A remarkable charism of the Holy Father is the ease with which he established a rapport with youth. Two years ago he said:

	St. Francis

"Young people of the third millennium, young Christians, young people of every religion, I ask you to be like Saint Francis of Assisi, gentle and courageous guardians of true peace, based on justice and forgiveness, truth and mercy! Go forward into the future holding high the lamp of peace."

Pope John Paul II offers a challenge, encourages and appeals to their idealism. He trusts them. There was a young Muslim man at a recent inter-religious dialogue conference who asked the panel of scholars at one of the workshops what we should tell young people who no longer come to church, mosque or synagogue. One of the speakers responded by simply saying, "Listen to them."

Yes how true. We need to make time and create space for young people who need someone to listen to them. What a needed and great service this is.

The world has changed so much in the last fifty years but some questions never change: Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? Will people like and accept me? While young people may appear ten feet tall and bulletproof, they can be hesitant and lacking in confidence.

I have yet to meet an adult of my own generation who would like to be young today. What are we oldies saying? Our common opinion is that there is too much pressure on the young generation. With the benefits of the last twenty-five years that have changed all our lives, we say, "No, it was better when I was young, things were easier than they are today."

Perhaps it is true that no one over thirty years of age knows what it is like to be young today. Nevertheless, we can support and trust them from a respectful distance. I salute good adult models of patience and understanding and the insight of a teacher who said, "For a fifteen year old, the world is only fifteen years old. It's almost brand new."

Young or not so young, the point is the same and it is Good News: Christ, the risen Lord, is our future. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever, as the Apostle has said. Our past, our present and our future are within the province of his grace. To embrace this reality is not to escape from life in the real world; it is to receive a new lease on life in the real world.

What Jesus is trading on and what he is determined we must trade on to make it through, is, first and foremost, his relationship with us and our relation with him. Put simply, if we do not trust God with our future, we have no one to trust. We can look at all of the issues, we can even blame the whole world, but until Jesus becomes part of our lives we will always fear the unknown. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me." This is not just a nice phrase from a familiar song in the Old Testament. It is a bold and confident statement about having a relationship with the Triune God.

The more we focus on who God is and what he is like, the more our thinking and our attitude begin to change. Such focusing allows us to think and feel the way God does! Next, as we do this, fears will fall away and confidence will take the place of fear. We will find that we come to rely more on God and the more we do so, the more we understand that he never lets us down. We need never be afraid.

My attitude will make this day what it becomes.
Meeting it head one, with love, will assure me of a lovely day.

back to top | home