We the Synod Fathers now address you, young people of the world, with a word of hope, trust, and consolation. In these days, we have gathered together to hear the voice of Jesus, “the eternally young Christ,” and to recognize in Him your many voices, your shouts of exultation, your cries, and your moments of silence.
We are familiar with your inner searching, the joys and hopes, the pain and anguish that make up your longings. Now we want you to hear a word from us: we wish to be sharers in your joy, so that your expectations may come to life. We are certain that with your enthusiasm for life, you will be ready to get involved so that your dreams may be realized and take shape in your history.
Our weaknesses should not deter you; our frailties and sins must not be an obstacle for your trust. The Church is your mother; she does not abandon you; she is ready to accompany you on new roads, on higher paths where the winds of the Spirit blow stronger – sweeping away the mists of indifference, superficiality, and discouragement.
When the world that God so loved, that he gave us his only Son, Jesus, is focused on material things, on short-term successes, on pleasures, and when the world crushes the weakest, you must help it to rise up again and to turn its gaze towards love, beauty, truth, and justice once more.
For a month, we have walked together with some of you and with many others who have been united to us through prayer and affection. We wish to continue the journey now in every part of the earth where the Lord Jesus sends us as missionary disciples.
The Church and the world urgently need your enthusiasm. Be sure to make the most fragile people, the poor, and those wounded by life your traveling companions.
You are the present; be a brighter future.#
* The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops took place in Rome from October 3 to 28, 2018 and had as its theme “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.” This assembly of bishops and select lay people, including 30 youth delegates, aimed to “to examine herself [the Church] on how she can lead young people to recognize and accept the call to the fullness of life and love, and to ask young people to help her in identifying the most effective way to announce the Good News today.”
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