THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S JUBILEE IN PARIS

Card. Roger Etchegaray

The great ship of young people, which follows the Pope's route in every corner of the world, once again cast off its moorings. Nothing could stop it: neither the calculations nor the prudence of the vigil. And not even the fear of a challenge to be brought to the heart of one of the great capitals of a Western world considered more and more extraneous to issues of faith.

Did Paris, the city of Lights, not perhaps seem a hazard, an impregnable, or at least too challenging, Bastille, even for the enthusiasm of young people coming from every part of the world? Enthusiasm. But really was it only that?

Indeed no, because from the Eiffel Tower to the Trocadero, and above all at the vigil and in the mass at Longchamp, Paris saw a flood of young people inundate its streets, but even more, it felt the breath of life of a great choral prayer flow in its veins. Thus it happens that even a metropolis can experience intense emotions. And in the rapid succession of events, on the tide of the spell cast by the young people, Paris saw a new altar raised for a layman, an apostle of love, Frédéric Ozanam, and it felt a saint even more its own - St Theresa of the Child Jesus - whom the Pope proclaimed Doctor of the Church, making the young people witnesses of the enthusiasm of faith which the humble young woman from Lisieux is always able to arouse.

From the height of its history, the city was able to awaken from its surprise and participate fully in that authentic experience of faith, lived and stirred by the chosen representative group of a humanity eager to discover the signs of God's smile on the world.

So it happened - as had already happened during last year's pilgrimage - that France showed its true colours and was amazed at its own treasures and riches. In this new light, all the events of the "Day" - to the goodbye, see you in Rome - were even more clearly a prelude to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

A first stretch of the road, from which it was already possible to see, like a dot on the horizon, the Holy Door that opens up to the new millennium of Christ. Young people have opened up the road. From Rome to Buenos Aires, Santiago de Compostela, Czestochowa, Denver, Manila, and finally Paris they have mapped out a long and moving itinerary of faith. And before them, in every part of the world, they have found the Father and Shepherd of their youth in the sign of Christ.

«Teacher, where are you staying? Come and see». John Paul II continues to accompany young people - and every man and woman - along Christ's road. It is he who ideally has taken humanity by the hand to lead it across the threshold of the Third Christian Millennium. And Paris, too, knew how to give him its thanks.

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Still immersed in the atmosphere of intense faith of "World Youth Day" we received the sad news of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The sorrow for this loss is great, but the serenity it inspires is even greater - and in some ways mysterious. We all feel that Mother Teresa will continue to live in the heart of all humanity.

Tertium Millennium had the privilege of publishing an article by the "mother of the poor" in its first issue. She spoke of Christ, of the All that inspired and accompanied her extraordinary experience of faith among the poorest of the poor. Mother Teresa's is truly a witness with no limits of time or space. Through her ceaseless practice of charity, the humble sister of Calcutta has shown us one of the great horizons for the Third Millennium of Christ.