Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale346

Let us thank God that today many people of your generation are able to

enjoy the liberties which have arisen through the extension of democracy and

respect for human rights. Let us thank God for all those who strive to ensure

that you can grow up in an environment that nurtures what is beautiful,

good, and true: your parents and grandparents, your teachers and priests,

those civic leaders who seek what is right and just.

The power to destroy does, however, remain. To pretend otherwise would

be to fool ourselves. Yet, it never triumphs; it is defeated. This is the essence

of the hope that defines us as Christians; and the Church recalls this most

dramatically during the Easter Triduum and celebrates it with great joy in

the season of Easter! The One who shows us the way beyond death is the One

who shows us how to overcome destruction and fear: thus it is Jesus who is

the true teacher of life.2 His death and resurrection mean that we can say to

the Father ''you have restored us to life!''.3 And so, just a few weeks ago,

during the beautiful Easter Vigil liturgy, it was not from despair or fear that

we cried out to God for our world, but with hope-filled confidence: dispel the

darkness of our heart! dispel the darkness of our minds! 4

What might that darkness be? What happens when people, especially the

most vulnerable, encounter a clenched fist of repression or manipulation

rather than a hand of hope? A first group of examples pertains to the heart.

Here, the dreams and longings that young people pursue can so easily be

shattered or destroyed. I am thinking of those affected by drug and sub-

stance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation -

especially of girls and women. While the causes of these problems are com-

plex, all have in common a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people

being treated as mere objects - a callousness of heart takes hold which first

ignores, then ridicules, the God-given dignity of every human being. Such

tragedies also point to what might have been and what could be, were there

other hands - your hands - reaching out. I encourage you to invite others,

especially the vulnerable and the innocent, to join you along the way of

goodness and hope.

The second area of darkness - that which affects the mind - often goes

unnoticed, and for this reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of

2 Cf. Spe Salvi, 6. 3 Prayer after Communion, Good Friday. 4 Cf. Prayer at the Lighting of the Easter Candle.