a help for youth spirituality

Prophets in the marketplace

A youth spirituality for today

Saint Luigi Orione used to say: "Young people are the sun or the storm of tomorrow. According to how you educate them you decide the future of our society". Our society is becoming every day more confusing, more demanding and very often our youngsters find themselves disoriented, looking for guidelines but not able to choose when many people cheat them offering easy solutions?.

In several occasions, while addressing young catholics, John Paul II invited them to be “prophets among the people of your age, because, he would proceed, young people, more than ever look confused and are misguided while looking for guides on the path of life".

Prophets: It is a powerful word the one used by the pope to address our children. Who are the prophets? The Old Testaments is full of them, see for example Elijah Isaiah Jeremiah etc. Even in the christian era, the saints were addressed with the name of prophets. What makes a person a prophet? It would take 4 aspects:

1- They spoke in the name of God

2- Their message was a message of renewal or change

3- What they were proclaiming they had to live it first as models

4- They became a stumbling block for many people and for this they were often rejected and even persecuted

Marketplace: The best image I could find to describe today's society is that of the market place. Everybody is attracted by it, it is always crowded, there you can find everything you wish, good or bad alike, cheap or expensive, old fashioned or cool. Everybody shouts to advertise for his products, and everything is, the best, the newest, the most reliable, full of new features, something which you could not possibly miss. Are all these messages true? Of course no!, but this is the law of the market, sell or die.

How can we be prophets in such a place where it is too easy to just flow along with the crowd?

Our youngsters need to learn some values which could make the difference in their life as well as in the whole society.

1- Harmonize old and new. Nobody can deny the fast changes our society is witnessing. Most of them are indeed good ones, but they are hard to be accepted by those who grew with a different set of standards and see their world disappearing fast. It is the task of the young generation to discern among the changes which are good and which are not, keeping in mind that not all that is new is good and not all that is old is bad. Of course the opposite is true as well. But discernment is not easy. In my language there is a proverb which says: If young would know and old could do, the world would change ". To harmonize the new styles with the old traditions means to treasure the experience of our parents and ancestors but see at the same time the real needs of our society. Do not be in hurry to pick up what is new; ponder first; and do not be in hurry to dismiss that is old, it can still be useful. To do that we need the following two values.

2- Courage and humility. Courage, because we cannot allow the flow of the time to drag us along, we must make our choices. Humility, because we have to recognize that this is battle we cannot win alone. We must seek for the help of other people: our companions, strong leaders, wise counselors, etc. To make a choice for life is not a joke and cannot be done in hurry or with light heart based only on emotions (I like it or not). We should always see at the different possibilities looking at tomorrow: what will make me a better person, a stronger person, a real follower of Christ? What would Christ choose if he were here today in my place? Never buy the last model gadget, wait for it to settle in the market for at least two months. When you buy attracted by the publicity, you end up to use the item crazily for two weeks, (waste of time), and then drop it in a drawer looking for something newer, (waste of money). Never buy something for the sake of showing it off to your friends: you will create in them jealousy not admiration or friendship. Buy what you really need and what really answers to your requirements. To act in this way you require indeed courage and humility.

3- Consistency and constancy. One of the weak points of our youth is the fact that they have great ideals, but often those ideals are based on clouds, easily blown away by the wind. Today they start a project and tomorrow they are already on something else, maybe contradicting the previous one. They get easily discouraged because of the difficulties or the temporary defeats. We should always remember: mistakes, problems and defeats are not there to kill us but to strengthen our muscles and make of us heroes. After all didn't Jesus say: "If you someone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me" (Mt16:24), and again "Whoever has put his hands to the plow and turns back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven" (Lk 9:62).

4- Contemplate rather than see. Contemplation is a big word. To say it in a simple way is: remember that God created the world, everything belongs to him, we too belong to him and he promised he will never abandon us. We must have clear in our mind that the purpose of our life is to fulfill the plan of God which, according to the letter to the Ephesians, is to re-establish all things under Christ. We will find happiness only if we go after this plan. God will then guarantee our success. We should be able to see the presence of God and his plan at work in all aspects of our life. St. Paul says: “We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him” (Rm 8:28).