The Liturgy of the Word with Young People (3 November 1982)

On Wednesday, 3 November 1982, the Holy Father celebrated the Liturgy of The Word with young people in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, in Madrid. In reflecting on the Beatitudes, the Pope addressed the question of why there is evil in the world.

Dear young people.

1. This is one of the most anticipated meetings of my visit to Spain, which allows me to have direct contact with Spanish youth, in the setting of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, witness to many sporting events.

In all my pastoral visits, in different parts of the world, I have always wanted to meet with young people. I do it because of the great esteem I have for you and because you are the hope of the Church, no less than of society. Both, in fact, in not many years will rely largely on you: on you and on many thousands of your companions who join you at this moment in all the places in Spain from which you come.

I know that many of them - the news reached me in Rome before my departure - would have liked to be here this evening; and that faced with the difficulty of finding room for everyone, they sent you as their representatives.

I also know that many of them have given you the explicit task of bringing their greetings to the Pope and telling him that they are united with us in prayer, in front of the radio and television, because they thirst for the truth, for the great ideals of Christ.

Dear young people: all this moved me; I tell you this in confidence, as a friend. You young people are capable of stealing hearts with many of your gestures, with your generosity and spontaneity.

It was your first response, before we even saw each other, to a question of mine.

In fact, I had sometimes asked myself: will young Spaniards be able to look at the good with courage and perseverance; will they offer an example of maturity in the use of their freedom, or will they turn in on themselves disillusioned? Will the youth of a country rich in faith, intelligence, heroism, art, human values, great human and religious undertakings want to live the present with an openness to Christian hope and with a responsible vision of the future?

The answer was given by the news that reached me from you. She gave it to me above all what I have seen in so many of you in these days, and your presence and your behavior this evening.

I want to tell you: you have not disappointed me, and I continue to believe in young people, in you. And I think, not to pay you a compliment, but because I'm counting on you to spread a new way of life. The one born from Jesus, son of God and Mary, whose message I bring you.

2. A few moments ago we were invited to reflect on the text of the Beatitudes. At their basis lies a question that you ask yourselves with anxiety: why does evil exist in the world?

Christ's words speak of persecution, of crying, of lack of peace and injustice, of lies and insults. And they indirectly speak of man's suffering in his temporal life.

But they don't stop there. They also indicate a program to overcome evil with good.

Indeed, those who cry will be consoled; those who suffer from the absence of justice and are hungry and thirsty for it will be satisfied; peacemakers will be called children of God; the merciful will find mercy; those persecuted for justice will possess the kingdom of heaven.

Is this just a promise of the future? Do the wonderful certainties that Jesus gives to his disciples refer only to eternal life, to a kingdom of heaven located beyond death?

We know well, dear young people, that this "kingdom of heaven" is "the kingdom of God", and that "it is near" ( Mt 3:2). Because it was inaugurated with the death and resurrection of Christ. Yes, it is close, because it largely depends on us, Christians and "disciples" of Jesus.

It is we, baptized and confirmed in Christ, who are called to bring this kingdom closer, to make it visible and current in this world, as a preparation for its definitive establishment.

And this is achieved with our personal commitment, with our effort and our conduct consistent with the precepts of the Lord, with our fidelity to his person, with our imitation of his example, with our moral dignity.

Thus the Christian overcomes evil; and you, young Spaniards, overcome evil with good every time, for love and following the example of Christ, you free yourselves from the slavery of those who aspire to have more and not to be better.

When you know how to be worthily simple in a world that pays any price for power; when you are pure of heart among those who judge only in terms of sex, appearance or hypocrisy; when you build peace, in a world of violence and war; when you fight for justice in the face of the exploitation of man by man or of one nation by another; when with generous mercy you do not seek revenge, but come to love the enemy; when in the midst of pain and difficulties, you do not lose hope and perseverance in goodness, strong in the consolation and example of Christ and in love for brother man. Then become effective and radical transformers of the world and builders of the new civilization of love, truth and justice, which Christ brings as a message.

3. In this way, the man - and especially the young person - who approaches reading the word of Christ with the question: "Why does evil exist in the world", when he accepts the truth of the beatitudes, ends up asking himself another question: what can we do to overcome evil with good? Indeed, he ends up already finding an answer to this question, which is fundamental in human existence. And we can well say that whoever finds this answer and knows how to consistently orient their conduct towards it has managed to make the Gospel penetrate into their life. Then he is truly Christian.

With the solid criteria that he draws from his Christian beliefs, the young man knows how to react in the right way when faced with a world of appearances, injustice and materialism that surrounds him.

Faced with the manipulation of which he may feel subjected through drugs, exasperated sex, violence, the young Christian will not seek methods of action that lead him into the spiral of terrorism; this in fact would plunge him into an equal or greater evil than that which he criticizes and deprecates.

He will not fall into insecurity and demoralization, nor will he take refuge in the empty paradises of escapism or indifference. Neither drugs, nor alcohol, nor sex, nor a resigned, uncritical passivity - what you call "pasotismo" (indifferentism) - are an answer to evil. Your response must come from a healthy critical position; from the fight against the massification of thinking and living, which we sometimes try to impose on you, which is offered in many readings and means of social communication.

Young! Friends! You must be yourself, without letting yourself be manipulated; maintaining solid behavioral criteria. In a word: with life models that you can trust, in which you can reflect all your generous creative capacity, all your thirst for sincerity and social improvement, thirst for permanent values ​​worthy of wise choices. It is the program of struggle, to overcome evil with good. The program of the beatitudes that Christ proposes to you.

4. Let us now combine the reflection on the beatitudes with the words of Saint John just heard.

The apostle explains that he who loves his brother is in the light, and he who hates him is in the darkness; he writes to the two generations: to that of the parents, who have known the One who has always existed; and to the children, to you young people, "who are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one" ( 1 John 2:13ff).

What meaning do these words have? Saint John speaks twice of victory over the evil one; that is, of victory over the instigator of evil in the world. We are faced with the same argument found in the Beatitudes.

Well, we know that Jesus is the one who gives us that "victory that conquers the world" and the evil that is in it (cf. 1 Jn 5.4f) and who characterizes it, because "the world lies under the power of the evil one" ( 1 John 5:19).

But let us note well the two essential conditions or dimensions that the Gospel requires for this victory: the first is love; the second, the knowledge of God as Father.

Love for God and neighbor is the hallmark of the Christian; it is the "old" and "new" precept that characterizes God's revelation in the Old and New Testaments (cf. Dt 6, 5; Lev 19, 8; John 13, 34f). It is the "strength" that reinvigorates our human capacity to love, elevating it, for love of God, to love for our "brother" ( 1 John 2:9-11). Love has an enormous transformative capacity: it changes the darkness of hatred into light.

Imagine for a moment this magnificent stadium without light. We wouldn't see or hear each other. What a sad sight that would be! What a change when it's well lit! Saint John can rightly tell us that "whoever loves his brother is in the light" while he who hates him "is in the darkness". With this internal transformation, evil, selfishness, envy and hypocrisy are overcome and good prevails.

Our knowledge of God as Father makes this prevail (cf. John 2:14). And therefore the vision of man as an object of divine love, as an image of God, with an eternal destiny, as being redeemed by Christ, as a son of the same Father in heaven.

Therefore not as an antagonist, not as an adversary, but as a "brother". How many forces of evil, disunity, death and selfishness would be overcome if this vision of man, not a wolf to man, but a "brother", was effectively established in relationships between people, social groups, races, religions and nations!

5. Therefore it is necessary that, faced with the existential question of "why is evil in the world", we discover love within ourselves as a desire for good; even more: as a need for good; as an "ancient" and "new", current need, oriented towards the unique and unrepeatable coefficients of our life, of our historical moment, of our companions on the journey towards the Father. Thus we will enter the sphere of those who give an evangelical response to the problem of evil and its overcoming in good. Thus we will contribute, starting from fidelity to our relationship with God the Father and to the "new commandment" of Christ, which "is true in him and in us" (cf. 1 John 2:8), to ensure that the darkness passes and let the light appear" ( 1 John 2:8).

This is the path to building the Kingdom of Christ; in which the poor, the sick, the persecuted have a prominent place, because man is seen in his capacity and tendency towards the fullness of God.

A kingdom where truth dominates, the dignity of man, responsibility, the certainty of being the image of God. A kingdom in which the divine plan for man is realized, based on love, on authentic freedom, on mutual service, on the reconciliation of men with God and with each other. A kingdom that you are all called to build not only in isolation, but also united in groups or movements that make the Gospel present and are light and leaven for others.

6. My dear young people: the fight against evil takes place in one's heart and in social life. Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, teaches us how to overcome him for good. He teaches us and invites us to do it in a friendly tone; as a friend who does not defraud, who offers an experience of friendship that today's youth, so eager for sincere and faithful friendships, so much need. Experience this friendship with Jesus. Live it in prayer with him, in his doctrine, in the teaching of the Church that offers it to you.

May Mary Most Holy, your Mother and ours, introduce you to this journey. And may the example of Saint Teresa, an extraordinary woman and saint, and that of Saint Francis Xavier, the man with a big heart for good, and of many other of your compatriots who spent their lives doing good, at the cost of everything, even of themselves.

Young Spaniards: evil is a reality. Overcoming it for good is a great feat. It will spring up again with the weakness of man. But you shouldn't be afraid. God's grace and his sacraments are available to us. As long as we walk along the transformative path of the beatitudes, we are overcoming evil; we are transforming darkness into light.

Let this be your path; with Christ, our hope, our Easter. And always accompanied by their common Mother, the Virgin Mary. So be it.

© Copyright 1982 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana