The days are counted for the arrival of the young pilgrims. A mix of nervousness and distrust comes to our minds. With so many people “at home”, are we “up to it”?
We count the days for the arrival of the young pilgrims. A mix of nervousness and distrust comes to our minds. With so many people “at home”, are we “up to it”? What is asked of us is not just the organization of “events”. What is asked of us is that we be capable of the same attitude as Mary who leaves “in a hurry” to visit Elizabeth, because she carries the “Good News” of God in her womb, and Elizabeth’s readiness to understand the “Bliss ” of Mary who arrives with Jesus in her. In other words: we are invited to be bearers of Jesus, like Mary; and we are called to welcome Jesus in so many faces, stories that young people bring us from all over the world. Allow yourself to be visited by Jesus, and then take Him back to the four corners of the Earth. This is the most important mission that motivates us to welcome, to smile, to live these days together. In the testimony of what we are to let be seen, not only hospitality and sympathy, but also that “high measure of faith, hope and charity” of those who believe; and, because we believe, we are capable of giving everything, especially of giving ourselves to the limit of our strength, with joy, kindness and simplicity. “Now”, fundamental is this experience of faith, of sharing the good news of Jesus, to reinforce “the reasons for our hope”. Of the youngsters and ours. “But there is still so much to do!”, “There is not enough time!”, “Everyone will arrive tomorrow!”. So it is, really this way. But it would be too little if we limited ourselves to the operative and organizational level and forgot what brings so many young people here: the joy of being able to live the faith, of participating, of sharing, of being a Church with a young face, telling one’s own experience and receiving the experience from the others. And we need them to come and bring us that faith and hope that renews us, those who are and those who remain, so that in the end we can say that “one thing is necessary” (Jesus and His Gospel) and that “we choose best part, which will not be taken from us” (his presence, his life in us, his endless Love).
