The Fountain of Youth

by Fr. Roger J. Landry - August 19, 2005

"Truly I tell you," Jesus said in the Gospel, "unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3).

That's one of the reasons why World Youth Day, now underway in Cologne, Germany, is such a great blessing for the Church universal. About one out of every thousand Catholics in the world — and a much larger percentage of the world's young Catholics— have convened to celebrate our faith with the successor of St. Peter. At his inaugural Mass four months ago, Pope Benedict said that the "Church is alive … and the Church is young." During these days, the whole world will see from Germany the reality of those words proclaimed in many languages and with unforgettable images.

The thrust of World Youth Day, inaugurated by Pope John Paul II twenty years ago, is to help the whole church become stronger by helping her "change and become like children." It is one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life that in order to "come to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Eph 4:13), a Christian must become more childlike.

World Youth Day has always been a big help to young Catholics, to be fortified in their joyful, enthusiastic living of the faith. In addition to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist, catechetical instruction directed to the challenges they face, prayers, devotions and pilgrimages, they also experience —in an indelibly joyful way — the catholicity of the Church. They meet Catholics from all over the world whose examples teach them that they're not alone in following of Jesus Christ, but are surrounded by a huge "cloud of witnesses" mutually spurring each other on to victory in Him.

But World Youth Day is also a huge boon to Catholics of all ages. These international Catholic jamborees are not only occasions when the young are evangelized, but in which they evangelize, too. They show their seniors — especially those from the developed world who, because of the aggressive secularization of their cultures, may be tempted at times to think that the Church is on her denouement — that Christ has not ceased calling young people to follow him all the way. World Youth Day shows that not only are the young a crucial part of the Church's future, but also a crucial part of the Church's present.

This was evident, most notably, in the April events in Rome. As soon as Pope John Paul II died, young people flocked there from all over the world, many at great personal sacrifice. They came to wait up to a day in line to pray for less than a minute in front of the Pope's tomb. Four million people — one out of every 250 Catholics in the world, and most of them young — gave the world a stunning wake-up call. Many members of the media admitted that they were stunned, that they had never seen anything like it, and that they would never have believed it possible. Many of the Cardinals who had convened to elect his successor admitted that the Holy Spirit was giving them a clear sign through them of the need for a new pope who would be able to feed those hungry multitudes, inspire them, and collaborate with them in the Lord's vineyard.

On April 19th, when Benedict emerged on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, he appeared a little nervous and overwhelmed by the weight of the yoke just put on his shoulders. But then the cries started to come, more and more insistently, from young voices in the crowd: "Viva il papa!," accompanied by high-pitched rhythmic applause. Immediately Benedict's visage changed, as he was obviously buoyed by the same crowds that gave John Paul II the energy and enthusiasm to keep giving all the way until he could give no more.

This weekend Benedict will hear those shouts and applause again. He will evangelize the young and be evangelized by them.

The theme of this year's World Youth Day — "We have come to worship Him!" (Mt 2:2) — tells us how that mutual evangelization will take . In the city which enshrines the relics of the Magi who said those world as they neared the place where the infant King of Kings was to be found., the successor of St. Peter, and the successors of the first disciples (Mt 19:14), will worship Christ together. And the Church, ever ancient and ever new, will experience a profound rejuvenation.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.