"Do you remember the famous words engraved on the pediment of the temple of Delphi? 'Know yourself'. Today there is the risk of forgetting who we are, obsessed with a thousand appearances, with pounding messages that make life depend on how we dress, on the car that we guide, from how others look at us ... But that ancient invitation, know yourself, is still valid today: recognize that you are worth for what you are, not for what you have ". Pope Francis said this in his address to the young people he met in the Scuola San Dionigi of the Ursuline Sisters in Maroussi, of which he also heard three testimonies. "You are not worth for the brand of the dress or for the shoes you wear - he underlined -, but because you are unique, you are unique".
"I think of another ancient image, that of the sirens - continued the Pontiff -. Like Ulysses on the way home, you too in life, which is an adventurous journey towards the Father's House, will find mermaids. In the myth they attracted the sailors with their song to make them smash against the rocks. In reality, today's sirens want to charm you with seductive and insistent messages, which focus on easy earnings, on the false needs of consumerism, on the cult of physical well-being, of fun at all costs ... ". According to Francesco, "there are many fireworks, which shine for a moment, but leave only smoke in the air".
"Of course, it is not easy to resist - he acknowledged -. Do you remember how Ulysses succeeded, threatened by the sirens? He had himself tied to the mast of the ship. But another character, Orpheus, teaches us a better way: he sang a more melody beautiful than that of the sirens and thus silenced them ".
"This is why it is important to nourish the wonder, the beauty of faith! - concluded the Pontiff - We are not Christians because we have to, but because it is beautiful. And precisely in order to preserve this beauty we say no to what wants to obscure it".