The Church is alive! And the Church is young!

I just received the new English anthem for World Youth Day 2013 in Brazil. There's certainly a lot going on in the Church especially with the resignation of the pope in Rome, but let's not forget what Benedict XVI said in his inaugural homily almost eight years ago. So what did he say?

During those sad days of the Pope’s illness and death, it became wonderfully evident to us that the Church is alive. And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future. The Church is alive and we are seeing it: we are experiencing the joy that the Risen Lord promised his followers. The Church is alive – she is alive because Christ is alive, because he is truly risen.

This is truer than ever. No matter the date. No matter the concrete situation of the Church or the World. With John Paul II, with Benedict XVI, or with or next Holy Father - the Church is alive and young. Though Lent is a time of penance and conversion, though there are continual problems in our own lives and in the Church as a whole - Christ has conquered sin and death! Suffering culminates in the resurrection.

Ooberfuse (www.ooberfuse.com) is an experimental music project led by Cherrie and Hal. I met them both in London a couple of months back! They're great and share a common vision to infuse the increasingly moribund traditions of western pop with fresh eastern vigour. In addition to performing in front of two million young pilgrims in the Madrid World Youth Day in 2011 they also sang the Youth Anthem for Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK in 2010.