亲爱的青年们!
1. 「愿你们平安!」(若廿:19 )这意义深远的祝福是基督在复活当晚显现给宗徒们,向那些在主受苦受难之后惊魂未定,大惑不解的一群,所给予的问候。在你们准备庆祝第九、第十届世界青年节的时刻,我也以同样恳切,来自内心的感触向你们讲这些话。我们计划循例举行的节庆将是在九四及九五年的圣枝主日上召开,且那聚集全球青年于教宗周围的国际青年大会则将于一九九五年一月间在菲律宾首都马尼拉举行。 在过去的几次聚会里,我们已经找到了思考分享、共同祈祷的途径,我们也能够像门徒们一样的「亲眼看过」─那就是说相信幷认出,又好似「亲手摸到」复活了的吾主基督(若望一书第一节)。 我们在一九八四和一九八五年曾「看见了他」,幷且欢迎他像导师、像朋友一般的接待了他。我们从普世教会的中心出发,背着基督的十字架,到世界各处去道出我们心中的希望。我们祈求基督,在我们所要走的路途上,日复一日与我们同在。 一九八七年南美布宜诺斯艾利斯的聚会中,我们看见了他。 上万的年青人来自世界不同区域,特别是拉丁美洲,我们共同体验到而且相信「天主对我们所怀的爱」(若壹四:16 ); 我们宣称基督给予我们的启示,像和煦的阳光照耀温暖我们一样,滋养幷重振我们对建立爱的文化的传教使命的希望与喜乐。 一九八九年,在西班牙圣地亚哥.德孔波斯特拉的集会中, 我们同当地人所特别恭敬的圣雅各布布伯宗徒一同追究欧洲文化在基督信仰中的根源,认出基督是「道路、真理和生命」。 一九九一年,我们在波兰琴斯多霍瓦「看见了他」。阻挡我们相互沟通的蕃篱终于被铲除了,东、西两地青年能在天上母亲的慈爱眷顾之下聚首会面。圣保禄宗徒说过:「你们所领受的圣神幷非使你们作奴隶,以致仍旧恐惧;而是使你们作义子。因此 ,我们呼号:『阿爸,父呀!』」(罗马书八章十五节)。我们宣称:借着圣神,天主是我们的父亲;我们互为兄弟姊妹。 不久之前,在美国中部的丹佛城,又「看见了他」。那次, 我们是在与我们同一时代的一辈人的容貌上寻找他。他们的生活环境,虽然与我们在前一段路程上所遇到的情况截然不同,却也有其发人深省之处,使我们领会到和尝到了彻底生活的旨趣,令我们想起耶稣所说:「我来,却是为叫他们获得生命,且获得更丰富的生命(若十:10 )。 当在我们的眼前和心中仍有着洛基山脉的踪影时,我们继续我们的朝圣路程。这一次我们要来到马尼拉。它处在广袤无垠的亚洲。它将是第十届普世青年节聚会的十字路口。 要看见耶稣的愿望始终存在每个人的心中。我们也像耶稣时代的有些希腊人一样要看见他(若十二:21 )。 我们也像往熙雍圣山去的朝圣的旅客一样再三重复圣咏上的话说:「上主,我在寻求你的仪容。」(咏廿七:8 ) 天主圣子在等着接见我们,欢迎我们,把自己显示给我们, 用他在复活那日黄昏时分向门徒们所讲的话对我们说:「如同父派遣了我,我也同样派遣你们」(若廿:21)。 好像以前的几次一样,这次号召世界青年的仍是基督自己, 他是我们生命的核心,信仰的根基,希望的理由,仁爱的泉源。 从全球的每一角落,他召叫我们青年男女该当扪心自问,思考一下我们对「新传播福音」所当作出的贡献,当怎样继续主基督委托给宗徒们的使命;在这一方面,每一个基督信徒都有份责任,凡是领过洗的人,都是教会的一份子。
2. 教会传福音的使命与责任,溯本探源,实在是基于我们对逾越奥迹的信仰。 正是在复活的当天,门徒们由于怕犹太人,把门窗关上,藏在屋里时,耶稣显现给他们了。 基督已经给他们证明了他的爱。他曾接受了十字架为救赎人类而舍弃了自己的生命。他曾对他们说过:「人若为自己的朋友舍掉性命,再没有比这更大的爱情了」(若十五:13 )。 现在他复活了,又回到他的门徒中间,回到他曾特别钟爱的,曾和他一同度过他的在世生活的门徒们中间。 这真是一个非同小可的聚会。门徒们曾经历了耶稣受难的悲惨情况,现在看见了复活了的耶稣,不禁打开心扉,满心欢乐。 圣若望福音描述当时的情形说:「门徒们见了主,便喜欢起来」 (若廿: 20)。 在复活的当天看见了复活了的耶稣,对宗徒们来说,这是耶稣的教训没有错误,他的许诺没有落失的最好保证。耶稣复活了 ,他荣光焕发。这意味着天主的无所不能,天主的的爱彻底扭转了人类的历史和我们每一个人的生活。 可见,看见耶稣是一件了不起的大事。它给人的生命带来意义,它推翻人的生命,解放人的精神,使它享受真正的自由。 我们这时代,也是「复活的当天」。正如圣保禄宗徒说的, 现在是「悦纳的时候」,是「救恩的时日」(格后六:2 )。 复活了的基督回到我们中间,给我们带来圆满的喜悦,无限丰富的生命。希望成了事实。他既然克胜了死亡,那么我们也终究有朝一日,在时日圆满时,凯旋胜利,在世界末日时享见天主 。
3. 「天主竟这样爱了世界,甚至赐下了自己的独生子」。 天主圣父打发耶稣到世界上来,把丰富的生命带给每一个信仰他的人。这是我们不久前在美国丹佛城聚会时的默想和宣讲主题。 基督的福音应该《广传出去》幷《传扬开来》。每一个基督信徒都负有的传教使命,是基督信徒在具体的生活上为信仰作证的原动力。这动力来自天主圣父的计划,来自借着圣神的力量而施展的爱人和拯救人的计划。没有圣神力量的支持,任何传教事 业都注定要失败的。正是为了使他的门徒们能够有效的实践他们的传教使命,耶稣对他们说:「你们领受圣神罢!」(若廿:22 )。他这样把自己的救世使命传授给教会,为使他的苦难圣死与复活的逾越奥迹能继续流传到每个时代和世界的每一个角落的每一个人的心中。 你们今日的青年们,你们要作《新传播福音》的传教士。你们要在你们的日常生活中为使人得救的天主圣言做见证。
4. 你们可能发觉到自身挂虑着当前的时局情势,怀有若干希望与踌躇不安,有时也会迷失了寻找基督的方向。 在我们的时代里,也真的是充满诱惑魔力,使我们对主在我们心内的呼声,充耳不闻。 在本世纪生活的男女老少,特别是你们这些正值青春年华的年轻人,你们渴望寻求真理所在,教会很愿意做你们旅途中的伴侣。她把福音万古常新的讯息,双手捧上,也把激动良知良能的宗徒使命委托给你们:让你们做《新传播福音》的传教士。 教会委托给青年们的任务,是去向世界大声疾呼,道出与基督相会的莫大喜乐。亲爱的朋友们,让基督来吸引你们,接受他的邀请,追随跟从他罢! 你们要去向万民宣讲得救的喜讯(玛廿八:19);要秉着愉 快的心情去执行这个任务。你们要在惯于灰心丧志的今日世界中燃起希望,要在似乎放弃了信仰天主的现代社会中传播信仰,要在往往以极端放任自私为准则的日常生活中散布爱。
5.门徒们受了天主圣神气息的感动,立刻宣布他们对救主的信仰。天主泛爱世人,愿意拯救所有的人。为了向门徒们看齐 ,我们也要洗心改面,重新作人,放弃旧我,在圣神的诱导下彻底革新生活。 我们每个人都是被遣派到世界中去,特别是为接近同我们年龄相近的人们,以我们的生活和工作的见证,来向他们传播修好与和平的喜讯。正如圣保禄宗徒对格林多信友们所说的:「我们如今代基督请求你们:与天主和好罢!」(格后五:20 ) 和好首先是个别基督信徒的功课,他们是在祈祷和领受圣事 ,特别是在告解和圣体圣事中,不断地体现他们做天主子的弟子的身份。 和好也是全人类当务之急。在我们今日的社会中做传教士,必须利用传播媒介,尽量发挥其在传扬福音和推进牧灵工作上的作用。 成了救世圣言的热诚传播者和复活喜悦的见证之后,你们更要作和平的缔造者。今日的世界忘记了它的根本,往往怀疑和平的可能性,以为追求和平是乌托邦,是空想。其实和平的根本是在每一个人的心中,每一个人只须打开心扉来接纳复活了的救主的这句祝福:「愿你们平安!」(若廿:19 )。 公元三千年代眼看就要来到,你们青年们特别应该在这日益需要可靠的见证与言行一致的传教员的世界中肩负起传播希望及谛造和平的任务。你们要竭尽心力向与你们同时代的人们说出他们心中要听的话。他们是在渴望着真理与幸福,在不知不觉地追求着天主。
6.亲爱的普世青年! 这道文告开启了走向第九和第十届普世青年节的道路。我愿重申我对你们每一个人,特别是居住在菲律宾的人的热切问候。 在一九九五年,教宗第一次在文化悠久的亚洲与普世青年会面。 这次是你们菲律宾的青年要接待来自全球各地的朋友们。亚洲地区的年轻教会面临了一个挑战。她必须要使马尼拉的聚会成为一个对基督信仰的活泼且热烈的见证。我恳切祝望她明白怎样接受基督自己将赏给她的恩典。我也邀请你们来自全球各地的青年们也参与这走向下届普世青年节大聚会的朝圣路程。在你们的神长的指祷下,在本堂口、 在本教区、在你们各自所隶属的善会运动和教会团体中,准备接纳天主将必定丰富地赐给你们的圣德和圣宠的种子。 我祝望这几天的庆典,对你们说来,将是一个良好的机会, 好用来陶成你们个人和团体的灵修,以及增进你们对基督的认识 。这又将是一个精神上的激励,好激发你们献身在教会内为兄弟姐妹服务,创立爱的文明。 圣母玛利亚,教会的慈母,她曾同宗徒们一起等候圣神的来临(宗徒大事录一章 14 节)。我今天把世界青年节的准备工作 ,全托付在她的手中。让她同我们分享她的心得,告诉我们怎样迎接圣子耶稣进入我们的生活中,做他所要求我们当做的一切( 若二:5 )。 我谨向大家赐予宗座遐福,顺祝旅途愉快。
教宗若望保禄二世
一九九三年十一月二十一日 耶稣君王瞻礼
于梵蒂冈签发
(以下是英文版世界青年节文告:
Dear Young People,
1. "Peace be with you!" (Jn 20:19). This is the greeting, rich in meaning, which the risen Lord extended to the disciples, so fearful and dismayed after his passion.
With the same intense and deep feeling I now address you, as we prepare to celebrate the Ninth and Tenth World Youth Days. They will take place, as is now the pleasant custom, on Palm Sunday of 1994 and 1995, while the great international meeting, which gathers young people from all over the world around the Pope, is set for January 1995 in Manila, capital of the Philippines.
In the previous meetings that have marked our journey of reflection and prayer, like the disciples, we have had the opportunity of "seeing" — which also means believing and knowing, almost "touching" (cf. 1 Jn 1:1) — the risen Lord.
We "saw" him and welcomed him as teacher and friend in Rome in 1984 and 1985, when we began our pilgrimage from the centre and heart of Catholicism in order to give a reason for the hope that is in us (cf 1 Pt 3:15), carrying his cross along the highways of the world. We asked him — insistently — to be with us in our daily journey.
We "saw" him in Buenos Aires in 1987 when, together with the young people of every continent, especially from Latin America, "we came to know and believe in the love God has for us" (1 Jn 4:16) and we proclaimed that his revelation, like the sun that sheds light and warmth, nourishes the hope and renews the joy of the missionary commitment to build the civilization of love.
We "saw" him in Santiago de Compostela in 1988, where we discovered his face and recognized him as the way and the truth and the life (Jn 14:6), while together with the Apostle James we meditated on the ancient Christian roots of Europe.
We "saw" him in 1991 in Czestochowa, when — with barriers fallen — all together, young people from East and West, under the kindly gaze of our heavenly Mother, we proclaimed the fatherhood of God through the Spirit and we acknowledged that we are - in him - brothers and sisters: "You received a spirit of adoption" (Rom 8:15).
Man is driven to seek the face of God
Recently we "saw" him again in Denver, in the heart of the United States of America, where we sought him in the face of contemporary man in a substantially different context from the previous pauses, but no less exalting for the depth of its significance, experiencing and tasting the gift of life in abundance: "I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly" (Jn 10:10).
As we keep before our eyes and in our hearts the wonderful and unforgettable spectacle of that great meeting in the Rocky Mountains, our pilgrimage continues and this time pauses in Manila, in the vast continent of Asia, the crossroads of the Tenth World Youth Day.
The desire to "see the Lord" has always occupied the heart of man (cf. Jn 12:21) and it drives him unceasingly to seek his face. We too, as we start out, express this longing and, with the pilgrim of Zion, we repeat: "Your presence, O Lord, I seek" (Ps 27:8).
The Son of God comes to meet us, he welcomes us and shows himself to us, he repeats to us what he said to the disciples on the evening of Easter: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jn 20:21).
Once again, young people from all over the world are summoned by Jesus Christ, the centre of our lives, the basis of our faith, the reason for our hope and the source of our charity.
Called by him, young people from every corner of the globe ask themselves about their commitment to the "new evangelization", continuing the mission entrusted to the Apostles and in which every Christian, through his Baptism and membership in the community of the Church, is called to participate.
2. The vocation and missionary commitment of the Church spring from the central mystery of our faith: Easter. It is in fact "on the evening of that first day" that Jesus appeared to the disciples, barricaded behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews" (Jn 20:19).
We hope to triumph in the fullness of time
Having given proof of his boundless love by embracing the cross and offering himself in sacrifice for the redemption of all people — he had in fact said: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (Jn 15:13) — the divine Master returns among his own, among those whom he had loved most intensely and with whom he had spent his earthly life.
It is an extraordinary encounter, during which their hearts are filled with happiness for the refound presence of Christ, after the events of his tragic passion and his glorious resurrection. The disciples "rejoiced when they saw the Lord" (Jn 20:20).
Meeting him on the day after his resurrection meant for the Apostles that they could see with their own eyes that his message was not false, that his promises were not written in the sand. He, alive and blazing with glory, is the proof of the almighty love of God, which radically changes the course of history and of our individual lives.
The meeting with Jesus is therefore the event which gives meaning to human life and profoundly alters it, by opening the spirit to horizons of authentic freedom.
Our time too occurs "on the day after the resurrection". It is "the acceptable time", "the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2).
The risen Christ returns among us with the fullness of joy and with overflowing richness of life. Hope becomes certainty, because if he has conquered death, we too can hope to triumph one day in the fullness of time, in the period of the final contemplation of God.
3. However the meeting with the risen Lord does not reflect only a moment of personal joy. It is rather the occasion when the call that awaits every human being is shown in all its breadth. Strong in our faith in the risen Christ, we are all invited to open the doors of life, without fear or doubt, to welcome the Word which is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6), and to shout it courageously to the whole world.
The salvation offered to us is a gift that should not be jealously hidden. It is like the light of the sun, which by its nature breaks through the darkness; it is like the water of a clear spring, which gushes from the heart of the rock.
"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Jesus, sent by the Father to mankind, communicates the abundance of life to every believer (cf. Jn 10:10), as we reflected and proclaimed on the occasion of the recent Day in Denver.
His Gospel must become "communication" and mission. The missionary vocation summons every Christian; it becomes the very essence of every testimony of concrete and living faith. It is a mission which traces its origins from the Father's plan, the plan of love and salvation which is carried out through the power of the Spirit, without which every apostolic initiative is destined to failure. It is to enable his disciples to carry out this mission that Jesus says to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22). He thus transmits to the Church his own saving mission, so that the Easter mystery may continue to be communicated to every person, in every age, in every corner of the globe.
You, young people, are especially called to become missionaries of this New Evangelization, by daily witnessing to the Word that saves.
4. You personally experience the anxieties of the present historical period, fraught with hope and doubt, in which it can at times be easy to lose the way that leads to the encounter with Christ.
In fact, numerous are the temptations of our time, the seductions that seek to muffle the divine voice resounding within the heart of each individual.
We are sent to proclaim hope and reconciliation
To the people of our century, to all of you, dear young people, who hunger and thirst for truth, the Church offers herself as a travelling companion. She offers the eternal Gospel message and entrusts you with an exalting apostolic task: to be the protagonists of the New Evangelization.
As the faithful guardian and representative of the wealth of faith transmitted to her by Christ, she is ready to enter into dialogue with the new generations; in order to answer their needs and expectations and to find in frank and open dialogue the most appropriate way to reach the source of divine salvation.
The Church entrusts to young people the task of proclaiming to the world the joy which springs from having met Christ. Dear friends, allow yourselves to be drawn to Christ; accept his invitation and follow him. Go and preach the Good News that redeems (cf. Mt 28:19); do it with happiness in your hearts and become communicators of hope in a world which is often tempted to despair, communicators of faith in a society which at times seems resigned to disbelief, communicators of love in daily events that are often marked by a mentality of the most unbridled selfishness.
5. To be able to imitate the disciples, who, overwhelmed by the breath of the Spirit, confidently preached their own faith in the Redeemer who loves everyone and who wants to save everyone (cf. Acts 2:22-24; 32-36), it is necessary to become new people, eradicating the old man within us and allowing ourselves to be totally renewed by the strength of the Lord's Spirit.
Each one of you is sent into the world, especially among your contemporaries, to communicate through the example of your life and work the Gospel message of reconciliation and peace: "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20).
This reconciliation is in the first place the individual destiny of every Christian who receives and continuously renews his personal identity as a disciple of the Son of God in prayer and through receiving the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist.
But it is also the destiny of the whole human family. To be a missionary today in the heart of our society also means making the best use of the media for that religious and pastoral task.
Having become enthusiastic communicators of the saving Word and witnesses to the joy of Easter, you will be builders of peace in a world that searches for this peace as if for a utopia, often forgetting its origin. Peace — as you well know — resides in the heart of every man, if only he knows how to open himself to the greeting of the risen Redeemer: "Peace be with you" (Jn 20:19).
In view of the imminent arrival of the third Christian millennium, to you young people the task of becoming communicators of hope and peacemakers is entrusted in a special way (cf. Mt 5:9) in a world that is ever more in need of credible witnesses and consistent messengers. Know how to speak to the hearts of your contemporaries, who thirst for truth and happiness, in a constant, even if often unconscious, search for God.
6. Dear young people of the whole world!
As the journey towards the Ninth and Tenth World Youth Days officially begins with this Message, I wish again to express my affectionate greeting to each one of you, especially to all who live in the Philippines: in 1995 the world meeting of young people with the Pope will be celebrated for the first time on the Asian continent, so rich in tradition and culture. Young people of the Philippines, it is your turn to prepare a welcome for your many friends from all over the world. So, the young Church of Asia is called in a special way to give a lively and vibrant testimony of faith at the appointment in Manila. My wish is that she will know how to receive this gift that Christ himself is about to offer her.
To you all, young people from every part of the world, I extend my invitation to journey in spirit towards the next Youth Days. Accompanied and guided by your Pastors, in your parishes and Dioceses, in the ecclesial associations, movements and groups, be ready to receive the seeds of holiness and grace which the Lord will surely bestow with generous abundance.
I hope that the celebration of these days may be for you all a privileged occasion of formation and growth in the personal and community knowledge of Christ; may it be an interior stimulus to consecrate yourselves to the Church in the service of your brothers and sisters to build the civilization of love.
To Mary, the Virgin present in the Upper Room, the Mother of the Church (cf. Acts 1:14), I entrust the preparation and success of the next World Youth Days: may she share with us the secret of how to receive her Son into our lives so we may fulfil his will (cf. Jn 2:5).
May my heartfelt and paternal Blessing accompany you.
From the Vatican, 21 November 1993, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Universal King.)