Pope Francis urges pilgrims to a life of service and responsibility

Meeting pilgrims of the Syro-Malabar youth leaders conference” last Saturday, Pope Francis invited them to follow Jesus by saying “yes” to a life of service and responsibility, and “no” to one of superficiality and dissipation.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the two Eastern catholic autonomous (sui iuris) churches in India, in full communion with the Pope.
The other church being the Syro-Malankara catholic church.
It is the third largest sui iuris church of the catholic church.
It is the second largest Eastern catholic church after the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, with some 4.25 million faithful worldwide.
Over half of them live in the Indian state of Kerala, where the church dates back to the first century following the preaching of St Thomas the apostle and where the church is still based.
Addressing some 75 young leaders of the various Syro-Malabar Eparchies of the diaspora and the apostolic visitation in Europe, Pope Francis noted that as Christians our wish is to follow Jesus and “walk along his path of love, the sole path that leads to eternal life.
Though not easy, he said, this path “is exciting” and “gives meaning to our lives.”
“It gives us the strength to say ‘yes’ to a life of service and responsibility, and ‘no’ to a life of superficiality and dissipation,” he said.
Referring to the 1,950th anniversary of St Thomas’s martyrdom, Pope Francis reminded the Syro-Malabar young leaders that the church is apostolic “because she is founded on the testimony of the apostles, and continues to grow not by proselytism, but by witness.
He remarked that the encounter between Mary and Elisabeth is an inspiring example of the “importance and fruitfulness of the encounter between young and old.
Pope Francis encouraged the young leaders to cultivate their relationships with their elderly relatives.
He also encouraged them to make good use of their wisdom, emphasising that the older generations play a crucial role in transmitting the faith.
Pope Francis also pointed out that Mary “teaches us also to live Eucharistically.
“In other words, give thanks, cultivate praise, and not to be fixated only on problems and difficulties.”