Addressing an audience of hundreds of thousands of young people Pope Francis painted a portrait of a "close" and "concrete" God in his homily at the final Mass of World Youth Day at St. John Paul II Field in Panama on Sunday Jan. 27.
Before an immense, chanting crowd decked out in the joyful colors of the world, he spoke of "a close and everyday God, a God who is friend and brother" and who wants to offer us "a face that is fraternal and friendly, concrete and familiar."
This God, the pope explained, "demands that we be concerned with our surroundings, everyday affairs and above all fraternity."
Pope Francis also warned against not believing "that God can be concrete and commonplace, that close and real, and much less that he can become so present and work through somebody like a neighbor, a friend, a relative."
A three-day retreat
"We do not always believe that the Lord can invite us to work and soil our hands with him in his Kingdom in that simple and blunt way," the pope said.
Being young is in no way synonymous with being in "a kind of waiting room, where we sit around until we are called," Pope Francis explained.
"And so, with this 'make-believe' happiness, we 'tranquilize' you, we numb you into keeping quiet, so that you don't make too much of a nuisance, so that you don't question yourselves or question us," he said.
Instead, he called on young people to abandon "flat and dreary, petty and plaintive" daydreams and begin "dreaming of and working for tomorrow, starting today."
Pope Francis repeated this urgent appeal for a response in all his World Youth Day speeches, which can together be viewed as a series of spiritual exercises everyone can act on.
This year's World Youth Day event thus amounted to a "three-day retreat" in which the Jesuit pope assisted young participants to enter into themselves to discern their response to God's call, to the "yes" of Mary, "the let it be!", which formed the theme of World Youth Day in Panama.
Do you believe in love?
Right from the opening ceremony on the evening of Jan. 24 while seeking to avoid easy comparisons, Pope Francis repeatedly insisted that the objective of WYD was not "to create a parallel Church that was a bit more 'fun' or 'cool' in a decorative event for young people, as if that were enough to make you happy."
"That way of thinking," he said, "would not respect either you or everything that the Spirit is saying through you."
Dropping his prepared script, he called on the young people gathered before him for a silent turning inwards to seek the strength to answer God's call.
"Do you believe in love? Do you believe in this call," he asked participants.
God accompanies 'each young person's way of the cross'
On Jan. 25 evening the pope led the Stations of the Cross along Cintera Costera Avenue at the beachfront that links Old Panama City with the skyscrapers of the city center.
At each step of the Via Crucis, he recalled the various difficult situations faced by the people of the Americas, who have indeed experienced more than enough problems to fill each of the fourteen stations of the cross.
"The way of Jesus on Calvary is a way of suffering and solitude that continues till today," Francis observed at the start of his meditation, which comprised a long and beautiful prayer to God "on the cross."
God thus also meets "the way of the cross of each young person, in each situation to transform it into a way of resurrection," he said.
Earlier that morning, in an effort to highlight his closeness to all those young people who were unable to participate in the WYD gathering, Pope Francis also celebrated a penitential liturgy with the detainees of a prison for minors.
He recalled how, by the way of the cross, God "wished to embrace all those who we often regard as unworthy of an embrace, a caress, a blessing; or even more seriously, those who do not realize what they need."
"Jesus continues to walk, bearing all these faces with him and suffering in them even as an indifferent world is consumed with the drama of its own frivolity," he said.
"And we, Lord, what are we doing?" the pope asked.
"We also, want to be a Church that supports and accompanies, that knows how to say 'I am here!' in life and in the cross of some many Christs who walk at our sides," Pope Francis noted.
Mary, the 'influencer' of God
He repeated this call for concreteness once again at the Saturday evening vigil. The life to which God calls us "is not a new 'app' to be discovered, nor a mental exercise that flows from the various techniques of going beyond oneself," nor a 'tutorial' with which we learn the latest novelties," he insisted.
"The young woman of Nazareth did not join the social networks of the time nor was she a (social media) 'influencer,'" Pope Francis said. "Yet without asking or seeking it, she became the most influential woman in history."
By daring to "say 'yes' and showing confidence in love and the promises of God, the only force capable of making all things new," Mary became "God's own influencer," the pope said to great applause from the youthful audience before the whole crowd knelt before the Blessed Sacrament for a period of adoration.
You are not the future but the now of God
"When I came here, I certainly didn't expect to take part in a retreat," said Ophélie Lerouxel, 23. "The pope spoke to us directly as if it was a Sunday homily."
A Paris law student, Ophélie, who traveled with the group from her native Normandy, says she will return invigorated from her first World Youth Day experience after witnessing "a generation of young people who will grow and bear fruit."
Nevertheless, many young people remain unsure how the call to become involved will unfold in their lives following their return home.
"For the moment, I do not really know how this will change my life," said Damien Beuriot, 34, from Evreux. "But I am sure that it will change something!"
"You are not the future, you young people are the now of God," Pope Francis told them on Jan. 27.
"He invites you and calls you in your communities and cities to go out and find your grandparents, your elders; to stand up and with them to speak out and realize the dream that the Lord has dreamed for you," the pope said.
"Not tomorrow but now," said Pope Francis, who was in particularly good form for the World Youth Day and who appeared rejuvenated by the event.
