LONDON, SEPT. 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging young people to decide to love every day, conscious of the fact that we were made to love and be loved.
The Pope stated this today upon addressing the thousands of youth gathered in the plaza outside London’s Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, also known as Westminster Cathedral.
The youth gathered to watch, on outdoor screens, the 10:00 a.m. Mass being celebrated by the Pontiff inside the cathedral. After the Mass, the Holy Father moved outside to greet the young people.
«In these few moments that we are together, I wish to speak to you from my own heart, and I ask you to open your hearts to what I have to say,» Benedict XVI said.
He stated: «I ask each of you, first and foremost, to look into your own heart.
«Think of all the love that your heart was made to receive, and all the love it is meant to give. After all, we were made for love.»
«Every day we should thank God for the love we have already known,» the Pope asserted, «for the love that has made us who we are, the love that has shown us what is truly important in life.»
He continued, «We need to thank the Lord for the love we have received from our families, our friends, our teachers, and all those people in our lives who have helped us to realize how precious we are, in their eyes and in the eyes of God.»
Enduring
«We were also made to give love,» the Pontiff affirmed, «to make it the inspiration for all we do and the most enduring thing in our lives.»
«Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the great Missionary of Charity, reminded us that giving love, pure and generous love, is the fruit of a daily decision,» he noted.
«Every day we have to choose to love,» the Holy Father urged, «and this requires help, the help that comes from Christ, from prayer and from the wisdom found in his word, and from the grace which he bestows on us in the sacraments of his Church.»
«I ask you to look into your hearts each day to find the source of all true love,» he said. «Jesus is always there, quietly waiting for us to be still with him and to hear his voice.»
Benedict XVI said: «Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer.
«But this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline; it requires making time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak.»
«Even amid the «busy-ness» and the stress of our daily lives,» he acknowledged, «we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self.»
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On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full text: http://www.zenit.org/article-30397?l=english
