Pope Francis calls Catholic students to gratitude, and community

CNA Staff, Jun 6, 2020 / 08:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis on Friday told students that in times of crisis, community is key to overcoming fear.
“Crises, if they are not well accompanied, are dangerous, because one can become disoriented. And the advice of the wise, even for small personal, marital, and social crises: ‘never go into crisis alone, go in company.’”
In a crisis, the pope said, “we are invaded by fear, we close ourselves off as individuals, or we begin to repeat what is convenient for very few, emptying ourselves of meaning, covering up our own call, losing our beauty. This is what happens when one goes through a crisis alone,”
The pope was speaking June 5 through a video message to young people, parents, and teachers connected to the Scholas Occurrentes Foundation, an international organization that provides technological, artistic, and athletic initiatives for young people around the globe.
The pope spoke about the power of education.
“Education listens, or it does not educate. If it does not listen, it does not educate. Education creates culture, or it does not educate. Education teaches us to celebrate, or it does not educate.
“Someone can ask me: ‘But, isn't education knowing things?’ No. That's what knowledge is. But to educate is to listen, to create culture, to celebrate,” Pope Francis said.
“Therefore, in this new crisis that humanity is facing today, where culture has shown to have lost its vitality, I want to celebrate that Scholas, as a community that educates, as an intuition that grows, opens the doors of the University of the Sense. Because to educate is to seek the meaning of things. It is to teach to look for the meaning of things,” he added.
The pope emphasized gratitude, meaning, and beauty.
“They may seem useless,” he said, “especially nowadays. Who starts a business looking for gratitude, meaning and beauty? It does not produce, it does not produce. And yet, on these things that seem useless depend the whole of humanity, the future.”