Already at the end of this Third World Apostolic Congress of Mercy, I turn my eyes back to these days that we lived here, welcomed by this archdiocese and thankful for the organizing committee of this event. I'm sure that, after Rome and Poland, this Congress is being a great occasion for the Church to contribute to peace in this country, healing wounds from the experience of the merciful forgiveness.
In these so difficult and violent times in which we live now, without a doubt, besides the presence and proximity with people who suffer, we are called to be a sign in the world fulfilling very real commitments in the lives of our people and countries.
In the 70s of the last century, Pope Paul VI expressed himself in this way, in a speech to the members of the Board of Laity, on October 2, 1974, transcript in the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Nuntiandi" (# 41): "For the Church, the testimony of an authentically Christian life, given into the hand of God, in a communion that nothing should stop, and dedicated to the neighbor with a zeal without limits, is the first means of evangelization…'Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, we said recently to a group of lay people, or if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.' "
At that time, in which we breathed in the springtime of the Church, raised by the Second Vatican Council, the New Evangelization began to flourish. This missionary journey continues today raising copious fruits which, in turn, produce new seeds, in the dynamics of missionary discipleship to which Pope Benedict XVI led us, through his Petrine Magisterium, during the Fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops and Caribbean in Aparecida (Brazil, 2007).
Among these fruits, ripened under the sun that is Christ, to illuminate His Church, there is the World Youth Day. The Spirit inspired John Paul II on the creation of what would prove to be the biggest evangelization event of our time. Auscultating the heart of the contemporary world, we conclude that today, more than ever, the strength of the testimony outweighs all other initiatives of evangelization. This is what Pope Francis wants to teach us, as he urges: "Do you know what is the best instrument to evangelize young people? Another young man! "(XXVIII Mass for World Youth Day in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro).
Let us be witnesses, word that significantly translates the Greek word martyr. This is the Christian vocation in our time: to bear witness with our lives. And what do we have to witness to the world? No doubt the mercy of God! Mercy that elevates justice to gratuitous love. This Free Love led the Son of God to give His life for us.
In Rio de Janeiro, in July last year, we had the opportunity to make a beautiful experience with the youth that left deep marks for their testimony and example, in the meeting they had with Christ at WYD Rio2013. The Journey was presided by Pope Francis, as he made his first international apostolic trip and, with his words, began to lay the foundations and goals of his pontificate, later expressed in the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium".
Those young people were given the opportunity to experience the welcome. They also demonstrated the strength of the testimony before the minority groups that tried to take advantage of the event, looking to do some acts of vandalism, violence and vilification. They demonstrated a merciful heart and evangelized.
The theme that guided the young world to live more profoundly that Day was the mission: "Go and make disciples of all nations". Pope Francis summarized his homily before more than three million and seven hundred thousand people in Copacabana, and millions around the world through the media, on three ideas: "Go without fear, to serve."
The young world, in this way sent by the Holy Father, was invited to one more stage in that testimony, which they will now give in Krakow, just where the "Shrine of Divine Mercy" is located. Departed from there the experience of St. John Paul II to receive both the youth and to promote the proclamation of mercy to establish, among other activities, the second Sunday of Easter, the "Mercy Sunday". We know that he returned to the Father just on the first eve of this Sunday.
Indeed, mercy is central to Jesus' message about God and his Kingdom. Jesus did not preach a God who is just powerful; He preaches a God Father of love, close to every human being. Thus, Jesus promotes a new and consistent interpretation of all revelation from creation, showing that the Father has always appeared to us as "God rich in mercy."
The reflection of St. John Paul II's encyclical "Dives in Misericordia" guides us, notwithstanding the Christocentric aspect of our faith in God's mercy, about two profoundly ecclesial expressions of Divine Mercy: the Eucharist and Mary. These were the main emphasis of our World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, and certainly they will be in Krakow.
The mystery of the Eucharist and the significance of Mary, image of the Church, are deeply attached to the work of redemption accomplished by Christ and the mercy which shone like light upon all mankind: the Eucharist is the celebration of the Paschal delivery of Jesus and Mary is the Mother of the Word Incarnate, first paten by whom the world knew the Savior.
Pope Francis, at the end of the apostolic mass in Copacabana, on July 28, 2013, announced that the next World Youth Day in 2016 will be in Krakow, Poland, land of John Paul II, the initiator and WYDs and of the Divine Mercy.
We all know that the motto of Pope Francis is connected to the theme of mercy: "atque Miserando eligendo", that is, "He looked with mercy and chose him" And that has been a constant theme of his pontificate, in which, by words and gestures, he chose to make a constant proclamation of the Good News to the bruised and hurting world: God so loved the world that He sent His Son to give his life for all of us (cf. Jn 3:16).
Now, when looking at the WYD 2016 in Kraków, he demonstrates clearly the direction, for he chose the theme of mercy: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Mt 5,7).
Examining this attribute of God, from the Old Testament, we see that the Hebrew word Hesed is translated by the LXX for ‘eleos’ and by the Vulgate for "mercy." Throughout Scripture we find in both the Old and New Testament words and gestures that advertise this attitude of a merciful God, who we are called to proclaim experiencing this presence in our lives. The Gospel of Luke describes the figure of the merciful Father who welcomes the prodigal son (Lk 15,11-32).
The recognition of God's mercy is the door that opens the path of evangelization, because only God’s Mercy can touch the heart of the man injured by the blows of life and open it to conversion. Therefore, there is no teaching that can penetrate the dark byways of suffering, the existential peripheries, if you have not been touched by mercy, by the Father's embrace of the prodigal son. This embrace is made through our human gestures, impregnated by fraternal charity.
Pope Francis, the great herald of God’s mercy for our time, addresses this issue in numerous speeches. A striking example is this excerpt, extracted from the words to us on the occasion of the Via Sacra with the young people on Copacabana Beach, during WYD Rio2013: "All the love of God is in the Cross of Christ, his immense mercy. And this is a love we can trust, that we can believe [...] But the Cross of Christ also calls us to let ourselves be captivated by this love; it teaches us, therefore, to always look at each other with mercy and love, especially at those who suffer, those who need help, who expect a word, a gesture; it teaches us to move beyond ourselves to meet these people and extend our hand. "
The quest for peace in our countries is great. We do not know how the peace processes will end, but the Church has the duty to work for mercy. It is our duty to approach the pain of each person. We have to create the mindset to get closer to those who suffer. Mercy comes from this proximity of heart with human misery, injustice, in those families who were shattered by violence in our homelands. We saw in this Congress the ample space that will be given to the relationship between Mercy and the Continental Mission, one of the major commitments of the 5th General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopate in Aparecida, in May 2007, to revive the missionary dimension of Church.
In this World Congress of Mercy we left this message for the church in Krakow and their young. The youth that walks from Rio de Janeiro to Krakow, with the mission of "making disciples" is called to live the "mercy" in these nebulous and difficult times when the crisis of values in our society is settled. We are all called to live the missionary action. To live the permanent mission. And this mission to go and make disciples is being translated for us today on "being merciful".
The World Youth Day Rio2013 has already begun to bear fruits during this first anniversary, in the form of testimonials received from various parts of the world and projects that we are moving, as the Office for Youth. We now expect that the time follow the germination of the seeds in good soil, and thus, new ripe fruit can emerge, thirty, sixty, a hundredfold (Mt 13,7).
The fruits of a Journey may not be perceived only by the external signs, but much more by what happens in people's hearts and in the experience of God that they do. The inspiration of John Paul II to create the WYDs can only be analyzed over time as a great opportunity to change the world with the example of the Christians.
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The fruits already harvested we deliver to you as seeds to be sown in new lands. Spread the testimony of the wonderful work that the merciful love of God does in your lives and go throwing those seeds along your walk. Surely others will join you, because true missionary disciples do not walk alone. Those who are touched by the calling approach and show the same curiosity, already soaked with attraction, of when the disciples approached Jesus, "Master, where are you staying" When He replied with those words that should be our invitation to each person who asks the "reason for our hope": "Come and see" (Jn 1.38 to 39 and 1 Peter 3:15). Invite everyone to come and see what God's love can make on those who receive him.
The motto of the WYD Rio2013 - "Go and make disciples among all nations" (Mt 28:19), proposed in a missionary endeavor that finds its purpose in the promise contained in the motto of Krakow WYD 2016 - "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy "(Mt 5,7).
Be missionaries, make disciples with your testimony, so they may believe in the promise that they will receive mercy from God. The encounter with this merciful embrace is the goal of our life and cause of our joy. Joy of being summoned to a new evangelization that causes us to live a missionary Church that experiences and shares mercy, who goes in search of the poorest and excluded proclaiming and witnessing the source of mercy, which is God himself.
This is the great mission that the young people who go from Rio to Krakow are called to live and to proclaim!
