Lenten Talk to Young People by Archbishop Kevin McDonald at St George's Cathedral, Southwark on 19th March 2006 

I want to reflect a little this evening on what is involved in belonging to the Church today in 2006 in this country, in Europe and in the world in which we live, a world which is getting even smaller because of communication technology, because of travel and migration and many other reasons as well.

We belong to this country, we are Europeans and citizens of this globalised world, so what does it mean to belong also to the Church. It's important to remember that the Church is the largest international organisation in the world. It is everywhere. It's universal, it's Catholic and we belong to it. The Church is a distinctive and specific organisation but is not separate from the world.

The world is God's creation. Its evolution is in God's plan and the Church is at the heart of the world. In fact we only fully understand the world if we fully understand the Church. So let us try to define the Church first of all and let me use one word that may help us to understand what the Church is. Communion

Now when we hear the word 'Communion' we think first of receiving Holy Communion at Mass and that is right. But the word means literally to participate in something together and it also means belonging together. And the Mass is where that becomes visible, becomes a reality, people listening to the Word of God together, receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord together, exchanging the sign of peace. A Mass can be a very small gathering or a very big event like the Mass celebrated by the Pope in Cologne last summer with a million young people. Some of you were there. But we come together in faith, in belief in Jesus Christ, God who became Man. And that faith should not only turn our attention to Jesus but also to all people, all humanity. Because God become Man, we recognise the dignity of all men and women. We have a motive for reaching out and respecting all men and women of every race and creed: because God created them, God brings them into being and in Jesus all humanity have the potential to be Sons and Daughters of God. So we look on all people, as I say with respect. And I suggest with a two-fold attitude which I'd call mission and dialogue.

By mission I mean that we should want to tell other people about our faith, and not be shy about it. When we went to Cologne last summer I said to our group that we should remember that in many Catholic country people are not shy and awkward about talking about the faith. They are eager and excited. We went to some gatherings where the prayers and singing were led by Filipinos. It was very exciting and exuberant. I gave catechesis, talks to two groups from the United States of America and they were very clear and committed about their Catholic faith and eager to speak up for it.

Sometimes, Muslims who come to this country and very puzzled about why Christians don't speak up for their faith. When the time is right, the situation is right, it's good to speak about what you believe and it's also good to try to find out more about what you believe.

And then there is dialogue. This is another aspect of being a Christian that is important and specifically Christian namely that we respect and listen to people of other faiths and people who don't have the gift of faith. We respect the good done by those who work for Justice and Peace in the world; we respect the positive values that we see in other religions. We look for the signs of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and want to affirm it, but we know why it's important, because it is the activity of God, of the Holy Spirit in the lives of our fellow men and women.

I want to talk about one of the things that can make religious faith difficult in the world in which we live and I'm thinking particularly of Europe and this country. It tends to be seen as something that people want to impose. Some people are very nervous of Islam because they see it as a religion that wants to impose itself everywhere

Now I said a moment ago that as Christians we should want to share our faith but we always do that respecting other people's freedom. But having said that, we believe in the absolute truth of Christ and we believe that this is truth for everyone, that everyone is created by God, called by God, called to love God and to love other people. This initiative is with God who creates us and calls us. Now that I think is very difficult for many people and may be difficult for us because we live in a culture where the initiative must be with me with my choices, my freedom, the whole talk of choice that we hear so much about and the tell-phrase 'pro-choice' is all about me, what I want and we're constantly being told that choice is the key thing in Education, in Health.

A women said to me a while ago, Is it ok if I give my children a choice about what religion to belong to or whether to belong to any religion? And I said, if you do that what you're actually saying is: it doesn't matter; the message you are giving them is that you don't really believe yourself. If you really believe you will want to pass on what you believe as the greatest gift you can provide.

But we can turn this choice thing round. If we believe in God, and in Jesus Christ, we believe we have been chosen. As I have said, God has made the initiative, he has chosen you and chooses you to do and be something in the Church. What does he choose you to do and to be? Allow yourself to accept that God has chosen you. We all have a vocation, in other words and sometimes we find life in doing something that we haven't figured out for ourselves as the thing that will get us what we want. Sometimes we find life in responding to God's will to do what he wants us to do.

This brings me to the last point I want to make which is about love. The Pope wrote an encyclical letter last year called 'Deus Caritas Est' God is Love. And he talks about the nature of love. It is a word we use in many ways. Sometimes to talk about the attraction between two people and satisfying our desires. The Greek word in that sense is Eros. And that is not a bad thing; it's a good thing at least potentially. But in the Bible there is another word for Love which is agape and that really means concern for others, outreach to others and is not about self, about me. And the Pope says that for true happiness and for a good society, love that is focused on me; my satisfaction needs to be purified so that it becomes a love that is concerned about the other and all the others. And again we see the work of the Holy Spirit in the world in all people doing good.

I always admire people from the French organisation 'Medicins sans frontiers' medicine beyond frontiers, beyond borders. They're all over the world doing what they can to relieve suffering pain and distress. And we are called to love, to love others for their sake, to find true freedom; Love is costly but it's life-giving. Responding to your vocation, whatever it is, is costly but life-giving.

So share your faith, respect all people, seek out what God is asking of you and give yourself to what he calls you to do and to be. Don't be fixated on yourself. Don't live in fear of losing out, missing out

God will give you everything, if you give everything to him.