Francis Makes a Rogationist Discorse to the Youth of Asia by Jose Maria Ezpeleta RCJ Seoul, Korea. 15 August 2014 Pope Francis did it again! He spontaneously spoke his heart out to the youth and let go of the prepared speech in his hands. He was reading his speech in acceptable English, a language which he confessed to be difficult for him, when he stopped and asked the youth attending 6th Asian Youth Day, “Are you tired?” to which the youth responded with a resounding “No!” Then, he said that he wanted to speak to them from the heart, but unfortunately he was not good at English. Then, again, the youth shouted, “No!” From that part on, the Pope shifted from a reading his speech to a dialogue with the youth, freely expressing himself in Italian and asking for a new interpreter. Earlier, before the Pope took the stage, three young people from Cambodia, Hong Kong and Korea shared about their experiences and challenges as Catholic youths in the contemporary world. Smay, a young woman from Cambodia posed a typical query from the youth about what to do with their life. She asked what path should she choose, whether to follow the path of the consecrated life or to study in order to become equipped to be of benefit to others? The Pope said that he felt so strongly in his heart the conflict that Smay had. “But this is an appartent conflict”, the Pope said, “because when the Lord calls, he always calls us to do good to others, be it in religious life, the consecrated life; or be it in the lay life as father and mother of the family. But the aim is the same: to adore God and to do good to others.” He continued, “Many of you, including myself during my time, ask the same question of Smay, What path must I choose?” And the Pope underlined a fundamental vocational principle when he stressed, “But you must not choose any path. Instead, that path must be chosen by the Lord. Jesus has chosen it for you. You must listen to him and ask him, Lord, what must I do?” Then, Pope Francis led the youth to prayer, and three times they repeated this invocation: “Lord, what do you want from me?” Vocation is not just a personal project in life, no matter how beautiful and noble it might be. It is first of all the project that God has for us; that he has chosen for us. More than choosing a path in life, vocation is choosing the path that God has chosen for each one of us. Entering into the spirit prayer is indispensable in arriving at this discovery of and answer to vocation. It is certain that this meeting of Asian youth will lead to a deeper encounter in prayer with Jesus who calls, and thus bring to maturity many vocations. Pope Francis is a great teacher in the school of prayer. # Prayer, eucharist and work for others especially the poor
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 00:28:19 +0000
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