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These are Pope
Benedict's answers given at a free Q and A session with young people
for World Youth Day 2006 in Rome.
The Word of God
Your Holiness, I am Simon from St Bartholomew's Parish. I am 21 years
old and am studying chemical engineering at Holy Wisdom University in
Rome. ... In the face of anxieties and uncertainties about the future,
and even simply when I find myself grappling with the daily routine,
I also feel the need to be nourished by God's Word and to know Christ
better in order to find answers to my questions. ... How can I understand
that what I read is the Word of God which calls my life into question?
Thank you.
To begin, I shall
answer by stressing a first point: it must first of all be said that
one must not read Sacred Scripture as one reads any kind of historical
book, such as, for example, Homer, Ovid or Horace; it is necessary truly
to read it as the Word of God, that is, entering into a conversation
with God.
One must start by praying and talking to the Lord; "Open the door to
me". And what St Augustine often says in his homilies: "I knocked at
the door of the Word to find out at last what the Lord wants to say
to me", seems to me to be a very important point. One should not read
Scripture in an academic way, but with prayer, saying to the Lord:
"Help me to understand your Word, what it is that you want to tell me
in this passage".
A second point is: Sacred Scripture introduces one into communion
with the family of God. Thus, one should not read Sacred Scripture on
one's own. Of course, it is always important to read the Bible in a
very personal way, in a personal conversation with God; but at the same
time, it is important to read it in the company of people with whom
one can advance, letting oneself be helped by the great masters of "Lectio
divina".
For example, we have many beautiful books by Cardinal Martini, a true
master of "Lectio divina", who helps us enter into the life of
Sacred Scripture. Nevertheless, one who is thoroughly familiar with
all the historical circumstances, all the characteristic elements of
the past, always seeks to open the door to show that the words which
appear to belong to the past are also words of the present. These teachers
help us to understand better and also to learn how to interpret Sacred
Scripture properly. Moreover, it is also appropriate in general to read
it in the company of friends who are journeying with me, who are seeking,
together with me, how to live with Christ, to find what life the Word
of God brings us.
A third point: if it is important to read Sacred Scripture with
the help of teachers and in the company of friends, travelling companions,
it is particularly important to read it in the great company of the
pilgrim People of God, that is, in the Church.
Sacred Scripture has two subjects. First and foremost, the divine subject:
it is God who is speaking. However, God wanted to involve man in his
Word. Whereas Muslims are convinced that the Koran was verbally inspired
by God, we believe that for Sacred Scripture it is "synergy" - as the
theologians say - that is characteristic, the collaboration of God with
man.
God involves his People with his Word, hence, the second subject - the
first subject, as I said, is God - is human. There are individual writers,
but there is the continuity of a permanent subject - the People of God
that journeys on with the Word of God and is in conversation with God.
By listening to God, one learns to listen to the Word of God and then
also to interpret it. Thus, the Word of God becomes present, because
individual persons die but the vital subject, the People of God, is
always alive and is identical in the course of the millenniums:
it is always the same living subject in which the Word lives.
This also explains many structures of Sacred Scripture, especially the
so-called "rereading". An ancient text is reread in another book, let
us say 100 years later, and what had been impossible to perceive in
that earlier moment, although it was already contained in the previous
text, is understood in-depth.
And it is read again, ages later, and once again other aspects, other
dimensions of the Word are grasped. So it was that Sacred Scripture
developed, in this permanent rereading and rewriting in the context
of profound continuity, in a continuous succession of the times of waiting.
At last, with the coming of Christ and the experience of the Apostles,
the Word became definitive. Thus, there can be no further rewriting,
but a further deepening of our understanding continues to be necessary.
The Lord said: "The Holy Spirit will guide you into depths that
you cannot fathom now".
Consequently, the communion of the Church is the living subject of Scripture.
However, here too the principal subject is the Lord himself, who continues
to speak through the Scriptures that we have in our hands.
I think that we should learn to do three things: to read it in
a personal colloquium with the Lord; to read it with the guidance of
teachers who have the experience of faith, who have penetrated Sacred
Scripture: and to read it in the great company of the Church,
in whose liturgy these events never cease to become present anew and
in which the Lord speaks with us today.
Thus, we may gradually penetrate ever more deeply into Sacred Scripture,
in which God truly speaks to us today.
Living in love
"Holy Father,
I am Anna. I am 19 years old, I am studying literature, and I belong
to the Parish of St Mary of Carmel.... It is easy to confuse love
with selfishness, especially today when most of the media almost
impose on us an individualistic, secularised vision of sexuality
in which everything seems licit and everything is permitted in the
name of freedom and individual conscience.... Knowing well that
so many of us are striving to live our emotional life responsibly,
could you explain to us what the Word of God has to tell us about
this? Thank you."
This is a vast question
and it would certainly be impossible to answer it in a few minutes,
but I will try to say something.
Anna herself has already given us some of the answers. She said that
today love is often wrongly interpreted because it is presented as a
selfish experience, whereas it is actually an abandonment of self and
thus becomes a self-discovery.
She also said that a consumer culture falsifies our life with a relativism
that seems to grant us everything, but in fact completely drains us.
So let us listen to the Word of God in this regard. Anna rightly wanted
to know what the Word of God says. For me it is a beautiful thing to
observe that already in the first pages of Sacred Scripture, subsequent
to the story of man's Creation, we immediately find the definition of
love and marriage.
The sacred author tells us: "A man will leave his father and mother
and will cleave to his wife, and they will become one flesh", one life
(cf. Gn 2: 24-25). We are at the beginning and we are already given
a prophecy of what marriage is; and this definition also remains identical
in the New Testament. Marriage is this following of the other in love,
thus becoming one existence, one flesh, therefore inseparable; a new
life that is born from this communion of love that unites and thus also
creates the future.
Medieval theologians, interpreting this affirmation which is found at
the beginning of Sacred Scripture, said that marriage is the first of
the seven sacraments to have been instituted by God already at the moment
of creation, in Paradise, at the beginning of history and before any
human history.
It is a sacrament of the Creator of the universe, hence, it is engraved
in the human being himself, who is oriented to this journey on which
man leaves his parents and is united to a woman in order to form only
one flesh, so that the two may be a single existence.
Thus, the sacrament of marriage is not an invention of the Church; it
is really "con-created" with man as such, as a fruit of the dynamism
of love in which the man and the woman find themselves and thus also
find the Creator who called them to love.
It is true that man fell and was expelled from Paradise, or, in other
words, more modern words, it is true that all cultures are polluted
by the sin, the errors of human beings in their history, and that the
initial plan engraved in our nature is thereby clouded. Indeed, in human
cultures we find this clouding of God's original plan.
At the same time, however, if we look at cultures, the whole cultural
history of humanity, we note that man was never able to forget completely
this plan that exists in the depths of his being. He has always known,
in a certain sense, that other forms of relationship between a man and
a woman do not truly correspond with the original design for his being.
And thus, in cultures, especially in the great cultures, we see again
and again how they are oriented to this reality: monogamy, the man and
the woman becoming one flesh. This is how a new generation can grow
in fidelity, how a cultural tradition can endure, renew itself in continuity
and make authentic progress.
The Lord, who spoke of this in the language of the prophets of Israel,
said referring to Moses, who tolerated divorce: Moses permitted
you to divorce "because of the hardness of your hearts". After sin,
the heart became "hard", but this was not what the Creator had intended,
and the Prophets, with increasing clarity, insisted on this original
plan.
To renew man, the Lord - alluding to these prophetic voices which always
guided Israel towards the clarity of monogamy - recognised with Ezekiel
that, to live this vocation, we need a new heart; instead of a heart
of stone - as Ezekiel said - we need a heart of flesh, a heart that
is truly human.
And the Lord "implants" this new heart in us at Baptism, through faith.
It is not a physical transplant, but perhaps we can make this comparison.
After a transplant, the organism needs treatment, requires the necessary
medicines to be able to live with the new heart, so that it becomes
"one's own heart" and not the "heart of another".
This is especially so in this "spiritual transplant" when the Lord implants
within us a new heart, a heart open to the Creator, to God's call. To
be able to live with this new heart, adequate treatment is necessary;
one must have recourse to the appropriate medicines so that it can really
become "our heart".
Thus, by living in communion with Christ, with his Church, the new heart
truly becomes "our own heart" and makes marriage possible. The exclusive
love between a man and a woman, their life as a couple planned by the
Creator, becomes possible, even if the atmosphere of our world makes
it difficult to the point that it appears impossible.
The Lord gives us a new heart and we must live with this new heart,
using the appropriate therapies to ensure that it is really "our own".
In this way we live with all that the Creator has given us and this
creates a truly happy life.
Indeed, we can also see it in this world, despite the numerous other
models of life: there are so many Christian families who live
with faithfulness and joy the life and love pointed out to us by the
Creator, so that a new humanity develops.
And lastly, I would add: we all know that to reach a goal in a
sport or in one's profession, discipline and sacrifices are required;
but then, by reaching a desired goal, it is all crowned with success.
Life itself is like this. In other words, becoming men and women according
to Jesus' plan demands sacrifices, but these are by no means negative;
on the contrary, they are a help in living as people with new hearts,
in living a truly human and happy life.
Since a consumer culture exists that wants to prevent us from living
in accordance with the Creator's plan, we must have the courage to create
islands, oases, and then great stretches of land of Catholic culture
where the Creator's design is lived out.
Life for the world
"Most Holy
Father, I am Inelida. I am 17 years old, an assistant to the Scout
Cub Master in the Parish of St Gregory Barberigo, and I am studying
at the "Mario Mafai" senior secondary art school. In your
Message for the 21st World Youth Day you said: "There is an
urgent need for the emergence of a new generation of apostles anchored
firmly in the Word of Christ" ...what in your opinion are the greatest
challenges to face in our time; what does the Lord expect of us,
Your Holiness?"
We all ask ourselves
what the Lord expects of us. It seems to me that the great challenge
of our time - this is what the Bishops on their ad limina visits tell
me, those from Africa, for example - is secularization: that is, a way
of living and presenting the world as "si Deus non daretur", in other
words, as if God did not exist.
There is a desire to reduce God to the private sphere, to a sentiment,
as if he were not an objective reality. As a result, everyone makes
his or her own plan of life. But this vision, presented as though it
were scientific, accepts as valid only what can be proven.
With a God who is not available for immediate experimentation, this
vision ends by also injuring society. The result is in fact that each
one makes his own plan and in the end finds himself opposed to the other.
As can be seen, this is definitely an unliveable situation.
We must make God present again in our society. This seems to me to be
the first essential element: that God be once again present in
our lives, that we do not live as though we were autonomous, authorised
to invent what freedom and life are. We must realize that we are creatures,
aware that there is a God who has created us and that living in accordance
with his will is not dependence but a gift of love that makes us alive.
Therefore, the first point is to know God, to know him better and better,
to recognize that God is in my life, and that God has a place.
The second point - if we recognize that there is a God, that our freedom
is a freedom shared with others and that there must consequently be
a common parameter for building a common reality - the second point,
I was saying, presents the question: what God? Indeed, there are
so many false images of God, a violent God, etc.
The second point, therefore, is recognizing God who has shown us his
face in Jesus, who suffered for us, who loved us to the point of dying,
and thus overcame violence. It is necessary to make the living God present
in our "own" lives first of all, the God who is not a stranger, a fictitious
God, a God only thought of, but a God who has shown himself, who has
shown his being and his face.
Only in this way do our lives become true, authentically human; hence,
the criteria of true humanism emerge in society. Here too, as I said
in my first answer, it is true that we cannot be alone in building this
just and righteous life but must journey on in the company of good and
upright friends, companions with whom we can experience that God exists
and that it is beautiful to walk with God; and to walk in the great
company of the Church, which presents to us down the centuries God who
speaks, who acts, who accompanies us.
Therefore, I would say: to find God, to find God revealed in Jesus
Christ, to walk in company with his great family, with our brothers
and sisters who are God's family, this seems to me to be the essential
content of this apostolate of which I spoke.
How I, your Father, Came to Follow Jesus
"Your Holiness,
I am Vittorio, I am from the Parish of St John Bosco in Cinecittą.
I am 20 years old and am studying educational sciences at the University
of Tor Vergata.... You invite us not to be afraid to respond to
the Lord with generosity, especially when he suggests following
him in the consecrated or priestly life.... Can you tell us how
you yourself came to understand your vocation? Can you give us some
advice so that we can really understand whether the Lord is calling
us to follow him in the consecrated or priestly life? Thank you."
As for me, I grew
up in a world very different from the world today, but in the end situations
are similar.
On the one hand, the situation of "Christianity" still existed, where
it was normal to go to church and to accept the faith as the revelation
of God, and to try to live in accordance with his revelation; on the
other, there was the Nazi regime which loudly stated: "In the new Germany
there will be no more priests, there will be no more consecrated life,
we do not need these people; look for another career". However, it was
precisely in hearing these "loud" voices, in facing the brutality of
that system with an inhuman face, that I realised that there was instead
a great need for priests.
This contrast, the sight of that anti-human culture, confirmed my conviction
that the Lord, the Gospel and the faith were pointing out the right
path, and that we were bound to commit ourselves to ensuring that this
path survives. In this situation, my vocation to the priesthood grew
with me, almost naturally, without any dramatic events of conversion.
Two other things also helped me on this journey: already as a
boy, helped by my parents and by the parish priest, I had discovered
the beauty of the Liturgy, and I came to love it more and more because
I felt that divine beauty appears in it and that Heaven unfolds before
us.
The second element was the discovery of the beauty of knowledge, of
knowing God and Sacred Scripture, thanks to which it is possible to
enter into that great adventure of dialogue with God which is theology.
Thus, it was a joy to enter into this 1,000-year-old work of theology,
this celebration of the Liturgy in which God is with us and celebrates
with us.
Of course, problems were not lacking. I wondered if I would really be
able to live celibacy all my life. Being a man of theoretical and not
practical training, I also knew that it was not enough to love theology
in order to be a good priest, but that it was also necessary to be always
available to young people, the elderly, the sick and the poor:
the need to be simple with the simple. Theology is beautiful, but the
simplicity of words and Christian life is indispensable. And so I asked
myself: will I be able to live all this and not be one-sided,
merely a theologian, etc.?
However, the Lord helped me and the company of friends, of good priests
and teachers especially helped me.
To return to the question, I think it is important to be attentive to
the Lord's gestures on our journey. He speaks to us through events,
through people, through encounters: it is necessary to be attentive
to all of this.
Then, a second point, it is necessary to enter into real friendship
with Jesus in a personal relationship with him and not to know who Jesus
is only from others or from books, but to live an ever deeper personal
relationship with Jesus, where we can begin to understand what he is
asking of us.
And then, the awareness of what I am, of my possibilities: on
the one hand, courage, and on the other, humility, trust and openness,
with the help also of friends, of Church authority and also of priests,
of families: what does the Lord want of me?
Of course, this is always a great adventure, but life can be successful
only if we have the courage to be adventurous, trusting that the Lord
will never leave me alone, that the Lord will go with me and help me.
Faith and Knowledge
Holy Father,
I am Giovanni, I am 17 years old, I am studying at "Giovanni Giorgi"
technological and scientific secondary school in Rome, and I belong
to Holy Mary Mother of Mercy Parish. I ask you to help us to understand
better how biblical revelation and scientific theory can converge
in the search for truth.
We are often led
to believe that knowledge and faith are each other's enemies; that knowledge
and technology are the same thing; that it was through mathematical
logic that everything was discovered; that the world is the result of
an accident, and that if mathematics did not discover the theorem-God,
it is because God simply does not exist.
In short, especially when we are studying, it is not always easy to
trace everything back to a divine plan inherent in the nature and history
of human beings. Thus, faith at times vacillates or is reduced to a
simple sentimental act.
"Holy Father, like all young people, I too am thirsting for the
truth: but what can I do to harmonise knowledge and faith?
The great Galileo
said that God wrote the book of nature in the form of the language of
mathematics. He was convinced that God has given us two books:
the book of Sacred Scripture and the book of nature. And the language
of nature - this was his conviction - is mathematics, so it is a language
of God, a language of the Creator.
Let us now reflect on what mathematics is: in itself, it is an
abstract system, an invention of the human spirit which as such in its
purity does not exist. It is always approximated, but as such is an
intellectual system, a great, ingenious invention of the human spirit.
The surprising thing is that this invention of our human intellect is
truly the key to understanding nature, that nature is truly structured
in a mathematical way, and that our mathematics, invented by our human
mind, is truly the instrument for working with nature, to put it at
our service, to use it through technology.
It seems to me almost incredible that an invention of the human mind
and the structure of the universe coincide. Mathematics, which we invented,
really gives us access to the nature of the universe and makes it possible
for us to use it.
Therefore, the intellectual structure of the human subject and the objective
structure of reality coincide: the subjective reason and the objective
reason of nature are identical. I think that this coincidence between
what we thought up and how nature is fulfilled and behaves is a great
enigma and a great challenge, for we see that, in the end, it is "one"
reason that links them both.
Our reason could not discover this other reason were there not an identical
antecedent reason for both.
In this sense it really seems to me that mathematics - in which as such
God cannot appear - shows us the intelligent structure of the universe.
Now, there are also theories of chaos, but they are limited because
if chaos had the upper hand, all technology would become impossible.
Only because our mathematics is reliable, is technology reliable.
Our knowledge, which is at last making it possible to work with the
energies of nature, supposes the reliable and intelligent structure
of matter. Thus, we see that there is a subjective rationality and an
objectified rationality in matter which coincide. Of course, no one
can now prove - as is proven in an experiment, in technical laws - that
they both really originated in a single intelligence, but it seems to
me that this unity of intelligence, behind the two intelligences, really
appears in our world. And the more we can delve into the world with
our intelligence, the more clearly the plan of Creation appears.
In the end, to reach the definitive question I would say: God
exists or he does not exist. There are only two options. Either one
recognizes the priority of reason, of creative Reason that is at the
beginning of all things and is the principle of all things - the priority
of reason is also the priority of freedom -, or one holds the priority
of the irrational, inasmuch as everything that functions on our earth
and in our lives would be only accidental, marginal, an irrational result
- reason would be a product of irrationality.
One cannot ultimately "prove" either project, but the great option of
Christianity is the option for rationality and for the priority of reason.
This seems to me to be an excellent option, which shows us that behind
everything is a great Intelligence to which we can entrust ourselves.
However, the true problem challenging faith today seems to me to be
the evil in the world: we ask ourselves how it can be compatible with
the Creator's rationality. And here we truly need God, who was made
flesh and shows us that he is not only a mathematical reason but that
this original Reason is also Love. If we look at the great options,
the Christian option today is the one that is the most rational and
the most human.
Therefore, we can confidently work out a philosophy, a vision of the
world based on this priority of reason, on this trust that the creating
Reason is love and that this love is God.
Taken from
a Q & A session with Young people.
Saint Peter's Square.
6 April 2006
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