God wants to be our ‘treasure’ now, says Francis

Hundreds of thousands of young people and religious descended upon Panama City last week to celebrate faith and friendship, with the hope of also catching a glimpse of Pope Francis. Running from January 22-27, World Youth Day 2019 saw an incredible number of pilgrims travelling to the Catholic country as part of the festival, presided over by the Pontiff.

Speaking to over half a million young people at the open-air concluding Mass at the capital’s Metro Park, the Pope said that God does not call us to mission in the future, but right now in the present. It is through this missionary zeal, he added, that both God and our hopes are realised.

“You, dear young people, are not the future but the now of God.  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 realise the dream that the Lord has dreamed for you,” the Pontiff said. “Not tomorrow but now, for wherever your treasure is, there will your heart also be.”

Message

Francis said that the message of Jesus should not be understood as just relevant to a particular people or to a particular time, but transcends all boundaries with everyone being called to listen.

“For Jesus, there is no ‘meantime’, but only a merciful love that wants to enter into and win over our hearts.  He wants to be our treasure, because he is not a ‘meantime’, an interval in life or a passing fad; he is generous love that invites us to entrust ourselves.”

At the conclusion of the closing Mass, it was announced that Lisbon, Portugal, will host World Youth Day in 2022.

The announcement was made by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, and upon hearing the location, Portuguese people erupted into cheers, waving their country’s flag and chanting “We are the Pope’s youth!”