Reflections by Card. Camillo Ruini Vicar General of His Holiness of the Diocese of Rome To young Romans on pilgrimage to Lourdes from 19 to 25 August 1999 in preparation for the 15th  GMG

Becoming pilgrims

“When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; ⁵³ but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"  ⁵⁵ But he turned and rebuked them.  ⁵⁶ And they went on to another village. 

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." ⁵⁹ To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." ⁶⁰ But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." ⁶¹ Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." ⁶² Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

I chose to read this passage of Luke’s Gospel because it tells us of Jesus’ decision to begin his great pilgrimage towards Jerusalem, the stages of which are described in the successive chapters of the same Gospel. It is, in a sense, the great pilgrimage of his life which was to conclude with his death in Jerusalem and with his resurrection: the destination of this pilgrimage is then Easter, the paschal mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection, our salvation, the salvation of all mankind.

In this passage Jesus tells us clearly about the spirit of his pilgrimage: answering James and John who ask him if they should call fire from heaven on the Samaritan who refuses to offer him hospitality, Jesus says: “You do not know of what spirit you are!” The spirit of the pilgrimage of Christ and of Christians is first of all charity and forgiveness, even loving enemies.

Also Jesus indicates what we could call the conditions for the pilgrimage, or the concrete conditions for following him. He does this in the three encounters he has along the way. To the one who says “I will follow you everywhere”, Jesus answers that the Son of man has no where to lay his head. To another who, invited to follow Jesus, asks first to go and bury his father, Jesus replies: “let the dead bury their dead: you go and proclaim the kingdom of God”. And to a third who asks him to be able to say goodbye to those at home before following him, Jesus says: “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."  The basic condition for being a pilgrim with Jesus is therefore detachment, forgetting ourselves and giving first place to Him and to God the Father absolutely, at the centre of our life, giving the mission they entrust to us complete priority over every other activity or concern.

In actual fact every Christian pilgrimage, including this pilgrimage we are making to Lourdes, implies this decision to follow Jesus with the spirit and the conditions we have heard from Jesus himself. But we only have to reflect a moment to realise that this is beyond us, it is much more than we can do. It requires then the gift of God, the power that comes from Him and which he puts into our hearts: that mysterious power which is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God present in us. Only with the gift of the Spirit can we have authentic faith in Jesus Christ and in God the Father, that is not only believing that God exists, but having full confidence in his saving presence in our life. This faith also regards the paschal journey that awaits us, the life that awaits us after death: only if we believe in eternal life can we see this life as an ongoing pilgrimage which prepares us and leads us to the full encounter with God. Faith is then the rock on which we can build our life as Christians, but there exists also a sort of “virtuous circle” in which, on the one hand, faith makes pilgrimage possible and on the other hand pilgrimage, and for us here today this pilgrimage to Lourdes, and then in 2000, the great pilgrimage to Rome for World Youth Day, strengthens our faith and makes it grow.

This decision of faith, of life as a pilgrimage with Christ towards God the Father, sustained by the presence of the Holy Spirit, is not only a decision for a few who have a special calling, for example priests and religious. It is a choice offered to all, it is our wonderful common vocation as Christians, which includes various different particular vocations, including that of marriage, various professions, voluntary work and service of neighbour.

Today it is clear that to be Christians and to act as Christians is a personal decision, not the result of the situation or the society in which we find ourselves. The culture and mentality which prevail in society today are in fact often far from the Gospel. To be truthful, the decision to be a Christian has always implied the need to “reject” the logic of this world, but today this need is even more evident, the choice to be a Christian is clearly “going against the stream”: from this point of view our times are similar to those of the early centuries of Christianity, when to be a Christian was, even more than today, a very courageous decision. I think that in the century that awaits us, this choice will be even more “going against the stream”: to be a Christian will be ever more a personal decision, which we can only take however, in answer to a call and a gift from God.

World Youth Day is a great opportunity to strengthen us in this decision, or to enter into it, if we are still somewhat outside. It is in particular a great opportunity to help one another to make this decision again and again: this means World Youth Day is a great missionary event, an event of “Youth Mission”. During Rome's City Mission we saw that it is not easy for young people to assume missionary attitudes and initiatives: World Youth Day is therefore also from this aspect, a particularly important and opportune event.

Within the great decision of life for Christ and with Christ there are also choices of “values” very dear to young people: the values of peace, freedom, friendship, solidarity with the poor and the excluded. It is important however not to separate these values from Christ, not make them absolutes to replace Christ. Our decision is always for Him, Jesus Christ, a choice not made once and for all, but confirmed and renewed day after day, in every situation. And before we choose him, he chooses us and he continues to choose us, calling us, sustaining us again and again.

We can make this great decision with all those who chose Christ before us. Today the Church remembers Mary Queen of Heaven: Mary is not only the mother of Christ, she is also the one who made a decision for her Son, she is the first among believers and the first, we can say, among the pilgrims of the faith. Other travelling companions are the many, many saints who gave Christ first place, in different times and in very different social and cultural situations. In particular I would mention the martyrs who are the concrete example of the choice for Christ lived to the extreme consequence: our century has been rich in martyrs, like the early Christian times.

So having in mind the company in which we find ourselves following Christ, we can also understand the true reality of the Church, which is not principally an organisation or institution, it is, although to some extent weighed down with the many sins of Christians including men of the Church, the company of those who have chosen to follow Christ and who follow Christ in their life. We know this and we are sure of it, we belong to the Church, with joy and with the inner certainty that this is the right path; this means we belong wholeheartedly and unconditionally to the Church which we feel is our home, and in which we are happy to live.