Spiritually beautiful

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Dear
young people, this city of Rome is in your hands. It is up to you to
make it spiritually beautiful with your testimony of a life lived in
the grace of God and far from sin, responding to all that the Holy
Spirit calls you to be, in the Church and the world. In this manner,
you will become visible signs of the grace of Christs abundant mercy
that flows from His side, pierced for us on the Cross. This was the
exhortation given by Pope Benedict XVI to the youth gathered in St.
Peters Basilica in the evening on Thursday, March 13. The Holy Father
heard the confessions of several of the young people present, mainly
from the Diocese of Rome, in preparation for the 23rd World Youth Day,
that will be celebrated on Palm Sunday with the theme: You will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be
my witnesses (Acts 1:8) and that will culminate in Sydney in the
world-wide encounter in July. 

…Recalling one of his own meditations on Pentecost, as Archbishop of
Monaco-Frisinga, the Pope continued, A human being cannot throw away
his own soul, in a literal sense, because it is the soul that makes him
human… Yet he does have the frightening possibility of being inhuman,
of remaining a person but at the same time selling or losing his own
humanity. The distance between the human person and the inhuman being
is immense, yet it cannot be demonstrated. Likewise, the Holy Spirit
cannot be seen with the eyes. Whether it enters into a person or not,
it cannot be seen or demonstrated; but it changes and renews all the
perspectives of human life. The Holy Spirit does not change the
exterior situations of life, but the interior…This afternoon, the
Holy Spirit wants to descend into our hearts, to forgive us our sins
and renew us interiorly, filling us with a power that will make us,
like the Apostles, courageous in announcing that Christ has died and
risen!.

The Pope later encouraged the young people to prepare themselves well
for their confession, enabling them to experience true joy, the joy
that derives from the mercy of God, flows into our hearts and
reconciles us to Him. He told them to be bearers of this joy,
offering a testimony with their lives to the fruits of the Spirit.
Always remember that you are ‘temples of the Spirit’. Allow Him to
dwell in you and humbly obey His commands, in order to make your own
contribution to the building of the Church and to discern the type of
vocation to which the Lord calls you.