I could not believe my eyes when I saw a youth. Because last when I met him around four months back he was like a hockey stick and suddenly the changes in body build!
Seeing him I was reminded what Pope Francis says in his Apostolic Exhortation ‘Christus Vivit’: Many young people are concerned about their bodies, trying to build up physical strength or improve their appearance. While there are those he says: work to develop their talents and knowledge, so as to feel sure of themselves. And still, some aim higher, seeking to become more involved and to grow spiritually.
In the post Synodal Exhortation, his Holiness calls upon young people, not to observe life from a balcony nor confuse happiness with an armchair, or live life behind a screen nor become the sorry sight of an abandoned vehicle! Neither be parked cars, but to dream freely and make good decisions. To take risks, even if it means making mistakes. To make a ruckus! And says: Please, don’t take early retirement. He underlines: Youth, as a phase in the development of the personality, is marked by dreams full of trials and experiments and calls to move forward without cutting themselves off from their roots, to build autonomy but not in solitude.
The Pope relates: Sometimes ago, a friend asked what I see in a young person. My response was that “I see someone who is searching for his or her own path, who wants to fly on their two feet, who faces the world and looks at the horizon with eyes full of the future, full of hope as well as illusions. One who stands on two feet as adults do, but unlike adults, whose feet are parallel, he always has one foot forward, ready to set out, to spring ahead, always racing onward with strength able to look ahead with hope and with promise of life that imply a certain degree of tenacity. He is foolish enough to delude himself, and resilient enough to recover from that delusion”.
Young people face immense and difficult challenges. The JNU issues and in a given situation like CAA… the youth can draw strength from the Pope who says: I encourage all of you in this effort, because I know that “your young hearts want to build a better world. I have been following news reports of the many young people throughout the world who have taken to the streets to express the desire for a more just and fraternal society. Young people taking to the streets! The young want to be protagonists of change. Please, do not leave it to others to be protagonists of change. You are the ones who hold the future!
He continues: Through you, the future enters into the world. I ask you also to be protagonists of this transformation. You are the ones who hold the key to the future! Continue to fight apathy, lack of concern and to offer a Christian response to the social and political troubles emerging in different parts of the world. I ask you to build the future, to work for a better world. Above all, in one way or another, fight for the common good, serve the poor, be protagonists of the revolution of charity and service, capable of resisting the pathologies of consumerism and superficial individualism.
“There is certain enthusiasm in liberty that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism,” says Alexandre Hamilton.
