World Mission Sunday,- 'Launch out into the Deep!'

‘I want a mess!’

Click here  for a BBC account of his meeting with young people at the World Youth Day in Rio, in July. He’s shaking us up!

He told a crowd of 30,000 young Argentine Catholics attending World Youth Day in Rio to “make a mess” in their dioceses, to “stir things up”, to shake up the comfort, self-satisfaction and clericalism of a Church closed in upon itself. “Don’t forget to disturb complacency, but please don’t water down the faith!” Francis said.

'Go! ... Do not be afraid!.... Serve!'

Pope Francis is urging our Church and all her members to go out and reach individuals in their needs. To the young people in Rio, he said:  ”Go!   Do not be afraid!   Serve!  Go and make disciples of all nations”.

“What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day? I want a mess. We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder, but I want trouble in the dioceses! … I want to see the Church get closer to the people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing ourselves off within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or structures. Because these need to get out!”

Kissing babies, shaking hands from the back of a Fiat and extending gestures of friendship with the poor or disabled are all meant to convey an openness to people on their own terms. Francis left aside traditional security protocols (which allowed a crowd to mob the traffic-trapped mini popemobile), he wandered into Rio’s slums, he accepted drinks from strangers on the street.

To the bishops gathered in Rio, he said:

“We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel. It is not enough simply to open the door in welcome, but we must go out through that door to seek and meet the people! Let us courageously

'On yer bikes!', starting today.

look to pastoral needs, beginning on the outskirts, with those who are farthest away. … Go and look for them in the nooks and crannies of the streets.” On yer bikes, Bishops! he was telling them. On our bikes, us too!, he tells us.

And in his special message for this World Mission Sunday, he says this: ‘The Church – I  repeat once again – is not a relief organization, an enterprise or an NGO, but a community of people, animated by the Holy Spirit, who have lived and are living the wonder of the encounter with Jesus Christ and want to share this experience of deep joy, the message of salvation that the Lord gave us. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church in this path.’

First, let Jesus in! Then you will be transformed, and your life will light up with his radiance. A few friends, radiant with Christ, can do far more than you could ever dream of. Start now.

‘I want a mess!’ Getting stuck in day after day to the ordinary wonderful messiness of daily living,- that’s what the Master wants of each of us and of each community, young and not so young. He wants us all to be young at heart and spread the Joy of the Gospel.

‘We cannot keep such great joy to ourselves!’ The motto at the earlier World Youth Day in Cologne.

“Look towards God and be radiant!’ 

For more about ‘the messy, alluring grace’ of Pope Francis click here.

To find more quotes from Pope Francis to the young people of the world: click here and enjoy!

To hear about his words to 3 million young people gathered for Mass on Copacabana beach in July (Go, Do not be Afraid, Serve), click here,- and listen to the mp3 player during it.

For his message to the world for World Mission Sunday, click here. 

'Go out to all the world!'

‘GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS!’  -  ‘GO, DO NOT BE AFRAID, AND SERVE!’     For Pope Francis’ Address to 3 million young people gathered on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day in July 2013, click here.

To the millions of young people gathered to be with him, Pope Francis offered three simple ideas: “Go,   Do not be afraid,   and Serve”.

Go– he said – during these days here in Rio you have enjoyed a wonderful experience,

'May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love' (Paul, in Ephesians 3).

meeting Jesus with others and sensing the joy of faith. But this experience – he said – must not remain locked up in your life or community, it must be shared and passed on so that everyone may know, love and confess Jesus. And he pointed out that Jesus’ message of love is not just for some, it is for everyone, and he urged the young people not to be afraid of bringing Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem most indifferent.

Go – he said – during these days here in Rio you have enjoyed a wonderful experience, meeting Jesus with others and sensing the joy of faith. But this experience – he said – must not remain locked up in your life or community, it must be shared and passed on so that everyone may know, love and confess Jesus. And he pointed out that Jesus’ message of love is not just for some, it is for everyone, and he urged the young people not to be afraid of bringing Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem most indifferent.

Pope Francis galvanized the young people by telling them that Christ’s proclamation is entrusted to them so that it may resound with fresh power. The Church needs you – he said – your enthusiasm, your creativity and the joy that is so characteristic of you. Do not be afraid – he repeated – Jesus never leaves you alone! And finally: Serve. Just as St. Paul made himself a slave to all – the Pope explained – “evangelizing means bearing personal witness to the love of God, it is overcoming our selfishness, it is serving by bending down to wash the feet of our brethren as Jesus did.”

If you follow these three ideas – Pope Francis concluded – you will experience the joy of faith. So: “go home and do not be afraid to be generous with Christ. He is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The Pope is counting on you!”

‘…Dear young friends, as you return to your homes, do not be afraid to be generous with Christ, to bear witness to his Gospel.

‘…Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and break down evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers of selfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world. Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The Pope is counting on you! May Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, always accompany you with her tenderness: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Amen.

And at the end of an address to a large group of young people from Argentina, he prayed as follows, as he blessed a picture of Mary, and as he blessed a Cross that would travel around the country:

Lord you left your Mother in our midst that she might accompany us.

May she take care of us and protect us on our journey, in our hearts, in our faith.

May she make us disciples like herself, missionaries like herself.

May she teach us to go out onto the streets.

May she teach us to step outside ourselves.

We bless this image, Lord, which will travel round the country.

May she, by her meekness, by her peace, show us the way.

Lord, you are a scandal. You are a scandal: the scandal of the Cross. A Cross which is humility, meekness; a Cross that speaks to us of God’s closeness. We bless this image of the Cross that will travel round the country.

Fr. Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.