CHRIST ALONE GIVES THE FULLNESS OF DIVINE LIFE
Pope John Paul II
Denver, Colorado
August 14, 1993
Dear Young People,
Young Pilgrims on the path of Life:
"I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn
10:10).
1. This evening these words of Christ are addressed to you, young
people gathered for the World Youth Day.
Jesus speaks these words in the parable of the Good Shepherd. The
Good Shepherd: what a beautiful image of God! It transmits something
deep and personal about the way God cares for all that he has made. In
the modern metropolis it is not likely that you will see a shepherd
guarding his flock. But we can go back to the traditions of the Old
Testament, in which the parable is deeply rooted, in order to understand
the loving care of the Shepherd for his sheep.
The Psalm says: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" (Ps
23:1). The Lord, the Shepherd, is God-Yahweh. The One who freed his
people from oppression in the land of their exile. The One who revealed
himself on Mount Sinai as the God of the covenant: "If you will obey my
voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all
peoples; for all the earth is mine" (Ex 19:5).
God is the Creator of all that exists. On the earth which he created
he placed man and woman: "male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27).
"And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over ... every living
thing that moves upon the earth" (ibid., v. 28).
2. The special place of human beings in all that God made lies in
their being given a share in God's own concern and providence for the
whole of creation. The Creator has entrusted the world to us, as a gift
and as a responsibility. He who is eternal Providence, the One who guides
the entire universe towards its final destiny, made us in his image and
likeness, so that we too should become "providence"--a wise and
intelligent providence, guiding human development and the development of
the world along the path of harmony with the Creator's will, and the well-
being of the human family and the fulfillment of each individual's
transcendent calling.
3. Yet millions of men and women live without giving a thought to
what they do or to what will come later. Here, this evening, in Denver's
Cherry Creek State Park, you represent the young people of the world, with
all the questions which young people at the end of the 20th century need
to ask themselves, and rightly so.
Our theme is life, and life is full of mystery. Science and
technology have made great progress in discovering the secrets of our
natural life, however even a superficial look at our personal experience
shows that there are many other dimensions to individual and collective
life on this planet. Our restless hearts seek beyond our limits,
challenging our capacity to think and love: to think and love the
immeasurable, the infinite, the absolute and supreme form of Being. Our
inner eye looks upon the unlimited horizons of our hopes and aspirations.
And in the midst of all life's contradictions, we seek the true meaning of
life. We wonder and we ask ourselves "why?".
Why am I here?
Why do I exist?
What must I do?
We all ask ourselves these questions. Humanity in its entirety feels
the pressing need to give meaning and purpose to a world in which being
happy is increasingly difficult and complex. The Bishops of the whole
world gathered at the Second Vatican Council expressed it as follows: "In
the face of modern developments there is a growing body of people who are
asking the most fundamental of all questions or are glimpsing them with a
keener insight: What is man? What is the meaning of suffering, evil,
death, which have not been eliminated by all this progress?... What can
man contribute to society? What can he expect from it? What happens
after this earthly life is ended?" (Gaudium et spes, n. 10).
Failure to ask these basic questions means renouncing the great
adventure of seeking the truth about life.
4. You know how easy it is to avoid the fundamental questions. But
your presence here shows that you will not hide from reality and from
responsibility!
You care about the gift of life that God has given you. You have
confidence in Christ when he says: "I came that they may have life, and
have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10).
Our Vigil begins with an act of trust in the words of the Good
Shepherd. In Jesus Christ, the Father expresses the whole truth
concerning creation. We believe that in the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus the Father reveals all his love for humanity. That is why Christ
calls himself "the sheepgate" (Jn 10:7). As the gate, he stands guard
over the creatures entrusted to him. He leads them to the good pastures:
"I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be safe. He will go in
and out, and find pasture" (Jn 10:9).
Jesus Christ is truly the world's Shepherd. Our hearts must be open
to his words. For this we have come to the World Meeting of Youth: from
every state and Diocese in the United States, from all over the Americas,
from every continent: all represented here by the flags which your
delegates have set up to show that no one here this evening is a stranger.
We are all one in Christ. The Lord has led us as he leads the flock:
The Lord is our Shepherd; we shall not want.
In green pastures he makes us find rest.
Beside restful waters he leads us;
He refreshes our souls.
Even though we walk in a dark valley we fear no evil;
for he is at our side.
He gives us courage (cf. Ps 23).
As we reflect together on the Life which Jesus gives, I ask you to
have the courage to commit yourselves to the truth. Have the courage to
believe the Good News about Life which Jesus teaches in the Gospel. Open
your minds and hearts to the beauty of all that God has made and to his
special, personal love for each one of you.
Young people of the world, hear his voice!
Hear his voice and follow him!
Only the Good Shepherd will lead you to the full truth about Life.
Second Part
1. At this point the young people gathered in Denver may ask: what
is the Pope going to say about Life?
My words will be a profession of the faith of Peter, the first Pope.
My message can be none other than what has been handed on from the
beginning, because it is not mine by the Good News of Jesus Christ
himself.
The New Testament presents Simon--whom Jesus called Peter, the Rock--
as a vigorous, passionate disciple of Christ. But he also doubted and, at
a decisive moment, he even denied that he was a follower of Jesus. Yet,
despite these human weaknesses, Peter was the first disciple to make a
full public profession of faith in the Master. One day Jesus asked: "Who
do you say that I am?" And Peter answered: "You are the Christ, the Son
of the Living God" (Mt 16:16).
Beginning with Peter, the first apostolic witness, multitudes of
witnesses, men and women, young and old, of every nation on earth, have
proclaimed their faith in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the
Redeemer of man, the Lord of history, the Prince of Peace. Like Peter,
they asked: "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"
(Jn 6:68).
This evening we profess the same faith as Peter. We believe that
Jesus Christ has the words of Life, and that he speaks those words to the
Church, to all who open their minds and hearts to him with faith and
trust.
2. "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep" (Jn 10:11). Our first reflection is inspired by these
words of Jesus in the Gospel of Saint John.
The Good Shepherd lays down his life. Death assails Life.
At the level of our human experience, death is the enemy of life. It
is an intruder who frustrates our natural desire to live. This is
especially obvious in the case of untimely or violent death, and most of
all in the case of the killing of the innocent.
It is not surprising then that among the Ten Commandments the Lord of
Life, the God of the Covenant, should have said on Mount Sinai, "You shall
not kill" (Ex 20:13; cf. Mt 5:21).
The words "you shall not kill" were engraved on the tablets of the
covenant--on the stone tablets of the law. But, even before that, this
law was engraved on the human heart, in the sanctuary of every
individual's conscience. In the Bible, the first to experience the force
of this law was Cain, who murdered his brother Abel. Immediately after
his terrible crime, he felt the whole weight of having broken the
commandment not to kill. Even though he tried to escape from the truth,
saying: "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9), the inner voice repeated
over and over: "You are a murderer." The voice was his conscience, and
it could not be silenced.
3. With time the threats against life have not grown weaker. They
are taking on vast proportions. They are not only threats coming from the
outside, from the forces of nature or the "Cains" who kill the "Abels";
no, they are scientifically and systematically programmed threats. The
20th century will have been an era of massive attacks on life, an endless
series of wars and a continual taking of innocent human life. False
prophets and false teachers have had the greatest success.
In the same way, false models of progress have led to a threat
against the earth's ecological balance. Man--made in the image and
likeness of the Creator--is called to be the good shepherd of the
environment, the context of his existence and life. This is the task he
was given long ago and which the human family has assumed not without
success throughout its history, until recently when man himself has become
the destroyer of his natural environment. This has already occurred in
some places, where it is still going on.
However, there is still more. We are also witnessing the spread of a
mentality which militates against life--an attitude of hostility towards
life in the mother's womb and life in its last phases. At the very time
that science and medicine are increasingly able to safeguard health and
life, threats against life are becoming more insidious. Abortion and
euthanasia--the actual taking of a real human life--are claimed as "rights
and solutions to "problems," problems of individuals or those of society.
The killing of the innocent is no less sinful an act or less destructive
because it is done in a legal and scientific manner. In modern
metropolises, life--God's first gift and a fundamental right of each
individual, the basis of all other rights--is often treated more or less
as a commodity to be controlled, marketed and manipulated at will.
All this takes place although Christ, the Good Shepherd, wants us to
have life. He knows what threatens life; he knows how to recognize the
wolf who comes to snatch and scatter the sheep. He can identify those who
try to enter the sheepfold but who are really thieves and hirelings (cf.
Jn 10:1, 13). He knows how many young people are wasting their lives,
shirking their responsibility and living in falsehood. Drugs, the abuse
of alcohol, pornography and sexual disorder, violence: these are some of
the grave problems which need to be seriously addressed by the whole of
society, in every nation and at the international level. However, they
are also personal tragedies, which must be faced with concrete
interpersonal acts of love and solidarity through a great renewal of one's
personal responsibility before God, before others and before one's own
conscience. We are our brothers' keepers! (cf. Gen 4:9).
II.
4. Why do the consciences of young people not rebel against this
situation, especially against the moral evil which flows from personal
choices? Why do so many acquiesce in attitudes and behavior which offend
human dignity and disfigure the image of God in us? The normal thing
would be for conscience to point out the mortal danger to the individual
and to humanity contained in the easy acceptance of evil and sin. Is it
because conscience itself is losing the ability to distinguish good from
evil?
In a technological culture in which people are used to dominating
matter, discovering its laws and mechanisms in order to transform it
according to their wishes, the danger arises of also wanting to manipulate
conscience and its demands. In a culture which holds that no universally
valid truths are possible, nothing is absolute. Therefore, in the end--
they say--objective goodness and evil no longer really matter. Good comes
to mean what is pleasing or useful at a particular moment. Evil means
what contradicts our subjective wishes. Each person can build a private
system of values.
5. Young people, do not give in to this widespread false morality.
Do not stifle your conscience! Conscience is the most secret core and
sanctuary of a person, where we are alone with God (cf. Gaudium et spes,
n. 16). "I the depths of his conscience man detects a law which he does
not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience" (ibid.). That
law is not an external human law, but the voice of God, calling us to free
ourselves from the grip of evil desires and sin, and stimulating us to
seek what is good and true. Only by listening to the voice of God in your
most intimate being, and by acting in accordance with its directions, will
you reach the freedom you yearn for. As Jesus said, only the truth will
make you free (cf. Jn 8:32). And the truth is not the fruit of each
individual's imagination. God gave you intelligence to know the truth,
and your will to achieve what is morally good. He has given you the light
of conscience to guide your moral decisions, to love good and avoid evil.
Moral truth is objective, and a properly formed conscience can perceive
it.
But if conscience itself has been corrupted, how can it be restored?
If conscience--which is light--no longer enlightens, how can we overcome
the moral darkness? Jesus says: "The eye is the body's lamp. If your
eyes are good, your body will be filled with light; if your eyes are bad,
your body will be in darkness. And if your light is darkness, how deep
will the darkness be!" (Mt 6:22-23).
But Jesus also says: "I am the light of the world. No follower of
mine shall ever walk in darkness; no, he shall possess the light of life"
(Jn 8:12). If you follow Christ you will restore conscience to its
rightful place and proper role, and you will be the light of the world,
the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13).
A rebirth of conscience must come from two sources: first, the
effort to know objective truth with certainty, including the truth about
God; and secondly, the light of faith in Jesus Christ, who alone has the
words of life.
6. Against the splendid setting of the mountains of Colorado, with
its pure air which gives peace and serenity to nature, the soul
spontaneously is lifted up to sing the Creator's praise: "O Lord, our
Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth!" (Ps 8:2).
Young pilgrims, the visible world is like a map pointing to heaven,
the eternal dwelling of the living God. We learn to see the Creator by
contemplating the beauty of his creatures. In this world the goodness,
wisdom and almighty power of God shine forth. And the human intellect,
after original sin, too--in what has not been darkened by error or
passion--can discover the Artist's hand in the wonderful works which he
has made. Reason can know God through the book of nature: a personal God
who is infinitely good, wise, powerful and eternal, who transcends the
world and, at the same time, is present in the depths of his creatures.
St. Paul writes: "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible
attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood
and perceived in what he has made" (Rom 1:20).
Jesus teaches us to see the Father's hand in the beauty of the lilies
of the field, the birds of the air, the starry night, fields ripe for the
harvest, the faces of children and the needs of the poor and humble. If
you look at the world with a pure heart, you too will see the face of God
(cf. Mt 5:8), because it reveals the mystery of the Father's provident
love.
Young people are especially sensitive to the beauty of nature, and
contemplating it inspires them spiritually. However, it must be a genuine
contemplation; a contemplation which fails to reveal the face of a
personal, intelligent, free and loving Father, but which discerns merely
the dim figure of an impersonal divinity or some cosmic force, does not
suffice. We must not confuse the Creator with his creation.
The creature does not have life of himself, but from God. In
discovering God's greatness, man discovers the unique position he holds in
the visible world: "You have made him little less than the angels, and
crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him rule over the works
of your hands, putting all things under his feet" (Ps 8:6-7). Yes, the
contemplation of nature reveals not only the Creator, but also the human
being's role in the world which he created. With faith it reveals the
greatness of our dignity as creatures created in his image.
In order to have life and have it abundantly, in order to re-
establish the original harmony of creation, we must respect this divine
image in all of creation, especially in human life itself.
7. When the light of faith penetrates this natural consciousness we
reach a new certainty. The words of Christ ring out with utter truth: "I
came that they might have life, and have it abundantly."
Against all the forces of death, in spite of all the false teachers,
Jesus Christ continues to offer humanity the only true and realistic hope.
He is the world's true Shepherd. This is because he and the Father are
one (cf. Jn 17:22). In his divinity he is one with the Father; in his
humanity he is one with us.
Because he took upon himself our human condition, Jesus Christ is
able to communicate to all those who are united with him in Baptism the
Life that he has in himself. And because in the Trinity, Life is Love,
the very love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit who has been given to us (cf. Rom 5:5). Life and love are
inseparable: the love of God for us, and the love we give in return--love
of God and love of every brother and sister. This will be the theme of
the last part of our reflection later this evening.
Third Part
Dear young pilgrims,
1. The Spirit has led you to Denver to fill you with new Life: to
give you a stronger faith and hope and love. Everything in you--your mind
and heart, will and freedom, gifts and talents--everything is being taken
up by the Holy Spirit in order to make you "living stones" of the
"spiritual house" which is the Church (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). This Church is
inseparable from Jesus; he loves her as the Bridegroom loves the Bride.
This Church today, in the United States and in all the other countries
from which you come, needs the affection and cooperation of her young
people, the hope of her future. In the Church each one has a role to
play, and all together we build up the one Body of Christ, the one People
of God.
As the third millennium approaches, the Church knows that the Good
Shepherd continues, as always, to be the sure hope of humanity. Jesus
Christ never ceases to be the "sheepgate." And despite the history of
humanity's sins against life, he never ceases to repeat with the same
vigour and love: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly"
(Jn 10:10).
2. How is this possible? How can Christ give us Life if death
forms part of our earthly existence? How is it possible if "it is
appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment" (Heb
9:27)?
Jesus himself provides the answer--and the answer is a supreme
declaration of divine Love, a high-point of the Gospel revelation
concerning God the Father's love for all of creation. The answer is
already present in the parable of the Good Shepherd. Christ says: "The
Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (Jn 10:11).
Christ--the Good Shepherd--is present among us, among the peoples,
nations, generations and races, as the One who "lays down his life for the
sheep." What is this but the greatest love? It was the death of the
innocent One: "The Son of Man is departing, as Scripture says of him, but
woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed" (Mt 26:24). Christ on
the Cross stands as a sign of contradiction to every crime against the
commandment not to kill. He offered his own life in sacrifice for the
salvation of the world. No one takes that human life from him, but he
lays it down of his own accord. He has the power to lay it down and the
power to take it up again (cf. Jn 10:18). It was a true self-giving. It
was a sublime act of freedom.
Yes, the Good Shepherd lays down his life. But only to take it up
again (cf. Jn 10:17). And in the new life of the resurrection, he has
become--in the words of Saint Paul--"a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor 15:45),
who can now bestow the gift of Life on all who believe in him.
Life laid down--Life taken up again--Life given. In him, we have
that Life which he has in the unity of the Father and of the Holy Spirit.
If we believe in him. If we are one with him through love, remembering
that "whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 Jn 4:21).
3. Good Shepherd:
The Father loves you because you lay down your life. The Father
loves you as the crucified Son because you go to your death giving your
life for us. And the Father loves you when you conquer death by your
resurrection, revealing an indestructible life. You are the Life and,
therefore, the Way and the Truth of our life (cf. Jn 14:6).
You said: "I am the Good Shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father" (Jn 10:14-15). You who
know the Father (cf. Jn 10:15)--the only Father of all--know why the
Father loves you (cf. Jn 10:17). He loves you because you give your life
for each one. When you say: "I lay down my life for my sheep," you are
excluding no one. You came into the world to embrace all people and to
gather as one all the children of the whole human family who were
scattered (cf. Jn 11:52). Nonetheless, there are many who do not know
you. "However, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These
also I must lead" (Jn 10:16).
4. Good Shepherd,
Teach the young people gathered here, teach the young people of the
world, the meaning of "laying down" their lives through vocation and
mission. Just as you sent the Apostles to preach the Gospel to the ends
of the earth, so now challenge the youth of the Church to carry on the
vast mission of making you known to all those who have not yet heard of
you! Give these young people the courage and generosity of the great
missionaries of the past so that, through the witness of their faith and
their solidarity with every brother and sister in need, the world may
discover the Truth, the Goodness and the Beauty of the Life you alone can
give.
Teach the young people gathered in Denver to take your message of
life and truth, of love and solidarity, to the heart of the modern
metropolis--to the heart of all the problems which afflict the human
family at the end of the 20th century.
Teach these young people the proper use of their freedom. Teach them
that the greatest freedom is the fullest giving of themselves. Teach them
the meaning of the Gospel words: "He who loses his life for my sake will
find it" (Mt 10:39).
5. For all of this, Good Shepherd, we love you.
The young people gathered in Denver love you because they love life,
the gift of the Creator. They love their human life as the path through
this created world. They love life as a task and a vocation.
And they love that other Life which, through you, the Eternal Father
has given us: the Life of God in us, the greatest gift to us.
You are the Good Shepherd!
And there is none other.
You have come that we may have Life--and that we may have it
abundantly. Life, not only on the human level, but in the measure of the
Son--the Son in whom the Father is eternally pleased.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for having said: "I came that they
may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). The young people of
the Eighth World Youth Day thank you from their hearts.
Maranatha!
Here, from Cherry Creek State Park in Denver, from this gathering of
young people from all over the world, we cry out:
Maranatha! "Come Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20).
Reprinted with permission from L'Osservatore Romano, English Edition
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