BY FR. LAZAR ARASU SDB
“Ask the youth for little, they give nothing but ask for more, they smile and give everything.” This famous quotation summarizes the vital role played by the youth in our society, which gave birth to the International World Youth Day celebration. The International World Youth Day began in 1985 by Pope St. John Paul II and continues to this day. The day is celebrated every year at Diocesan level and is marked every two or three years with a week-long international gathering at various locations throughout the world. This year, the day will be commemorated in Lisbon, Portugal from 1st to 6th August, with a call to Arise in haste and bear witness.
World Youth Day is an invitation to all the young people of the world to experience God. It is to have young people journey together, respecting their diversity. It has always been an opportunity for young people from all over the world to personally encounter Christ and choose to give themselves completely to His service in priesthood or in consecrated life. Besides achieving the religious purpose for which it is intended, the world youth day certainly brings about fraternity and social friendship.
On August 19th, 2000, at WYD in Rome in the year of the Great Jubilee, Pope John Paul II called young people the “morning watchmen” and reminded them that by “saying ‘yes’ to Christ, you say ‘yes’ to all your noblest ideals. A gathering such as the World Youth Day therefore, gives opportunity to everyone to share their experiences and pull together their lives for the greater good of the individuals and the whole of humanity. This year’s theme is taken from the gospel of St. Luke 1:39 “Mary arose and went with haste.” The Pope calls upon the young to meditate on this Biblical event in order to say YES to God. He also refers to two other scriptural passages: Luke 7:14, “Young man, I say to you, Arise!” and Acts 26:16, “Stand up. I appoint you as a witness of what you have seen.” It is a call to each young person to Arise in Haste to Witness.
Young people of today are often termed Generation X, Millennials, Digital Generation and the like. They are certainly post Christian, unrecognizable worshippers, post charismatic, biblically illiterate, aliens to traditional family structures, a culture apart, economically vulnerable, violence saturated, aids infected… The list is endless. Certainly, young people undergo some elements of these challenges in different parts of the world in their own situations.
On the better side of it, the young are info-crats, hugely concerned with social ethics and spiritually hungry. The Church wishes to take advantage of the positive side of the youth and capitalize on them for their welfare and for the good of the world at large. Perhaps, only a fraction of youth are God-oriented, socially conscious and generous
with themselves. The Church believes that those few can be the ‘yeast, the salt and the light’ for the rest.Let us look into the challenges of young people in our own land. The attendance to the Church has largely dropped, over 75% of young people dropout of school in some areas of the country, a large percentage suffer the consequences of family separation, poverty both in urban and rural areas and other problems such as: teenage pregnancy, child marriage, women and child trafficking, induction to terrorist activities, neglect of boy-child, addictions of various kinds and other deviated behaviour. A brief search into websites gives us worrying statistics.
Given this bleak situation, the big question is, what can the Church do for them? Church with its two millenniums of experience can easily rise to the challenges; for God meets us in our weakness, frustrations and even in our misery. He gives us the right solution at the right moment. We therefore, only need to pay attention, listen and act. That is the theme of the World Youth Day, “Arise in haste and bear witness.” Consolidated effort, individual renewal and transformation among the youth need to be upheld for a better world. We further need to make intentional effort, consciously understand the needs and situations and be willing to adapt to the changing times. As we do this, there can be challenges such as finance, distribution of resources, diversity in problems and understanding. Through the World Youth Day, Church tries its age old methods such as: relational ministry, peer ministry, professionalizing the youth ministry, suitable to modern needs and ethos, nurturing the much affected environment, sharing of personnel and resources from one part of the world to another.
International gathering such as the World Youth Day exposes thousands of young people to the needs of the Church and the world, connects them to one another, helps to share experiences and work together for the common good. We pray that the gathering enkindles in the youth the love for the Church, love for the world and love for one another. In faith and hope, let us continue to believe in the past quotes of the World Youth Day from our Holy Fathers: “My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation, out of them will come my workers!” and “You are only young once and if you work it right, once is enough.”
