Pope Benedict XVI has told 2,500 young people gathered at Westminster Cathedral piazza that they must “make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God”.
According to one pilgrim, Rachel Obordo, young people were “screaming for joy” when the Holy Father came out of the cathedral to greet them. Before and after his address, Pope Benedict was met with cries of “we love you” and “viva papa”.
The Pope told them: “I ask you to look into your hearts each day to find the source of all true love. Jesus is always there, quietly waiting for us to be still with him and to hear his voice. Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer.
“But this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline; it requires making time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak. Even amid the ‘busy-ness’ and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence.
“It is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self. And in discovering our true self, we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his Church and the redemption of our world.”
The Pope said that “we were made to give love”, but giving that love required a “daily decision”.
He said: “We were also made to give love, to make it the inspiration for all we do and the most enduring thing in our lives. At times this seems so natural, especially when we feel the exhilaration of love, when our hearts brim over with generosity, idealism, the desire to help others, to build a better world.
“But at other times we realise that it is difficult to love; our hearts can easily be hardened by selfishness, envy and pride. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the great Missionary of Charity, reminded us that giving love, pure and generous love, is the fruit of a daily decision.
“Every day we have to choose to love, and this requires help, the help that comes from Christ, from prayer and from the wisdom found in his word, and from the grace which he bestow on us in the sacraments of his Church.”
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