Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale546

Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whi-

spering: "Come, come to the Father".4

Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or

achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God's love can only unleash its power

when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through

the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind confor-

mity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination

and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily

prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed

Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure

receptivity to God's grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who

dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly

Father. In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts,

quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his

love, and to receive "power from on high", enabling us to be salt and light for

our world.

At his Ascension, the Risen Lord told his disciples: "You will be my

witnesses... to the ends of the earth".5 Here, in Australia, let us thank the

Lord for the gift of faith, which has come down to us like a treasure passed on

from generation to generation in the communion of the Church. Here, in

Oceania, let us give thanks in a special way for all those heroic missionaries,

dedicated priests and religious, Christian parents and grandparents, teachers

and catechists who built up the Church in these lands - witnesses like

Blessed Mary MacKillop, Saint Peter Chanel, Blessed Peter To Rot, and so

many others! The power of the Spirit, revealed in their lives, is still at work in

the good they left behind, in the society which they shaped and which is

being handed on to you.

Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to

the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, build-

ing something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens

up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or

even rejects him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you

using the gifts you have been given, the "power" which the Holy Spirit is

4 Cfr Ad Rom, 6:1-9. 5 Acts 1:8.