"Don’t be couch potatoes": Pope Francis Urges Youth

We can look too at Jesus’ first encounter with those who were to become his disciples. Two of them, sent to him by John the Baptist, begin to follow Jesus. The Lord turns to them and asks a single question: “What are you looking for?” (Jn 1:38). They ask him where he lives. Jesus does not give them an address, but opens a path before them. He says, “Come and see” (v. 39). He does not preach at them, but walks with them. He does not want his disciples to be like schoolchildren who merely repeat lessons learned, but young people who are free and press ahead, fellow travelers of a God who listens to their needs and is attentive to their dreams.

Pope Francis is driven on a cart inside a sports arena in Budapest, Hungary, on April 29, 2023, where he held a meeting with young people. Vatican Media

Then, some time later, two of his young disciples blunder: They ask Jesus the wrong thing, namely, to sit at his right and his left when he becomes king. It is worth noting that Jesus does not rebuke them for their audacity. He does not say: “How dare you? Stop dreaming of such things!” No, Jesus does not shatter their ambitions but corrects them about the right way to achieve them. He accepts their desire for greatness, but he insists on one thing that we too must always remember: It is not by stepping upon others that we become great, but by stooping to help them. We do not achieve greatness at the expense of others, but rather by serving them (cf. Mk 10:35-45).

As you see, dear friends, Jesus wants us to accomplish great things. He doesn’t want us to be lazy “couch potatoes,” he doesn’t want us to be quiet and timid; instead, he wants us to be alive, active, ready to take charge. He never disparages our expectations but, on the contrary, raises the bar of our desires. Jesus would agree with a proverb of yours, which I hope I pronounce well: Aki mer az nyer [Those who dare, win the prize].

But how do we win in life? Just as in sports, there are two basic steps. First, aim high, then train. Aim high. Do you have a talent? Of course you do! Don’t put it aside, thinking that the bare minimum is enough to bring happiness: a degree, a job to earn money, to have fun … No! Put your talents to good use. Do you have a good quality? Invest in it, don’t be afraid! Do you feel in your heart that you have the possibility of helping others? Do you sense how good it is to love the Lord, to have a large family, to help those in need? Don’t think that these are unattainable desires. Rather, invest in the great goals of life! Then, train.

How do you train? Through dialogue with Jesus, who is the best of coaches. He listens to you, encourages you, believes in you and is able to bring out the best in you. He constantly invites you to be a team player, never alone but with others: in the Church, in the community, sharing your experiences with others. 

I think, for example, of the experience of the World Youth Days, so I will take this opportunity to invite you to the next one, to be held in Portugal, in Lisbon, at the beginning of August.

Nowadays there is a great temptation to be satisfied with a cell phone and a few friends. Even if many people are willing to settle for that, or even if you are too, it is not good or healthy.

There is one important element of training that you, Krisztina, reminded us of, when you said that nowadays, amid all our racing around, so much hustle and bustle, there is something essential that young people, and adults as well, are lacking. You said, “We don’t make time for silence in the midst of this racket, because we are afraid of loneliness; as a result, every day we end up feeling tired.” What I would say to you is this: Don’t be afraid to swim against the current, to make room for a moment of silence each day, a moment to stop and pray.

Pope Francis reacts to the audience during his meeting with young people at a sports arena in Budapest, Hungary, on April 29, 2023. Vatican Media

Nowadays, we are bombarded with the message that we have to be fast, efficient, and practically perfect, like machines! Then we often find that we run out of gas and are at a loss for what to do. We have to learn how to stop and fill our tanks, to recharge our batteries. Here though, I would also say: Be careful not to indulge in moodiness or brood over your troubles. Don’t waste time thinking about who did this or that to me, questioning other people’s motives. That is not good or healthy either.

Silence is the soil on which we cultivate good relationships. It allows us to entrust to Jesus whatever we are feeling, to bring him faces and names, to share our difficulties, to remember our friends and to say a prayer for them. Silence gives us a chance to read a page of the Gospel that can speak to our hearts, to worship God, to regain our inner peace. Silence allows us to pick up a book that we don’t have to read, but one that can help us learn how to read human hearts. Silence enables us to observe nature, so that we are not just in contact with appliances and devices, but discover the natural beauty that is all around us. 

Silence is not for sitting glued to your cell phone, or on social media. No, please! Life is real, not virtual. It does not take place on a screen, but in the world!

Silence, then, is the door to prayer, and prayer is the door to love. Dóra, I want to thank you because you said that faith is a love story, where every day you deal with the problems of adolescence, but you know that there is always Someone at your side, Someone who is there for you, and that Someone is Jesus. He does not hesitate to help you overcome every obstacle on your path. Prayer helps you in this, because prayer is dialogue with Jesus, just as Mass is an encounter with him, and Confession is the embrace you receive from him.

This reminds me of your great musician Franz Liszt. During the restoration of his piano, a few beads from his rosary were found; the rosary had broken and those beads had fallen into the instrument. This makes us realize that before a composition or performance, perhaps even after a moment of enjoyment at the piano, it was usual for him to pray. He spoke to the Lord and Our Lady about what he loved and he brought his art and talents to prayer. When you pray, don’t be afraid to bring to Jesus everything that is going on in your life: your emotions and fears, your problems and expectations, your memories and hopes.

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Prayer is dialogue; prayer is life. Bertalan, today you were not ashamed to tell everyone about the anxiety that sometimes grips you and about your struggles with faith. What a beautiful thing it is to have this courage of honesty. Instead of having to act as if you are never afraid, you can freely share your vulnerability with the Lord and with others, without hiding or disguising anything, without wearing a mask.

On every page, the Gospel tells us that the Lord does not do great things with exceptional people, but with ordinary people. Those who count on their own abilities and are anxious always to look good before others, keep God away from their hearts. Jesus, by his questions and by his love, together with his Spirit, acts deep within us to make us real, authentic people. And today we have great need of such real and authentic people.

I think we were all struck by what you said, Tódor, starting with your name, which honors Blessed Theodore, a great confessor of the faith who inspires us to not live by half measures. You wanted to issue a “wake-up call,” reminding us that our zeal for the mission can be blunted by living in security and comfort, while not far from here war and suffering are daily realities. This is the real challenge: to take control of our lives in order to help our world to live in peace. Each one of us should ask the uncomfortable question: What am I doing for others, for the Church, for society? Do I think only about myself? Or do I put myself on the line for others, without calculating my own interests? Let us reflect on our ability to be generous, our ability to love as Jesus taught us, which is by serving others.

The power of sharing

Dear friends, there is one last thing I would like to share with you. It is a page of the Gospel, which sums up everything that we have said. A year and a half ago, I was here for the Eucharistic Congress. In the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel there is a beautiful eucharistic passage with a young person at the center. He was part of the crowd listening to Jesus, and he had planned ahead: He brought his lunch with him. Jesus feels compassion for the crowd and wants to feed them; so, again in his typical way, he asks the disciples questions to get them to act. He asks one of them how they could feed the crowd, and gets a “bookkeeper” response: “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little” (Jn 6:7). As if to say: mathematically, it is impossible.

Another disciple, meanwhile, sees the young person and makes an equally pessimistic comment: “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” (v. 9). For Jesus, though, it was enough to perform the famous miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

Pope Francis address young people at a sports arena in Budapest, Hungary, on April 29, 2023. Vatican Media

However, there is one detail the Gospel does not tell us, but leaves it to our imagination. How did the disciples persuade that young man to give everything he had? They may have asked him to make his lunch available, and he may have looked around, seeing thousands of people, and perhaps responded as they did, by saying, “It’s not enough; why are you asking me and not handling this yourselves, as Jesus’ disciples?” Perhaps too, they told him that Jesus himself was the one who was asking. In any event, the young man does something extraordinary: He trusts; he gives everything away, holding nothing back. He had come there to receive from Jesus, and now he finds himself giving to Jesus.

Yet that is how the miracle happened. It started with sharing: Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fish started with a young person who shared with him, for the sake of others. In Jesus’ hands, the little he possessed became much. Faith is that way: It starts with giving freely, with enthusiasm and generosity, overcoming our fears and stepping forward!

Dear friends, each of you is precious to Jesus, and also to me! Remember that no one can take your place in the history of the Church and the world: No one can do what only you can do. Let us help each other, then, to believe that we are loved and precious, that we are made for great things. Let us pray for this and encourage one another in this! I ask you, too, to help me by your prayers. Köszönöm! [Thank you!]