![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/vatican_narcissm.jpeg?resize=470%2C313\")
Youth from the Shalom Catholic Community pray during an audience with Pope Francis in the Pope Paul VI Hall on Sept. 4. DANIEL IBANEZ\/CNA<\/p><\/div>\n
As usual, Pope Francis was careful to take notes as he listened to various testimonies from the group, including from three youth who spoke about their experiences of loneliness, drugs, their search for God and their process of conversion.<\/p>\n
Juan, 26, from Santiago, Chile, shared his story about how he went from living without God and without hope as a youth, to finding meaning through prayer, evangelization and a sense of community. In light of his experience, he asked the Pope how youth can \u201cradiate\u201d mercy to a world marked by desperation and indifference.<\/p>\n
The second, Justine, who is 25 and from Spain, said she was baptized during the Jubilee of Mercy. She recalled a commitment she made at the time to live her life for others, and asked Francis what he believes is the role and mission of young people in the Church.<\/p>\n
Finally, 22-year-old Matheus from Brazil shared his story of involvement with drugs before discovering the faith through missionaries and rehab. After sharing his story, the youth asked how he can find his vocation in order to respond to the salvation he was given.<\/p>\n
Referring to Juan\u2019s testimony, the Pope noted that the words the youth used to describe his experience \u2013 \u201cpraying, sharing and evangelizing\u201d \u2013 are are words \u201cof movement, of going out of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came out of yourself in prayer to encounter God, you came out of yourself in brotherhood to encounter your brothers and sisters, and you came out of yourself to evangelize, to give the good news,\u201d he said, adding that this announcement \u201cis mercy in a world marked by desperation and indifference.\u201d<\/p>\n
But simply talking about mercy isn\u2019t enough, \u201cwe have to bear witness, share and teach by going out of ourselves.\u201d Using a colloquial phrase, he said \u201cwe have to put the meat on the grill,\u201d otherwise people won\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis witness, of not being closed in on yourself, in your own interests, but going out, sharing with others\u201d that God is good and is with us in life\u2019s most difficult moments, he said, \u201cis the best message of mercy that one can give.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning to Justine, Francis said it was significant that she was baptized during the Year of Mercy, and that it was precisely on that occasion that \u201cyou found God and he allowed you to strip you of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of this process was \u201cto go from being centered on yourself, to go outside to the joy of living for God and for others,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cone of the characteristics of youth and of the eternal youth of God is joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis cautioned against the modern temptation to selfishness and narcissism, which he said only lead to sadness. \u201cAnd joy is opposed to sadness. A sadness that is, precisely, what you went out from: self-referentiality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA young person who gets into themselves, who only lives for themselves, ends up in an \u2018impassioned self-referentiality,\u2019 full of self-referentiality,\u201d he said, and told the youth present to foster a healthy sense of humor about themselves, so they don\u2019t become too attached.<\/p>\n
In reference to Matheus\u2019 testimony, the Pope said drugs are \u201cone of the instruments that the culture in which we live has to dominate us.\u201d Because of this, an addict might feel the need \u201cto be subtle, invisible to themselves, as if they were air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drugs, he said, \u201clead us to negate everything that roots us\u2026it takes the roots out and makes you live in a world without roots, uprooted from everything; from projects, from your past, from your history, your homeland, your family, your love, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
After passing through an experience of being \u201cinvisible\u201d and then becoming aware again, Matheus became conscious of God\u2019s plan, which is a plan \u201cto console the pain of humanity,\u201d Francis noted.<\/p>\n
Pope Francis also pointed out how Matheus said he wanted to discern his vocation during the upcoming Synod of Bishops on \u201cYoung People, the Faith and the Discernment of Vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each person has to discern their vocation \u201cin order to see what God wants of us in light of our vocation,\u201d he said, and told participants to \u201cgive freely\u201d of themselves and what they have received.<\/p>\n
The Pope also spoke, as he often has, about the importance of the relationship between the elderly and young people. Talking directly to the older members of the community, he stressed the importance of dialogue with youth, telling them to \u201cpass the torch, from the oldest to the youngest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the challenges that the world asks of us today is the dialogue between youth and the elderly,\u201d he said, telling participants that \u201cI rely on your testimony\u201d to carry this dialogue forward.<\/p>\n
Elderly, he said, are not meant \u201cto be kept in the closet, to be kept hidden,\u201d but are rather \u201choping that a youth comes and speaks to them.\u201d And youth, he said, must take the dreams of the elderly and \u201credeem\u201d them.<\/p>\n
The elderly \u201chave wisdom and they need (youth) to beat at their hearts for this wisdom,\u201d Pope Francis said, adding that \u201cthis dialogue is a promise for the future. This dialogue helps us to continue going forward.\u201d\u00a0Elise Harris\/CNA\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav admin_label=”Post Navigation” in_same_term=”off” hide_prev=”off” hide_next=”off” prev_text=”PREVIOUS ARTICLE” next_text=”NEXT ARTICLE” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Narcissism \u201cproduces sadness, because you live worried about \u2018dressing up\u2019 your soul everyday to appear better than you are, contemplating to see if you are more beautiful than others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vatican-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ootw-83I","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/vatican_narcissm.jpeg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30982"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30985,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30982\/revisions\/30985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}