Pope encourages young people to have nostalgia for the eternal

Mariazell, Austria, Aug 16, 2007 / 09:13 am

In a message to the participants of the International Pilgrimage of Youth, which has arrived in the Marian shrine of Mariazell in Austria, Pope Benedict XVI told the young people that “despite ‘material satisfaction,’ nostalgia for the eternal is very present and that the Church in Europe is alive.”

The Pope invited participants to seek an encounter “with Jesus Christ, in prayer, in the Sacred Liturgy, which you celebrate in visible communion with the Church, as well as at different times during your encounter, so that your friendship with Him can grow.”

“When so many young people come to Mariazell to encounter Christ there in the sacraments, one cannot help but see in that a sign that despite ‘material satisfaction,’ nostalgia for the eternal is very present and the Church in Europe is alive,” the pontiff said in his message which was read by Cardinal Cristoph Schonborn of Vienna.

“Under the theme of ‘Look at Christ,’ I will also go to this traditional pilgrimage shrine in a few weeks.  I hope to meet many of you there, so that together we may praise the Lord and thank Him for the grace of faith in Jesus Christ, the only Redeemer of humanity,” the Pope continued.

Cardinal Schonborn called the International Pilgrimage of Youth “an important sign of the faith of young people.”  The pilgrimage towards Mariazell began on August 12 and ended on August 15 with the celebration of the Assumption of Mary.