Joy is a sign of vocation, Pope tells Wednesday audience
August 30, 2017
At his weekly public audience on August 30, Pope Francis said that “the joy of the encounter with Jesus” is the first indication of one’s vocation.
Pope Francis based his catechetical talk on the St. John’s account of Christ’s call to the first apostles (Jn 1:39). He remarked that the encounter remained always vivid in the apostles’ memories; the Gospel mentions the time of day when it took place.
Those first two apostles not only followed Jesus, but “immediately they became missionaries,” the Holy Father observed. Sts. Andrew and John quickly recruited Sts. Peter and James.
These apostles, the Pope continued, were “young men, searching, healthily restless.” He added that young people are characteristically restless, saying: “The young who seek nothing are not young; they have become pensioners; they have aged before their time.”
Addressing the young people in the audience, the Pontiff said: “I too would like to ask the young people here in the square today, and those who listen via the media: ‘You, who are young, what are you seeking? What are you looking for in your heart?’”
Regarding the call for all Christians to be evangelists, the Pope said that the work is not carried out “by honing the instruments of rhetoric.” The key, he said, is “keeping in our eyes the glimmer of true happiness.” He encouraged young people especially to “cultivate healthy utopias.”
Pope Francis insisted on the importance of maintaining a hopeful attitude in order to attract others:
Please, I advise you: let us not listen to those who are disappointed and unhappy; let us not listen to those who cynically advise us not to cultivate hope in life; let us not trust in those who dampen every enthusiasm at the outset, saying that no enterprise is worth sacrificing all of life for; let us not listen to the “aged” of heart who suffocate youthful euphoria.
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