This is not the first time that I have presided at the Saint Dominic's day mass in this Sanctuary of La Virgen del Camino. But this year is different for here we have hundreds of young people from all over the world who feel, at least, that the charism of Saint Dominic has something to say to them. This is the charism which has brought you together for these days of reflection, study and community living.

And if it is a cause for celebration that here we have young people from every continent, then it is all the more so when the theme of the meeting is drinking from the well of the Dominican charism. The celebration reaches its height when you celebrate the feast of the one who gave that charism to the Church. I suppose that today you will work a bit less and celebrate a bit more.

The inhabitants of Caleruega, the older ones that is, say that they cannot remember a year when the harvest was not good in their village. This state of affairs, they explain, can be attributed to their fellow countryman, Dominic de Guzmán. No doubt that protection of Caleruega will be extended to La Virgen del Camino and to this meeting in such a way that the harvest that you will reap during these days of the meeting will be superabundant.

Allow me on a day such as today to echo everything meant by La Virgen del Camino, the name of this place where we are holding our celebration.

Our Lady of the Way (María del Camino) as you know, refers to the pilgrimages of the middle ages, Dominic's time, to Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrims would arrive here from all over Europe, by much more strenuous means than you have employed. Here they gathered their physical and mental strength to continue on their pilgrimage. Here they were received by Our Lady of Sorrows, but also of great strength: she who gathers her dead son in her arms.

Dominic was also a great pilgrim. He walked many roads and was stained with the dust of many lands and he met a great diversity of people. Once he left the chapter at Osma his life was a pilgrimage, first on diplomatic business but later to proclaim the faith and achieve the foundation and consolidation of the Order and to be present among his brothers and sisters. His life was one long walk. F. Félix Martínez del Cura, a native of Caleruega and now older than our Father at the time of the latter's death, demonstrated this summer by walking the same road, how a walker such as Saint Dominic could have covered the distance between Caleruega and Osma. He concluded that in Osma our father would not have been able to forget Caleruega and must have visited it often.

Your youth is an invitation to become pilgrims and instead of settling within the safe and cosy limits of your own well-being you must advance along the paths of righteousness. You are a movement and you know the expression which I presume is international: "Movement is demonstrated by moving."

To preach is to undertake a pilgrimage, to step outside our securities (even when these are worthy ones like the chapter of Osma) and become a presence in different locations; to be a brother or sister to others and share our inner treasure, our faith, our deepest desires and thus generate community.

Your reason for being here in La Virgen del Camino is to live an experience of Mount Tabor which will be continued wherever you might live afterwards. Dominic experienced his Tabor at Osma with great dignity but he took down the tent in which he lived and left the cathedral cloisters to launch into preaching where it was most necessary, removed from the cathedrals and chapters and in close contact with those ordinary people who were stricken by the entrenched traditionalism of the Cathars and religious ignorance.

He wanted to institutionalise that preaching and surrounded himself with sisters and brothers, nuns, friars, lay people, and young people like yourselves who could help him and who would continue his work. He wanted to preach always, announcing salvation by the example of his life and through the word of liberation and he wanted to do it based on his sensitive solidarity, compassion and empathy with the poor and underprivileged, in a real and deep encounter with people. His idea was not to act from the safe distance of empty science, power or wealth but, rather, from that proximity found in those who have contemplated (prayed and studied) the Word of God; those who are to be found among ordinary men and women ("and dwelt amongst us"); those who are poor amongst poor people ("The poor hear the Good News" - a sign of the Kingdom); those who understand fraternity and easy and cordial communication in community life.

Dominic knew how to use his programme of life and mission to spur many young people on to join his project in the religious life. This can and must also be done by lay people. It is a matter of generosity and enthusiasm.

And once won over by the charism, it is a matter of drinking from our own well but also a question of being able to take the step from a glorious history with all the demands it makes upon us to a history which has yet to be built. And it is to be built beyond any abstract intellectualism or sterile historical narcissism (which would be a form of the Catharism which Dominic fought against) in open and courageous dialogue with all.

Mary was ever present in Dominic's life as we are reminded by the chronicles and writings of his time. Mary is the mother of preachers. She herself was an itinerant preacher, the pilgrim who went to Ain Karen to visit Elizabeth, bearing Christ (the object of all preaching) so that he might sanctify the fruit of her cousin's womb. Mary, according to the chronicle of Rodrigo de Cerrato in the "Life of Saint Dominic", was the only support that Our Lord allowed his disciples and she would also become the support that the friars needed. For this reason Dominic commended his Order to her special care.

On this feast day of the man who gave the world its greatest Marian devotion, the rosary, Mary gives her blessing to your work and joins in your festivities for they are hers also.