Anyone
who follos me... will never age. 2.
Youth is not a matter of years. Being young means believing in the future; means
believing the world can change; it means to struggle with love for justice.
Jesus
of Nazareth revealed in Himself the image of God. A "young" God who
came down from Heaven to play the "game" of life, fighting against all
injustices, knocking down all the walls that evil built to extinguish human
life. Jesus is the One who destroyed the most powerful
barrier, the indestructible one, the barrier of death.
Jesus is the "guarantee" for our future. In Him youth is possible and
will never end!
Youth
is like… a season of freedom
A young
carpenter leaves his village, his house.
He carries a great longing within his heart. For him
the work, the relatives, the friends are not enough! He realizes that he didn't
come into the world to spend his entire life making tables and chairs... There
is no limit for his vision. His eyes can see the invisible!
Youth
is like…a season for the passion for life
He leaves to
fulfill a dream in his heart. It's a dream that he shares with his Father, or
rather it is the Father who had originated that dream in his heart.
The young carpenter' heart burst with that longing for life. It was the Father
who put that passion for life in the heart of his Son. The carpenter remembers
very well that first instant of creation when the Father Himself called the
universe to life! It was an explosion of Life!
How wonderful it was to see the Father smiling with joy! How wonderful it
was to see his Father’s love for all the creatures that gradually came into
existence.
Youth is like…a season of enthusiasm
The young
carpenter's heart bursts with enthusiasm. He feels himself ready for the mission.
He was looking forward this hour from the very instant he was born, and finally
the hour has come! The relatives tried to change his mind, urging him not to go,
to be content with the kind of life he could have had living there with them.
A very meaningless and superficial everyday life.
To the relatives that tried to put him in the "prison" of a
life without ideal, he answered: " ... my thoughts are not your thoughts
and your ways are not my ways,...For the heavens are as high above earth as my
ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts" (Is. 55,8-9)
Youth
is like…a Season of Love
The young
Jesus is powerful with words and works, and the people are fascinated by Him,
especially the young people. They follow Him, they listen to Him, they love Him...
they declare they are ready to die for Him. They forget everything to follow Him.
(Mt. 15,32) It reaches a point when
the young rabbi has no more time for Himself.
His very being, His time, His whole human being is literally “eaten”
by His disciples.
Youth
is like… a season of Non-Conformity
Finally
His relatives are looking for Him. They
want to take charge of Him because they say: “He is out of his mind” (Mk.
3,21), But the truth is that they have concern but for their own interests.
And when they ask for Him and would like to have Him out of Peter’s
house, Jesus looks around Himself, looks at the young people that believe in Him.
They want to share the same dream He has with His Father: to breath life
into the world; to bring life to those more in need because they are poor,
abandoned... He looks at them and answers: "Who are my mother and my
brothers?..., here is my mother and my brothers.
Anyone who does the will of God, that person is My brother and sister and
mother". (cfr. Mk. 3,34 ss)
Youth
is like…a season of Courage
These
witnesses from 2,000 years ago continue to shout to everyone around the world:
We have seen the Life! (1GV. 1,1ss). The
Life that doesn’t age and doesn’t die.
Jesus Christ! Since then
they never ceased to thank Mary the Mother of Jesus.
Blessed are you Mary, because thanks to you the Life was made visible.