Hope

Isabella will turn four in two weeks. We went for our walk this morning, and per our usual routine, we stopped at the neighborhood park. I watched my little girl and the other preschoolers playing; already they have a healthy self-interest and a certain rebelliousness, but otherwise they are still pretty innocent at that age. I wondered what kind of people they would grow up to be. We as parents have a sacred duty to teach our children right from wrong and to ensure their religious education. How can our children have faith if they do not see it in their families? While in the past few weeks I have been remembering my own past, I have recognized the same doubts and struggles that I faced reflected in the youth of today’s world.

One young woman has been questioning and seeking. She cries out: “…lately I've been having serious doubts about Christianity and religion…I felt strongly on my heart to try out the Catholic Church. I have been attending the Catholic Church down the road from where I live for only about four weeks. It is the most holy and beautiful place I have ever been. But I'm confused. The Catholics say they are Christ's true Church. But every denomination, religion, etc, are saying the same thing. I've taken this before the Lord many times. I've come to the conclusion that Christ alone is the Truth, and I follow after Him, and seek Him desperately. I end up confused and doubting, sometimes (rarely) even His existence, which I hate to admit. I love Him completely, yet I doubt when He seems out of reach. How do you know? How can you possibly know what is right? It's so frustrating that you cannot know! Where are answers when you seek them with all your heart?”

The people she turned to gave her some very good answers, but in her teenage angst and impatience, after only a few days, she left…

Another young man has been struggling with the conflict between his desire to be a faithful disciple of Jesus and the desires of his own weakness in an unbelieving world. Now he is coming to grips with the consequences of his choices – he has gotten his girlfriend pregnant. He wants to do the right thing, and in this there is hope. I say to him that my own life is a testament that God can bring good out of any situation.

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
--Romans 8: 28

I am always blown away when I see young people with faith, especially when I consider my own confusion as a young man. It was bad enough thirty years ago, but now the materialism and immorality is so much more blatant. Look at our entertainment. When I was growing up, we watched The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie; now we have shows like Fear Factor, Sex in the City and Jerry Springer. We’ve gone from shows that upheld family, hard work and moral living to shows that glorify promiscuity and violence; the game shows and talk shows seek to strip all dignity from the human person, and our society calls this entertainment. It’s simply amazing that any youth can have faith in today’s world.

Last month I was asked to be part of a prayer team for the monthly meeting of the youth ministry at Arizona State University. It was an incredible evening which included great music by Matt Maher, and concluded with a time of praise and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. It filled my heart with joy to see several hundred college students on their knees before the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Here is the hope for our future.

In CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE, by Pope John Paul II, he states that youth is “…a time given by Providence to every person and given to him as a responsibility. During that time he searches, like the young man in the Gospel, for answers to basic questions; he searches not only for the meaning of life but also for a concrete way to go about living his life…If at every stage of his life man desires to be his own person, to find love, during his youth he desires it even more strongly…After all, young people are always searching for the beauty in love. They want their love to be beautiful. If they give in to weakness, following models of behavior that can rightly be considered a “scandal in the contemporary world”…in the depths of their hearts they still desire a beautiful and pure love…Ultimately, they know that only God can give them this love.”

We had several young engaged couples with us on retreat last weekend. Some of us shared our stories with these young people, and we spoke of the choices that each of us makes every day – whether to follow Jesus or to go our own way – and of the consequences of our choices, for ourselves and for others. My friend Mike told them that much of what he’s seen in the world in the last few years is discouraging, but to see them there together seeking to follow Jesus gives us hope. They are on the right path, and my prayer for them is that they continue on the right path. I encouraged them to put God in the first place in their families, to make prayer a priority in their families, to pray together every day as a family. This is the hope for our world – a generation turning to Jesus.

On October 22, 1978, at his inauguration, Pope John Paul II said to the young people gathered in St. Peter’s square, “You are the hope of the Church and of the world. You are my hope.”

John Paul the Great, pray for us!