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Christians build their foundation on the 'crucified
love' of the Rock, Christ the Lord
On Saturday evening, 27 May, the Holy Father met with youth at
Błonie Park in Krakow. The following is
an English translation of the Pope's Address, given in Polish.
Dear Young Friends,
I offer all of you my warmest welcome! Your presence makes me happy.
I thank the Lord for this cordial meeting. We know that “where two or
three are gathered in the name of Jesus, he is in their midst” (cf.
Mt 18:20).
Today, you are much more numerous! Accordingly, Jesus is
here with us. He is present among the young people of Poland, speaking
to them of a house that will never collapse because it is built on the
rock. This is the Gospel that we have just heard (cf. Mt 7:24-27).
My friends, in the heart of every man there is the desire for a
house. Even more so in the young person’s heart there is a great longing
for a proper house, a stable house, one to which he can not only return
with joy, but where every guest who arrives can be joyfully welcomed.
There is a yearning for a house where the daily bread is love, pardon
and understanding. It is a place where the truth is the source out of
which flows peace of heart. There is a longing for a house you can be
proud of, where you need not be ashamed and where you never fear its
loss.
These longings are simply the desire for a full, happy and
successful life. Do not be afraid of this desire! Do not run away from
this desire! Do not be discouraged at the sight of crumbling houses,
frustrated desires and faded longings. God the Creator, who inspires in
young hearts an immense yearning for happiness, will not abandon you in
the difficult construction of the house called life.
How do we build the house?
My friends, this brings about a question: “How do we build this
house?” Without doubt, this is a question that you have already faced
many times and that you will face many times more. Every day you must
look into your heart and ask: “How do I build that house called life?”
Jesus, whose words we just heard in the passage from the evangelist
Matthew, encourages us to build on the rock. In fact, it is only in this
way that the house will not crumble. But what does it mean to build a
house on the rock? Building on the rock means, first of all, to build on
Christ and with Christ.
Jesus says: “Every one then who hears these
words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house
upon the rock” (Mt 7:24). These are not just the empty words of
some person or another; these are the words of Jesus. We are not
listening to any person: we are listening to Jesus. We are not asked to
commit to just anything; we are asked to commit ourselves to the words
of Jesus.
Building on and with Christ
To build on Christ and with Christ means to build on a foundation
that is called “crucified love”. It means to build with Someone who,
knowing us better than we know ourselves, says to us: “You are precious
in my eyes and honoured, and I love you” (Is 43:4).
It means to
build with Someone, who is always faithful, even when we are lacking in
faith, because he cannot deny himself (cf. 2 Tim 2:13). It means
to build with Someone who constantly looks down on the wounded heart of
man and says: “ I do not condemn you, go and do not sin again” (cf.
Jn 8:11). It means to build with Someone who, from the Cross,
extends his arms and repeats for all eternity: “O man, I give my life
for you because I love you.”
In short, building on Christ means basing
all your desires, aspirations, dreams, ambitions and plans on his will.
It means saying to yourself, to your family, to your friends, to the
whole world and, above all to Christ: “Lord, in life I wish to do
nothing against you, because you know what is best for me. Only you have
the words of eternal life” (cf. Jn 6:68).
My friends, do not be
afraid to lean on Christ! Long for Christ, as the foundation of your
life! Enkindle within you the desire to build your life on him and for
him! Because no one who depends on the crucified love of the Incarnate
Word can ever lose.
To build on the rock means to build on Christ and with Christ, who is
the rock. In the First Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul, speaking
of the journey of the chosen people through the desert, explains that
all “drank from the supernatural rock, which followed them, and the rock
was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4).
The fathers of the Chosen People
certainly did not know that the rock was Christ. They were not aware of
being accompanied by him who in the fulness of time would become
incarnate and take on a human body. They did not need to understand that
their thirst would be satiated by the very Source of life, capable of
offering the living water which quenches every heart. Nonetheless, they
drank from this spiritual rock that is Christ, because they yearned for
this living water, and needed it.
On the road of life we may sometimes
not be aware of Jesus’ presence. However, it is really this presence,
living and true, in the work of creation, in the Word of God and in the
Eucharist, in the community of believers and in every man redeemed by
the precious Blood of Christ, which is the inexhaustible source of human
strength. Jesus of Nazareth, God made Man, is beside us during the good
times and the bad times and he thirsts for this relationship, which is,
in reality, the foundation of authentic humanity.
We read in the book of
Revelation these important words: “Behold, I stand at the door and
knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him
and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).
Do not reject 'the Rock'
My friends, what does it mean to build on the rock? Building on the
rock also means building on Someone who was rejected. Saint Peter speaks
to the faithful of Christ as a “living stone rejected by men but in
God’s sight chosen and precious” (1 Pet 2:4). The undeniable fact
of the election of Jesus by God does not conceal the mystery of evil,
whereby man is able to reject Him who has loved to the very end.
This
rejection of Jesus by man, which Saint Peter mentions, extends
throughout human history, even to our own time. One does not need great
mental acuity to be aware of the many ways of rejecting Christ, even on
our own doorstep. Often, Jesus is ignored, he is mocked and he is
declared a king of the past who is not for today and certainly not for
tomorrow. He is relegated to a storeroom of questions and persons one
dare not mention publicly in a loud voice.
If in the process of building
the house of your life you encounter those who scorn the foundation on
which you are building, do not be discouraged! A strong faith must
endure tests. A living faith must always grow. Our faith in Jesus
Christ, to be such, must frequently face others’ lack of faith.
Dear friends, what does it mean to build on the rock? Building on the
rock means being aware that there will be misfortunes. Christ says: “The
rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the
house ... ” (Mt 7:25).
These natural phenomena are not only an
image of the many misfortunes of the human lot, but they also indicate
that such misfortunes are normally to be expected. Christ does not
promise that a downpour will never inundate a house under construction,
he does not promise that a devastating wave will never sweep away that
which is most dear to us, he does not promise that strong winds will
never carry away what we have built, sometimes with enormous sacrifice.
One reliable source in difficulty
Christ not only understands man’s desire for a lasting house, but he is
also fully aware of all that can wreck man’s happiness. Do not be
surprised therefore by misfortunes, whatever they may be! Do not be
discouraged by them! An edifice built on the rock is not the same as a
building removed from the forces of nature, which are inscribed in the
mystery of man.
To have built on rock means being able to count on the
knowledge that at difficult times there is a reliable force upon which
you can trust.
My friends, allow me to ask again: what does it mean to build on the
rock? It means to build wisely. It is not without reason that Jesus
compares those who hear his words and put them into practice to a wise
man who has built his house on the rock. It is foolish, in fact, to
build on sand, when you can do so on rock and therefore have a house
that is capable of withstanding every storm.
It is foolish to build a
house on ground that that does not offer the guarantee of support during
the most difficult times. Maybe it is easier to base one’s life on the
shifting sands of one’s own worldview, building a future far from the
word of Jesus and sometimes even opposed to it. Be assured that he who
builds in this way is not prudent, because he wants to convince himself
and others that in his life no storm will rage and no wave will strike
his house.
To be wise means to know that the solidity of a house depends
on the choice of foundation. Do not be afraid to be wise; that is to
say, do not be afraid to build on the rock!
My friends, once again: what does it mean to build on the rock?
Building on the rock also means to build on Peter and with Peter. In
fact the Lord said to him: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build
my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Mt
16:18).
If Christ, the Rock, the living and precious stone, calls
his Apostle “rock”, it means that he wants Peter, and together with him
the entire Church, to be a visible sign of the one Saviour and Lord.
Here, in Kraków, the beloved city of my Predecessor John Paul II, no one
is astonished by the words “to build with Peter and on Peter”. For this
reason I say to you: do not be afraid to build your life on the Church
and with the Church.
You are all proud of the love you have for Peter
and for the Church entrusted to him. Do not be fooled by those who want
to play Christ against the Church. There is one foundation on which it
is worthwhile to build a house. This foundation is Christ. There is only
one rock on which it is worthwhile to place everything. This rock is the
one to whom Christ said: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build
my Church” (Mt 16:18).
Do not be afraid of failure
Young people, you know well the Rock of
our times. Accordingly, do not forget that neither that Peter who is
watching our gathering from the window of God the Father, nor this Peter
who is now standing in front of you, nor any successive Peter will ever
be opposed to you or the building of a lasting house on the rock.
Indeed, he will offer his heart and his hands to help you construct a
life on Christ and with Christ.
Dear friends, meditating on Christ’s words describing the rock as an
adequate foundation for a house, we cannot help but notice that the last
word is a hopeful one.
Jesus says that, notwithstanding the harshness of
the elements, the house is not destroyed, because it was built on the
rock. In his word there is an extraordinary confidence in the strength
of the foundation, a faith that does not fear contradictions because it
is confirmed by the death and resurrection of Christ.
This is the faith
that years later was professed by Saint Peter in his letter: “ Behold, I
am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who
believes in him will not be put to shame” (1 Pet 2:6). Certainly
“he will not be put to shame.”
Dear young friends, the fear of failure
can at times frustrate even the most beautiful dreams. It can paralyze
the will, making one incapable of believing that it is really possible
to build a house on the rock. It can convince one that the yearning for
such a house is only a childish aspiration and not a plan for life.
Together with Jesus, say to this fear: “A house founded on the rock
cannot collapse!” Together with Saint Peter say to the temptation to
doubt: “He who believes in Christ will not be put to shame!”
You are all
witnesses to hope, to that hope which is not afraid to build the house
of one’s own life because it is certain that it can count on the
foundation that will never crumble: Jesus Christ our Lord.
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