CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE: IN SERMON ON THE MOUNT, POPE CALLS YOUTHS TO FOLLOW JESUS

by Cindy Wooden
March-24-2000

KORAZIM, Israel (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II stood on the Mount of Beatitudes and called young people to follow Jesus, confident that the kingdom of heaven can be theirs.

The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount "offer us the road map of our Christian life and a summary of our responsibilities to God and neighbor," the pope said during the March 24 Mass.

An estimated 50,000 people, many of them young people from around the world, attended the Mass on the slope of a hill leading down to the Sea of Galilee. Hundreds of them spent the night in huge tents on the lake's eastern shore under a heavy rain shower.

The Mass was delayed for an hour in the hopes that the weather would improve. The crowd stood in the mud or sat on whatever piece of plastic they could find while dark clouds threatened another downpour.

A strong wind came up during the Mass, and the pope's zucchetto flew across the altar platform.

Pope John Paul invited the youths to meet Jesus just like the crowds who came to Galilee to see Jesus 2,000 years earlier, listened to him preach the Sermon on the Mount and ate the loaves and fishes he miraculously multiplied.

"In the stillness we hear his gentle and urgent voice, as gentle as this land itself and as urgent as a call to choose between life and death," the pope said.

Except for the city of Tiberias and the small shrines marking Christian holy sites, most of the Galilean shoreline is undeveloped, and large tracts of it are part of a protected nature reserve.

In the early spring, the hillsides were covered with green grass, a sprinkling of red poppies and a generous wash of yellow and purple wildflowers.

Pope John Paul brought two stages of his jubilee pilgrimage together in Korazim: his February trip to Mount Sinai in Egypt where Moses received the Ten Commandments and his visit to the Mount of Beatitudes.

"Jesus teaches that the way of love brings the law to fulfillment," the pope said. "And he taught this enormously important truth on this hill here in Galilee."

James Ceman, who came as a chaperone with a Neocatechumenal Way youth group from Fullerton, Calif., said, "We knew the pope would be here where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.

"We become very blase, cynical in our day to day life, especially when we forget to pray. It goes in one ear and out the other," Ceman said. "They are nice words, nice intentions, but it is not until we apply it to our lives that it has meaning."

Pope John Paul said that telling people they are blessed when they are poor in spirit, or gentle or mourning, or peacemakers or persecuted "may seem strange."

"It is strange that Jesus exalts those whom the world generally regards as weak," the pope said. "He says to them, `Blessed are you who seem to be losers, because you are the true winners: The kingdom of heaven is yours!"'

The message of the world usually is different, the pope said. It seems to bless the strong and powerful and even the violent.

Among the young adults at the Mass were 100 U.N. peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon. A dozen Irish and French soldiers were watching the Mass from a slope far from the altar; one of them said, "There are a lot of Polish soldiers, too, but they are all up front" near the Polish-born pope.

Another Irish blue beret, who said he was not allowed to give his name, said hundreds of peacekeepers wanted to come for the Mass, "but only a few of us got the chance. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance."

Grainne Malone, 24, said she came from Dublin because "I know the pope will have something important to say for my life today."

Being on the spot where Jesus walked "makes it seem real, there's a purpose for following him. And, with so many young people here, you realize you are not the only one," she said.

The pope told the young people, "Not far from this very place, Jesus called his first disciples, as he calls you now.

"His call has always demanded a choice between the two voices competing for your hearts even now on this hill, the choice between good and evil, between life and death," he said.

Following Jesus means believing what he says no matter how strange it may seem, and it means rejecting the voices of evil no matter how reasonable they sound, the pope said.

Two thousand years ago, the disciples came to know and love Jesus and went throughout the world preaching his Good News, Pope John Paul said.

"Now, at the dawn of the third millennium, it is your turn," he told the youths.

Pope John Paul's voice was strong and he read his English-language homily with emotion and conviction, although he briefly lost his place at one point.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the papal spokesman, said, "The pope feels well. Certainly, this is a very special trip for him."

Elias Khory, 17, and his classmates came from Nazareth to participate in the Mass even though the pope was scheduled to visit their hometown the next day.

"To see the pope twice is even better than one time," Khory said. "He is the king of the Christians and this is the land of Jesus.

"This is the first time I've seen so many Christians in one place and it's very cool," he said.

Raul Rodriguez, 16, and Joel Perez, 15, came with other young Neocatechumenal members from Divine Providence parish in Miami.

"This is our first pilgrimage," Rodriguez said. They prepared with prayer, study and the sacrament of confession.

But, they had to work hard, too, they said.

"We worked, we sold stuff, we washed cars" to raise the $1,500 they needed for the 10-day trip, Perez said.

"We did so many things it wasn't funny," Rodriguez said.

One U.S. member of the congregation got to Israel by designing a poster.

Joevanny Duran, a 15-year-old sophomore at St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago, won an all-expense paid trip for himself, his campus minister and a rabbi who teaches at his school by winning the contest sponsored by the American Jewish Committee.

"My friends couldn't believe it when I told them," Duran said as he stood in the mud waiting for the pope. "I think this is going to be the coolest thing."

Rabbi Larry Edwards teaches at St. Rita's as part of the Catholic-Jewish Educational Enrichment Program, said Augustinian Father Tom McCarthy, the campus minister.

Even in the tranquil setting of the Galilee, signs of Middle East political tensions were evident at the Mass.

The disputed Golan Heights rise from the lake's eastern shore, and the road from Jerusalem was lined with signs saying "Hands off the Golan" -- protesting Israeli moves to negotiate the return of some of the territory to Syria -- and other signs saying, "Peace in Golan."

Lebanese attending the Mass held up signs saying, "Barak: Please don't make your allies in blood eternal enemies." Some southern Lebanese who have cooperated with Israeli soldiers stationed there fear reprisals if Israel pulls out in July as the government has said it will.

Roads leading to the site were closed to general traffic 24 hours before the Mass, and Israeli soldiers with machine guns guarded the back of the papal altar.