Morelia, where he was awaited by around fifty thousand young people. The   
   festive   
   encounter was filled with songs, dance and testimonies from Daniela, Alberto,   
   Roberto and Rosario, all young people who told the Pope about the realities of   
   their lives. The problems of work, the difficulties faced by families and the   
   need for hope were the key themes. "Today the young people of Mexico see in you   
   the face of the hope we need".   
    "I already knew your concerns because I was given a draft copy of what you   
   might say", said the Pope; "I have to be honest, why tell you a lie! But as you   
   were speaking I also took some notes of the things which seemed more important   
   so that they would not be left hanging in the air. I have to tell you that when   
   I arrived in this country I received a warm welcome and I saw something that I   
   knew for a long time: the vitality, the joy, and the festive spirit of the   
   Mexican people. And now after listening to you, but particularly after seeing   
   you, I am also certain about something else, something I said to the President   
   of the nation when I arrived. One of Mexico's greatest treasures is that it has   
   a youthful face: its young people. Yes, you are the wealth of this land.   
   Careful   
   though! I did not say the hope of this land, but its wealth".   
    "The mountain may have rich minerals to serve humanity's advancement, in terms   
   of its wealth, but that richness has to be converted into hope by hard work,   
   just as miners do when they extract those minerals. You are this wealth, and it   
   has to be converted into hope. And Daniela concluded by offering us a   
   challenge,   
   as well as giving us some guidance about hope. But all who spoke about their   
   difficulties and their experiences expressed a great truth: 'all of us can live   
   but we cannot live without hope'. You cannot look to the future if you do not   
   first know how to value yourselves, if you do not feel that your life, your   
   hands, your history, is worth the effort".   
    "It is about feeling what Alberto described: 'with my hands, with my heart and   
   my mind I can build up hope; if I do not perceive that hope, then it cannot   
   enter my heart'. Hope is born when you are able to experience that all is not   
   lost; and for this to happen it is necessary to start 'at home', to begin with   
   yourself. Not everything is lost. I am not lost; I am worth something, I am   
   worth a lot. I ask you for some silence now, and I ask each one of you to ask   
   himself or herself: 'Is it true that not everything is lost?' 'Am I lost?' 'Do   
   I   
   have worth?' 'Am I worth a little, a lot?'. The biggest threats to hope are   
   those words which devalue you, words which suck out your value and you end up   
   feeling down, is this not so? Words which make you feel second rate, even   
   fourth   
   rate. The biggest threat to hope is when you feel that you do not matter to   
   anybody or that that you have been left aside. This is the great obstacle to   
   hope: when, in a family, society, school or a group of friends, you are made to   
   feel unimportant to them. This is hard and painful, but it does happen, am I   
   right? Yes or no? [They reply 'Yes']. Yes, it happens. This kills, this crushes   
   us and opens the door to much suffering".   
    "But there is also another principal threat to the hope that your richness   
   will   
   grow and bear fruit, and it is this: to allow yourself to believe that you   
   begin   
   to be valuable when you start wearing the right clothes, the latest brands and   
   fashions, or when you start enjoying prestige and importance because you have   
   money; but in the depths of your heart you do not believe that you are worthy   
   of   
   kindness or love and this is something which your heart intuits. Hope is   
   silenced by what they make you believe, and they don't let you flourish. The   
   biggest threat is when a person feels that they must have money to buy   
   everything, including the love of others. The biggest threat is to believe that   
   by having a big car you will be happy. Is this true, that by having a big car   
   you will be happy?" [They reply: 'No'].   
    "You are the wealth of Mexico, you are the wealth of the Church. Allow me to   
   tell you a phrase from my country: 'I am not massaging your back'; 'I am not   
   flattering you'. I understand that often it is difficult to feel your value   
   when   
   you are continually exposed to the loss of friends or relatives at the hands of   
   the drug trade, of drugs themselves, of criminal organizations that sow terror.   
   It is hard to feel the wealth of a nation when there are no opportunities for   
   dignified work - Alberto you expressed this clearly - no possibilities for   
   study   
   or advancement, when you feel your rights are not recognised, which then leads   
   you to extreme situations. It is difficult to appreciate the value of a place   
   when, because of your youth, you are used for selfish purposes, seduced by   
   promises that end up being untrue. They are like soap bubbles. And it is   
   difficult to feel valuable in these cases. You bear your value inside and your   
   hope too; but it is not easy, due to the things I am telling you and to the   
   things you have told us: there is a lack of work and study opportunities, as   
   Roberto and Alberto said".   
    "Nonetheless, despite all this, I will never tire of saying, You are the   
   wealth   
   of Mexico. Roberto, you used a phrase which I may have overlooked when I read   
   the draft, but it's something I want to come back to. You spoke about losing   
   something and yet you did not say: 'I lost my cell phone, I lost my wallet with   
   money in it'. We have lost the wonder of walking together, we have lost the   
   delight of dreaming together, so that this wealth, moved by hope, can take us   
   forward; we need to walk together, we need to meet, and we need to dream. Do   
   not   
   lose the fascinating power of dreaming! Have the courage to dream! To dream,   
   which is not the same as being sleepyheads, right?"   
    "And don't think I am saying this - that you are the wealth of Mexico and that   
   this richness goes forward when it is full of hope - because I am good, or I   
   because I have clear ideas about it; no dear friends, it is not like that. I   
   say   
   this to you and I am convinced of it. And do you know why? Because, like you, I   
   believe in Jesus Christ. And I think Daniela was very brave when she spoke to   
   us   
   about this. I believe in Jesus Christ and that is why I tell you this. It is He   
   Who continually renews in me this hope, it is He Who continually renews my   
   outlook. It is He Who awakens in me, in each one of us, the wonder of enjoying,   
   the charm of dreaming, the delight of working together. It is He Who   
   continually   
   invites me to a conversion of heart. Yes, my friends, I say this because in   
   Jesus I have found the one who is able to bring out the best in me. Hand in   
   hand   
   with Him, we can move forward, hand in hand with Him we can begin again and   
   again, hand in hand with Him we can say: it is a lie to believe that the only   
   way to live, or to be young, is to entrust oneself to drug dealers or others   
   who   
   do nothing but sow destruction and death. This is a lie and we say it holding   
   on   
   to Jesus' hand. It is also hand in hand with Jesus Christ, with the Lord, that   
   we can say: it is a lie that the only way to live as young people here is in   
   poverty and exclusion; in the exclusion of opportunities, in the exclusion of   
   spaces, in the exclusion of training and education, in the exclusion of hope.   
   It   
   is Jesus Christ Who refutes all attempts to render you useless or to be mere   
   mercenaries of other people's ambitions. They are ambitions which exclude you,   
   to use you in the areas I mentioned, which you know well, and which end up   
   destroying. And the only one that can grab me firmly by the hand is Jesus   
   Christ; He can convert this wealth into hope".   
    "You have asked me for a word of hope, and the one word I have to give you,   
   which is the foundation of everything, is Jesus Christ. When everything seems   
   too much, when it seems that the world is crashing down on you, embrace His   
   Cross, draw close to Him and please, never let go of His hand, even if they are   
   dragging you; and, if you should fall, allow Him to lift you up. Mountain   
   climbers have a lovely song which I like to repeat to young people. As they go   
   up the mountain they sing: 'In the art of climbing upwards, the triumph is not   
   in not falling but rather in not staying down on the ground'. This is the art,   
   and, who is the only one who can take you by the hand so that you are not left   
   lying on the ground? Jesus Christ is the only one. Jesus Christ, Who sometimes   
   sends a brother or sister to speak to you or help you. Don't hide your hand   
   when   
   you have fallen, do not say to him: 'Don't look at me, I am covered in mud.   
   Don't look at me, I am without hope'. You have only to let him grab your hand   
   and you his, and then that richness which is inside you, which is covered in   
   mud, and which you have given up on, will begin, through hope, to bear fruit.   
   But always holding onto Jesus' hand".   
    "This is the way, do not forget: 'In the art of climbing upwards, the triumph   
   is not in not falling but rather in not staying down on the ground'. Never   
   allow   
   yourselves to stay down, fallen on the ground! Never! Agreed? And if you see a   
   friend who slipped up in life and has fallen, go and offer him or her your   
   hand,   
   but do so with dignity. Put yourself on their level, listen to them and don't   
   say: 'I have the solution for you'. No, as a friend, slowly give them strength   
   by your words, give them strength by your listening, that medicine which sadly   
   is being forgotten: 'the therapy of listening'. Let them speak, let them share   
   their experience, and then little by little, they will offer you their hand,   
   and, in the name of Jesus Christ, you can help them. 'But if you go in suddenly   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)