Hope in the youth

Ability to listen in conflict situations, commitment and attention “for an equal redistribution of the fruits of the Earth”, closeness to the poor and the ability “to achieve forgiveness”. These are the underlying topics of the European Youth Meeting promoted by the Ecumenical Community of Taizé in Geneva from December 28 to January 1 2008. Fourty-thousand young people are expected, 30 thousand of whom from all over Europe. Upon their arrival, they will receive a letter which Frère Alois wrote in Bolivia during a meeting of Latin-American youth. The letter ends with 4 questions on the value of listening and forgiveness and which will be at the centre of the moments of sharing and confrontation held in the mornings at the 160 reception centres and in the afternoons during the 25 meetings of reflection at the Palaexpo. The meeting was organized jointly with the Protestant and Catholic Churches of Switzerland and just like the previous years the youth will be accommodated in the homes of thousands of families of Bellgarde in Yverdon-les-Bains, and of Geneva in Montreux. THE WORD OF THE POPE . “To the creators of forgiveness between brothers and to create a reconciled world”. This is the message of Pope Benedict XVI to the youth of Taizè. In a letter sent to express his “spiritual closeness” for this “new stage of the pilgrimage of hope on earth launched by frère Roger”, Benedict XVI urges the youth to “open up new paths of hope”, but he recalls that “only Christ gives us the key to real hope, the hope which is greater than all the small hopes we might have”. “May the faith in God arise in you the hope and may He help you change the world, on the basis of evangelical values, forgiveness in particular, which is the goal of love since the one who forgives doesn’t stop at his mistake, rather, he paves the way to a renewed future. If peace is the fruit of justice, it stems even more directly from forgiveness which is aimed at the true reconciliation of those who in the past had questioned and opposed each other, so they may undertake the same path together.” WORLD LEADERS TO THE YOUTH . Just like each year, also this year Taizè received the addresses of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, of the Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, of the Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and of the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. From their messages emerges an insight to the way in which spiritual and political world leaders view the new generations. BAN KI-MOON wrote: “In all the places where I’ve been, and amongst the many young people I have met, I discovered a common feeling: the universal yearning for prosperity and peace. But too often I discovered that those who want these things have the same prejudices. They are all afraid of what is different from them: another ethnic group, another color of the skin, other cultural or language traditions, and mostly, another religion”. “Today we must address this worrying trend. We need to create new bridges and be committed in a constructive cultural dialogue founded on common values and desires. As young faithful, you are all ideally involved in this process”. His words were echoed by Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW of Constantinople, who remarked: “It’s not easy for the youth to live the Gospel in contemporary society. Our era is dominated by the relativism of values. Often the youth confront themselves with untruth”. The archbishop of Canterbury, ROWAN WILLIAMS , in his significant message recalled the words of Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish intellectual killed in Auschwitz when she was only 27: “When she was facing the possibility of deportation and death, she wrote she felt that her task was “to testify that God is alive” “also in the midst of the horror and the folly of Nazism”. “These words still haunt me today since they give one of the most demanding and authentic definitions of faith of modern era. To have faith is to live so as to show that God is living”. AN APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN UNITY . “To ensure that Christians may be the inspirers of peace in the world, their reconciliation cannot be further postponed”. These are the first words of the “appeal to reconciliation between Christians by frére ALOIS which will be given to the youth upon their arrival in Geneva so they may be its promoters in their Churches once they return home. “How can we trasmit Christ’s message to all if we remain separate? Let us waste no more energy in the opposition between Christians, sometimes even within our own religious confessions! Let us come together more often before God’s presence in listening to the Word, in silence and praise”. “Only then the wish of doing together all that can be done will increase. What unites us is more important than what divides us: let us this reality be visible in out lives!”