Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 559

the example of your Patrons! Accept into your hearts and minds the seven-

fold gift of the Holy Spirit! Recognize and believe in the power of the Spirit in

your lives!

The other day we talked of the unity and harmony of God's creation and

our place within it. We recalled how in the great gift of baptism we, who are

made in God's image and likeness, have been reborn, we have become God's

adopted children, a new creation. And so it is as children of Christ's light -

symbolized by the lit candles you now hold - that we bear witness in our

world to the radiance no darkness can overcome.3

Tonight we focus our attention on how to become witnesses. We need to

understand the person of the Holy Spirit and his vivifying presence in our

lives. This is not easy to comprehend. Indeed the variety of images found in

scripture referring to the Spirit - wind, fire, breath - indicate our struggle

to articulate an understanding of him. Yet we do know that it is the Holy

Spirit who, though silent and unseen, gives direction and definition to our

witness to Jesus Christ.

You are already well aware that our Christian witness is offered to a world

which in many ways is fragile. The unity of God's creation is weakened by

wounds which run particularly deep when social relations break apart, or

when the human spirit is all but crushed through the exploitation and abuse

of persons. Indeed, society today is being fragmented by a way of thinking

that is inherently short-sighted, because it disregards the full horizon of truth

- the truth about God and about us. By its nature, relativism fails to see the

whole picture. It ignores the very principles which enable us to live and

flourish in unity, order and harmony.

What is our response, as Christian witnesses, to a divided and fragmented

world? How can we offer the hope of peace, healing and harmony to those

"stations" of conflict, suffering, and tension through which you have chosen

to march with this World Youth Day Cross? Unity and reconciliation cannot

be achieved through our efforts alone. God has made us for one another 4 and

only in God and his Church can we find the unity we seek. Yet, in the face of

imperfections and disappointments - both individual and institutional -

we are sometimes tempted to construct artificially a "perfect" community.

3 Cfr Jn 1:5. 4 Cfr Gen 2:24.