HELPING THE YOUNG FIND LIFE

AUGUST 28, 2009

Once a young man asked Jesus (Matt 19:16-22), "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?" Jesus told him to keep God's commandments. The young man acknowledged he'd done this, but wanted to know what he still lacked. Then Jesus said, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor... Then come, follow me." The young man went away sad, we're told, because he had many possessions.

The one lesson I want to draw from this story has to do with life. The young are searching for life.

If we want to draw them into the fullness of life that Jesus offers, we have to keep this squarely in mind. We should be concerned with the false promises of life of a materialistic culture, but equally concerned with whether or not the young find life in the Church.

There are, of course, many young people who are serene in their faith, and who sometimes reveal great spiritual depths. Many of these have perhaps had deep religious experiences, and I suppose we hear too little of them. We perhaps do not sufficiently notice the young who are shining examples of Christian faith and service because we are too worried about those who have wandered astray.

If we are to look for a higher wisdom as we try to understand why some young people abandon the Church, or who try it but don't come back, we might note that the teen years are years of discovery. They are years when the young are slowly merging into the adult world, but have not yet had enough adult experiences to learn how to cope with the ups and downs of life. The young are experiencing many things for the first time.

They are innocent years, but also years when innocence is easily lost. Young people take most things very seriously, perhaps too seriously. So, for example, the first time they break up with a sweetheart can be a crushing experience. Being rejected when asking for a date, or when trying to find a group of peers to belong to, can be devastating, and leave scars that may never completely heal.

So also in matters religious, many young people are extremely sensitive, and can easily become hurt or offended in ways that sour them on religion for years and years.

When parents or church ministers try to force religion on the young, the reaction is almost certain to be negative. So, also when religion is presented in a moralistic or legalistic way. When God is portrayed only as a law-giver or judge, the young will instinctively recoil, and that seems a good instinct. No one can warm up to a God who is made of ice.

Another obstacle to youth's involvement in the Church is any sort of phoniness or double standard. When youth perceive that adults are calling them to a standard that they themselves are not living by, or when adults seem in any way to be living by non-Christian values, nothing they say about Christ or the Church will have the weight of real conviction. Racist attitudes, excesses in eating and drinking, a bad temper or routine lack of kindness, lifestyles organized around greed or ambition, insensitivity to the needs of others -- these and other moral failures can deeply scandalize the young who are in need of heroes, and turn them away from the Church.

Another sensitive area is trust. Young people need and want to be trusted. Even if they break trust with their parents and others, they still need someone to believe in them, if they are ever going to learn to believe in themselves, others, or God. Teens need as much elbow room as everyone else to question, doubt, search for new insights, and change their mind. So, even though we like the young to believe and practice the faith as we do, we really don't want them to do so blindly.

When its all said and done, each of us must commend the young in their experimental search for life to God's care. We can provide our witness, and speak our faith, and call the young to Christ, but we must also be patient as God is patient.

The act of faith which God makes in us is the same kind of faith that everyone, including the young, need from us. And we must remember, too, the young are looking for life, and we can share with them only the life we ourselves possess.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap