Pope Benedict XVI meet faithful youths at Maronite Patriarchate, Bkerke, north of Beirut September 15, 2012.
Posted on 09/16/2012 2:20:23 PM PDT by NYer
Pope Benedict XVI meet faithful youths at Maronite Patriarchate, Bkerke, north of Beirut September 15, 2012.
.- Pope Benedict XVI has challenged young Christians and Muslims in the Middle East to reject the path of violence and hate and instead unleash a “revolution of love.”
“It is vital that the Middle East in general, looking at you, should understand that Muslims and Christians, Islam and Christianity, can live side by side without hatred, with respect for the beliefs of each person, so as to build together a free and humane society,” the Pope told an open-air gathering of young people the in Bkerke, Lebanon Sept. 15.
Gathered in the square in front of the residence of the country’s Maronite Patriarchate, the tens of thousands of young people heard the Pope tell them that they were “the future of this fine country and of the Middle East in general.”
In recent years educated young people have been at the vanguard of anti-government protests across the Middle East, the so-called “Arab Spring.” Pope Benedict used his address to outline a different revolution: one begun by Jesus Christ.
“The universal brotherhood which he inaugurated on the cross lights up in a resplendent and challenging way the revolution of love. ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ This is the legacy of Jesus and the sign of the Christian,” the Pope said. “This is the true revolution of love!”
While youth is a “time when we aspire to great ideals,” Pope Benedict recognized that it can also be a time of great uncertainty. Such frustrations, however, should not lead young people to “take refuge in parallel worlds like those, for example, of the various narcotics or the bleak world of pornography.”
His comments also touched upon internet-based social networks, suggesting that while they were “interesting” they can also “quite easily lead to addiction and confusion between the real and the virtual.” Instead young people should “look for relationships of genuine, uplifting friendship.”
He urged the tens of thousands present to “find ways to give meaning and depth” to their lives and to flee from “superficiality and mindless consumption” including the love of money which can be a “tyrannical idol which blinds to the point of stifling the person at the heart.”
In an apparent reference to the world of celebrity culture, Pope Benedict suggested to young people that “the examples being held up all around you are not always the best.”
Instead he encouraged them to “seek beauty and strive for goodness.”
“Bear witness to the grandeur and the dignity of your body which ‘is for the Lord’,” he continued. “Be thoughtful, upright and pure of heart!”
In order to strive for these goals he recommended mediation upon Holy Scripture, reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church and, in particular, prayer.
“Pray! Prayer and the sacraments are the sure and effective means to be a Christian and to live rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith,” he said.
The Pope challenged Lebanese young people to be “heralds of the Gospel of life and life’s authentic values” and to “courageously resist everything opposed to life: abortion, violence, rejection of and contempt for others, injustice and war.”
The witness of youthful faith being lived with “courage and enthusiasm” would help young people’s peers understand God’s desire for “the happiness of all without distinction.”
Towards the end of his speech Pope Benedict gave special mention to the young people who had travelled from neighboring war-torn Syria to be at the Papal gathering in Bkerke.
“I want to say how much I admire your courage. Tell your families and friends back home that the Pope has not forgotten you. Tell those around you that the Pope is saddened by your sufferings and your griefs.”
“It is time for Muslims and Christians to come together so as to put an end to violence and war,” he said in conclusion. He commended the youthful gathering to the protection of Bl. Pope John Paul II and Mary, “the Mother of the Lord, Our Lady of Lebanon.”
The video is not that long so please, take a few minutes, to watch it. As so often seen at World Youth Day, these youth are filled with love for their Holy Father and exuberantly welcome his visit. The youth choir also joins in with a beautiful song. Enjoy!
Thanks for posting this. A regular dose of Vitamin B16 always does me good.
There is no such thing as “revolution of love”... all it equates to is getting your head cut off... let the pope and his family be seen walking the streets of Lebanon showing off how they love everyone...oh yah, they don’t marry hence they have no children or family to sacrifice to the cause. Don’t ya just love it when “leaders” practice what they preach?
Notice in the video that some of the youth are carrying palms and olive branches and the announcer is shouting “Hosannah”. These peoples in the Middle East were the ones who greeted our Lord when he came triumphantly into Jerusalem, waving palms and olive branches. Even today, in the Eastern Catholic Churches, Palm Sunday sees the church packed with children, dressed in their finest and carrying candles to light the path of our Lord. Then, as now, they wave their palms and olive branches to welcome, in this case, the Successor of Peter, on earth.
Why don’t you criticize the Muslims instead of the Pope, who is putting his life on the line to do the best he can to protect Christians in the ME. He’s sure doing a heck of a lot more than the US government or the government of any Western country.
DU much?
Evil pays no attention to love, have ya noticed? What evil needs in this finite world is to have the hell kicked out of it from time to time to keep it at bay... When the world is on fire from hell, little good it does a pep-talk on love...
“Evil pays no attention to love, have ya noticed?”
So did Jesus Christ on the cross - he noticed. So did the Apostles and all the martyrs who died to spread the faith.
But the effect is to confound evil.
Know your facts before you post nonsensical statements.
Of, lest’s see, the evil in the hearts of Islamists sure seem to be confounded, dagnabit...
I echo your response, livius. ‘DU much?’ indeed...
Love overcame Rome and the Islamists are not in the same league as the sheer power, viciousness, and evil.
This is plainly stupid. We have 350,000 Lebanese of all walks of life who attended an open 3-hour Papal Mass in Beirut today. Had you been reading about this you’d realize that even Hezbollah welcomed the Pope by paying for large road side banners welcoming him. He has not only called for peaceful existence but has urged the dignity of all human beings be respect and demanded that religions be tested by both faith and reason.
Your tag-line says it all
Thank you. I didn’t know that.
Excellent point.
Muslims have been caught plotting to kill Pope Benedict. He’s now in a country awash in sectarian violence and dominated by Muslim terrorists. In other words, he’s practicing what he preaches, while you are merely posting on the internet.
I love my new tag-line. Was at a music lesson, and my teacher quoted Debussy writing about people who drove him nuts by holding to the same precise metronome beat every single measure. He said, “Debussy did not suffer fools gladly.”
I said, “It is a special gift, isn’t it? It’s quite satisfying but you end up with very few friends.” We laughed so hard. We had just been talking about how difficult humans could be.
That was very nice. The Lebanese are such handsome people ... the Salvadorans of the Middle East, as it were.
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