YouCat

Excerpts from Pope Benedict, "I Recommend to You the Reading of an Extraordinary Book."

Starting with many voices, it was possible to form a choir, because we had the common score of the faith, which the Church has handed down to us from the apostles through the centuries up until today.

Since then, at the World Youth Days (Rome, Toronto, Cologne, Sydney), young people from all over the world have met who want to believe, who are seeking God, who love Christ and desire common paths. In this context, we asked ourselves if we must not seek to translate the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" into the language of the young, and make its words penetrate into their world. Naturally, there are also many differences among the young people of today; and so, under the proven leadership of the archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, a "YouCat" was created for young people. I hope that many young people let themselves be fascinated by this book.

A crime novel is compelling because the fate it draws us into is that of other people, but could be our own; this book is compelling because it speaks to us of our very destiny and therefore concerns each of us intimately.

You must know what you believe; you must know your faith with the same precision with which a programming specialist knows the operating system of a computer; you must know it like a musician knows his piece. Yes, you must be much more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents, in order to be able to resist forcefully and decisively against the temptations of this time.

When Israel was at the darkest point of its history, God called to help not the great and respected persons, but a young man named Jeremiah; Jeremiah felt charged with a mission that was too great: "'Ah, Lord God!' I said, 'I know not how to speak; I am too young'." (Jeremiah 1:6). But God did not let himself be dissuaded: "Say not, 'I am too young'. To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak" (Jeremiah 1:7).

Quibbles

I don't like the name.

I am disappointed by many passages I've read in Youcat.

"Why did God rest on the seventh day?" (#47)

God's rest from his work points toward the completion of creation, which is beyond all human efforts.

Although man in his work is the junior partner of his Creator (Gen 2:15), he can by no means redeem the world by his toil. The goal of creation is "new heavens and a new earth" (Is 65:17) through a redemption that is given to us as a gift. Thus the Sunday rest, which is a foretaste of heavenly rest, is superior to the work that prepares us for it.

But God is incapable of resting! He cannot tire, so He cannot need to stop working in order to be restored. His act of creation is continuous with the whole of time. There is no moment in which God is not working to sustain creation.

The CCC hints at this by putting "rested" in quotation marks:

345

The sabbath - the end of the work of the six days. The sacred text says that "on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done", that the "heavens and the earth were finished", and that God "rested" on this day and sanctified and blessed it.213 These inspired words are rich in profitable instruction:

346

In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God's covenant.214 For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it.

347

Creation was fashioned with a view to the sabbath and therefore for the worship and adoration of God. Worship is inscribed in the order of creation.215 As the rule of St. Benedict says, nothing should take precedence over "the work of God", that is, solemn worship.216 This indicates the right order of human concerns.

348

The sabbath is at the heart of Israel's law. To keep the commandments is to correspond to the wisdom and the will of God as expressed in his work of creation.

Links

• Youcat.