Dear young people, Jesus is our hope

By Sr. Sara Kowal

A few weeks ago, I had the gift and privilege to help lead a youth pilgrimage to Italy, which featured the holy places of many young Saints and Blesseds, and then culminated in the Jubilee of Youth with Pope Leo in Rome. Though the pilgrimage highlighted in particular the lives of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Bl. Carlo Acutis – both of whom will be canonized on September 7 – we also visited the homes, Churches, and relics of many other young men and women who lived and died for Christ from an early age: Bl. Chiara Luce Badano (died at age 18), St. Gemma Galgani (died at age 24), St. Francis of Assisi (began Franciscan order in his mid-20’s), St. John Bosco (great apostle for the youth), St. Dominic Savio (died at age 12), and even Venerable Antonietta Meo, who died at just 7 years old!

Many times, as adults, we forget that holiness is possible even at a young age. We tend to water down expectations and expect little of the young people in our care.

When St. John Paul II began World Youth Days, many people close to him and throughout the Church thought they would be an epic failure. They presumed the youth of today had no interest in God, the Church or seeing an old pope. Who would come?

In 1984, at the close of the Holy Year of Redemption, John Paul invited the youth of the world to come to Rome for a Jubilee of Youth. Over 300,000 young people responded to his invitation and joined him in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday; initially organizers anticipated about 60,000 to show up. This gave birth to the idea of World Youth Day and for the next 2 years, John Paul gathered with about 300,00 youth in Rome on Palm Sunday. The first international WYD was held in Buenos Aires in 1987; approximately 1 million attended. The largest WYD occurred in Manila, Philippines in 1995; approximately 5 million people gathered for the closing Mass.

For the Jubilee Year of 2000, WYD came back to Rome, and 2 million youth gathered in the fields of Tor Vergata outside the city to be with the now weak and elderly John Paul II. Just days ago, 25 years later, in the Jubilee Year of Hope, over 1 million youth gathered to celebrate again in Tor Vergata outside of Rome, this time with Pope Leo XIV; the organizers initially predicted that 150,000 might show up for the event.

If you have ever been to a World Youth Day or a Jubilee for Youth, you know they are not easy. It involves hiking miles with all your gear out to a large open area outside the city in the sweltering summer heat (in Madrid in 2011, the temperature was around 113 degrees), along with millions of other people. Long lines for everything, waiting in the hot sun, not-so-clean porta-potties (or anything for that matter), sleeping outside under the stars with a million others, inclement weather, and then hiking miles again to get home – this is what awaits any WYD participant. What else awaits the pilgrim? Lots of joy! Singing, dancing, cheering, shouting. Young people from over 150 countries to meet and to share with. A million people on their knees with the Holy Father in Eucharistic Adoration. An overwhelming sense of the Lord’s presence in his Church. And lots of joy.

I am convinced that World Youth Days, in many ways, have saved the Church. From our group of 100 pilgrims to the Poland WYD in 2016, 13 of them are now living out a vocation to the religious life. How many holy vocations have risen out of an experience at World Youth Day! How many conversions! It is hard to explain what an experience like this does in the heart of those who attend, who see the Church alive, who see other young people on fire for Jesus. The youth realize they are not alone in their faith, that Christ really lives in his Church, and that the Holy Father loves them. They realize that holiness is possible and attainable – even while they are young.

They also realize that holiness is expected of them. When John Paul II began World Youth Days, he did not water down the message of the Gospel for the youth that attended. In fact, he did just the opposite. He reminded them that they were called to holiness, and that the Church depended on them. The Church was not waiting for them to “grow up” and then make a difference. He called them to use their youthful energy to make a difference now, and he believed that they could do it. He told them, “The world you are inheriting is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God’s love. It needs witnesses to love. You, young people are the first evangelizers of your world, tormented today by many challenges and menaces. You above all can do this. No one can replace you. Many people your age do not know Christ, or do not know him well enough. You cannot, therefore, remain silent and indifferent! You must have the courage to speak of Christ. Christ trusts you. Christ needs you. Answer his call with the enthusiasm typical of your age.”

Just a few days ago in Rome, Pope Leo echoed similar words to more than a million youth gathered with him in Tor Vergata: “Dear young people, Jesus is our hope… We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through the gift of self in love. This is why we continually aspire to something “more” that no created reality can give us; we feel a deep and burning thirst that no drink in this world can satisfy. Knowing this, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to satisfy them with cheap imitations!… Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you.”

As we begin this new year, let us not ever forget that the call to holiness is for everyone. Let us not discount the reality that all of us – of all ages – are called to follow Christ with the totality of our being. Let us not water down the message of the Gospel, especially for the young. Only the Lord can satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart. As catechists, parents, and teachers, it is our job to lead people to an encounter with Jesus Christ, because in Him, hope is never disappointed!