With World Youth Day coming up, the Holy Father has invited the whole Church to pray that it may be, for young people, a meeting with Jesus.

His general prayer intention for this August is that:

“That World Youth Day in Madrid may encourage young people throughout the world to have their lives rooted and built up in Christ.”

Fr Eric Jacquinet – who heads up the Youth Office at the Vatican’s Council for the Laity, in giving his ideas on meeting the Lord and how the Church can spread the message of Jesus, points out that some of the best missionaries now come from young converts and here, the Vatican Insider offers a breakdown of what the Pope will be doing during the five-day event, including using a 3-metre-high gold and silver monstrance, a 16th-century piece from Toledo, for the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the Saturday night’s customary prayer vigil.

Some have decried World Youth Day as a Catholic festival that John Paul II made successful simply because he was a megastar, but this is an over-simplification based on a skewed view of what the Polish pontiff wanted to achieve. Certainly, I can remember a moment at World Youth Day in Canada in 2003 which involved monks playing electric guitars at unearthly hours, but these episodes have been, in my experience, rare. What Benedict is inviting people to do – and YouCat mentioned in the Vatican radio’s report can certainly lend a helping hand – is to come and meet him; and he, who is himself “Rooted in Christ and firm in the faith” – the World Youth Day motto – will present Christ as the answer to all the questions and desires young people, and the not-so-young, have.

YouCat is published by the CTS in the UK & Ireland and priced £9.95

Of related interest:

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