The Resurrected Generation

The Easter tide is long gone and the Paschal candle no longer shines at the Altar. The latter is only left for the Baptismal Rite. As a Pilgrim Church, we have the weakly Easter celebration that always remind us of the mystery of Christ’s resurrection, a historical fact that forms the fundamental basis of our faith in the Son of God.
 

The Sunday Eucharistic celebrations, enable us enact and make present again the presence of the risen Christ for which we live as a resurrected generation.

 

As youths, how do we live this mystery of resurrection?

 

Well, the Catholic Church teaches on the sole purpose of God creating humanity. Human being was created in the image and likeness of God to know him, love him, and serve him and to enjoy and live happily with him in eternity. Through these sacred teachings of the Magisterium, we come to the fulfillment of our mission of living as a resurrected generation in all aspects of life here on earth.

 

But there are numerous stumbling blocks to this noble duty of witnessing to the resurrected Christ amongst the youths in the contemporary society. Most of which are matters of morality such as unhealthy relationships with the opposite sexes, premature marriages which may lead to domestic unrest and early pregnancies, school dropouts, drug abuse, just to mention but a few. These calamities build up a crisis within the victim’s life to the point of losing hope in life.

 

Many of the youths do not let the nature take its course efficiently; rather they alter it and become slaves to nature. Cases have been reported of some young adults dropping out of school and not only engaging in immoralities but also settling down for premature marriage whose consequences have led to non-witnessing as resurrected generation.

All these may come our way as youths today, but should in a way strengthen our faith in the resurrected Christ; hence taking up the responsibility of living up to the tenets of this mystery as good Christians within permanent formation as stipulated in the Church’s doctrines.

Ever thought of a church setup devoid of the youths?

 This must be so boring and extinguishing entity ever on earth. Even Christ, in His mission, had them in mind let alone Himself being a youth.

Being the future of the Church, God forms in them a new society; therefore, they should be given the chance to participate fully in the Church’s activities right from the liturgy to extra liturgical acts such as sports, environmental cleanup incoming generating activities, and many more as per the needs of the Parish. This will help majority of the youths to not only lead a reflective lifestyle and hence understand the deep call to conversion, but also to feel the sense of belonging to and within the church.

 

The Five Lessons from JPII

A facebooker johnpaul junior writes on his wall 24hours before the beatification ceremony of the late Pope John Paul II, ‘pope JPII you inspired my life. Although distance kept us a part; I always felt you close to me. I am convinced heaven is your home. Always be an intercessor of my prayers to God. Amen.’ Lost for words, I didn’t know where exactly to classify this wall status; as a prayer, witness, inspiration, confession or what!

In a group of four, we witnessed indirectly from the CatholicHerald multimedia clip the coffin of the late pope JPII being removed from its resting place and placed in front of the tomb of St. Peter his predecessor, a head of the beatification ceremony a day before. All of us, four young men, remained still silent! Indeed it was a mystery unveiling itself right before our naked eyes. In my mind, like those of my colleague viewers, ran various events of this pope’s earthly life and even his present heavenly life.

And the D- Day came. The day many people waited so much even before the first burial of JPII five years ago, remember the cries “santo subito”? The first day of the fifth month of this year marked a special moment in the history of the Catholic Church. Every catholic Christian would have wished to be in Rome at St. Peter’s Square in communion with Pope Benedict XVI for this Eucharistic celebration which saw pope JPII being raised to the second rank on the road to sainthood.

The Church also celebrated the second Sunday of Easter and remembered silently St Joseph the worker, patron saint of all the workers.

But the beatification of JPII coloured the day’s liturgy. The Catholic Church under the pontificate of Benedict XVI gave life to one of its greatest dogma, that of life after physical death. That there are people of good morals and outstanding Christian life who after their earthly journey become saints is reel phenomenon today. People of God who lived among us, intermingled with us in times of joy and sorrows. People whom we saw by our eyes, heard by our ears and touched by our hands… Hence, Mr. George Weigel, the biographer of Bl. JPII shouldn’t worry at all, for the title and status of blessedness which the Church accorded JPII won’t make him a more remote figure. Rather will continue to inspire many lives like that of the facebooker johnpaul junior.

As we celebrate the beatification of one of us, I asked myself one simple question: what can a youth like me learn from Bl. JPII?

1. Interested in the people and spreading the Gospel of Christ to all, JPII watched the youth apostolate mature. He gave a permanent Vatican recognition of the world Youth Day after having gathered a multitude of young Christians in Rome back in 1985. This love for the young people and concern for their faith and morals should be a life’s lesson for the young people to continue in the spirit of their founder and patron in this year’s WYD celebrations to be held in Madrid later this year.

2. This pope defended and promoted life by all means. By his way of life and teachings, he hailed the dignity and sanctity of human life. He writes in his encyclical letter ‘Evangelium Vitae' on the value of human life that human being is called to fullness of life that goes beyond his or her existence here on earth. Life as a vocation is sacred. It is a special participation in the life of God, says the late pope. As youths we should also have courage to love life, to defend life, and to promote life by all means. We can decide not to engage in drugs, abortions, wars, crimes, murders, suicides, physical tortures as in tattooing, genocides, euthanasia, perpetration of violent etc.

3. JPII taught us how to pray. He taught us how to have a daily pause for prayers which he admitted as not being the only solution to every problem; rather a special spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. Most importantly, he taught us how to pray with our mother Mary in the rosary. In his apostolic letter, “Rosarium Virginis Mariae”, he made it easy for the simple minds of the youths to grasp how to contemplate Christ face with Mary, live in Christ with Mary and learn His mysteries with Mary. In this way, he brought back the taste of prayer in the lives of the young people. He asked the youths to “confidently take up the rosary once again. Rediscover the rosary in the light of the scriptures, in harmony with the liturgy and in the context of your daily lives”.

4. All the youths have ambitions in life. They are people with full-blast hope in their life. Their ambitions run from finishing school with better grades, to get a well paying job and to raise a God fearing family. Pope JPII in addressing the families also had a share for the youths. He communicated his plight for the young people to engage themselves in the marriage life of the family. He taught that love is the ultimate weapon to living faithfully the reality of communion in the family. He challenged the young couples to engage themselves fully in marriage …yaani kuacha mpango ya kati so that we as youth to open the new horizons with the church helping us discover the beauty and greatness of the vocation to love and serve. He continuously called upon young people to respond to the vocation which the Lord calls them.

5. Youth can be a moment full of stress! One may be torn in discerning his or her own destiny in life. We see many youths out of school due to lack of school fees, some drop from school and get lost in drugs, others lack work after successfully finishing their studies and yet a big number fall ill out of HIV infections. All these are part of human sufferings which the late pope addresses in his apostolic letter, “Salvici Doloris” on the Christian meaning of human sufferings. The pope tells us that being part our mystery as persons, human suffering should be positively looked at, for it also help us discover ourselves, our dignity and mission that God calls us to. He endured his bodily pains until the hour of his departure to heaven. The pope asks us who are suffering to become a source of strength for the Church and humanity.

(this article was published in the Seed Magazine, the June issue Vol. 23 Issue 237)