This month Pope Francis is inviting the faithful to join him in praying for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. This topic leads him to speak about young people, and the need to accompany them with their dreams and concerns. At the same time, he talks about a crucial moment in his own life.
Jorge the youth, and today’s youth
“When I was 17 years old,” Pope Francis explains in his video message, produced by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, “I was a student and was working. I had my own plans. I wasn’t thinking at all of being a priest. But one day, I went into the church … and God was there, waiting for me!”
Photos from his youth – at school, in his family, at church – open The Pope Video. Scenes from the daily lives of today’s young people follow.
The Pope affirms that “God still calls young people even today, sometimes in ways we can’t imagine,” and that he does “new things with them.”
This is why it is important to create a listening atmosphere in which they can manifest their concerns, and feel “loved as they are, and for who they are,” an atmosphere in which they can hear and freely respond to the Lord’s call, accompanied by a welcoming community.
In Pope Francis’s words, “it is necessary to walk with them, listen to them … take them to Jesus, always favoring their freedom.”
Pope Francis invites us, therefore, to listen to the Holy Spirit when he “speaks through the concerns young people feel.” That way, it will be possible to welcome God’s call “in ways that better serve the Church and the world today.” And so, he asks us to pray that the “ecclesial community might welcome the desires and doubts of those young people who feel a call to serve Christ’s mission in the priesthood and religious life.”
The challenge of trust
The challenge, then, is that of believing in young people, in their ability to contribute significantly to the Church and to the world. In fact, in the February video, Pope Francis invites us to be hopeful about young people, and to hope primarily in God, “for He calls everyone.”
“Our God is a God who takes the lives and gifts of young people seriously,” states Archbishop José H. Gómez, Archbishop of Los Angeles. “The Church’s mission,” continues the Archbishop of the largest diocese in the United States, who contributed to the production of this video with a team of digital professionals, “is to walk with young people to help them grow in their faith and to work to build this world into the Kingdom that God wants for his people.”
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