Mass for the World Youth Day Leaders

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at the Carmelite Monastery, Kew,
on Friday, 17th December, 2004, at 7.00pm

Introduction

My dear Friends,

I am deeply grateful that you have chosen to act as Leaders in our pilgrimage to Cologne in August.

Today’s Mass is the beginning of the Great Novena before Christmas, in which we pray: “Come wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love. Teach us to walk in the paths of knowledge.”

We ask that our preparation for Cologne and our care for the young people whom we support will make us aware of the gifts we place at God’s disposal. In Cologne we will come to worship him, present and active in this Mass.

As we call to mind our sins humbly and feelingly, we give him our adoration as God, as we long for his coming into our hearts.

Homily

My dear Friends,

We have heard the long history of forty-two generations preparing for the coming of Christ. This gathering before Christmas is intended to deepen our oneness with Christ, that our humble and grace-filled leadership in Cologne may be effective in showing the Lord to others.

It was Jesus who said, “I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ( John 8:12 ) It is the same Lord who wants us to be redeemed from sin and makes us ask in the prayer of today’s Mass, “May we come to share the Divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share our human nature.”

An invitation is given us to see that Jesus’ life is the light of the world. The popular phrase, ‘what would Jesus do?’, is another way of saying, ‘What is the light that Jesus sheds in the world?’ When we have light we can see things as they really are, but in the darkness we cannot see clearly. We need light to see what is real and true. Jesus is the light.

Pope John Paul II has said before that it is along the paths of daily life that you can meet the Lord. My invitation this evening, as we prepare to welcome the Lord’s coming, is expressed also in Pope John Paul’s words, “Dear young friends, Like the first disciples, follow Jesus. Do not be afraid to draw near to him, to cross the threshold of his dwelling, to speak to him face to face as you talk with a friend.” And in the same talk, even more powerfully, “Do not be afraid of presenting Christ to someone who does not yet know him.”

Our task tonight is to discover the light that Christ can give, to make it shine in our hearts, to live free from sin, to be deeper in prayer, to be warmer in hope and more articulate in the way we show Christ to others in these ensuing months. Many of you know the invitation that Christ gave to the rich, young man, “Come and see”. Despite the fact that the young man turned back because he was more attached to his possessions, we need to sense the magnetism of Christ and be able to go forward.

Let me give you a little programme:-

• The increased leisure that comes in Australia after Christmas is a good time to pick up the Gospel story and read it. A little each day or each week, in addition to the Sunday Mass.

• Jesus is our friend. To turn to him in prayer each day will nourish our ability to guide and support and open Jesus to the young people that we will walk with. If Jesus is in us and he is clear, then humbly he will shine through us despite our faults. If we obscure him, then we must be responsible for it.

• Jesus always invites us to go further. We are being given an invitation to come and worship him and to know that he will be in our words. In the prayer at the end of Mass we might pray very fervently, “Give us your Spirit, so that we may be radiant with his light.”

As we celebrate this Eucharist in which I remember you especially, let us pray as leaders, priests and bishop, that Jesus will inspire us. “Lord, your Word is so wonderful, such Good News, that I want to share it with others, especially those who have not yet had a chance to get to know you. Give me the courage to share your Word with them. Truly then we will be disciples and friends of Jesus, agents of dialogue and collaboration with those who believe in God who rules the universe with infinite and patient love.” What a wonderful invitation.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.