Handout from:
Ministry Day 2019 Workshop B22: “Christ is Alive with (and for) our Teens and Young Adults” Cindee Case, MAPS, Director Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Diocese of Youngstown [email protected] https://youngstownoyyam.weebly.com/ Find links to Christus Vivit, the Final Document of the Synod, the Preparatory document, and numerous articles from through the three-year process at: https://youngstownoyyam.weebly.com/synod-on-youth-2018.html The Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry also had a series of blog-posts about the process including findings of our diocesan surveys, find them posted at: https://youngstownoyyam.weebly.com/office-blog/category/synod-on-youth Christus Vivit Contents: Introductory page Chapter 1: What Does the Word of God Have to Say about Young People? Who are some of the young people you recall are mentioned in Scripture? (Exploring the young people Pope Francis highlighted....) Chapter 2: Jesus, Ever Young A Church always on the defensive, which loses her humility and stops listening to others, which leaves no room for questions, loses her youth and turns into a museum. How then will she be able to respond to the dreams of young people? (§ 41) Chapter 3: You are the “NOW” of God we cannot just say that young people are the future of our world. They are its present; even now, they are helping to enrich it. (#64) … Each young person’s heart should thus be considered “holy ground”, a bearer of seeds of divine life (§67) Chapter 4: A Great Message for all Young People The very first truth I would tell each of you is this: “God loves you”. It makes no difference whether you have already heard it or not. I want to remind you of it. God loves you. Never doubt this, whatever may happen to you in life. At every moment, you are infinitely loved. (§112) For him, you have worth; you are not insignificant. You are important to him, for you are the work of his hands. (§115) Christ, out of love, sacrificed himself completely in order to save you. His outstretched arms on the cross are the most telling sign that he is a friend who is willing to stop at nothing (§ 118) Finally, there is a third truth, inseparable from the second: Christ is alive! We need to keep reminding ourselves of this, because we can risk seeing Jesus Christ simply as a fine model from the distant past, as a memory, as someone who saved us two thousand years ago. (§ 124) In these three truths – God loves you; Christ is your Savior; he is alive – we see God the Father and Jesus. Wherever the Father and the Son are, there too is the Holy Spirit. He is the one who quietly opens hearts to receive that message. He keeps alive our hope of salvation, and he will help you grow in joy if you are open to his working. The Holy Spirit fills the heart of the risen Christ and then flows over into your lives. When you receive the Spirit, he draws you ever more deeply into the heart of Christ, so that you can grow in his love, his life and his power. (§130) Chapter 5: Paths of Youth Keep following your hopes and dreams. But be careful about one temptation that can hold us back. It is anxiety. Anxiety can work against us by making us give up whenever we do not see instant results. Our best dreams are only attained through hope, patience and commitment, and not in haste. At the same time, we should not be hesitant, afraid to take chances or make mistakes. Avoid the paralysis of the living dead, who have no life because they are afraid to take risks, to make mistakes or to persevere in their commitments. Even if you make mistakes, you can always get up and start over, for no one has the right to rob you of hope. (§ 142) Friendship is one of life’s gifts and a grace from God. Through our friends, the Lord refines us and leads us to maturity. Faithful friends, who stand at our side in times of difficulty, are also a reflection of the Lord’s love, his gentle and consoling presence in our lives. The experience of friendship teaches us to be open, understanding and caring towards others, to come out of our own comfortable isolation and to share our lives with others. (§ 151) But I would also remind you that you won’t become holy and find fulfilment by copying others. Imitating the Saints does not mean copying their lifestyle and their way of living holiness… You have to discover who you are and develop your own way of being holy (§162) Don’t stand aloof, but immerse yourselves in the reality of life, as Jesus did”. Above all, in one way or another, fight for the common good, serve the poor, be protagonists of the revolution of charity and service, capable of resisting the pathologies of consumerism and superficial individualism. (§174) Wherever we are, we always have an opportunity to share the joy of the Gospel. That is how the Lord goes out to meet everyone. (§ 177) Chapter 6: Young People with Roots If we journey together, young and old, we can be firmly rooted in the present, and from here, revisit the past and look to the future. To revisit the past in order to learn from history and heal old wounds that at times still trouble us. To look to the future in order to nourish our enthusiasm, cause dreams to emerge, awaken prophecies and enable hope to blossom. Together, we can learn from one another, warm hearts, inspire minds with the light of the Gospel, and lend new strength to our hands. (§ 199) Chapter 7: Youth Ministry (reminder, ages 16 – 29 were surveyed, so he means teens and young adults) requires two courses of action: outreach and growth (§209). A mentor should therefore nurture the seeds of faith in young people, without expecting to immediately see the fruits of the work of the Holy Spirit. This role is not and cannot be limited to priests and consecrated life, but the laity should also be empowered to take on such a role. All such mentors should benefit from being well-formed, and engage in ongoing formation. (§ 246) Chapter 8: Vocation The word “vocation” can be understood in a broad sense as a calling from God…that everything in our lives can become a way of responding to the Lord, who has a wonderful plan for us. (§ 248) Chapter 9: Discernment I would remind you of the most important question of all. “So often in life, we waste time asking ourselves: ‘Who am I?’ You can keep asking ‘Who am I?’ for the rest of your lives. But the real question is: ‘For whom am I?’” Of course, you are for God. But he has decided that you should also be for others, and he has given you many qualities, inclinations, gifts, and charisms that are not for you, but to share with those around you. (§ 286) Conclusion: Dear young people, my joyful hope is to see you keep running the race before you, outstripping all those who are slow or fearful. Keep running, “attracted by the fact of Christ, whom we love so much, whom we adore in the Holy Eucharist and acknowledge in the flesh of our suffering brothers and sisters. May the Holy Spirit urge you on as you run this race. The Church needs your momentum, your intuitions, your faith. We need them! And when you arrive at where we have not yet reached, have the patience to wait for us”.( § 299) Learn more about the timeline of the Synod and process towards Christus Vivit at the Dinner and Presentation on November 4th and learn more about the practical implications of the document during the In-Service Day on November 5th. (See flier in your Ministry Day folder or contact the OY&YAM for more. It is also posted on the office Synod on Youth webpage.)
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