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World Youth Day 2019: A Light of Hope

LettersWorld Youth Day 2019: A Light of Hope

Dear Editor,

I write to you from Panama. The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has just arrived and there is great excitement. For days now the Belizean youth have been experiencing the Universal Church in a wondrous way. Youth from every continent in the world are coming together as strangers and leaving with an experience of family. Not a family of flesh and blood, but a diverse family united in Christ. The joy and love of youth meeting in the streets or singing together on the metro is contagious.

The locals, who may usually walk without emotion to their next destination, find this revolution of love too attractive to ignore. When the joy of Christ is encountered, it satisfies and transforms. In the light of this encounter, the false love promoted by evil and sinful ideologies is exposed as a counterfeit. Old sins presented as normal and shameless can only win the attention of those grasping for hope in a love that does not satisfy, while drowning in lies of a hopeless world.

Lies about a false love. Lies that degrade women. Lies that do not fulfill. Lies that steal the innocence of the next generation. Lies that vanish when the light of the love of Christ shines as it is experienced in adoration during WYD in Panama, or in the streets of Belize by encountering Jesus in the poor.

In the light of the encounter of true love, the absurdity of presenting the selling of one’s body as respectable to the woman being used, or lessons in debauchery as a replacement for the intimate love meant to be celebrated on Valentine’s Day, becomes apparent. The semantics that attempt to normalize fellatio are only approved by organizations like BFLA, that desire to make the crime of intentionally killing life in the womb a “human right.” The contradiction would be laughable if it was not so damaging.

The love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms a confused world into one of hope. The experience of his love satisfies the deepest desire of our hearts: a longing for meaning, friendship and an eternal love.  Pray for our youth, who must find the wisdom to navigate through many voices to hear the voice, of the Good Shepherd who loves them.

Father Scott Giuliani, SOLT

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