Pope Francis calls on youth to create a just world

Jesus is calling you to leave a mark on history, Pope Francis  tells thousands of youth  in vigil prayers yesterday in Poland.

He said that in life there is another, even more dangerous, kind of paralysis. It is not easy to put our finger on it. I like to describe it as the paralysis that comes from confusing happiness with a sofa. In other words, to think that in order to be happy all we need is a good sofa.

The pontiff added that a sofa that makes us feel comfortable, calm, and safe. Like ones of those we have nowadays with a built-in massage unit to put us to sleep. But a sofa that promises us hours of comfort so we can escape to the world of video games and spend all kinds of time in front of a computer screen. To be a sofa that keeps us safe from any kind of pain and fear. A sofa that allows us to stay home without needing to work or worry about, anything.

"Sofa-happiness,"  that is probably the most harmful and insidious form of paralysis, since little by little, without even realizing it, we start to nod off, to grow drowsy and dull while others - perhaps more alert than we are, but not necessarily better - decide our future for us. For many people in fact, it is much easier and better to have drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa. For many people, that is more convenient than having young people who are alert and searching, trying to respond to God's dream and to all the restlessness present in the human heart.

The truth, though, is something else. "Dear youth people, we didn't come into this work to "vegetate", to take it easy, and to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: to leave a mark. It is very sad to pass through life without leaving a mark. But when we opt for ease and convenience, for confusing happiness with consumption, then we end up paying a high price indeed: we lose our freedom."

"Dear young people, we didn't come into this work to 'vegetate," to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, but we gathered for another reason: To leave a mark, " Francis said told a throng youth.

Along the road to Brzegi, a village 12 kilometers (7 miles) outside of Krakow, there was a constant flow of groups with national flags from different places including Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, South Korea, Zimbabwe, Europeans countries, Asians and among others.

He added that "you might say to me: Father, but I have my limits, I am a sinner, what can I do? When the Lord calls us, he doesn't worry about what we are, what we have been, or what we have done or not done. Quite the opposite. When he calls us, he is thinking about everything we have to give, all the love we are capable of spreading. His bets are on the future, on tomorrow. Jesus is pointing you to the future."

"My friends, today, Jesus is inviting you, calling you, to leave your mark on life, to leave a mark on history, you're own and that of many others as well. Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life, is calling you to leave your mark on history. He, who is life, is asking each of you to leave a mark that brings life to your own history and that of many others. He, who is truth, is asking you to abandon the paths of rejection, division and emptiness. Are you up to this? What answer will you give with your hands, feet to the Lord, who is the way, the truth and the life? " pontiff asked.

However, Pope Francis asked hundreds of thousands of youth to pray for the people suffering during the war in Syria and other parts of the world.

The 79-year-old pope Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Day, a global Catholic gathering. He has led Mass, visited Auschwitz, and met with Polish politicians, clergy, sick children and many faithful.

Pope Francis told thousands of  youth who gathered to scrap being a "couch potato" who retreats into video games and computer screens and instead engage in social activism and politics to create a more just world.

The pontiff  arrived in Poland on July 27, this is his 15th trip outside Italy and his first ever to Poland.

The pope ends his visit to Poland today (Sunday July 31) after a Mass in Brizegi, the crowning event of this year's world youth day