Once I asked you the question: "Where is your treasure? In what does your
heart find its rest?". Our hearts can be attached to true or false treasures,
they can find genuine rest or they can simply slumber, becoming lazy and
lethargic. The greatest good we can have in life is our relationship with God.
Are you convinced of this? Do you realise how much you are worth in the eyes
of God? Do you know that you are loved and welcomed by him unconditionally, as
indeed you are? Once we lose our sense of this, we human beings become an
incomprehensible enigma, for it is the knowledge that we are loved
unconditionally by God which gives meaning to our lives. Do you remember the
conversation that Jesus had with the rich young man? The evangelist Mark
observes that the Lord looked upon him and loved him, and invited him to
follow him and thus to find true riches. I hope, dear young friends, that this
loving gaze of Christ will accompany each of you throughout life.
 Youth is a time of life when your desire for a love which is genuine,
beautiful and expansive begins to blossom in your hearts. How powerful is this
ability to love and to be loved! Do not let this precious treasure be debased,
destroyed or spoiled. That is what happens when we start to use our neighbours
for our own selfish ends, even as objects of pleasure. Hearts are broken and
sadness follows upon these negative experiences. I urge you: Do not be afraid
of true love, the love that Jesus teaches us and which St. Paul describes as
"patient and kind". Paul says: "Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not
arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things".
 In encouraging you to rediscover the beauty of the human vocation to love, I
also urge you to rebel against the widespread tendency to reduce love to
something banal, reducing it to its sexual aspect alone, deprived of its
essential characteristics of beauty, communion, fidelity and responsibility.
Dear young friends, "in a culture of relativism and the ephemeral, many preach
the importance of ‘enjoying' the moment. They say that it is not worth making
a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, ‘for ever', because we
do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be 
evolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to
rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that
ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are
incapable of true love. I have confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the
courage to ‘swim against the tide'. And also have the courage to be happy".
 You young people are brave adventurers! If you allow yourselves to discover
the rich teachings of the Church on love, you will discover that Christianity
does not consist of a series of prohibitions which stifle our desire for
happiness, but rather a project for life capable of captivating our hearts.
 3. ... for they shall see God
 In the heart of each man and woman, the Lord's invitation constantly
resounds: "Seek my face!". At the same time, we must always realise that we
are poor sinners. For example, we read in the Book of Psalms: "Who can climb
the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The one who has
clean hands and a pure heart". But we must never be afraid or discouraged:
throughout the Bible and in the history of each one of us we see that it is
always God who takes the first step. He purifies us so that we can come into
his presence.
 When the prophet Isaiah heard the Lord's call to speak in his name, he was
terrified and said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean
lips". And yet the Lord purified him, sending to him an angel who touched his
lips, saying: "Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven". In the New
Testament, when on the shores of lake Genessaret Jesus called his first
disciples and performed the sign of the miraculous catch of fish, Simon Peter
fell at his feet, exclaiming: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord".
Jesus' reply was immediate: "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be fishers
of men". And when one of the disciples of Jesus asked him: "Lord, show us the
Father, and we shall be satisfied", the Master replied: "He who has seen me
has seen the Father.
 The Lord's invitation to encounter him is made to each of you, in whatever
place or situation you find yourself. It suffices to have the desire for "a
renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to
letting him encounter you; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day".
We are all sinners, needing to be purified by the Lord. But it is enough to
take a small step towards Jesus to realise that he awaits us always with open
arms, particularly in the sacrament of Reconciliation, a privileged
opportunity to encounter that divine mercy which purifies us and renews our
hearts.
 Dear young people, the Lord wants to meet us, to let himself "be seen" by us.
"And how?", you might ask me. St. Teresa of Avila, born in Spain five hundred
years ago, even as a young girl, said to her parents, "I want to see God". She
subsequently discovered the way of prayer as "an intimate friendship with the
One who makes us feel loved". So my question to you is this: "Are you
praying?" Do you know that you can speak with Jesus, with the Father, with the
Holy Spirit, as you speak to a friend? And not just any friend, but the
greatest and most trusted of your friends! You will discover what one of his
parishioners told the Curé of Ars: "When I pray before the tabernacle, ‘I look
at him, and he looks at me'".
 Once again I invite you to encounter the Lord by frequently reading sacred
Scripture. If you are not already in the habit of doing so, begin with the
Gospels. Read a line or two each day. Let God's word speak to your heart and
enlighten your path. You will discover that God can be "seen" also in the face
of your brothers and sisters, especially those who are most forgotten: the
poor, the hungry, those who thirst, strangers, the sick, those imprisoned.
Have you ever had this experience? Dear young people, in order to enter into
the logic of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must recognise that we are poor with
the poor. A pure heart is necessarily one which has been stripped bare, a
heart that knows how to bend down and share its life with those most in need.
 Encountering God in prayer, the reading of the Bible and in the fraternal
life will help you better to know the Lord and yourselves. Like the disciples
on the way to Emmaus, the Lord's voice will make your hearts burn within you.
He will open your eyes to recognise his presence and to discover the loving
plan he has for your life.
 Some of you feel, or will soon feel, the Lord's call to married life, to
forming a family. Many people today think that this vocation is "outdated",
but that is not true! For this very reason, the ecclesial community has been
engaged in a special period of reflection on the vocation and the mission of
the family in the Church and the contemporary world. I also ask you to
consider whether you are being called to the consecrated life or the
priesthood. How beautiful it is to see young people who embrace the call to
dedicate themselves fully to Christ and to the service of his Church!
Challenge yourselves, and with a pure heart do not be afraid of what God is
asking of you! From your "yes" to the Lord's call, you will become new seeds
of hope in the Church and in society. Never forget: God's will is our
happiness!
 4. On the way to Krakow
 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". Dear young men and
women, as you see, this beatitude speaks directly to your lives and is a
guarantee of your happiness. So once more I urge you: Have the courage to be
happy!
 This year's World Youth Day begins the final stage of preparations for the
great gathering of young people from around the world in Krakow in 2016.
Thirty years ago St. John Paul II instituted World Youth Days in the Church.
This pilgrimage of young people from every continent under the guidance of the
Successor of Peter has truly been a providential and prophetic initiative.
Together let us thank the Lord for the precious fruits which these World Youth
Days have produced in the lives of countless young people in every part of the
globe! How many amazing discoveries have been made, especially the discovery
that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life! How many people have realised
that the Church is a big and welcoming family! How many conversions, how many
vocations have these gatherings produced! May the saintly Pope, the Patron of
World Youth Day, intercede on behalf of our pilgrimage toward his beloved
Krakow. And may the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace,
all-beautiful and all-pure, accompany us at every step along the way.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 17 February 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed
Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, apostolic nuncio in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, as apostolic nuncio in Australia.

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