Welcome World Youth Day Pilgrims

Dear Pilgrims,

We've just passed a couple of anniversaries - the second since the pilgrimage to Cologne and the tenth since the pilgrimage to Paris. On the head of the latter memory comes the news of the death of Cardinal Jean Lustiger, archbishop emeritus of Paris, France, on August 5 at the age of 80.

Cardinal Lustiger had been ill for some months, though the cause of his death was not provided. “In the course of phone conversations that I had with Jean-Marie Lustiger in the course of the last weeks, I found a man of great courage, lucid about his condition, but full of the hope of soon meeting him to whom he had consecrated his life,” President Nicolas Sarkozay said in a statement announcing his death. Lustiger became a Catholic at 14 during the early days of the German Occupation, and lost his mother two years later when she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she died. He saw his conversion as a natural progression, believing that Christianity and Judaism were "indissolubly linked" and that "the New Testament was hidden within the Old and the Old Testament came to light in the New", since Christ was the Messiah of Israel.

His welcome to hundreds and thousands of young pilgrims, gathered at the foot of the Eiffel Tower that August day in 1997 was, for me, a hymn to young people whom he said many had dismissed. "I will not dismiss them; God will not dismiss them." He challenged young people not to let themselves become apathetic to God's word nor to the plight of God's people but to respond to their baptismal call and become what they are meant to be, Christ's light in a dark world. The theme for that WYD was, "“Teacher, where are you staying? Come and see” (cf. Jn 1:38-39)" Our life's pilgrimage is about that journey - seeing where Christ is staying, and remaining there with him in prayer and service.

And that leads me to one of my favorite memories from WYD 2000 in Rome, sitting in the heat and crowds at Tor Vorgata, we heard John Paul II say: "When you return home, do not grow lax. Reinforce and deepen your bond with the Christian communities to which you belong. From Rome, from the City of Peter and Paul, the Pope follows you with affection and, paraphrasing Saint Catherine of Siena’s words, reminds you: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!” (cf. Letter 368). So, go, set the world afire with God's love as you prepare for and participate in all the pilgrimages of your life.

En Cristo,
 
Leota Roesch
September 18, 2007