Mass for the World Youth Day Retreat

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Sacred Heart Church, Croydon,
on Saturday, 21st September, 2002, at 2.30pm

Introduction

My dear young Friends,

So many of you have spoken to me of the joy and hope which came from those wonderful days in Toronto at the end of July. On a hillside near the lake of Galilee, Jesus gently and urgently called to his followers to choose life and not death, truth not falsehood. He spoke words of life that would echo forever in the hearts of his followers.

Today on this day of retreat he speaks the same words to you. Through prayer he tells you who you are as Christians and what you must do to remain in his love.

As we offer this Mass, remembering with joy our great pilgrimage, let us pray for each other, that the Lord may touch us and sustain us on our journey. Let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

My dear Friends,

When I arrived at Downsview Park for the vigil with the Holy Father on 27th July, I moved over to the side of the enclosure and saw an Australian flag. Then I recognised the faces of young people from Melbourne. They waved and called out and so did I. It brought a lump to my throat. It did this because here were young people waving to me in a very personal way, but above all because I was a bishop, because of your love of Jesus.

Next morning at the Communion of the Mass, towards the end, some young people started crying out, ‘John Paul Two, we love you’, and every time they called this out I could hear the Pope saying into the microphone, ‘Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ.’

Today as we ponder and reflect we are urged to choose light not darkness, truth not falsehood. When lightning knocked Saint Paul off his horse on the road to Damascus he was blinded and then nothing was as it was before. Our visit to World Youth Day can be a similar experience, where we see with light and truth what must be our path. “Awake O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light,” (Ephesians 5:14) says Saint Paul.

The spirit of the world gives many false illusions. Passing happinesses, which are replaced by even greater sadness. Passing lights and hopes that are replaced by darkness. The Pope reminded us at the end of the Great Mass at Downsview that the greatest deception and the deepest source of unhappiness is the illusion of finding life by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility.

Jesus asks you to choose between these two voices. Why did we go to Toronto? To say in our hearts, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.” Jesus the intimate friend of every young person has the words of life.

The Pope invited us, as Jesus did, to be salt of the earth and light of the world. I would make these suggestions:-

1. The Eucharist is the life-giving presence of Jesus. Both in the Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration we can bring our most challenging and intimate needs to him. The Eucharist keeps us aware of the presence of our Saviour as we remember the power of the Gospel to save.
2. Jesus reminds us not to be afraid to follow Christ on the road of the Cross in priesthood or consecrated life. This means putting our gifts at the service of Jesus in the Church and finding a great happiness. Holiness is the goal because holiness is wholeness. It is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit, just as Juan Diego did in Mexico, Cateri Tekakwitha in America and the Canadian martyrs in Canada.
3. I make my own the Pope’s statement, “I have seen enough evidence to be unshakeably convinced that no difficulty or fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young. We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. Jesus alone has the words of life.”

As we go on with this Mass remember Jesus is near us in the Eucharist. Jesus calls to us to respond. Jesus offers us hope that no one can take away.

Lord Jesus, keep these young people in your love. Let them hear your voice, for you alone have the words of life. Teach them to profess their faith, to give their love and pass on their hope to others. Make them convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world in so much need of your grace. Mary, Mother of the Church, protect and guide these young men and women of the twenty-first century.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.