"it makes me very sad at heart to see young people retire at 20!....when a youth loves, lives, grows, he does not retire. He grows, grows, grows and gives....
"love has two axes on which it pivots, and if a person, a youth doesn’t have these two axes -- these two dimensions of love -- it’s not love. First of all, love is more in works than in words: love is concrete....
"And the second dimension, the second axis on which love pivots is that love always communicates itself, that is, love listens and responds, love is made in dialogue, in communion: it communicates itself....
"Love is in the works, in communicating, but love is very respectful of persons, it does not use persons, that is, love is chaste. And to you young people in this world, in this hedonistic world, in this world where only pleasure gets publicity, having a good time, having a beautiful life, I tell you: be chaste, be chaste.
"All of us in life have gone through moments in which this virtue was very difficult, but it is in fact the way of genuine love, of a love that is able to give life, which does not seek to use the other for one’s own pleasure. It is a love that considers the life of the other person sacred....Forgive me if I say something you didn’t expect, but I ask you: make the effort to live love chastely....
"Look at the love of parents, of so many mothers, of so many fathers who in the morning arrive at work tired because they haven’t slept well to look after their sick child – this is love! This is respect. This is not having a good time. This is – we go to another key word – this is 'service.' Love is service. It is to serve others. When after the washing of the feet Jesus explained the gesture to the Apostles, He taught that we are made to serve one another, and if I say that I love but don’t serve the other, don’t help the other, don’t make him go forward, don’t sacrifice myself for him, this isn’t love. You have carried the Cross [the WYD Cross]: there is the sign of love. That history of love of God involved in works and dialogue, with respect, with forgiveness, with patience during so many centuries of history with His people, ends there -- His Son on the Cross, the greatest service, which is to give one’s life, to sacrifice oneself, to help others. It’s not easy to speak of love, it’s not easy to live love....
"Sometimes I have said that we are living the Third World War, but in pieces. In pieces: there is war in Europe, there is war in Africa, there is war in the Middle East, there is war in other countries....If you only trust men, you have lost!....
"people, leaders, entrepreneurs that call themselves Christians, and produce arms! This gives some mistrust: they call themselves Christians! 'No, no, Father, I don’t produce them, no, no .... I only have my savings, my investments in arms factories.' Ah! And why? 'Because the interest is somewhat higher ...' And a double face is also a current coin today: to say something and do another. Hypocrisy ...l But let’s see what happened in the last century: in ’14, ’15, in ’15 in fact. There was that great tragedy in Armenia. So many died. I don’t know the figure: more than a million certainly. But where were the great powers of the time? Were they looking elsewhere? Why? Because they were interested in war: their war! And those that died were persons, second class human beings. Then, in the 30s and 40s the tragedy of the Shoah. The great powers had photographs of the railroad lines that took trains to the concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, to kill the Jews, and also Christians, also the Roma, also homosexuals, to kill them there. But tell me, why didn’t they bomb that? Interest! And shortly after, almost contemporaneously, were the lager in Russia: Stalin ... How many Christians suffered, were killed! The great powers divided Europe among themselves as a cake. So many years had to pass before arriving at 'certain' freedom. It’s that hypocrisy of speaking of peace and producing arms, and even selling arms to this one who is at war with that one, and to that one who is at war with this one!
"I understand what you say about mistrust in life, also today when we are living in the throwaway culture, because whatever is not of economic usefulness is discarded. Children are disposed of, because they are not developed or because they are killed before they are born; the elderly are disposed of, because they are not useful or are left there, to die, a sort of hidden euthanasia, and they are not helped to live; and now young people are disposed of: think of that 40% of young people who are without work. It is in fact a rejection! But why? Why are man and woman not at the center of the global economic system, as God wants, but the god of money. And everything is done for money.
"In Spanish, there is a good saying that says: 'the monkey dances for money'....with this disposable culture, can one trust life? -- with that sense of challenge that widens, widens, widens? A youth who can’t study, who hasn’t work, who has the shame of not feeling worthy because he doesn’t have work, doesn’t earn his life. But how many times these young people end in addictions? How many times do they commit suicide? The statistics on the suicides of young people are not well known. Or how often these young people go to fight with terrorists, at least to do something, for an ideal. I understand this challenge. And because of this Jesus told us not to put our security in riches, in worldly powers. How can I trust life? What can I do, how can I live a life that doesn’t destroy, that isn’t a life of destruction, a life that doesn’t dispose of people? How can I live a life that won’t disappoint me?....
"We must go ahead with our plans of construction, and this life doesn’t disappoint. If you get involved there, in a project of construction, of help – we think of street children, of migrants, of so many in need, but not only to give them to eat one day, two days, but to promote them with education, with unity in the joy of the Oratories and so many things, but things that build, then that sense of mistrust in life recedes, goes away. What must I do for this? Not retire too soon. Do. Do. And I’ll say a word: to go against the current, to go against the current. For you, young people, who are living this economic situation, which is also cultural, hedonistic, consumerist with 'soap bubble' values, with such values one doesn’t go forward. Do constructive things, even if they are small, but which bring us together, which bring us together with our ideals: this is the best antidote against this mistrust of life, against this culture that only offers you pleasure: to have a good time, to have money and not think of other things....
"So often advertising wants to convince us that this is good, that that is good, and it makes us believe that they are 'diamonds'; but be careful, we are sold glass! And we must go against this, not be naive. Not buy filth that we are told are diamonds.
"And to end, I would like to repeat Pier Giorgio Frassati’s word: if you want to do something good in life, live, don’t live poorly. Live!....
"at the end of the 19th century there were bad conditions for the growth of youth: there was full Masonry, even the Church couldn’t do anything, there were priest haters, there were also Satanists ... It was one of the worst moments and one of the worst places of the history of Italy. However, if you would like to do a good task at home, go to see how many men and women Saints were born at that time. Why? Because they realized that they had to go against the current in relation to the culture, to that way of living. Reality, live the reality. And if this reality is glass and not diamonds, I look for the reality against the current and I make my reality, but something that is of service to others. Think of your Saints of this land, what they did!....
"I forgot to tell you that I will now deliver the written address" (Pope Francis' "off the cuff" talk to Turin youth, 6/21/15).
"we must not wait for favorable external circumstances to really get involved but that, on the contrary, only by committing our life – aware of losing it! – we create for others and for ourselves the conditions of new trust in the future. And here my thought goes spontaneously to a youth who truly spent his life this way, so much so as to become a model of trust and evangelical audacity for the young generations of Italy and of the world: Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. His motto was: 'Live, not live poorly!' This is the way to experience fully the strength and joy of the Gospel. In this way, not only will you find trust in the future, but you will succeed in generating hope among your friends and in the environments in which you live....
"Turin’s men and women Saints teach us that all renewal, also that of the Church, passes through our personal conversion, through that openness of heart that receives and recognizes God’s surprises, driven by the greatest love (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14), which renders us friends also of persons who are alone, suffering and marginalized" (Pope Francis' prepared speech which was replaced by his "off-the-cuff" talk to Turin youth, 6/21/15).
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati's mortal remains are enshrined in the same Cathedral that is home to the Shroud of Turin; they are reported to be incorrupt.
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati "was simply a young man who was in love with his family and friends, in love with the mountains and the sea, but especially in love with God....The Eucharist and the Blessed Mother were the two poles of his world of prayer....Frassati had a tremendous respect for human life: all life, from the earliest moments to the final moments. He was constantly defending life wherever it was diminished and under siege....Beneath the smiling exterior of the restless young man was concealed the amazing life of a mystic....God gave Pier Giorgio all the external attributes that could have led him to make the wrong choices: a wealthy family, very good looks, manhood, health, being the only heir of a powerful family. But Pier Giorgio listened to the invitation of Christ: 'Come and follow me.' He anticipated by at least 50 years the Church’s understanding and new direction on the role of the laity. In beatifying Frassati alone in St. Peter’s Square on May 20, 1990, Pope John Paul II described Pier Giorgio as the 'man of the eight Beatitudes'"
http://wydcentral.org/pier-giorgio-frassati-verso-lalto/
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