BishopTo meet the needs and concerns of young people, the Church has initiated the organization of Youth Congresses at all levels from the world to the local level. Thanks to that, each Youth Congress is an opportunity for young people to meet each other, meet the Church and especially meet Jesus, to be taught, transformed and sent by Him. In that direction, each Youth Congress of the Northern Ecclesiastical Province also aims for the Church, through its pastors and those in charge, to listen to God’s voice through the concerns of young people, mixed with joy, pride and anxiety. From there, they continue to hope and be humble so that the Holy Spirit can work and sanctify the souls of young people. Thanks to that, young people have more opportunities to dialogue and listen to God’s voice, so that their aspirations are fulfilled by the light of the Gospel, helping them to become true and courageous witnesses of God in the heart of the world. Furthermore, the congresses should not only stop at formality, but go into depth to help young people recognize signs and opportunities to advance their life of faith.
1. World Youth Congress – A Sign
God continues to work the signs of the times on humanity and in the world, especially on the Church and in young people, who are the most visible and present signs of the Kingdom of God. The World Youth Day is perhaps one of the ways in which God continues to work these signs. Through it, humanity, especially young people, we recognize a living God in the heart of the Church and in the world, a God who alone can satisfy all human desires.
a. Signs of miracles
Miracles still happen every day to those who believe. Through the lens of faith, the World Youth Congress is also a wonderful miracle that God, through the Church, is performing on young people, before the eyes of many people, whether they believe or not. Miracles that only God can perform. Indeed, looking at the congresses, who but God Himself can gather young people around Christ. No doctrine or ideology, no matter how good and attractive, can gather so many young people to God like that. The congresses with their elaborate organization from quantity to quality, from form to depth revolving around a young person named Jesus have made many people exclaim ” amazing” – what a miracle in today’s world…
b. Sign of communion
If Synod is walking together on a path, then perhaps the World Youth Day is one of the clearest signs of the Church’s walking together, especially of young people. There, tens of thousands of young people walked together on a path named Jesus, to share their joys, sorrows, fears, challenges and even their dreams with God and with each other.
It is also here that each young person has the opportunity to actively practice the three dimensions of communion: they will actively participate together in all the activities of the congress, from the playtime, songs, gestures, activities, conversations, sharing, meetings to the culmination of the Holy Mass, where everyone can participate at the holy table; they will join together in each song, in the sacred Eucharistic Adoration, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and especially in the Holy Mass, where they are fully united with Christ in the Holy Eucharist; it is also here that they will demonstrate communion when carrying out their mission of listening together, sharing their faith and bearing witness to their faith…
How can there be a successful congress without the cooperation of all components, from the pastors, the organizing committee to the main characters, the young people, when they join hands in each of their own tasks and roles to create a festival where the image of Christ and the Church shines. Thanks to that, the congress emerges before the eyes of people today an image of the Church in cooperation in love and unity in a concrete and vivid way among all components of the Church.
c. Sign of love
The Youth Congress, where communion is made concrete, is also where young people express their love for Christ and the Church. Without love, sacrificing time, health and even personal projects to come and join together in the congress would be unthinkable, especially for those who are at an age where they only want to do what they like and do not want to depend on anyone in terms of space or time. But it is the love of Christ that compels, transforms and attracts young people to Him. Thanks to that love, all the congresses have shown that the main motivation for everyone to gather here is because of the love of Christ and the Church, as well as to express the concerns and love of young people with the concerns and love for specific people, whom the Church wants to direct young people to serve and give, especially in a world of technology and “virtualization” of young people, making young people forget the most tangible and vividly touching realities around them…
2. Youth Congress – Opportunities
Life is woven with opportunities and life itself is an opportunity to live, to love and be loved, to give, to forgive, to be tolerant… and especially to… do and be human. There are opportunities that come only once, but there are also opportunities that come and go, but then come again, and if we do not know how to take advantage of them, the opportunities will pass forever in regret. Opportunities always come to us every day in ourselves, in others, in the natural universe, especially in God, who is the master and always gives opportunities because of Love. Therefore, if life no longer has opportunities and people no longer create opportunities, everything will surely disappear. [1] In that direction, the World Youth Congress opens up countless opportunities for young people to grow and bear fruit in the light of the Gospel.
a. Opportunities for pastors and those in charge
The mission of pastors and those responsible for the formation and guidance of young people has always been one of the primary missions of the Church, but it is also a mission that is full of challenges and difficulties in many aspects. However, it is precisely at the Youth Congresses that opportunities are opened for friendly dialogue between all members, especially between pastors and young people. Thanks to this, pastors and those responsible can somehow renew themselves, reliving the age they have experienced, to once again learn to live like young people, eat like young people, listen like young people, speak like and with young people in the language of young people, as well as listen to the concerns of young people. Thanks to this, the Church knows what young people need, what they fear and what they desire, so that it can respond and resolve them in the spirit of God and the Church. This is also an opportunity for the Church to humbly recognize the signs of the times, to dare to bend down and walk with the young, to listen to them and sympathize with them. From there, always build swimming pools for them, instead of building swamps [2] , build bridges instead of erecting walls, because only the young can continue and complete the unfulfilled dreams of past generations…
b. Meet
Humans are creatures of encounter and always have a need to encounter: to encounter God, to encounter the Church and to encounter one another. The World Youth Day is certainly an opportunity to open up opportunities for people, especially young people, opportunities that only God can bring and fill the restless hearts of young people. Here, young people meet God, especially young Jesus, whom they love, adore and want to follow. There, they meet the Church, where they belong, to be able to listen and touch the Body of Christ. Thanks to that, young people understand the love and restlessness, the faith and hope that the Church has for them, to foster their love for the Church in Christ, realities that sometimes or many times they have forgotten. It is also there that young people meet each other, living and concrete people, with the same faith, the same baptism, and the same belief in Christ and the Church… And it is also here that they meet themselves to recognize themselves, because many times the hustle and bustle makes them lose awareness of their own existence. Thanks to that, young people have the opportunity to renew their faith, to renew relationships that in one way or another have been broken, but are now healed and bear fruit…
c. Cultivating faith
Life, especially secular movements, sometimes shakes the faith of young people, causing them to lose direction, especially when they do not have a solid foundation. Here, through the congress, through meeting, sharing, listening, and being listened to, their faith is somewhat nurtured and strengthened in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. Thanks to that, the faith of young people is strengthened, so that they have the necessary provisions and strength, enough to resist the trends of the world and the whirlwind of life, especially in an era that the late Pope Benedict called a crisis of faith, an era where “belief” is a difficult choice in today’s world [3] .
c. Be still to listen
The fast-paced life and the many noises of life, especially in the industrial age, cause young people to be distracted and disoriented or to lose their focus. Youth congresses, especially the Holy Mass, are convenient and valuable opportunities to calm their souls, to escape the noise of the world and people. Thanks to that, it is here that young people have the opportunity to listen to God’s voice, the gentle and pure sound that has the power to transform, which sometimes or many times you forget and fall into a state of confusion and loss in life. This is also a place for you to listen and meet intimately with God through sharing sessions, adoration hours, private prayer hours before the Eucharistic Jesus, and especially at the Holy Mass, to discern and find God’s will in your life and be ready to take the step. It is also here that young people also have the opportunity to be listened to when sharing their concerns in seminars or meetings with pastors, or you yourself listen and are listened to by each other. Thanks to that, the world where young people are opened up to courageously go into the world as messengers of love and peace imbued with Gospel values in the very state of life and environment in which each young person has been, is and will become…
d. Get out of your comfort zone
As the world and people increasingly reach the peak of development, the human world seems to become safer and more peaceful. However, the reality of the world and people today is sad when it is still full of insecurity, especially when people continue to spread fear, suffering and death to each other: war, hatred, violence, conflict, division… All of these things directly affect people, especially young people, when their future is still ahead. Those insecurities make young people sometimes build fortresses for themselves and then close themselves and their humanity in the shells of safe zones, so that there they become selfish and unaware of the world and other people, especially in the virtual world of social networks. Although we know that no one is not afraid of anything and no one is afraid of everything [4] , many young people are not afraid of scary things, but are afraid of things that are not scary and should not be feared, so they shrink and do not dare to step out of themselves and go into the world. The Youth Congress as well as the movements of the Church are always the words of God himself inviting you to “not be afraid” because “fear takes away from us the desire and ability to meet others” [5] . On the contrary, step out of your cramped and virtual world, to enter the real world, build real relationships and let the Word of God permeate and grow among people about today’s world through human means and achievements, in which you contribute your own talents… This is also an opportunity for young people to have the opportunity to practice slowing down, and have the courage to let go of what is involved and unnecessary for their mission and faith…
e. In person, not online
The development of technology seems to somehow affect and threaten the direct contact between people, especially the young, who adapt very quickly, but sometimes too hastily with technology and the virtual world. Then, with their smartphones, they sometimes forget all the realities around them, including their parents or loved ones, especially being overwhelmed by the mentality and wave of indifference in the virtual world. The World Youth Congress is where you can meet people directly, not online. Thanks to that, you have the opportunity to step out of the virtual world and leave your smartphones as well as put aside many plans or passions to meet God, to meet each other. From there, they feel the true love that their parents and those in charge have for them and want them to also give that true love directly in life, not online or offline, where it is easy to deceive and lose the sensitivity and true emotions of people…
And there are many more opportunities that Christ himself through the Church continues to open up, especially at Youth Congresses, to invite young people to take advantage of them to become salt and light of God in today’s world…
In short, the legacies, values, and concrete fruits that are born, along with the signs and opportunities that each Congress brings, are always higher and never make the hard work, sweat, and tears of everyone in vain. Because with the conviction in a living Christ, the Church always believes that God always has a way to nourish, heal, transform young souls, and especially to fill and satisfy the endless desires that the world and people cannot fill… Although the world changes, surely the youth are always the heart of the world, and of the Church. So that God, through the Church, continues to be concerned and sow hope in young souls, and gives them the most important place in her heart…
That Nguyen