101th International Women Day Celebration 

at Navsarjan, Surat!!!

101th Internation Women Day was celebrated with a great fervor and in a very grand style by the women of Navsarjan Mahila Parishad -A federation of 25 Mahila Mandals!!!

 

This year since 8th March was the festival of colors (Holi, Dhuleti) Navsarjan Mahila Parishad organized the WOMEN DAY CELEBRATION on 11th March at Rang Upvan, Near Gandhi Baug, Chawk, Surat - SMC managed open auditorium.

 

Over 1500 Women from 25 Mahila Mandals, belonging to 25 slums, dressed for the festive occasion poured in at Rang Upvan through the streets of Surat city singing loudly for women's rights – especially RIGHT TO FOOD. The festive fervor was quite visible on the lit faces of women gathered at the venue.

 

The theme chosen for this year's International women day celebration was, "FOOD SECURITY IS LIFE SECURITY!! – ANNA SURAKSHA EJ JIVAN RAKSHA."

 

Ms Krishnaben Dabhi Police Inspector of Women Police Station was the Chief Guest of the program.

 

Among the other honorable dignitaries present on the dais were Fr Isaac Rumao sj, Director, Navsarjan; Social Activist Shmt. Zoharaben Cyclewala; Srs Bridgit, Evita & Johnsilla; Shmt. Madhuben Pagare - President of Bhagyalaxmi Credit Cooperative Society and Shmt. Sunitaben Panpatil - President of Navsarjan Mahila Parishad.

 

In her address Ms Krishnaben Dabhi congratulated the women for gathering in such a big number, hailed them for their contribution in the family and assured them of her support in fighting against domestic violence against women. She also emphasized that women need to be more alert, united and vocal to fight out and prevent the rape and other forms of sexual violence that harm the lives and dignity of countless women in conflict zones such as the slums.

Fr Isaac in his address spoke about Right to Food program – an initiative of JESA - Gujarat Jesuits in Social Action & highlighted the significant difference this movement has made so far in the lives of so many poor people across Gujarat. He also stressed that it is the commitment of the women which is in fact making this movement a success!!!

 

The women activist Ms Zoharaben in her inspiring speech ignited the hearts and minds of the women present. She also spoke about Food Security Bill and the flaws that it contains. 

The president of Navsarjan Mahila Parishad Shmt Sunitaben Panpatil who works as a Volunteer for Right to Food program shared with women about her struggle to get government official to implement on different schemes initiated by the Central Government for the welfare of poor people. She spoke of the gross injustice, rampant corruption and delays in getting benefits experienced by the beneficiaries at the hands of government officials.

  

The cultural program put up by the girl students of tailoring classes run by Mahila Mandals was the highlight of the day's program and the delight of the audience. It gave them an opportunity to exhibit and showcases their talents before the women audience. The cultural program put up by the budding stars from the slums of Surat made the day memorable one for all present.

 

The members of the Navsarjan Mahila Parishad staged a short play on Right to Food in which they highlighted how they are fighting out bravely against corruption and accessing government schemes. It created greater awareness amongst the people present. The acting was superb. They acted as if they were veterans. The play was very much appreciated by one and all.

 

To promote higher education amongst the girls Navsarjan Mahila Parishad feliciated the girls who have passed the 10th and 12th.

 

To prevent malnourishment and to promote health conscience amongst the slum people Navsarjan Mahila Parishad had organized healthy child competition in the 0-1yr age category. Many participants took part in the event and the 1st three were given away the prizes.

 

Apart from this Navsarjan Mahila Parishad had also organized Mehendi and Hairstyle competition and 1st three winners of the respective groups.

Fr Isaac Rumao sj

Director

Navsarjan,

Nr RTO, Ring Road

Surat - 395001

0261-2475683

THE CHRISM MASS

On the 29th of March 2012, Religious and Diocesan Priests, Seminarians, Deacons, Sisters gathered together   before the Chrism Mass for a talk on "Faith" to begin with the preparation to Celebrate the "Year of Faith" on the Diocesan Level. 

Rev. Fr. M. I. Raj (Scripture Professor at Gujarat Vidyadeep, Sevasi, Vadodara) delivered a very inspiring and enlightening talk on "Faith". The whole talk is given below for those who are interested in reading it and to share it with others. 

Right at the start Rev. Fr. Joel (Vicar General) the organizer, introduced Rev. Fr. Raj. 

At the end several questions were asked for further clarification. Rev. Fr. John Raju thanked Fr. Raj on behalf of all present for the inspiring thoughts on faith.

After the Talk on Faith all the priests gathered to concelebrate with the Bishop Most Rev. Bishop Godfrey de Rozario the Chrism Mass.

Right at the start of the Eucharistic Celebration Respects were paid by garlanding the Photos of Late Bishop Ignatius Salvadore D'souza on his Birth Centenary Year; to Late Bishop Francis Leo Braganza who left for his heavenly abode on 21st December 2011; to Rev. Fr. Savari Muthu Arasure and Rev. Fr. Mathew Kochupara who passed on during the past year. 

Bishop Godfrey de Rozario then inaugurated the "Year of Faith" at the diocesan level by lighting a Candle as the Candle symbolizes the Passover experience of our Faith. Our faith consists in the Sacrifice, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Light of the World. As the Gloria was being sung, Bishop Godfrey lighted the Candle. 

The Bishop as the successor of Apostles called on his fellow priests to renew their commitment. Their commitment includes following Christ to become another Christ, to celebrate the Sacraments, offer the Eucharist, to teach the Christian faith and to witness to Christ in their life as true Shepherds of the flock entrusted to them. To every question of the Bishop, the Priests responded with a solemn "I am".

After the Homily Bishop Godfrey de Rozario blessed the Holy Oils of Sick, Catechumens and Holy Chrism. Oil of the Sick is used to bring strength and healing power of Christ, who is at work in the Church by the action of the Holy Spirit. Oil of Catechumens is used at Baptism, to strengthen (with wisdom and courage) and purify the candidate (from original sin) before baptizing with water. Holy Chrism is a mixture of olive oil and balsam fragrance is a fullness of grace and spiritual strength, it consecrates and enables us to live out the call to follow Jesus Christ (as anointed one) as baptized, confirmed and ordained Christians.

At the end of the Eucharitic Celebration (Just before the final blessing) Lighted candles were given to the Deans by the Bishop as a symbol of spreading Faith in their respective deaneries. Holding the Lighted Candles all the deans together recited the creed. 

After the Eucharistic Celebration Rev. Fr. Galdos was felicitated as he had just completed 50 Sacerdotal years in the service of the Lord as a Priest. Fr. Ignacio Galdos is a missionary at heart, catechist by vocation, an Adivasi by life and mission. He has worked in Bharuch, Zankvav, and Unai. He is the founder of the Bardipada Mission. He has produced a Gamit Liturgy. The Bishop thanked him for his service in the Diocese of Baroda for his pioneering missionary work, for saving and promoting Adivasi Culture, and renewal of liturgy. Bishop hounoured him with a bouquet of flowers.

The Priests (Relgious and Diocesan), sisters, brothers then went to have a sumptuous meal served by Rosary Parish.  Thanks to Rev. Fr. William Carvalho the Parish Priest of the Cathedral for meticulously arranging the whole event.

The person behind the planning and success of the whole event was Fr. Joel R. Pais (Vicar General). Thanks Joel for your efficiency and hardwork. God bless.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TALK OF REV. FR. M. I RAJ ON FAITH

FAITH

29^th March, 2012

Rosary Cathedral, Baroda

Dear Friends,

The current year has been declared by the Pope as the year dedicated to Faith. So, I have been asked to share some thoughts on the theme of “faith” – really some thoughts only, because the theme of faith is very large and even crucial and I don’t think I can be comprehensive about it.   Although my specialty is the Bible and I will deal with the theme of faith mainly from the perspective of the Bible, yet I want to begin my talk by considering the theme in a more general way, that is, faith as the most fundamental and common human experience.

Let us pose a question and then find the answer.  What is common human experience cutting across gender, caste, creed or color? If we look at our human nature, we see a deep inbuilt longing which we feel the need to be fulfilled. St. Augustine expressed this beautifully, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you O Lord!”  Psalm 42 puts the same thing this way, “As a deer longs for running water, so my soul longs for you, O God!”  And we all will agree with the author of Ecclesiastes that this thirst, this hunger is never satisfied by anything finite, or anything material.  Having experimented with practically everything he comes to the sad conclusion of not being satisfied and declares everything as vanity, empty and useless for this purpose of satisfying our deep most longing.  What, then, is our existence – an absurd, meaningless and senseless existence – having a longing that can never be satisfied?!  Is our existence like that deer that is constantly chasing after the mirage in the desert? Or like a sack with no bottom, swallowing objects endlessly but never getting filled up?  It would appear so but for the men and women who did experience that satisfaction, that fulfillment and contentment.  But, what they experienced was something beyond, something that transcends finite material reality.  Were they deluded, mistaken and fooling themselves? If they were they would not have stood the test of time.  On the contrary, their lives were the proof of their claim of contentment and completion – a life of deep peace and joy, love and compassion, freedom and creativity.

To trust that there is such a transcendent someone or something exists and to surrender to that is what we call faith.  Now it is important to realize that men and women do not possess this Someone or Something, on the contrary, they are possessed by it.  Their whole life is gripped and affected by it; they stake their whole life on it.   Of course, there is the danger of deluding and fooling oneself by construing a finite material reality as an absolute reality, as one’s ultimate concern.  This is precisely what the Bible calls idolatry.  But, a true and authentic experience of trust in and surrender to the Absolute Transcendent reality is faith.  Very few have kept this experience only to themselves. The longing to share this experience is as strong as the longing for that Absolute itself. Those who have experienced it have tried to articulate it, bringing it into expression.

Now, we know that our primary language is born out of and related to our experience of finite material reality.  So, how to express something that is infinite and non-material through a language that is basically related to finite material reality?  Human beings have always struggled to express this deep most experience.  They used stories, songs, and symbols, not as exact equivalents, but as pointers to their experiences. And the expressions always fall short of experiences.

Before we go ahead, we must distinguish between faith as experience and faith as expression.  This corresponds to the use of faith as a verb (an experience) and faith as a noun (the expression).  First, I shall consider faith as an experience, which as we shall see is the most basic and crucial thing and then we shall talk about faith as an expression.

To talk about faith as an experience, the best place to begin is the letters of Paul, especially the letter to the Romans. Let us take the most famous, yet somewhat difficult statement of Paul in Rom 3.26: “This was to prove at the present time that he (God) himself is righteous and that he declares righteous the one who has the faith of Jesus.” First, the word “righteous” – one of the most important words in Jewish thinking and as you can see in the present verse, it is applied both to God and to human beings and it means “right behavior” or “a behavior that is fitting or appropriate for the being of the person”.   What is the behavior appropriate for the being of God –- that is the righteousness of God?  According to the Bible, “The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin… “(Ex 34.6-7).  Even his judgment and punishment is for the sake of saving his people.  In other words, the saving fidelity of God is his righteousness.  Saving through love and forgiveness is almost the duty of God.  Now, what is the righteousness, the right behavior for human beings? Or who is the righteous person? According to this verse, “the one who has the faith of Jesus”.

Most of the Bibles translate this verse “… the one who has faith in Jesus” but the original in Greek is “the one who has the faith of Jesus.”  Paul uses this interesting phrase “faith of Jesus” with two meanings – faith which Jesus himself had and our faith in Jesus.  So, to have faith in Jesus for Paul means to have the same faith which Jesus had. Now what is the faith of Jesus?  If we take the clue from Rom 1.5 and 16.26 where he uses another interesting phrase, “obedience of faith” that is, faith that is manifested in obedience.  For Paul, obedience does not mean obedience to a set of laws and commandments, but the surrender of the entire person to God.  In the Philippian  hymn Paul describes the faith of Jesus, without using that word, when he says,  “…he emptied himself, … he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death…” (Phil 2.7-8).  In Rom 5.12-21 where Paul contrasts Adam and Christ presents this “obedience of faith” as a matter of life and death for humanity – Adam representing the unrighteous or the unbecoming behavior for a human person and Jesus representing, on the other hand, the righteous behavior.   So, faith for Paul is the total surrender of the entire person to God.

Now, what does this total surrender of the entire person to God mean in day to day practical terms?  As we know God is love and therefore surrendering to God in simple terms means surrendering to the call and demands of love, which in turn means going beyond oneself towards the other in love.  And love can take various forms in different situations – like peace, harmony, justice, compassion, forgiveness, comforting, encouragement and so on.  Karl Rahner expresses this like this: “Man realizes himself truly and achieves the authentic fullness of his own nature only when he turns radically away from himself and to his fellow” (Theo. Invest. Vol XI, p.240). Paradoxically, it is in transcending one’s self one finds one’s true self; one finds the authentic meaning of life. Paul expresses this rather strongly in Gal 5.6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” To put it differently, the authentic faith is seen in the experience of “kenosis” – that is, the surrendering of the obstacle of one’s ego in order to become a free channel of divine dynamic love.  

Little further in the same chapter in verses 13 and 14 Paul considers this love as a sign of one’s true freedom.  In other words, to the extent one is not able to love, that is, one is not able to surrender in faith one is not free.  In this context, it is good to reflect on another bold and strange statement of Paul in Rom 14.23: “…whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”  It is interesting to note that Paul considers sin as the opposite of faith – any action that does not proceed from one’s surrender to God, even if it is a seemingly good action, is an action born out of egoism and pride.  [Someone remarked that the “I” is right at the center of pride and sin, but so also in faith.]  And EGO is Edging God Out of our life.  That is why Paul excludes or rules out any pride or boasting.  Unlike the Pharisee praying in Lk 18, there is no claim for credit or merit.  True faith is to recognize oneself not as an actor but as a medium or a channel of God’s actions.

This self-surrender acquires a significance of its own when it is done in the context of absurd and awkward situations.  The Letter to the Hebrews speaks about the faith of Abraham in 11.8-22.  I like to pay attention to two verses:  “… from one person who was as good as dead descendants were born…” (v.12; cf. also Rom 4.17, 19). And when he went to offer up Isaac Abraham “considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead…” (v.19). In this context, it is good to consider how in the presence of his absurd death, “Jesus brought his faith to its perfection” (Heb 11.2) showing an absolute confidence in “Him who could (by the resurrection) save him from death” (Heb 5.7). In Rom 4.24 Paul declares that just as Abraham’s faith was reckoned to him as righteousness so to our faith in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead will be reckoned to us.  This is what we call the “paschal faith” – the ability of God to bring life out of nothing.  Walter Brueggemann considers this as the heart of Biblical faith and sees it manifested in the creation out of nothing; in the promise of descendants to a barren couple; in raising Jesus from the dead and in justifying the sinner who was as good as dead.  And Juan Luis Segundo gives an inspiring interpretation of this paschal faith:

WHO, THEN, IS THE CHILD OF ABRAHAM, THE MAN OF FAITH?

            "Every atheist, pagan, Jew or Christian who refuses to have contractual relationship with the Absolute, who trusts in the promise inscribed in the human values offered by existence and fights for them as if death did not render that struggle futile."

This is also the primary theme of the book of Job.  At the beginning of the book Satan challenges that human beings like Job are basically selfish; they are faithful to God just to get favors and blessings.  If these were not there then they would not care for God. God takes up the challenge and allows Satan to test Job.  Now, if God were not sure of winning he would not enter into it.  But, he had faith in human beings, his creations (note that not only we have faith in God, but God also has faith in us) and that is why he takes up the challenge.  In other words, God affirmed the capacity of human beings to be faithful to God unconditionally.   The unconditional love of God is matched by the unconditional devotion of human beings.  Putting this in common secular language we can say that human beings are capable of doing something good just because it is good without any expectation for any reward and recognition. [This is the Niskama Karma of Gita.]  In other words, when you surrender, the divine goodness within is manifested.

This is called the audacity of faith, because it demands tremendous courage to be faithful to the good, because often it does not seem to pay to do good or to be good.  In the face of the wicked thriving and the righteous struggling, prophet Habakkuk posed this agonizing question before the Lord: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen?” (Hab 1.2) In a similar situation the psalmist feels that “All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence” (Ps 73.13).  To such the divine responses is: “the righteous shall live by their faith” (Hab 2.4).  They will persevere in doing what is good and not tempted or shaken by the apparent success and prosperity of the wicked.

Now, let me say something about faith as expression.  As we saw earlier, we human beings not only long for the Absolute Infinite Reality, we equally long to articulate that experience.  Human imagination, with the help of knowledge about this world, construes the object of faith in images and concepts.  [At times, these images and concepts are so human that God looks almost like a human person.  Someone put it like this: “God created us in his image and likeness and in gratitude we created him in our image and likeness.”  That is how you have God being jealous, getting angry, regretting, punishing and rewarding etc.]  The construed knowledge about the transcendent object of faith is what is known as the system of beliefs.  Thus, beliefs are human expressions of faith experience.   It is easy to see that beliefs are dependent on faith, but distinct from faith.  The two cannot be equated nor given the same status.

Since beliefs are the human construal of the transcendent object of faith based on the human knowledge of the world, three things follow: First, there can be many systems of beliefs as there are many ways of understanding the world, conditioned by varying socio-cultural and historical factors.   Second, every belief system can and does change, for the same reason.   From these two inferences follow the third that every belief system is partial, relative, limited and inadequate to interpret the transcendent object.

Since faith at the existential and experiential level is the dynamic commitment of the entire person praxis becomes the constitutive element of faith where praxis is understood as the conscious and intentionally directed human response. However, from depth psychology we know that there are deep motivations, which are often hidden and govern human behaviour and conscious intentions often obscure these motivations from the self.  We can say that a “false consciousness” with hidden agendas is operative. This “false consciousness”   always served the negative partisan function of protecting the interests of some people over against the interests and rights of others.   Hence, a reflective analysis of human action is essential in order to safeguard against false consciousness and to maintain an adequate correspondence between faith and praxis.

Thus, faith on the one hand finds expression in beliefs and on the other hand directs human behaviour.  At the practical level, therefore, there must be an adequate correlation between beliefs and behaviour.   When beliefs fail to correspond to one’s commitment in faith they are no longer beliefs in the true sense of the word but empty statements, mere notions.  But, when the beliefs are authentic they become the principles of human action.

It is via the medium of this belief system a community of faith is formed, which in turn gives a sense of identity and security to its individual members.  Although beliefs are dependent on faith yet from the social perspective they appear prior to faith and even generate faith. In fact, the faith expressions are expected to lead to faith experiences.  For example, the belief that God is a Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth implies a specific behaviour.  Every belief is a crystallization of an experience and therefore it must evoke that experience.  If it doesn’t then it is a set of mere words. It is also possible that in the process of transmission eventually only the words are captured and the experience is missed out. [Our faith becomes the soup of Mullah Nasruddin.] We must capture the original experience behind our belief system, because what is transforming and empowering is the experience and not the expression. Otherwise when crises and difficulties come we are swept off our feet.

We must also take into account a couple of problems that are intrinsically connected with faith expressions.  The belief system is conditioned by the language that is used to express it and the language in turn is conditioned by the culture, worldview and the way of understanding reality.  On account of this, a belief system, especially the Christian one, faces two kinds of problems.  One due to spatial shift.  When a belief system is transferred from one culture/language to another – from Hebrew to Greek to English to Gujarati – something is lost.  What makes sense in one culture/language does not make sense in another, thus leading to misunderstanding at times.  The other due to temporal shift.  Take any language.  It is significantly different from what it was 200 or 300 years ago.  These twofold shifts create problem in understanding the set of beliefs.  So, there is a need to make the beliefs relevant, understood in the changing times. This is supposed to be the task of theology – in making faith understood.

There is a bigger and harder difficulty that many of us face – the crisis created by the conflict between one’s experience and one’s belief system.  Israel faced such crises of faith a few times in her history – the defeat of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and the destruction of the city and the temple of Jerusalem in 586 BC.  It appeared as though the powerful Yahweh was incapable of defending and saving his chosen people. The prophets had to intervene and explain the crises and safeguard the system of beliefs. Take the case of Job and his friends. Both take for granted the traditional belief in retributive justice.  On the basis of that belief the friends defend God and accuse Job.  The fact that he is sick is a clear evidence that God is punishing Job.  Ironically, Job accuses God as unjust on the basis of the very same belief, that is, God does not keep to the standards of retributive justice.  The reader on the basis of the first chapter knows that both Job and his friends are comically mistaken, because the sickness and suffering of Job have nothing to do with punishment.   There is a lesson to be learned here.  We create a set of beliefs about God and then we expect God to fit into that mould; to behave according to that understanding. If he doesn’t then we are disappointed, frustrated and angry.  Some even give up faith. It happened to the followers of Jesus in John 6.  What Jesus was saying did not make any sense to many and they left.  Possibly even the apostles did not understand but they decided to wait because they perceived something eternal in Jesus. Mary, too, did not understand what was happening but pondered patiently and meanwhile surrendered.  Job was struggling to understand the mysterious ways of God and in the midst of his confusion he had a ray of hope that his redeemer lives and that he shall see God (Job 19.25-26).  Solomon ibn Gabirol, the medieval Spanish-Jewish poet expressed such paradoxical faith pithily: “I will flee from You to Yourself.”  The painful psalm 88 is a cry of hope against the silence of the heavens.  These men and women had robust faith because they saw the person behind the beliefs and not caught up with the words and therefore surrendered.

Finally, a word about the power of belief.  Normally we hear people say, “I will not believe unless I see.” But Wayne Dyer twists this phrase around and says, “you will not see unless you believe.”  Using the power of the subconscious mind people have seen miracles in their lives by affirming the power and goodness of the divine within them.  Here faith is a way of actualizing the Divine within.

M. I. RAJ, S. J.

GUJARAT VIDYA DEEP

SEVASI, VADODARA

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WORLD YOUTH DAY
2012 

“Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4)

Dear young friends,

I am happy to address you once more on the occasion of the 27^th World Youth Day. The memory of our meeting in Madrid last August remains close to my heart. It was a time of extraordinary grace when God showered his blessings on the young people gathered from all over the world. I give thanks to God for all the fruits which that event bore, fruits which will surely multiply for young people and their communities in the future. Now we are looking forward to our next meeting in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, whose theme will be: “Go and make disciples of all nations!” (cf. Mt 28:19).

This year’s World Youth Day theme comes from Saint Paul’s exhortation in his Letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). Joy is at the heart of Christian experience. At each World Youth Day we experience immense joy, the joy of communion, the joy of being Christian, the joy of faith. This is one of the marks of these gatherings. We can see the great attraction that joy exercises. In a world of sorrow and anxiety, joy is an important witness to the beauty and reliability of the Christian faith.

The Church’s vocation is to bring joy to the world, a joy that is authentic and enduring, the joy proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born (cf. Lk 2:10). Not only did God speak, not only did he accomplish great signs throughout the history of humankind, but he drew so near to us that he became one of us and lived our life completely. In these difficult times, so many young people all around you need to hear that the Christian message is a message of joy and hope! I would like to reflect with you on this joy and on how to find it, so that you can experience it more deeply and bring it to everyone you meet.

1. Our hearts are made for joy

A yearning for joy lurks within the heart of every man and woman. Far more than immediate and fleeting feelings of satisfaction, our hearts seek a perfect, full and lasting joy capable of giving “flavour” to our existence. This is particularly true for you, because youth is a time of continuous discovery of life, of the world, of others and of ourselves. It is a time of openness to the future and of great longing for happiness, friendship, sharing and truth, a time when we are moved by high ideals and make great plans.

Each day is filled with countless simple joys which are the Lord’s gift: the joy of living, the joy of seeing nature’s beauty, the joy of a job well done, the joy of helping others, the joy of sincere and pure love. If we look carefully, we can see many other reasons to rejoice. There are the happy times in family life, shared friendship, the discovery of our talents, our successes, the compliments we receive from others, the ability to express ourselves and to know that we are understood, and the feeling of being of help to others. There is also the excitement of learning new things, seeing new and broader horizons open up through our travels and encounters, and realizing the possibilities we have for charting our future. We might also mention the experience of reading a great work of literature, of admiring a masterpiece of art, of listening to or playing music, or of watching a film. All these things can bring us real joy.

Yet each day we also face any number of difficulties. Deep down we also worry about the future; we begin to wonder if the full and lasting joy for which we long might be an illusion and an escape from reality. Many young people ask themselves: is perfect joy really possible? The quest for joy can follow various paths, and some of these turn out to be mistaken, if not dangerous. How can we distinguish things that give real and lasting joy from immediate and illusory pleasures? How can we find true joy in life, a joy that endures and does not forsake us at moments of difficulty?

2. God is the source of true joy

Whatever brings us true joy, whether the small joys of each day or the greatest joys in life, has its source in God, even if this does not seem immediately obvious. This is because God is a communion of eternal love, he is infinite joy that does not remain closed in on itself, but expands to embrace all whom God loves and who love him. God created us in his image out of love, in order to shower his love upon us and to fill us with his presence and grace. God wants us to share in his own divine and eternal joy, and he helps us to see that the deepest meaning and value of our lives lie in being accepted, welcomed and loved by him. Whereas we sometimes find it hard to accept others, God offers us an unconditional acceptance which enables us to say: “I am loved; I have a place in the world and in history; I am personally loved by God. If God accepts me and loves me and I am sure of this, then I know clearly and with certainty that it is a good thing that I am alive”.

God’s infinite love for each of us is fully seen in Jesus Christ. The joy we are searching for is to be found in him. We see in the Gospel how the events at the beginning of Jesus’ life are marked by joy. When the Archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of the Saviour, his first word is “Rejoice!” (Lk 1:28). When Jesus is born, the angel of the Lord says to the shepherds: “Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a Saviour has been born for you, who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:10-11). When the Magi came in search of the child, “they were overjoyed at seeing the star” (Mt 2:10). The cause of all this joy is the closeness of God who became one of us. This is what Saint Paul means when he writes to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near” (Phil 4:4-5). Our first reason for joy is the closeness of the Lord, who welcomes me and loves me.

An encounter with Jesus always gives rise to immense inner joy. We can see this in many of the Gospel stories. We recall when Jesus visited Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector and public sinner, he said to him: “Today I must stay at your house”. Then, Saint Luke tells us, Zacchaeus “received him with joy” (Lk 19:5-6). This is the joy of meeting the Lord. It is the joy of feeling God’s love, a love that can transform our whole life and bring salvation. Zacchaeus decides to change his life and to give half of his possessions to the poor.

At the hour of Jesus’ passion, this love can be seen in all its power. At the end of his earthly life, while at supper with his friends, Jesus said: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love... I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (Jn15:9,11). Jesus wants to lead his disciples and each one of us into the fullness of joy that he shares with the Father, so that the Father’s love for him might abide in us (cf. Jn 17:26). Christian joy consists in being open to God’s love and belonging to him.

The Gospels recount that Mary Magdalene and other women went to visit the tomb where Jesus had been laid after his death. An angel told them the astonishing news of Jesus’ resurrection. Then, the Evangelist tells us, they ran from the sepulchre, “fearful yet overjoyed” to share the good news with the disciples. Jesus met them on the way and said: “Peace!” (Mt 28:8-9). They were being offered the joy of salvation. Christ is the One who lives and who overcame evil, sin and death. He is present among us as the Risen One and he will remain with us until the end of the world (cf. Mt28:20). Evil does not have the last word in our lives; rather, faith in Christ the Saviour tells us that God’s love is victorious.

This deep joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit who makes us God’s sons and daughters, capable of experiencing and savouring his goodness, and calling him “Abba”, Father (cf. Rm 8:15). Joy is the sign of God’s presence and action within us.

3. Preserving Christian joy in our hearts

At this point we wonder: “How do we receive and maintain this gift of deep, spiritual joy?”

One of the Psalms tells us: “Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart's desire” (Ps37:4). Jesus told us that “the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Mt 13:44). The discovery and preservation of spiritual joy is the fruit of an encounter with the Lord. Jesus asks us to follow him and to stake our whole life on him. Dear young people, do not be afraid to risk your lives by making space for Jesus Christ and his Gospel. This is the way to find inner peace and true happiness. It is the way to live fully as children of God, created in his image and likeness.

Seek joy in the Lord: for joy is the fruit of faith. It is being aware of his presence and friendship every day: “the Lord is near!” (Phil 4:5). It is putting our trust in God, and growing in his knowledge and love. Shortly we shall begin the “Year of Faith”, and this will help and encourage us. Dear friends, learn to see how God is working in your lives and discover him hidden within the events of daily life. Believe that he is always faithful to the covenant which he made with you on the day of your Baptism. Know that God will never abandon you. Turn your eyes to him often. He gave his life for you on the cross because he loves you. Contemplation of this great love brings a hope and joy to our hearts that nothing can destroy. Christians can never be sad, for they have met Christ, who gave his life for them.

To seek the Lord and find him in our lives also means accepting his word, which is joy for our hearts. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote: “When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart” (Jer 15:16). Learn to read and meditate on the sacred Scriptures. There you will find an answer to your deepest questions about truth. God’s word reveals the wonders that he has accomplished throughout human history, it fills us with joy, and it leads us to praise and adoration: “Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us kneel before the Lord who made us” (Ps 95:1,6).

The liturgy is a special place where the Church expresses the joy which she receives from the Lord and transmits it to the world. Each Sunday at Mass the Christian community celebrates the central mystery of salvation, which is the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a very important moment for all the Lord’s disciples because his sacrifice of love is made present. Sunday is the day when we meet the risen Christ, listen to his word, and are nourished by his body and blood. As we hear in one of the Psalms: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” (Ps 118:24). At the Easter Vigil, the Church sings the Exultet, a hymn of joy for the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death: “Sing, choirs of angels! ... Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour ... Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!” Christian joy is born of this awareness of being loved by God who became man, gave his life for us and overcame evil and death. It means living a life of love for him. As Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a young Carmelite, wrote: “Jesus, my joy is loving you” (P 45, 21 January 1897).

4. The joy of love

Dear friends, joy is intimately linked to love. They are inseparable gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal5:23). Love gives rise to joy, and joy is a form of love. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta drew on Jesus’ words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) when she said: “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls; God loves a cheerful giver. Whoever gives with joy gives more”. As the Servant of God Paul VI wrote: “In God himself, all is joy because all is giving” (Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete in Domino, 9 May 1975).

In every area of your life, you should know that to love means to be steadfast, reliable and faithful to commitments. This applies most of all to friendship. Our friends expect us to be sincere, loyal and faithful because true love perseveres even in times of difficulty. The same thing can be said about your work and studies and the services you carry out. Fidelity and perseverance in doing good brings joy, even if not always immediately.

If we are to experience the joy of love, we must also be generous. We cannot be content to give the minimum. We need to be fully committed in life and to pay particular attention to those in need. The world needs men and women who are competent and generous, willing to be at the service of the common good. Make every effort to study conscientiously, to develop your talents and to put them at the service of others even now. Find ways to help make society more just and humane wherever you happen to be. May your entire life be guided by a spirit of service and not by the pursuit of power, material success and money.

Speaking of generosity, I would like to mention one particular joy. It is the joy we feel when we respond to the vocation to give our whole life to the Lord. Dear young people, do not be afraid if Christ is calling you to the religious, monastic or missionary life or to the priesthood. Be assured that he fills with joy all those who respond to his invitation to leave everything to be with him and to devote themselves with undivided heart to the service of others. In the same way, God gives great joy to men and women who give themselves totally to one another in marriage in order to build a family and to be signs of Christ’s love for the Church.

Let me remind you of a third element that will lead you to the joy of love. It is allowing fraternal love to grow in your lives and in those of your communities. There is a close bond between communion and joy. It is not by chance that Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4) is written in the plural, addressing the community as a whole, rather than its individual members. Only when we are together in the communion of fellowship do we experience this joy. In the Acts of the Apostles, the first Christian community is described in these words: “Breaking bread in their homes, they ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:46). I ask you to make every effort to help our Christian communities to be special places of sharing, attention and concern for one another.

5. The joy of conversion

Dear friends, experiencing real joy also means recognizing the temptations that lead us away from it. Our present-day culture often pressures us to seek immediate goals, achievements and pleasures. It fosters fickleness more than perseverance, hard work and fidelity to commitments. The messages it sends push a consumerist mentality and promise false happiness. Experience teaches us that possessions do not ensure happiness. How many people are surrounded by material possessions yet their lives are filled with despair, sadness and emptiness! To have lasting joy we need to live in love and truth. We need to live in God.

God wants us to be happy. That is why he gave us specific directions for the journey of life: the commandments. If we observe them, we will find the path to life and happiness. At first glance, they might seem to be a list of prohibitions and an obstacle to our freedom. But if we study them more closely, we see in the light of Christ’s message that the commandments are a set of essential and valuable rules leading to a happy life in accordance with God’s plan. How often, on the other hand, do we see that choosing to build our lives apart from God and his will brings disappointment, sadness and a sense of failure. The experience of sin, which is the refusal to follow God and an affront to his friendship, brings gloom into our hearts.

At times the path of the Christian life is not easy, and being faithful to the Lord’s love presents obstacles; occasionally we fall. Yet God in his mercy never abandons us; he always offers us the possibility of returning to him, being reconciled with him and experiencing the joy of his love which forgives and welcomes us back.

Dear young people, have frequent recourse to the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation! It is the sacrament of joy rediscovered. Ask the Holy Spirit for the light needed to acknowledge your sinfulness and to ask for God’s forgiveness. Celebrate this sacrament regularly, with serenity and trust. The Lord will always open his arms to you. He will purify you and bring you into his joy: for there is joy in heaven even for one sinner who repents (cf. Lk 15:7).

6. Joy at times of trial

In the end, though, we might still wonder in our hearts whether it is really possible to live joyfully amid all life’s trials, especially those which are most tragic and mysterious. We wonder whether following the Lord and putting our trust in him will always bring happiness.

We can find an answer in some of the experiences of young people like yourselves who have found in Christ the light that can give strength and hope even in difficult situations. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) experienced many trials during his short life, including a romantic experience that left him deeply hurt. In the midst of this situation he wrote to his sister: “You ask me if I am happy. How could I not be? As long as faith gives me strength, I am happy. A Catholic could not be other than happy... The goal for which we were created involves a path which has its thorns, but it is not a sad path. It is joy, even when it involves pain” (Letter to his sister Luciana, Turin, 14 February 1925). When Blessed John Paul II presented Blessed Pier Giorgio as a model for young people, he described him as “a young person with infectious joy, the joy that overcame many difficulties in his life” (Address to Young People, Turin, 13 April 1980).

Closer to us in time is Chiara Badano (1971-1990), who was recently beatified. She experienced how pain could be transfigured by love and mysteriously steeped in joy. At the age of eighteen, while suffering greatly from cancer, Chiara prayed to the Holy Spirit and interceded for the young people of the movement to which she belonged. As well as praying for her own cure, she asked God to enlighten all those young people by his Spirit and to give them wisdom and light. “It was really a moment of God’s presence. I was suffering physically, but my soul was singing” (Letter to Chiara Lubich, Sassello, 20 December 1989). The key to her peace and joy was her complete trust in the Lord and the acceptance of her illness as a mysterious expression of his will for her sake and that of everyone. She often said: “Jesus, if you desire it, then I desire it too”.

These are just two testimonies taken from any number of others which show that authentic Christians are never despairing or sad, not even when faced with difficult trials. They show that Christian joy is not a flight from reality, but a supernatural power that helps us to deal with the challenges of daily life. We know that the crucified and risen Christ is here with us and that he is a faithful friend always. When we share in his sufferings, we also share in his glory. With him and in him, suffering is transformed into love. And there we find joy (cf. Col 1:24).

7. Witnesses of joy

Dear friends, to conclude I would encourage you to be missionaries of joy. We cannot be happy if others are not. Joy has to be shared. Go and tell other young people about your joy at finding the precious treasure which is Jesus himself. We cannot keep the joy of faith to ourselves. If we are to keep it, we must give it away. Saint John said: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; we are writing this so that our joy may be complete” (1 Jn 1:3-4).

Christianity is sometimes depicted as a way of life that stifles our freedom and goes against our desires for happiness and joy. But this is far from the truth. Christians are men and women who are truly happy because they know that they are not alone. They know that God is always holding them in his hands. It is up to you, young followers of Christ, to show the world that faith brings happiness and a joy which is true, full and enduring. If the way Christians live at times appears dull and boring, you should be the first to show the joyful and happy side of faith. The Gospel is the “good news” that God loves us and that each of us is important to him. Show the world that this is true!

Be enthusiastic witnesses of the new evangelization! Go to those who are suffering and those who are searching, and give them the joy that Jesus wants to bestow. Bring it to your families, your schools and universities, and your workplaces and your friends, wherever you live. You will see how it is contagious. You will receive a hundredfold: the joy of salvation for yourselves, and the joy of seeing God’s mercy at work in the hearts of others. And when you go to meet the Lord on that last day, you will hear him say: “Well done, my good and faithful servant... Come, share your master’s joy” (Mt 25:21).

May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany you on this journey. She welcomed the Lord within herself and proclaimed this in a song of praise and joy, the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:46-47). Mary responded fully to God’s love by devoting her life to him in humble and complete service. She is invoked as “Cause of our Joy” because she gave us Jesus. May she lead you to that joy which no one will ever be able to take away from you!

From the Vatican, 15 March 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI