You are the salt of the earth.... You are the light of the world (Mt 5:13-14)
Going on a pilgrimage is a deep spiritual event. One travels a great distance to find God, not because God is absent from where we are, but because by doing so, we open ourselves to better receive Him. In becoming a pilgrim, one travels the long road to Calvary with Christ, and then lays himself or herself at the feet of our crucified Lord. It is an experience of humility and repentance. And through these two wonderful gifts, we are able to open ourselves more fully to God and his grace, and become better cooperators with His plan for creation.
In July of the year of Our Lord 2002, I embarked on such a pilgrimage. United with a little over a dozen companions, I set out for Toronto, the host city for the 17th World Youth Day. Upon arriving, I had the honor of spending a week with 200,000 young adults deeply in love with Christ. And for the closing Mass, 800,000 of my Catholic brothers and sisters united with dozens of bishops, and the Pope himself in the praise of God. It was AWESOME! And not surprisingly, I learned a few things in the process. You can read a few of my remarks below.
The Catholicity of the Church
One of the four "marks" of the true church (as per the Council of Constantinople) is it's catholicity or universality. The Church is not a church of a particular people or a particular nation or a particular geographic area. The Church transcends all these things. And that transcendence of nation, people and place was shown most beautifully at World Youth Day. Pilgrims carried flags of every nation imaginable, some of which I couldn't even recognize. Seeing flags from so many nations towering over the crowd really put me in awe. This is what the prophet Micah talks about when he says, "In the days to come the mount of the Lord's house shall be established higher than the mountains; and it shall rise above the hills, and peoples shall stream to it: many nations shall come and say, 'Come let us climb the mount of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he might instruct us in his ways, that we may walk in his paths'" (Mi 4:1-2). Young people from all nations rose up to join in prayer, to become a visible sign and witness to the catholicity of the Church. To quote Archbishop Thomas Collins of Edmonton, "We're not loners, we're not little canoes adrift in the ocean... we're part of a mighty fleet."
The Frailties of the Human Person
When you spend a week in close contact with a particular group of people you tend to learn a lot about their faults. One of them frustrated easily, another always wanted to immediate answers, a still another didn't like to take responsibility. But seeing the frailties of my friends, also helped me to see some of my own. I too, tried to ditch my responsibilities on others. I too got frustrated easily when I couldn't get quick answers. When I took charge, I was harsh, arbitrary and domineering. And this was all before Friday afternoon:) But with the aid of the keen spiritual sight of a holy priest, I was able to see my own faults and sins. And through the abundant mercy of God, I was able to come to repentance and be reconciled with Him through the sacrament of reconciliation.
I also learned a lot about the frailties of the people in the world around us. As Robert Lebel wrote in the World Youth Day theme song, Lumiere du monde , "So many in this world drift into sleep, while others only know a darkness without end." The culture of death is dominant in our consumeristic, hedonistic society. To quote Archbishop Collins, "If anyone doesn't believe in original sin, take a look at the TV." There is a lot of work to be done in God's plan for the evangelization of culture. The culture of death must be replaced with the culture of life, piece by piece. But this all begins with the struggle for personal holiness and attentiveness to God. We must become flavorful salt and bright light. As as we get closer and closer to becoming the saints we're meant to be, we'll be more and more able to heal our broken world.
Becoming Salt and Light
Catechetical Lectures of Anthony Cardinal Bevelaqua of Philadelphia and Archbishop Timothy Broglio the Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico form the basis for this section.
What does it mean to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world? And how are we as young people to realize this goal? Let's start with salt. Salt (as a table additive) helps to bring out the flavor of food, making it enjoyable to eat. Salt, especially in the days before refrigeration, is also used to preserve food and prevent it from spoiling. To be salt is to help bring out the flavor of Christ in others and to preserve virtue in others and prevent it from spoiling.
How are we to be salt then? We must first start with personal holiness (becoming a pure salt). We do this by becoming people of prayer. We must be in perpetual conversation with God, even if that conversation is just quietly remaining in His presence. We should emulate the saints, especially those of our own age, and become imitators of them as they are imitators of Christ. We must dare to life this life to the fullest, such is the nobility of our faith.
What about light? Without light, the eye is a useless organ, we see nothing but blackness and are forced to feel our way around like the blind. But even the smallest candle can light up a vast room. Recall the Great Easter Vigil. The church stands in darkness, with the paschal candle as it's only light. But this single light spreads, and eventually the whole church is full of lit candles. Thus we can see that being the light of the world has a built-in evangelistic aspect to it. No matter how brightly we shine, there will always be part of the world that cannot see us (even the sun only lights up half of earth at a time). In order to be light for the world, we, as a community, must spread that light. To quote Archbishop Timothy Broglio, Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, "Our desire is to make the offer of salvation known, and to invite men and women to share in the mystery."
A wet piece of wood will not burn. First it must be dried out and only then will it be able to light aflame. Thus to be the light of the world, we must first "prepare the terrain" for Christ. In our own lives this means knowing and understanding our Catholic faith; eliminating obstacles to grace in our lives; living a life full of the sacraments and personal prayer; and studying theology. For others, we must help them to prepare their terrain. We can't preach the Gospel effectively to the poor, the hungry and the homeless unless we also help them to meet their basic needs. Only the hypocrite would try to preach the Gospel of Love without demonstrating that same love by meeting the needs of the poor (cf. Jas 2:16). We must evangelize our culture by combating the structures of sin in our society, and supplying the needy with the appropriate physical goods. This is how we prepare the terrain for Christ.
A Witness to Hope...
At "The Papal Spacebridge: Satellite Youth Forum", Pope John Paul II said, "My dear young friends I pray that your faith in Christ will always be strong. This way you will always be ready to tell others the reason for your hope. You will be messengers of hope for the world." Tony Melendez quotes these words in his recording of the song "My Dear Young Friends." And the Pope is right --- we are called to be a witness to the hope of the Gospel in all the world. Specifically, I believe that we can learn to be such witnesses by imitating the Pope himself.
To be a witness to hope is to refuse to be mastered by the fear and despair of the world. Though John Paul is humbled by age and illness, he refuses to surrender to them. He lives as a man with a young heart. When he made reference to his age in one of his addresses, young people at WYD began to chant, "The Pope is Young," over and over again. What we see in the Pope is a man who is completely unafraid of the powers that be in this world; a man who's willing to speak the truth without counting the cost. The Pope bears witness to hope by being a genuine person. In an age where politicians master the art of spin doctoring, John Paul is refreshingly honest. In an age where the elderly are ignored and thought of as useless, the John Paul perseveres in God's ministry. He won't surrender, and he won't give in. Rather, he prays for God's grace, and continues onward.
The life of John Paul II is a message of hope to people of all ages. For the elderly, he shows them their true value. For the middle aged, he shows them not to compromise. And to us young people, he teaches us to follow our dream for a more Christlike world. With God's help, we can transform this world into the foretaste of the Kingdom that it's supposed to be. And because John Paul has done it through his life, we know we can too.
Written in pico with a lot of gcc preprocessor abuse