The World Youth Days are, for many young people, an occasion for a deep encounter with Jesus Christ and to change their lives.

“Mary arose and went with haste” (Luke, 1:39) is the biblical quotation chosen by Pope Francis as the motto for World Youth Day. Why did the pope choose this Gospel episode? Why was Mary in such a hurry to leave her home and go to meet her cousin Elizabeth?

To dare to live one’s vocation is to accept setting out on a journey, going with those who can guide us on the journey, and responding with hope in the face of difficulties. To the urgency of vocation, there has to be an “urgency of response.”

Faced with the challenges of vocational discernment, it is necessary to go out to others and to open the doors so that our life can be authentically fulfilled and bear fruit for the good of all.

To live one’s vocation is always synonymous with uninstallation, leaving, going out, searching, setting out on a journey, and meeting.

The path of dialogue appears to be the true means for vocational discernment and personal fulfillment.

To look responsibly at life and to enter into the dynamism of love as the essence of every vocation is to give assent to the demands of love.