亲爱的朋友们，
今年我们庆祝世界青年日创立第二十五周年，可敬的先教宗若望保禄二世期望全世界的青年信友能藉此机会相聚。这真是个充满先知性的创举，并结出丰硕的果实，让新一代的基督徒彼此认识，一起聆听天主圣言，发现教会之美，活出那曾经带领着无数青年全然委身于主的坚定信德经验。
下一次全球性世界青年聚会将于2011年在马德里举行，第二十五届世界青年日代表了往前走的一步，届时我希望你们能踊跃参予这充满恩宠的活动。
为了帮助我们准备这庆日，我想根据今年的主题「善师，为承受永生，我该做什么？」(谷十17)来提供你们几个反省题目－那是从耶稣与那位富贵少年相遇的福音章节中节选出来的，1985年教宗若望保禄二世写给年青人一封极美的信就是使用这个主题。
一、耶稣与一位年青人相遇
圣史马尔谷这样记载：正在耶稣出来行路时，跑来了一个人，跪在他面前，问他说：「善师，为承受永生，我该做什么﹖」耶稣对他说：「你为什么称我善﹖除了天主一个外，没有谁是善的。诫命你都知道：不可杀人，不可奸淫，不可偷盗，不可做假见证，不可欺诈，应孝敬你的父母。」他回答耶稣说：「师傅！这一切我从小就都遵守了。」耶稣定睛看他，就喜爱他，对他说：「你还缺少一样：你去，变卖你所有的一切，施舍给穷人，你必有宝藏在天上；然后来，背着十字架，跟随我!」因了这话，那人就面带愁容，忧郁地走了，因为他有许多产业。(谷十17-22)
这段福音明白表达出耶稣对年青人、对你们每一位、对你们所期待的、你们所盼望的有着的极大关注，也显示出祂是多么渴望与你们每一位相遇，与你们个别开启对话。事实上，基督停下他的脚步是为了回答这位年青人的提问。祂定睛注视这年青人，这年青人多么热切渴望与这位「善师」谈话，为了向祂学习生命之道。我的前任（教宗）也曾经用这段福音勉励你们每一位「与基督开展属于自己的对话：这对话对年青人既基本又重要。」(《给青年的信》2)
二、耶稣定睛看他，就喜爱他
在福音中，圣史马尔谷强调「耶稣定睛看他，就喜爱他」(谷十21)上主的凝视是这很特殊见面的核心，也是全体基督徒的经验。其实，基督信仰首先并不是一套道德规范，而是体验到耶稣基督－祂个别地爱着我们每一个人的，无论老或少、贫或富；就连我们背离他的时候，他也爱我们。
当教宗若望保禄二世谈到福音的这一段时，他对你们青年人说：「我希望你们也能经验到这凝视！我希望你们经验到基督满怀着爱意看着你！」(《给青年的信》7)－这份爱在十字架上如此充分及完整的呈现，并让圣保禄惊喜的写下：「祂爱了我，且为我舍弃了自己。」(迦二20)。教宗若望保禄二世又写道：「天父总是在祂爱子内爱我们、基督总是爱着我们每个人，这意识是所有人类生存的稳固基础。」(《给青年的信》7)，而且使我们能够战胜所有的考验：在我们察觉我们罪恶的时候、在痛苦与沮丧中。
在这份爱内，我们找到所有基督徒生活的泉源和福传最基本的理由：如果我们真正的与基督相遇过，我们就会不由自主的为基督向那些尚未与祂的凝视相遇的人做见证！
三、发现生命的计划
我们在福音中的那位年青人身上可以看到他很像你们每个人。你们有丰富的才华、活力、梦想与希望，这些都是你们所拥有的丰沛资源！你们的年龄本身就是一大财富，不只为你们自己而言，为别人也是，特别为教会、为全世界。
这富贵少年问耶稣：「我该做什么？」你们现在正经历的生命阶段是个发现时期：发现天主在你们和你们的责任上所倾注的恩宠。这也是你们要为你们的人生要做些重要决定的时期。所以这是你们要想想自己生命真正意义的时候：「我满意我的生活吗？有缺什么吗？」
就像福音中的那位年青人，或许你们身处在不确定、焦虑或痛苦的景况中，使你们追求一个不是一般的人生。使得你们自问：什么构成成功的生命？我该做什么？什么该是我生命的计划？「我该为我的生命做什么，好使我的生命获得圆满的价值与意义？」(《给青年的信》3)
你们别害怕问自己这些问题！但这些问题不但不会困扰你们，反而会表达出你们的胸怀大志。所以要聆听你们的心声。这些问题等待着一些并非是肤浅的答案，而是一些能够满足你们对生活与幸福真正渴望的答复。
为了要发现那能让你真正幸福快乐的生命计划，你们要开始聆听天主！祂对你们每一位都有一个爱的计划。你可以自信的问他：「上主！祢是造物主、是父亲，祢对我生命的计划是什么？你的旨意是什么？我渴望要完成它。」你们放心，祂一定会回答你们的。你们别害怕他的答案！「因为天主比我们的心大并知道一切！」（若壹三20)
四、来，跟随我！
耶稣邀请这位富贵少年做得更多，不只是满足他的渴望与个人的计划，他对他说：「来，跟随我！」基督徒的圣召来自于上主满溢爱情的邀请，并且只有因同样满溢爱情的回应才能实现。「耶稣邀请祂的门徒完全献上他们的生命，不计代价以及个人益处，而是靠着对天主毫无保留的信任。圣人们接受了这要求极高的邀请，并且谦逊顺服的跟随被钉且复活的基督。他们的成全，在信仰的逻辑里很多时候是人类无法理解的，不再自我中心，反其道而行，按着福音生活。」(教宗本笃十六世2009年10月11日宣圣礼证道)
亲爱的朋友们，你们若追随众多基督门徒们的榜样，你们也能喜乐的接受祂的邀请去跟随他，在这世界上积极的生活，并且果实櫐櫐。透过洗礼，他召叫我们每一个人以具体的行动跟随祂、爱他在万有之上，并且在我们的兄弟姊妹身上服事祂。但遗憾的，这位富贵少年并没有接受耶稣的邀请，他面带愁容的走了。他没有找到抛弃物质财富的勇气去发掘耶稣所提得更大的好处。
福音中这位富贵少年的忧伤，就是当每一个人没有勇气跟随基督、作正确的决定时在心中所产生的忧伤。但回应基督永远不嫌迟！
耶稣从不厌烦的一再以爱情回顾我们和召唤我们作祂的门徒；但祂向一些人建议作更基本的选择。在此司铎年之际，我想鼓励年青男子想想是否天主邀请他们接受更大的恩宠，走上司铎职务的道路，并且以慷慨与热忱之心接受这份特别的爱的记号，在神父或神师的协助下进行所需的分辨。亲爱的年青男女，你们千万不要害怕，如果天主召叫你过修道生活、隐修生活或传教生活，或是特别的奉献生活：祂必会赐给那些勇敢回应祂的人深刻的喜乐！
我也邀请那些被召叫度婚姻生活的人士，以信德接受这圣召，同时努力建立稳固的基础，好能活出这份伟大的爱、保持忠心，并且将生命视为礼物来迎接－此为社会与教会的财富与恩宠。
五、以永生为目标
「为承受永生，我该做什么？」福音中这位年青人所问的这个问题，看起来与现今大部分青年所关注的截然不同。先教宗这样说过：「我们的这个世代，不是完全被世界与短暂进步所充满吗？」（《给青年的信》5）但是，当在我们生命中一些痛苦时刻，当我们面临失去亲人或经历失败时，「永生」这问题就重现了。
但这富贵少年所指的「永生」是什么？耶稣是这样描述的，他对门徒说：「但我们要再见到你们，那时，你们心里要喜乐，并且你们的喜乐谁也不能从你们夺去。」(若十二22)这句话指出那份无止的幸福、那份被天主的爱所包围的永久喜乐。
我们思考那等待着我们每一个人的最终将来，我们便会找到人生的整个意义，因为这会使我们的生命计画往不再受限制或并非转瞬即逝的，而是往宽广且深入的方向发展，使我们爱这世界－这天主深爱的世界，使我们以自由及出于信德与望德的喜乐自我献身去发展世界。这方向帮助我们不再视世俗的现实为绝对，同时清楚天主为我们准备了更大的未来。因此，我们能与圣奥斯定一起说「让我们渴望天上的家园，让我们思慕天乡，让我们觉得在此是个异乡人。」（《对若望福音35:9的解释》）真福傅乔治(义籍PierGiorgioFrassati)，1925年去世得年24岁，他的目光一向都专注在永生上，他说：「我要生活，而不要偷生！」在一张爬山时拍摄的相片上他留言给朋友说：「往高处看」，说明不只追求基督徒的成全，还要追求永生。
亲爱的年轻朋友们，我切望你们在你们的计画人生里不会忘记这角度：我们被召叫去进入永生，天主创造我们是为了与祂永远在一起。这会帮助你们做出有意义的决定，也活出美满的人生。
六、诫命——真爱之道
耶稣提醒这位富贵少年说，十诫是「承受永生」的必需条件。为了能在爱中生活、清楚的分辨善恶，并且建立稳固又长久的人生计画，十诫是中重要的指南。耶稣也问你们是否知道十诫、是否设法按天主的律法建构良心，并且将十诫付诸实行。
不用说也知道，这些问题都与今日的世界大相径庭－今日世界所提倡的自由是不考虑价值、律法与客观规范的，并且怂恿人们拒绝这些使他们即时的欲望受限的规则。可是，这种的选择，不但不会带人走向自由，反而使人成为自己私欲的奴隶、自己即使需求的奴隶、一些偶像的奴隶，如同权力、金钱、无节制的享乐和世俗的各种诱惑，使人无法追随天生就得到的召唤去发挥爱心。
天主给了我们十诫，因为祂要教育我们得到真正自由，祂要与我们一起建立爱、正义与和平的国度。当我们听从十诫，并付诸实行时，这并不表示我们身不由主，而是我们找到通往自由与真爱的道路，因为十诫并未限制幸福，而是指出如何找到幸福。在与富贵少年谈话的开头，耶稣提醒他说，天主所赐的律法本身是善的，因为「天主是善的」。
七、我们需要你们
做为今日社会的年青人，就要面对来自失业、缺乏一些清楚的理想及前途茫茫的困难。有时候，面对眼前的危机和它们的影响，你们会感到无能为力。尽管有这些困难，你们不要灰心丧气，并且不要放弃梦想！你们反而要更加培养你心中对友爱、正义与和平的热烈渴望。未来是掌握在那些懂得寻找并发现生命与望德的缘由的人们手中。如果你们愿意，未来就在你们的手中，因为天主在你们心中措置的才华与恩宠，藉由与基督的相遇而具体成型，能够为世界带来真正的希望！是你们对祂的爱的信赖使你们勇敢和冷静地面对人生的路途，并且肩负起家庭与职场的责任，同时又使得你更为坚强与大方。你们要透过认真的个人陶成与进修来努力打造你的未来，好使你们能够更称职的、更慷慨的造福人群。
在我近期关于人类发展的通谕《在真理中实践爱德》里，我列出一些当今世界面临存亡的一些重大且急迫的挑战：地球资源的使用、对生态的尊重、资源的公平分配以及财经机制的控管、人类大家庭中与贫穷国家的互助、对抗全球饥荒、劳工尊严的尊重、服务生命文化、种族间的和平、跨宗教交谈，与社会传播工具的妥善运用。
你们被召叫去回应这些挑战，为了要建立一个更为公义与友爱的世界。这些挑战需要一个高标准与充满热忱的人生计画，在这人生计画中，你们要按照天主为你们每一个人的计画来运用你们所有的才赋。这不是说一定要如英雄般的成就或是多了不起的行动，而是能让你们的才华与能力有所发挥，在信德与爱德上持续进步。
在这司铎年，我希望你们学习圣人的行懿，特别是那些司铎圣人。你们会发现天主就是他们的向导，也将会明白他们是如何在信、望、爱中度过每一天。基督召叫你们每一位与祂合作，肩负起你们的责任建立爱的文明社会。如果你们听从祂的圣言，这圣言将照亮你们的途径，带领你们走向更高远的目标，这将带给你们的生命喜乐与更圆满的意义。
愿童贞圣母玛利亚——教会之母，看顾保护你们。我确保会在祈祷中记得你们，并且以我对你们的挚爱降福你们每一个人。
梵蒂冈，2010年2月22日
教宗本笃十六世
（天主教台湾地区主教团青年组恭译）
以下为文告英文版：
Dear Friends,
This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the inauguration of World Youth Day in response to the desire of the Venerable John Paul II for an annual gathering of young people of faith from throughout the world. It was a prophetic initiative that has borne abundant fruits, enabling the new generations of Christians to meet one another, to listen to the Word of God, to discover the beauty of the Church, and to have a deep experience of faith. This led many of them in turn to decide to give themselves completely to Christ.
The present 25th World Youth Day is one step along the way leading to the next international encounter of young people, scheduled for Madrid in August 2011. I hope that many of you will be there to experience this grace-filled event.
To prepare ourselves for this celebration, I would like to offer you some reflections on this year’s theme: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk 10:17). It is drawn from Gospel passage where Jesus meets the rich young man. It is a theme that Pope John Paul II reflected on in 1985, in a very beautiful Letter, the first ever addressed to young people.
1. Jesus meets a young man
“As [Jesus] was setting out on a journey” – the Gospel of Saint Mark tells us – “a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honour your father and your mother.’ He replied and said to him, ‘Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth’. Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me’. At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions” (Mk 10: 17-22).
This Gospel passage shows us clearly how much Jesus was concerned with young people, with all of you, with your expectations and your hopes, and it shows how much he wants to meet you personally and to engage each of you in conversation. Christ interrupted his journey to stop and answer the young man’s question. He gave his full attention to this youth who was moved with an ardent desire to speak to the “good Teacher” and to learn from him how to journey through life. My Predecessor used this Gospel passage to urge each of you to “develop your own conversation with Christ – a conversation which is of fundamental and essential importance for a young person” (Letter to Young People, No. 2).
2. Jesus looked at him and loved him
In his Gospel account, Saint Mark emphasises that “Jesus, looking at him, loved him” (Mk 10: 21). The Lord’s gaze is at the heart of this very special encounter and the whole Christian experience. To be sure, Christianity is not primarily a moral code. It is an experience of Jesus Christ who loves each of us personally, young and old, poor and rich. He loves us even when we turn away from him.
When Pope John Paul II commented on this scene, he turned to you and added: “May you experience a look like that! May you experience the truth that he, Christ, looks upon you with love!” (Letter to Young People, No. 7). It was love, revealed on the Cross so completely and totally, that led Saint Paul to write in amazement: “He loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20). Pope John Paul II wrote that “the awareness that the Father has always loved us in his Son, that Christ always loves each of us, becomes a solid support for our whole human existence” (ibid.). It enables us to overcome all our trials: the realization of our sins, our sufferings and our moments of discouragement.
In this love we find the source of all Christian life and the basic reason for evangelization: if we have really encountered Jesus, we cannot help but bear witness to him before those who have not yet met his gaze!
3. Finding a plan in life
If we look at the young man in the Gospel, we can see that he is much like each of you. You too are rich in talents, energy, dreams and hopes. These are resources which you have in abundance! Your age itself is a great treasure, not only for yourselves but for others too, for the Church and for the world.
The rich young man asks Jesus: “What must I do?” The time of life which you are going through is one of discovery: discovery of the gifts which God has bestowed upon you and your own responsibilities. It is also a time when you are making crucial choices about how you will live your lives. So it is a time to think about the real meaning of life and to ask yourselves: “Am I satisfied with my life? Is there something missing?”
Like the young man in the Gospel story, perhaps you too are experiencing situations of uncertainty, anxiety or suffering, and are yearning for something more than a life of mediocrity. It makes you ask yourselves: “What makes a life successful? What do I need to do? How should I plan my life? “What must I do for my life to have full value and full meaning?” (ibid., No. 3).
Do not be afraid to ask yourselves these questions! Far from troubling you, they are giving voice to the great aspirations that you hold in your hearts. That is why you should listen to them. The answers you give to them must not be superficial, but capable of satisfying the longing you truly feel for life and happiness.
In order to discover the life-project that will make you completely happy, listen to God. He has a loving plan for each one of you. You can confidently ask him: “Lord, what is your plan, as Creator and Father, for my life? What is your will? I want to carry it out”. You can be certain that he will answer you. Do not be afraid of his answer! “For God is greater than our hearts and knows everything” (1 Jn 3:20).
4. Come and follow me!
Jesus invites the rich young man to do much more than merely satisfy his aspirations and personal plans. He says to him: “Come and follow me!” The Christian vocation derives from a love-filled invitation made by the Lord, and it can be lived out only by a love-filled response: “Jesus invites his disciples to give their lives completely, without calculation or personal interest, with unreserved trust in God. The saints accept this demanding invitation and set out with humble docility in following the crucified and risen Christ. Their perfection, in the logic of faith which is at times humanly incomprehensible, consists in no longer putting themselves at the centre but in choosing to go against the tide, by living in line with the Gospel” (Benedict XVI, Homily at Canonizations, 11 October 2009).
Following the example of so many of Christ’s disciples, may you too, dear friends, joyfully welcome his invitation to follow him, and so live your lives intensely and fruitfully in this world. Through Baptism, in fact, he calls each of us to follow him concretely, to love him above all things and to serve him in our brothers and sisters. The rich young man, unfortunately, did not accept Jesus’ invitation and he went away saddened. He did not find the courage to leave behind his material goods in order to find the far greater good proposed by Jesus.
The sadness experienced by the rich young man in the Gospel story is the sadness that arises in the heart of all those who lack the courage to follow Christ and to make the right choice. Yet it is never too late to respond to him!
Jesus never tires of turning to us with love and calling us to be his disciples; to some, however, he proposes an even more radical choice. In this Year for Priests, I would like to urge young men and boys to consider if the Lord is inviting them to a greater gift, along the path of priestly ministry. I ask them to be willing to embrace with generosity and enthusiasm this sign of a special love and to embark on the necessary path of discernment with the help of a priest or a spiritual director. Do not be afraid, then, dear young men and women, if the Lord is calling you to the religious, monastic or missionary life, or a life of special consecration: He knows how to bestow deep joy upon those who respond to him with courage!
I also invite those who feel called to marriage to embrace this vocation with faith, working to lay a solid foundation for a love that is great, faithful and receptive to the gift of life. This vocation is a treasure and grace for society and for the Church.
5. Directed towards eternal life
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”. This question which the young man in the Gospel asks may seem far from the concerns of many young people today. As my Predecessor observed, “Are we not the generation whose horizon of existence is completely filled by the world and temporal progress? (Letter to Young People, No. 5). Yet, the question of “eternal life” returns at certain painful moments of our lives, as when we suffer the loss of someone close to us or experience failure.
But what is the “eternal life” to which the rich young man is referring? Jesus describes it to us when he says to his disciples: “But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you” (Jn 16: 22). These words point to an exciting possibility of unending happiness, to the joy of being surrounded by God’s love for ever.
Wondering about the definitive future awaiting each of us gives full meaning to our existence. It directs our life plan towards horizons that are not limited and fleeting, but broad and deep, and which motivate us to love this world which God loves so deeply, to devote ourselves to its development with the freedom and joy born of faith and hope. Against these horizons we do not see earthly reality as absolute, and we sense that God is preparing a greater future for us. In this way we can say with Saint Augustine: “Let us long for our home on high, let us pine for our home in heaven, let us feel that we are strangers here” (Tractates on the Gospel of Saint John, Homily 35:9). His gaze fixed on eternal life, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1925 at the age of 24, could say: “I want to live and not simply exist!” On a photograph taken while mountain-climbing, he wrote to a friend: “To the heights”, referring not only to Christian perfection but also to eternal life.
Dear young friends, I urge you to keep this perspective in developing your life plan: we are called to eternity. God created us to be with him, for ever. This will help you to make meaningful decisions and live a beautiful life.
6. The commandments, the way to authentic love
Jesus reminded the rich young man that obedience to the Ten Commandments is necessary in order to “inherit eternal life”. The Commandments are essential points of reference if we are to live in love, to distinguish clearly between good and evil, and to build a life plan that is solid and enduring. Jesus is asking you too whether you know the Commandments, whether you are trying to form your conscience according to God’s law, and putting the Commandments into practice.
Needless to say, these are questions that go against the grain in today’s world, which advocates a freedom detached from values, rules and objective norms, and which encourages people to refuse to place limits on their immediate desires. But this is not the way to true freedom. It leds people to become enslaved to themselves, to their immediate desires, to idols like power, money, unbridled pleasure and the entrapments of the world. It stifles their inborn vocation to love.
God gives us the Commandments because he wants to teach us true freedom. He wants to build a Kingdom of love, justice and peace together with us. When we listen to the Commandments and put them into practice, it does not mean that we become estranged from ourselves, but that we find the way to freedom and authentic love. The commandments do not place limits on happiness, but rather show us how to find it. At the beginning of the conversation with the rich young man, Jesus reminds him that the law which God gives is itself good, because “God is good”.
7. We need you
Being young today means having to face many problems due to unemployment and the lack of clear ideas and real possibilities for the future. At times you can have the impression of being powerless in the face of current crises and their repercussions. Despite these difficulties, do not let yourselves be discouraged, and do not give up on your dreams! Instead, cultivate all the more your heart’s great desire for fellowship, justice and peace. The future is in the hands of those who know how to seek and find sound reasons for life and hope. If you are willing, the future lies in your hands, because the talents and gifts that the Lord has placed in your hearts, shaped by an encounter with Christ, can bring real hope to the world! It is faith in his love that, by making you stronger and more generous, will give you courage to face serenely the path of life and to take on family and professional responsibilities. Try hard to build your future by paying serious attention to your personal development and your studies, so that you will be able to serve the common good competently and generously.
In my recent Encyclical Letter on integral human development, Caritas in Veritate, I listed some of the great and urgent challenges essential for the life of our world: the use of the earth’s resources and respect for ecology, the fair distribution of goods and control of financial mechanisms, solidarity with poor countries within our human family, the fight against world hunger, greater respect for the dignity of human labour, service to the culture of life, the building of peace between peoples, interfaith dialogue, and the proper use of social communications.
These are challenges to which you are called to respond in order to build a more just and fraternal world. They are challenges that call for a demanding and passionate life plan, in which you use all your many gifts in accordance with the plan that God has for each of you. It is not a matter of accompanishing heroic or extraordinary acts. It means allowing your talents and abilities to flourish, and trying to make constant progress in faith and love.
In this Year for Priests, I ask you to learn about the lives of the saints, and in particular of those saints who were priests. You will see how God was their guide and how they made their way through each day in faith, in hope and in love. Christ is calling each of you to work with him and to take up your responsibilities in order to build the civilization of love. If you follow his Word, it will light up your path and lead you to high goals that will give joy and full meaning to your lives.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, watch over and protect you. With the assurance of my prayers, and with great affection, I send my blessing to all of you.
From the Vatican, 22 February 2010