The Pope’s final address in Greece was to young people, on December 6.
The meditation contains advice on what to do when you doubt your faith, and also on finding meaning in life.
There was also this nugget, regarding social media:
I am told that in Greek, the same word can mean “new” and “young.” Service is the newness of Jesus; service, dedication to others is the newness that makes life ever youthful.
Do you want to do something new in life? Do you want to stay youthful? Then don’t settle for posting a few tweets. Don’t settle for virtual encounters; look for real ones, especially with people who need you. Don’t look for visibility, but for those who are invisible in our midst. That is new, even revolutionary. Going out of ourselves to encounter others. For if you live imprisoned within yourself, you will never encounter others, you will never know what it means to serve. Service is the noblest kind of act, greater than an individual: serving others.
Many people today are constantly using social media, but are not themselves very social: they are caught up in themselves, prisoners of the cell phone in their hand.
What appears on the screen is not the reality of other persons: their eyes, their breath and their hands. The screen can easily become a mirror, where you think you are looking at the world, but in reality you are all alone before a virtual world full of appearances, of photos dressed up to look always beautiful and acceptable.
Yet how beautiful it is simply to be together with other people, to discover the newness of others! Speak with others, cultivate the mystique of togetherness, the joy of sharing, the enthusiasm of serving!
