By putting on hope, one's days and horizon will be "enlightened," he added, and "putting on love" builds a solid foundation for one's life and the journey of life "will be joyful, because you will find many friends to journey with you."
Faith, hope and love are Christ's gift, Pope Francis said, and Christ is "the one who brings God to us and us to God."
"With him, our life is transformed and renewed, and we can see reality with new eyes, from Jesus'
standpoint," and so we must also "put on Christ."
In putting on Christ, he said you receive a friend in whom you can always have faith; "wings of hope" for the journey into the future; and a "fruitful" life, "full of his love."
"I would like each of us to ask sincerely: in whom do we place our trust? In ourselves, in material things, or in Jesus?"
The Pope acknowledged the temptation to "put ourselves at the centre, to think that we alone build our lives or that our life can only be happy if built on possessions, money, or power."
"But it is not so," he reflected.
Rather, possessions, money and power "end up possessing us," leaving us unsatisfied and always wanting more, with only an "illusion of being happy."
Pope Francis contrasted the pursuit of fleeting pleasures with the willingness to be pursued by Jesus.
"'Put on Christ' in your life, place your trust in him and you will never be disappointed."
Faith, he said, "accomplishes a revolution in us, one which we can call Copernican, because it removes us from the centre and restores it to God."
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The fruits of the Holy Spirit "find a home in our heart" through faith, "and our very being is transformed."
With the gift of faith "our way of thinking and acting" is renewed, transformed into "Jesus' own, God's own" way of acting and thinking.
That this World Youth Day is being held during the Year of Faith, the Pope said, "is truly a gift to draw us closer to the Lord, to be his disciples and his missionaries, to let him renew our lives."
Pope Francis told the more than one million gathered pilgrims that Christ awaits them in his sacraments, especially confession and the Eucharist. "Do not be afraid to ask God's forgiveness," he emphasized.
"He never tires of forgiving us, like a father who loves us. God is pure mercy!"
"He is waiting for you in his flesh in the Eucharist, the sacrament of his presence and his sacrifice of love."