English
Documentation
John Paul II and UNIV
John Paul II
It‟s a great idea to have this annual international meeting of students from around the world and it‟s good that you have the chance to get together in this way and to sing together. It‟s a great joy. For me, it‟s a great joy.
St. Damaso Courtyard, April 7, 1985
What is UNIV?
UNIV, which takes place here in Rome, is a gathering of students from all over the world. In this gathering, these students let themselves be seen and heard. …
What is the significance of UNIV? UNIV means students from different
countries from around the world being together. They have diverse languages and cultures but they come to be together. To be together. This also happens here, in this Courtyard of St. Damaso you are all together. This reminds me of how the first Twelve remained together, that being together which took place in Jerusalem more or less at the very same time that we are together now; the day of the Passover, the eve of the Passover in the Cenacle. And you know well that Jesus was there among them. …
Your being together here is certainly also done in the name of Jesus. You have come from all over the world. You belong to diverse peoples and cultures and you speak in different tongues. You are all students and this common factor unites you from a professional point of view and as a generation: you are the generation of the youth. But you are also united in the name of Jesus. For this reason you look forward to Holy Week, and especially this Holy Week in Rome, so that you may be united in the name of Jesus.
This is what UNIV means every year and also this year, 1990. It is my wish for you that Jesus always be present in this meeting, in this being together of yours; Jesus who inspires, who gives the Holy Spirit—”receive the Holy Spirit”—and who sends, who sends others on a mission. Just as he sent out the Apostles, so too he sends you out. We are all sent, we are all apostles. Apostles: this is another way of defining what it means to be Christians. In the same way, the point of our being together is ultimately to be apostles, to go forth afterwards individually or in small groups—two or three together— and to share his message, to share the Gospel, to share Jesus.
St. Damaso Courtyard, April 15, 1990
Authentic Human Progress
Just think: what voice, what master of thought can found unity among men and nations, if not he who, giving his own life, obtained for all of us adoption as children of the same Father? Precisely this divine filiation, obtained for us by Christ on the cross and realized by sending his Spirit into our hearts, is the only solid and indestructible foundation of the unity of a redeemed humanity.
Paul VI Hall, April 10, 1979
The theme of the congress that has brought you together is A Human Face for the Global World. This is a topic that allows you to compare experiences and proposals on globalization, a phenomenon that will increasingly mark society in the future. You grasp the positive aspects of this process, but without ignoring the dangers.
It cannot be the economy that dictates the models and pace of development and, even if it is only right to provide for material needs, the values of the spirit must never be stifled. The true must always prevail over the useful, good over well-being, freedom over fashion, people over structures. On the other hand, it is not enough to criticize; we must go further: we must be builders. For Christians cannot limit themselves to analyzing the historical processes under way and maintain a passive attitude, as if they were beyond their capacities to intervene because guided by blind and impersonal forces. Believers are convinced that every human event is under the provident hand of God, who asks everyone to cooperate with him in guiding history to an end worthy of man.
Paul VI Hall, April 9, 2001
How much a man and woman of faith can influence society! Part of Christian realism is to understand that great social changes are the fruit of small courageous daily choices. You often ask yourselves: when will this world of ours be fully conformed to the Gospel message? The answer is simple: when you first think and always act according to Christ, at least a part of that world will, in you, be entrusted to him. Bl. Josemaría, from whose spirituality you draw your inspiration, wrote: “Among those around you, apostolic soul, you are the stone fallen into the lake. With your word and example produce a first ripple... and it will produce another... and then another, and another... each time wider. Now do you understand the greatness of your mission?”
(The Way, 831).
Paul VI Hall, April 9, 2001
University Life and Freedom
This is the topic that I would invite you to reflect on: the experience and meaning of your freedom. Your current studies and your ongoing cultural and human development are helping you to consolidate a progressively fuller vision of freedom and its possibilities. This experience should be lived not only as the reception of a gift, but above all as a duty, as a task: the task of freedom, as I recently called it speaking to students and faculty of the University of Rome. These words—duty, task— immediately bring to mind the ineradicable reality of moral responsibility, which is wide in its content, demanding in its requirements, and touches everyone who is personally aware of their freedom. Those who live searching for the truth, as you do, are called to discover this moral responsibility with a unique clarity of vision. The task which thus opens up before you is above all this one: that the experience of your freedom be founded upon and deepened by contact with ultimate truths. These are the truths that explain the meaning of man‟s existence and destiny and which determine the reasons for his choices. …
Dear friends, I know that you recognize and appreciate the importance of the historical moment in which you are called to live. I know that you understand and are willing to take up this task which awaits you as Christians. You need to know how to create within yourselves and your environments wide arenas of humanity. These are arenas for the acceptance and the development of a human wisdom, a wisdom that can illuminate your current studies and inspire your future professional work.
I think that the University provides an environment that is particularly fit for discovering and fully accepting the specific vocation of Christians who live in the middle of the world and who feel themselves responsible for the world. The task of university students is a great task; it cannot be reduced to the necessity of acquiring specialized knowledge pertaining to diverse disciplines. You have the duty—the task— of integrating partial truths with the supreme Truth, of integrating freedom with moral responsibility, in a solid unity of Christian life.
Paul VI Hall, April 14, 1981
Changing the world… starting with ourselves!
Reflecting on all that you have told me there comes to my mind an idea which is probably also linked to my upcoming trip to England. It‟s from an English author.
While contemplating London—a great city which, like many others, was undergoing a process of de-christianization—he prayed to our Lord, “Give me ten Saints, and I will change this city.” You have told me about your companions who show no interest in spiritual, religious and ethical matters and who live in a superficial way. The answer to this is found in the parable of the leaven in the mass of dough: the leaven transforms the mass, it makes it grow and become bread. Having received the grace of a more mature Christian vocation, a deeper vocation, I am sure that you can continue to act like the leaven in the mass of dough. Yes, you can be like the leaven in the mass, like those who are even able to change the great metropolises, the great cities, and the prevailing intellectual environments. You can be like those men who are able to bring about a better future because on the natural, human level everything is done through man and by him. Surely, therefore, if man comes carried by the power of God, in the Grace of God, if he walks together wit
h Him, he will be all the more capable of changing the world for the better. May the „final word‟ of UNIV be this desire: the desire to improve the world.
Paul VI Hall, April 11, 1982
I know that all of you, following the guidance that is offered to you in the centers of the Prelature of Opus Dei, are committed to seek Christ and to love him through the activities that you carry out within society. You know of the great need that the Church currently has for a profound and vibrant spiritual renewal. I also know that I can count on each one of you to be willing and devoted collaborators in this renewal.
Don‟t betray this trust that the Successor of Peter has in you; don‟t betray the trust that God has in you! Studying and working side by side with so many of your peers, be heralds of this joyous message. Through your friendship, help them all to discover the beauty of having faith in Jesus Christ. With your lives offer them an attractive and sincere example of Christian virtue. Do this without excluding any of the virtues, even those which are frequently forgotten or ridiculed by the current hedonist and materialist culture. May your peers learn from you the lovable demands of solidarity, so necessary for our contemporary world. Tell your friends firmly that they should be proud to live Christian purity and should love the wonderful gift of virginity. At your side they should appreciate more and more the value of temperance and detachment in a world given over to consumerism. Help them to make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so as to be able to taste the tender love of Our Lord Jesus and receive him in the Eucharist.
St. Damaso Courtyard, April 15, 1990
This is the moment in which we currently find ourselves: the eve of Easter Sunday. And in this very moment Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit and speaks to them about Confession. Yes, he speaks of the absolution of sins. These days, this is a topic that many people don‟t like, but UNIV tends to like it a lot, and I think that UNIV ‟92 also likes this topic.
So, what good wishes can I express for you to conclude this meeting? I want to encourage you to make this great sacramental topic of Confession, this wonderful Paschal, Christian and human topic more pleasant for other people. This is parting my wish for you.
Paul VI Hall, April 19, 1992
When something dies in the soul…
When someone knows how to love, as you all do, he knows very well what he should do without the need for lots of explanations. This is because love is the deepest source of the conscience. For this reason, more than talk to you I would like to contemplate you just as you are: young people who know how to love, who are spontaneous and authentic.
St. Damaso Courtyard, April 6, 1980
I had a prepared text to read, but while reading and hearing the words of your songs, I would like to say something else. I would like to comment on part of a song which some of you sang in Italian: Si può dare di più [“More can be given.”] These are words which are very correct, very profound, especially since you also sang, “si può dare di più perché è dentro di noi” [“more can be given because it is there within us.”] This is very important. More can be given because it is within us. This means that we, when we are capable of giving, always find more within us. And it therefore follows that to give, to offer something, means to enrich oneself. We are enriched by giving, by offering.
This is a very profound verse, as is that other one which goes, “si può dare di più senza essere eroi” [“more can be given without needing to be heroes.”] There are some who think that in order to run the risk of doing something worthwhile one must already possess heroic virtue. But not everything in life is heroic, what matters is having the personal courage to dare to do more without necessarily being a great hero.
This means that we can always demand more of ourselves.
Ecco! I take your leave with the message of these two verses. I leave you with these verses because they come from you. Thus, I do not leave you with something of my own, but with something which is yours.
You also sang in Spanish, “algo se muere en el alma cuando un amigo se va” [“something dies in the soul when a friend goes away.”] And also, “el vacío que deja el amigo cuando se va” [“the empty space left by a friend who leaves.”] Likewise, I say to you all that something dies in the soul when “so many” of you, my friends, have to go away!
St. Damaso Courtyard, April 19, 1987
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