The Gozitan University Students in Malta. Challenges and Suggestions for the Youth Ministry

An extract from the book “The Gozitan University Students in Malta.  Challenges and Suggestions for the Youth Ministry”

 

Following the presentation of my thesis for the degree Licenzia in Pastorale Giovanile at the Pontifical Salesian University, I have published my work into a book so as to be accessible to the people interested in this subject.  In this book I tried to explore the current situation of the Gozitan university students, and how it can be improved through a number of suggestions.

  Since Gozo does not have its own University, Gozitan students who wish to continue studying for a degree, are forced to leave their home and migrate to Malta, at least for the weekdays.  This has left the Gozitan youth ministry without youth, that is, without a scope.

Moreover, an unfortunate aspect is that many of these university students, that is, youth who are intellectually well-formed, are abandoning every contact they have with their parish communities back in Gozo.  Many times, due to their lack of rooted faith, they also abandon their spiritual life.  This is the nightmare that youth ministry should try to avoid by putting into practice its very aim: to help youth experience Jesus in their life and urge Him to stay with them forever, just like the disciples of Emmaus.

The challenges faced by the Gozitan youth ministry are rooted into other problems in which youth around the world find themselves.  During these past years, the ‘educational emergency’ issue has been vastly discussed. It results from the helpless voices of those who yearn to be accompanied, never to be left alone – our adolescents, our youth.  At least a positive aspect from this reality is that the discussion on education is gaining more importance and the Catholic Church is part of this change.

Undoubtedly, these discussions on the ‘educational emergency’ will lead us to a rethinking of the elements of youth ministry and planning its future, keeping in mind the current dynamic youth situation.  Although education in the secular world is rarely directly connected to the positive values of the Gospel, youth ministry does not exist without ‘educating through evangelization’.  Therefore, together with some theological principles and a particular biblical image as a point of reference, I have listed down a few criteria so as to plan an itinerary for the Gozitan University students.

 (From pages 101 to 131 of the book, The Gozitan University Students in Malta)

2. A BIBLICAL IMAGE AS A POINT OF REFERENCE: JESUS ACCOMPANYING THE DISCIPLES OF EMMAUS

As I have already pointed out in the introduction, a biblical image that I would like to use to help me reflect, determine and propose an itinerary for Gozitan university students, is the post-Easter passage found in the Gospel of Luke, also known as the passage of the disciples of Emmaus.  It is a great passage that remains special for this pastoral care because it shows a particular gradual method of accompaniment which, at the end, opens the heart to the mystery of God’s love.

2.1. Introduction

Many artists, poets and authors have been inspired by this biblical image and tried to analyse, contemplate and imagine this episode while bringing it to life with a few strokes of the brush, or a couple of phrases put together.  Across the centuries this story has been loved and revered, and there is considerable evidence of its continuing power in a wide variety of cultural contexts. 

It is a story of great beauty and power in which the risen Christ reveals himself to two despairing disciples who are in the process of escaping from the city of Jerusalem which stole their faith and hope.  The despair and utter hopelessness of the two disciples are evident both in their body language and their conversations.  These symptoms are characteristics of people who are deeply depressed and traumatized by suffering.  In this context, the risen Christ reveals himself little by little.  He meets the despairing and hopeless couple where they are, and simply chooses to walk beside them.  He creates space where his companions can unburden their hearts and start a ‘healing process’: the return to the city of Jerusalem.  

Many people around the world at this particular time in history find themselves walking a pathway that brings them very close to the lonely two disciples.  Unfortunately, they are walking on the road to Emmaus, withdrawing from Jerusalem in despair, with the words ‘we had hoped’ on their lips.  Like the two disciples, maybe they have met others who have stated that Jesus Christ is risen, is alive, but were not convinced because they wanted to ‘see’.  This is why for some people who are exhausted and who live on the brink of the abyss of meaninglessness choose to walk to Emmaus which is a “route out of madness, a retreat from a reality that has literally become unbearable, and the beginning of a quest for a way of coping with life in the absence of the old, familiar faith.” 

A curious fact, debated by many biblical scholars, is the identity of the two disciples.  The Lukan story identifies one of them as Cleopas but the other is unknown.  Some interpret this absence as an affirmation that the person was not important, and others suggest that it was done on purpose to represent ‘everyman’.  Supporting the second interpretation, this disciple reminds us that anyone can be on this road to Emmaus, and that like Jesus, youth ministers and all pastoral carers should be open to accompany them, especially those youth who feel alienated, disappointed and confused, confessing with a bitter taste: ‘we had hoped’.  This hopelessness is present today in a western Christianity that is finding itself in crisis. It is therefore a situation that should not be difficult for us to empathize with.

 

2.2. The narrative: Two Companions and an Unknown Stranger

Out of nowhere comes this unknown stranger and puts himself next to them, walking with their pace and showing them that he was listening and ready to take part in their conversation.  He is uninvited and therefore his question is affronted with a dual response, part physical, part verbal, which makes it also clear that ‘the stranger’s intervention was seen as an unwelcome intrusion into private grief.’  “They stood still” is the physical reaction for the question of the intruder which was later accompanied by the verbal reaction “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  In this first part of the ‘dialogue’ we can sense a deep suspicion, confusion and fear in the disciples’ reactions.  However the stranger’s body language (listening and walking next to them) did not create a barrier, but created bridges that had to be yet crossed.

The next question: “what things?” is responded in a different way and we can witness a “veritable flood of words as their pent-up grief is suddenly poured out in a confession of utter hopelessness.”  Luke shows us a profound depth of despair in the disciple’s hearts by the repeated use of past tenses (the disciples ‘had hoped’) and negatives (‘did not find his body’; him they ‘did not see’).  They explain their disbelief on how Jesus’ story unfolded. They had not thought it would end the way it did. For them, Jesus meant power, honour and glory but death had put everything into doubt.  To make things worse, his death, caused by the crucifixion – a formal and judicial act for the worst people – was also a threat for their lives because they were associated with a major criminal who had just been executed.

When the stranger had listened to their wounds, he showed them their two crucial mistakes.  The first is that the “highly selective, culture-bound manner in which they had interpreted the prophetic writings resulted in a radical distortion of the hope contained within the Bible.” In fact their definition of words like ‘Messiah’ and ‘redemption’ were understood from only one point of view which focused on power, honour and glory of the messianic age.  The result is that they had come to believe that following Jesus to Jerusalem was a huge mistake that could only be cancelled by returning to Emmaus and forgetting their past hopes.  

This leads us to the second mistake that the stranger tried to make them aware of: they had dismissed “the testimony of certain witnesses whose words were capable of transforming the situation.”  The testimonies of the ‘women’ and their ‘companions’ was not enough to open their eyes.  They even let the prejudice against women (sometimes also treated as marginalized people in the Hebrew culture when it comes to knowledge and decisions) to influence their decisions and be double ‘foolish’ because they had not only misread the Scriptures, but they had failed to identify and imitate the radical example of social transformation displayed before their own eyes in the life of Jesus:  

That example should have convinced them not simply that the voices of the marginal people matter, but that truth is more likely to be understood and expressed by those who are despised and feared in the corridors of privilege power.

They misinterpreted everything: the scriptures, the testimonies, and also the stranger.  They had assisted in Christ’s painful death and now they were the authors of this second death, eliminating him from their lives.  Yet he was there, present in their most difficult moments, and it could have been the most intimate moment they could ever experience with him.

Then comes the decisive moment: “As they approached their destination, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther”.  What could have been an opportunity for the two disciples to get rid of this disrespectful intruder, by leaving him continue his own journey, became an opportunity of affirming the new hope that was building up in their hearts, even though it was ‘night’.  The absorbing conversation that took place during the journey to Emmaus transformed their attitude to an extent that they now found the prospect of his departure intolerable.  In fact, the invitation “stay with us” is actually a decision for change which involves an intellectual and spiritual openness that has the potential to result into a truly revolutionary transformation.  Kierkegaard names this experience as “the moment of longing” and says that it “is given as a gift, but it may be spurned and then lost.”  Christ could have forced them to believe in him through some extraordinary way, but instead he chose to respect their freedom, offering them opportunity for the radical reorientation of their lives and the recovery of hope.  

Then when the time was right, the guest became the host; those offering hospitality find themselves on the receiving end of the gift of grace; Christ reveals himself in a way they can recognize him.  It seems as if their lives, to this point shot in black and white, are suddenly flooded in colour; as if a 2D picture embraced real life.  This explains ‘the burning hearts’ compared with and contrasted to the other expression, ‘slow of hearts’.  Thus the return to the city is not just a return to who they were before, but it is a journey that has as its aim the annunciation of the Good News: Jesus Christ is risen.  They are now called to become ‘apostles’ and witnesses of the risen Lord and are now capable of helping the other disciples who, like them, were escaping in despair from the ‘madness of the city’ to the ‘escapism of Emmaus’.  

 

3. CRITERIA TO PLAN AN ITINERARY FOR GOZITAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The biblical image put into reflection above, is a starting point to many other reflections and in the construction of a specific plan for Gozitan university students.  In this biblical image I have underlined six important steps ‘walked’ by Jesus and the two disciples which transformed the mood of ‘the two’ from despair to a new hope in ‘the risen’: the proximity, the respect of freedom through listening and dialogue, the explicit announcement of the Gospel, the accompaniment in the faith journey in a gradual process; the encounter with the person of Jesus Christ and the apostolical co-responsibility through the ‘call’.   

 

3.1. Proximity: Walking with the Youth

“Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow; don’t walk behind me, I may not lead; walk beside me, and just be my friend.”  This phrase, which bears the name of the French philosopher Albert Camus, can also be shared by most youth.  

Walking with youth and being near them is the first step inspired by the Emmaus story.  Some find it a very simple task which includes being passive and active at the same time; others think it is only a waste of time.  Although both these attitudes can be true, the ‘staying and walking’ with youth is gaining a different meaning nowadays.  Youth are finding themselves abandoned by their parents and adults, who at times enter into competition with them, instead of helping them. Communication between generations is sometimes rendered to jealousy on the part of adults and hatred and fear on the part of youth.  These adults do not love young people as human beings but love youth as a desired phase in life; they are in fact called ‘adultescents’.  This phenomenon has been present for quite a while now.  

A survey carried out more than 15 years ago defined youth as orphans living with their parents.  This brings me to the following questions:  if the parents are alive and are physically present near their young ones, how come it seems that they were not present?  Why are parents physically present only as a material resource and not necessarily as an affective (loving) presence as well?  This applies also to all youth ministers and educators: Is youth ministry limited only to providing and creating activities, building groups and projects and promoting other pastoral actions without accompanying youth, walking at their pace and listening to their hearts?

The proximity asked here indicates the two founding theological principles mentioned before: incarnation and donation.  These two principles are applied when the ministry consists in the proximity, the sharing and the full solidarity with youth.  In fact, for Don Bosco, the constant and loving presence of the educator is a platform for every pastoral care.  As already stated before, youth were not touched and moved mainly by his talks, but by his presence.  His aim was always to live in the midst of his youth.

This kind of proximity, which follows the example of the incarnation of the Son of God, is absolutely necessary.  As a consequence, it eliminates every distance of security.  Therefore it needs to be supported by a journey of ascetic which helps every educator to mature towards a perfect dedication, because “a proximity without chastity – of the heart, of the mind and of the body – might be very dangerous in the youth ministry context.”  Walking side by side with youth is not enough if the educators are not well formed. Chastity is a decisive virtue which has to be cultivated through maturity and an affective equilibrium to help educators see God in each and every youth.  Failure in this virtue will increase the wounds in a Church which is still trying to heal (cases of abuse).

Due to the wounds caused by irresponsible ‘educators’, an attention, or maybe fear, is causing some of today’s educators to avoid proximity and enforce all kinds of precautions, turning pastoral care into a prevention game.  Unfortunately this ‘prevention method’ is supporting another trend, also applied by ecclesial people, which encourages educators to distance themselves on the physical level as well as on the spiritual level from youth: a certain style of traditionalism and clericalism which consists of persons who do not want to dirty their hands with the ‘flock of sheep’, and propose a certain distance between the Church and youth.  These attitudes are contrary to the two founding theological principles discussed above and to what many times Pope Francis asks of priests: “This I ask you: be shepherds, with the “odour of the sheep”, make it real, as shepherds among your flock, fishers of men.”

On the other hand, like the two disciples of Emmaus, youth can see educators as intruders who enter a private and personal place where they are not welcome.  Some even try to vanish from the places where adults are present, for example during the ‘day’, and use the ‘night’ to live, avoiding contact with any kind of educator.  However the same biblical image helps us understand that with the grace of God and the educators’ characteristics, for example sympathy, youth will at least allow educators to walk on the same path.  Many saints, especially those who worked with youth, possessed sympathy.  It came from their vocation of staying close to youth and having immediate contact, being empathetic in every situation, feeling with them, agreeing with them and sharing their ideas.  They are those who make you feel at ease when you are next to them because you feel loved and accepted for who you are.

Pastoral action towards youth starts, therefore, by understanding who the present youth walking besides them in their own world are.  Educators have to be intelligent enough to study their world and identify their places and their interests.  Like the Good Shepherd, the educator has to go and look for the lost sheep because calling it from the barn will not bring it home.  The places are many, and have already been pointed out before.  Of import is that the educator will be able to enter these places without changing his identity as an educator, by continuing an observation of virtues, and by putting to practice the two founding theological principles. 

 

3.2. Respect for Freedom: Listening and Communicating through Dialogue

When travelling on a train or bus we can get the impression that communication nowadays is so present that it is difficult to avoid it.  Transport, internet, cell-phones, advertising, radio and TV, books and newspapers: these are all ways of communicating which can also be found in one place at the same time.  But the fundamental question is: has this type of communication replaced dialogues between human beings?  In the past, we used to fill our squares with benches in the shade of trees so that people could stay there and exchange daily news.  Nowadays it seems that we have to equip our squares with ‘solar boxes’ where people can charge their smartphones and tablets to read their own news without asking or interacting with anyone.  

This lack of dialogue can be attributed to fear: fear of being deceived; fear of opening oneself to another; fear of being vulnerable.  As it was already affirmed above, this proves that the presence of fear is an impediment for freedom; fear and freedom cannot co-exist.  Fear is ruining the future of humanity.  And if, as the Second Vatican Council explains, “the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping”, how can this happen without dialogue?  

The Lucan passage does not mention what the disciples were carrying or wearing, but it surely shows us that they were full of fear.  This is why Jesus’ first step was to walk with them at their pace, that is, to ease their disturbed hearts and let them taste freedom once again.  Thus, the next step is ‘listening and communicating through dialogue’.

The disciples’ experience is also the position in which at times youth find themselves.  On the other hand, parents and educators face a great challenge to communicate with youth, because their wavelengths rarely meet.  The result is that sometimes youth ministry offers answers to questions that are no longer interesting.  Thus educators are finding themselves outdated and in distress because they do not know how to communicate the ‘burning fire’ which is in their heart. 

At times, youth ministry enslaves itself by using only modern means of communication without interaction or dialogue.  Posters, video-clips, e-mails, Facebook pages are in a way ruining opportunities for dialogue when they are the only means of invitation or transmission of a particular message to youth.  Interpersonal relations are important today for every person as they were before in the past.  Romano Guardini supports this idea by stating that “only life gives life” and that this ‘burning fire’ can be transmitted mainly between persons.  How many funds and energy do we spend today on transmitting a message through all kinds of communication methods but then we fail to spread the message through human interaction, that is, simple dialogue?  Lack of dialogue can lead to risks that some messages will be misinterpreted or misjudged.  Therefore instead of ‘good news’ the message becomes a trigger to a wave of criticism and refute.  

On the other hand, a dialogue which involves an interpersonal relation between two persons who listen and speak their heart to each other, shows respect and encourages freedom to co-exist with the possibility of disagreements due to different points of view.  Dialogue can also free a person from his own misinterpretations and fears, and can make him feel respected for what he believes.  It can also lead us to discover the truth gradually.  Again, returning to the biblical image, Jesus could have uncovered himself and explained the whole mystery of his resurrection in just a second. Rather, he chose to support the disciples by allowing them to walk their own way towards the ‘discovery’ through simple dialogue.

Interpersonal relations require time.  In other words, when an educator dialogues with a youth, he is not only transmitting a message which can be developed and discussed, but he is also giving his time, his life.  In a society where ‘time is money’, and where time is only used to acquire something for oneself, for example ‘Timebanking’, youth are overwhelmed when adults share with them the ‘gift of time’.  The difference between ‘timebanking’ and the ‘gift of time’ is that the former is a personal investment, whereas the latter is a gift, in its true definition.  The world has filled a youth’s heart with many things but drained it from affection, accompaniment, and real mature models to show them how to ‘fully live’.  Therefore a youth’s positive reaction to the ‘gift of time’ is caused by a thirst for being listened to, especially by adults.  Sometimes, the bad behaviour of youth expressed in crimes, aggressiveness, depression, and many other ways, is just a cry for attention, a desire to feel considered by adults, a way of reconciliation with the negative feelings of meaninglessness. 

On the other hand, this affirms why educators will never be truly educators if they are always in a hurry and never ready to listen and accompany patiently the youth on his journey.  Failure in education also takes place when a dialogue is exchanged for an authoritative education which negates the value of the art of listening and communicating through a dialogue.  Thus, it is not about ‘teaching from a higher position’ to those on a ‘lower position’. The person who educates has to put himself close to the other because the educative process is a process which involves the growth of both persons.  John Henry Newman liked to express this dynamicity with the words “cor ad cor loquitur – it is the heart who speaks unto the heart”.  

Educating does not mean instructing or teaching. It means building knowledge from time to time to face the new challenges of life.  Therefore while the act of instructing or teaching involves transfer of data from a person who possesses it to another who receives it, educating means that both persons are on the same level because no one educates the other. This also holds in respect to another level: no one educates himself, humans educate themselves in communion.  Education means respect.

Youth prefer education because they feel respected and free to build with their educators.  They feel co-creators and co-responsible of their education and that of others.  This is why there is something wrong when youth are passive and ‘lifeless’.  In front of this attitude, many times, Jesus responds with provocation or offers a challenge.  In the Emmaus passage he provokes them with the question: “What things?”  In another passage narrated by John, Jesus asks the twelve: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” It is as if Jesus could sense that they had become slaves of their ‘ideal Messiah’ and had to be freed.  Thus he challenges them to renovate their choice and decide whether to follow the true Messiah and enter into a relationship with him, or part ways.  

The aim of every dialogue has to be one: by listening, offering time and exchanging ideas which help both persons to grow, the educator has to find ways to motivate and invite a youth to free himself of enslaving bonds and to build his life according to his vocation, without forgetting that our highest aim is that of reaching holiness through our personalized path manifested, throughout our lives, by Jesus.

  

3.3. Explicit Announcement: the Truth of the Gospel

Offering one’s presence is a very important step; a dialogue is what makes the presence count; but as Christians, we have nothing to offer if not the Word of the Lord.  In fact we cannot exist (as Christians) without fulfilling our mission: to announce the truth of the Gospel – Jesus is alive.  On the road to Emmaus, Jesus showed us that youth ministers cannot continue to accompany youth without announcing the Good News at some stage.  They can help youth in many areas (social, psychological, educational), but most of all they have the duty to help them welcome the truth of the Gospel.  

It is not by chance that in the Emmaus passage, Jesus first walks than talks about the scriptures. He is an example to all youth ministers because he shows them that first they have to know their youth, understand their problems and how they are tackling them, and then eventually announce the Good News.  However it is not an easy procedure. Today’s youth are living in an age where the technological, individualist, success-oriented culture of the Western world clearly possesses the power to distort their reading of the Scriptures.  They no longer find the Scriptures relevant to their lives.

This does not mean that youth do not search for truth; they search in the wrong place, seduced by the beauty of the secular world which promises them everything but steals their dignity ‘in the name of happiness’.  Their search is not always fuelled by the burning desire to meet Jesus, and so it tends to satisfy itself with cheap worldly satisfactions which do not last.  Sometimes they create a ‘sophisticated ideal of Jesus’ which makes it even more difficult to truly meet him in their lives.  They forget that Jesus was always simple from the beginning of his life on earth in a simple manger, till the very end.  

In fact, the Gospel presents us this truth by showing us who accepted him in his 33 years on earth.  The Pharisees and the Jewish priests did not believe in him at once; they had their own ideal Messiah that could never be similar to the simplicity of Jesus.  It was the apostles who accepted his simple call “Come, follow me” by leaving everything and following what their heart desired without even knowing. Their heart was free from ideals, from prejudices against the Good News.  Therefore, youth ministers face a challenge in freeing a youth’s hearts and transmitting to it the truth of the Gospel: Jesus Christ.

It happens that sometimes, while trying to attract youth to attend meetings in the parish, youth ministers tend to soften their approach.  They might be able to build a group which is very united and perhaps help youth on a social and psychological level.  However, at some stage they have to be able to do the ‘explicit announcement’.  Youth ministry’s aim is not only to form ‘good citizens’, but ‘good Christians’ as well.  Failure occurs also when youth ministers fall into announcing themselves as role models and make themselves irreplaceable in the eyes of youth.  Thus when educators stop giving their service, youth find themselves in a great void.  This proves that the youth minister’s ultimate aim has to be to place Jesus in the centre of everyone’s life.  

Nowadays all kinds of technology are used to spread the Gospel everywhere, but many times what counts is the method used.  The announcement of the Gospel can be done by: answering to questions that enslave the heart, tackling a social situation enslaving youth, or by a simple and clear narrative announcement.  These methods were put into practice by Pope John Paul II who never stopped being the ‘Jesus on the road to Emmaus’ with the youth of the world.

To share the truth of the Gospel, youth ministers can apply the method of answering questions.  This means that, in creating a dialogue with youth, they will be able to help them pour out their questions and search for an answer.  It happens many times that, after a childhood of asking questions every minute, adolescents become more closed (especially on a spiritual and religious level) and open their hearts only to their close circle: their friends.  This attitude tends to continue during youth and is only surpassed through maturity, when youth understand that asking questions is the first step to gaining wisdom: "The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth."

It is therefore the youth minister’s task to free youth from frustration and fear of making questions, to answer them in a language acceptable to them and to guide with patience.  In this way youth ministers do not waste time; instead they will be able to transmit the truth that youth need to hear at that particular moment. It is a method applied and praised by many because, “the question breaks the crust of obviousness and one can see an area not yet explored ... the question serves to highlight the margin of darkness; and therefore to induce a confession of ignorance.”  During his papal visits around the world, Pope John Paul II used to encourage youth to present him with questions from which then he would choose to answer those that apply to most of them.

Another way of announcing the Gospel is by pointing out current social issues in the world of youth and discussing a few ways to tackle these issues with the Gospel’s help.  Again, Pope John Paul II was also a master in this method.  He used to find a keyword from the Gospel and, through a well-built argument based on human experience, transmit the Truth: Jesus himself.  This is another way through which to kick-start a dialogue on what really touches the heart of youth in that particular moment: addressing the suffering and pain.  Such a method can be mostly applied in special circumstances when youth are carrying heavy burdens.  This method is also known as the inductive method which starts directly from the human experience and leads to the proclamation of the Word.

The Truth of the Gospel can also be transmitted to youth by offering them Jesus as the “way, truth and life”, an answer which tackles all questions.  It addresses their search for a model in their lives, proposing Jesus, the One who can reveal man to man.  This method – proposing Christ by narrating his life and mission in a synthetic presentation of the essential elements of the revelation – is another way of announcing the Truth of the Gospel, called the ‘narrative’ method.  It can be identified also as the deductive method because it starts from the Holy Scriptures and leads youth to their everyday lives.  For example, Pope John Paul II at times made use of a particular biblical image which applies directly to youth: the rich young man. 

All ways and means used to announce Jesus Christ have to lead youth into understanding that Jesus is not just a doctrine to be observed but a person to be loved.  This is why youth ministers need to encourage youth to meet Him personally in His Word, in prayer, in the sacraments, in His Church, and in the needy brother.  

 

3.4. The Gradual Process: Accompaniment in the Faith Journey

In the previous sections it was pointed out how educators need to be close to youth by walking with them, listening to their lives and creating a dialogue which at some point will also involve the explicit announcement of the Gospel.  This kind of accompaniment is always welcomed by youth who sincerely look for help.  However, it has to be pointed out that accompaniment does not mean that the educator can miraculously solve all problems simply through a few meetings with the youth concerned.  Accompaniment, especially in the faith journey, is a gradual process which takes time and patience. 

The dynamic nature of this process makes it even more interesting.  Since the educator relates to another human being and not just a passive object, the process can take many different paths and time spans. A human being is subject to many variables (such as sentiments, health, will, intelligence, etc.) which determine the gradual process needed for a successful accompaniment.  This process requires not just time but also patience, perseverance and a positive attitude.  

Accompanying youth means that educators have to look at youth as an opportunity, not as a problem.  In fact, to be precise, youth problems or youth related issues do not exist.  What exist are social problems reflected and catalyzed by youth, as victims themselves.  Fed up of watching adults (especially in important social, political and religious positions) acting irresponsibly, youth tend to rebel and reveal (consciously or unconsciously) the real hidden problems of society. Through their words and actions, they try to escape the present and dream of a different society which embraces the real meaning of community, fraternity, justice and all that is humane. 

This also happens on the level of faith.  When youth witness scandals from any kind of Christians they tend to flee away and become disinterested in what reminds them of religion or spirituality.  This might explain why many youth today have repulsive feelings towards the Church.  However, the root of the problem is not their decision to flee away from Church but the scandals or the pathetic faith of certain Christian adults in the community.  This is far from accompaniment.  Thus an auto-examination is necessary to unveil such a problem, especially when the presence of youth is lacking in a community.

Whatever the problem might be, youth ministers should never put themselves in confrontation with youth, asking clarification on why they have chosen different paths. Rather, the first steps to follow are: putting oneself close to them, being available unconditionally, and entering into a relationship which involves a gradual process of discovering God’s love for each one of them.  In the Old Testament, God the Father uses the same process with his people to help them enter into a holy pact which, despite the many failures from their side, is maintained by his ever-flowing love towards them.  Therefore God wants to show humanity that his accompaniment does not mean enforcing or imposing his will.  It is also true that we believe God has a plan for each one of us but this plan does not ignore our freedom; it supports, embraces, sustains, precedes and stands by it in the form of a gift that stimulates it and helps it reach its fulfilment.

Every accompaniment is different because every youth has a different story to tell and requires a specific itinerary, even if we all have the same destination: holiness.  Each itinerary has to indicate this ultimate aim on one hand (holiness), and maintain the creativity of the particular journey on the other hand.  Therefore the youth minister has the duty to point out to the subject, who is growing and maturing towards fullness in Christ, a mission more than a project.  The idea of a mission evokes and indicates a ‘form’ of freedom in action, leaving many possibilities of creativity to the subject called.  This mission underlines the delicate discussion on vocation: an area on which many youth ministers should question themselves as to whether or not they are presenting it adequately. This is the core of every human being; more so with regards to youth who, at this age, are in a phase of discovery.

In the Emmaus passage, Jesus accompanies the two disciples until a certain point and then acts as if he was going further.  This detail is not there unintentionally.  The author wants to point out that at some stage Jesus wanted to leave the disciples to make their own decision and choose if they really wanted to be accompanied by him.  After he had pointed out the mission to them, he distanced himself to let them decide.  This reminds us that who educates should not create dependencies.  Youth ministers should not be upset when at some stage their youth choose to continue their journey without them.  Their mission is not to keep youth close to them for the rest of their lives but to launch them into the adult world where they are free to make their own choices with a formed conscience.  

In his oratories, Don Bosco did not just create space and time for his youth to play.  He accompanied them in a holistic way.  He provided them with food, education, work and good working conditions, leisure, religious education, spiritual practices and a ‘family atmosphere’.  He was dedicated to every aspect of their lives, but their faith was the most important aspect for him.  That is why he used to create many different occasions of devotions and religious practices: to help his youth encounter Jesus Christ in their lives and save their souls.

Youth ministers are called to indicate Jesus Christ to all youth and announce them his promise: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.  Therefore the ‘Emmanuel’ – ‘God is with us’, promises us that he will accompany each one of us forever.  This is good news to all youth, especially those who feel emarginated or lonely.  Jesus accompanies them in two special ways: through his Word and through his Body.

The Word of God is always a sign of how much God is close to his people; this love leads to the incarnation of God himself, in Jesus Christ, to teach us how to love one another by giving His life for all humanity: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  Jesus accompanies us also through his Body, that is, through his sacramental body – the Eucharist – and through his mystical body – our community.  It is surprising how God does not present himself in powerful ways but in the bread and wine and all the fragile human beings who form his mystical body.  He can be found there where ‘two or three people meet in his name.’  He does not enforce his presence with spectacular manifestations but is present where love is. Hence, he is also present amongst the poor and the marginalized.  It is thus a natural consequence that youth feel consumed with Jesus’ love upon returning from voluntary work amongst the poor.  

Therefore the accompaniment of the youth minister has to lead youth to an encounter with Jesus, allowing Him to accompany them throughout the rest of their lives.

 

3.5. The Encounter with Jesus: Liturgy and Sacraments

Jesus knew that at the end he would reveal himself (Epiphany) to the disciples. Nonetheless, He waited for them to proceed through the whole gradual process of opening their hearts through the Scriptures, and then opening their eyes in the breaking of the bread – also defined as the Eucharistic moment – where they revived their faith.  In fact, “Epiphanies are by definition moments of revelation; they do not last and, while stimulating faith, they do not remove the need to continue living by faith,” they enforce the person’s faith with an abundance of grace which, as a result, needs to be shared with others. 

The New Testament does not give us any clues on the future of these two disciples.  The happy ending described by Luke launches them into a new mission: the return to the city where they meet their community and share with them this Epiphany.  However we can imagine that they would have also been part of the first community described in the Acts of the Apostles who shared everything together and “broke the bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God”.  Thus, through their rejuvenated faith they continued to encounter Jesus in the community and the ‘liturgical’ celebrations which brought them together.

Throughout the years the Church has become the physical and spiritual space for this encounter with Jesus, mainly through the liturgy and the sacraments.  All Christians are called to participate in the liturgy and the sacraments, which are occasions full of graces. The fact that in the past the Church hierarchy emphasized the obligation of the presence (not participation) of the faithful for the liturgy and sacraments, weakened the true encounter with Jesus.  Thanks to the Second Vatican Council, participation was emphasized again and this created more awareness regarding the quality of our faith.  Some Christians, who did not witness this change in their parishes, found the liturgy and the sacraments as ‘just a formal meeting’ which does not need to be repeated often.  This might be one of the reasons why youth have distanced themselves in the last decades.

After the Second Vatican Council, youth ministry has faced the tension of the relationship between youth and liturgy in two different ways.  On one hand it favoured the education of youth in liturgy which brought forward: (1) a special attention to the explanation of the rites and liturgical tests; (2) the formation towards having proper attitudes to celebrate an authentic liturgical celebration; (3) the actualisation of para-liturgical initiatives oriented to prepare official liturgies, like the Eucharist, without changing or manipulating the liturgy.

On the other hand it favoured the renovation of the liturgy which included: (1) the effort to encourage youth participate in the liturgy; (2) the reformulation of certain rites and texts, even in official celebrations, to make them express and relatable to youth; (3) the introduction of para-liturgical educative itineraries that give value to the protagonist nature and creativity of youth.

In the first method, the logic of ‘bringing young people to the liturgy’ prevails, while in the second, the logic is to ‘bring the liturgy to the youth’.  However, in both ways, an over-importance was given to the distance between liturgy and youth, while the defused problematic of faith and Church in relationship to the new sensibility of youth has often been abandoned.

To accompany youth in an encounter with Jesus in their lives, even in the liturgies and the sacraments, youth ministers have to: (1) study in detail the perspectives in the background of the youth’s life; (2) and point out ways of approach between youth and faith.  In fact we should not be deceived by the number of youth attending the liturgy because many times we have to ask: how many of these have integrated a matured faith into their lives?  Have they really encountered Jesus at some stage? Or at least, are they searching for him?

Nowadays, there is a widespread idea of an individualistic faith which exists solely on a personal level faith, is built in a syncretic way, and is deprived of any bonds with the community of the faithful. This is why youth ministers are today called to help youth express their religious feelings and educate them in creating an authentic relationship with God, eliminating their subjective preconceptions to make way for the true transcendent God and to discover little by little the ecclesial dimension.

The concentration of today’s person on himself (narcissism) has led youth to concentrate only on the present with the consequences of forgetting their roots and moving towards no goal.  In this sense, Liturgy can at times be a stark contrast to their world, namely  because of its participation in salvation history, its sense of memory and the eschatological view of a Christian’s life, finding itself being celebrated without being understood in its true capacity. 

To become protagonists, youth need to live the experience of ‘feeling called’. This shapes their identity and youth can then find its realization in the liturgy.  Only protagonists can feel called.  This helps them to get over the feeling that the liturgy is something ‘already done’, traditional, repetitive, and sterile.  On the other hand, protagonism, which can take over youth, is controlled when there is a mature community that is capable of being hospitable to them and of giving testimony. Hospitality is the first sign of testimony and testimony is the first step of loving youth.  Thus, the liturgy can open youth to the ‘other’, and also to the ‘Other’, mostly when committed in the community and by becoming a witness.  When this happens, that is, when youth make Jesus visible and encounterable through their lives, they become sacraments (in a wider sense) of Jesus.  

Theologians teach us that sacraments are at the same time signs and instruments of God's grace.  They are special occasions for experiencing God's saving presence.  Normally we name seven sacraments but we know that in a wider sense we can identify more.  For instance, Jesus is a sacrament in the fact that he is the Word and the face of God; the humanity of Jesus is the concrete and visible sign of the mystery of God.  Since our humanity is the same humanity of Jesus (obviously reaching a perfect level in Him), when we live in the grace of God, we participate in Jesus’s mission: being the Word and the face of God.

It is therefore very important to help youth understand that through their lives, and in their everyday lives, they can encounter Jesus because our humanity is the place where God meets us through the incarnation of his Son.

 

3.6. Apostolical Co-Responsibility and Vocational Discernment

The two disciples who walked, discussed and hosted Jesus were later rewarded with his Epiphany.  This revelation sparked something inside them which stopped them being negative, led them to a sense of responsibility and gave them a willingness to run back to share this ‘change’.  We might ask: why did they feel responsible to return straight away? Could not they rest and return the next day, or send a messenger with their news?

Obviously, when a person feels the responsibility of doing something, it means that he was given this task by someone or by a community or that he has assumed a particular role in society.  In this case we do not know much on these two disciples but their reaction shows us they felt responsible of something; in fact they went straight to tell the apostles. The fact that they had left Jerusalem feeling guilty and depressed, is a sign that they regarded themselves as a failure.  Jesus’ death was also their ‘death’; and this is a sign that they were close to him, close to his vocation, co-responsible of his mission.  

 The Gospels show us how Jesus shared with his apostles, and sometimes with his disciples, the responsibility of spreading the Word of God: the seventy-two disciples sent before him in the villages. This could mean that these two disciples had already experienced co-responsibility in Jesus’ mission and proclaimed the Word of God who later died on the cross.  Then, after Jesus’ revelation to them, they felt responsible of re-proclaiming that the Word of God is risen.  Thus responsibility made them protagonists and witnesses of Jesus till this very day. 

This co-responsibility was passed throughout the years from generation to generation through communities and practices within communities, thus, enhancing the principle of ecclesial communion where each member feels responsible for the other.  As already stated above, communities need to practise this responsibility with every member without forgetting youth.  Youth need to feel accepted by their community members, especially the adults, and need space to become protagonists themselves – as already pointed out in the liturgical area.

It is wrong to think of youth as passive subjects.  In fact, nowadays, we do not use the term ‘pastoral care of the youth’, but ‘youth ministry’ to show that it is not a pastoral activity which is only directed towards youth but it is also shaped and built by the youth themselves, rendering them co-responsible.  When this idea is incarnated into parish communities, youth find it easier to understand their role and participate in evangelization; thus participating in the apostolical co-responsibility.  “The secret of youth ministry is in the co-responsible involvement of youth in the apostolic mission.”  Responsibility will help them mature and become more serious in matters of faith.  However, as every human being, youth need to feel loved in order to love; therefore the community’s support and testimony is fundamental for the fulfilment of their role.  Even if youth fail to make fruit, the community should not stop hoping and believing in them.

Interestingly enough, the great saints who accompanied youth in their ministry are those who counted on these young people from the beginning and collaborated with them to help them achieve their goals.  Don Bosco and his first youth collaborators are a clear example.  He was aware that his vocation with youth was not just to form, instruct, educate, and save them, that is, rendering youth to passive subjects; he understood that it was his responsibility to involve them in everything – even in their own formation, education and salvation.  Youth ministry in every community today has to develop into this model.

Attention towards youth and belief in their apostolical co-responsibility are two ways in which the dignity of youth is respected.  This respect has to be extended to each one of them also in a single and personal way, because each youth is unique and is called in a unique way.  Youth ministry cannot treat all youth alike but has to accompany every single one in their vocational discernment.   

Vocational discernment is a very important and delicate process because it involves not only the future of one single person, but the future of a community.  To arrive at this point, every youth has to pass through a previous process which involves: knowing himself in a realistic and adequate way which guides him to accepting himself in a peaceful manner, to a faithful and harmonic relationship with the others and all the other realities, and to refer to God as a friend and saviour.  This step is followed by helping each youth in perceiving desires, the meaning of life, life as a gift to be shared and donated to others, and an ability to choose, decide, and feel free to live in happiness and peace looking forward with hope and faith.  The development of all these basic characteristics will make youth capable of accepting their concrete existence with freedom, security, and availability for commitments. This assumes that youth ministry should be vocational oriented.  However the vocational orientation does not apply only to youth.  It has to be present, on different levels, in the preadolescence and adolescence as well, thus, respecting the gradual process of each individual.  

Considering that the itinerary of youth ministry is already vocational oriented, it needs to create concrete opportunities of animation, of charity and of giving free service, especially to those mostly in need.  It needs to train the young people in being available and generous towards others; that is how a vocation will be later discovered.  Such activities should be able to help youth make a ‘leap in quality’ not only on the level of charity and service but also on the level of prayer and interiority.  As already outlined above, youth ministers have the role of accompanying youth in interpreting what they experiment, assessing attitudes and reactions in the light of the Gospel, and reaping the fruit from positive and negative experiences to plan the next step towards their goal.

The vocational discernment process consists also of the actual vocational proposal.  This means that at a mature stage, the youth minister has to propose the many different paths that the individual could take.  This proposal could be done: (1) by exposing the paths, experiences and vocations of particular Christian witnesses who walked the whole way to the fulfilment of their vocation: holiness; (2) by proposing the many ways of active participation in the life of the ecclesial community, directly or through movements, initiatives and apostolic commitments according to one’s charisma; (3) by proposing the explicit vocational invitation done at the right moment and in the right way within a personal accompaniment context (for example: spiritual direction).

Many times, vocational discernment is applied to those who show signs of a ‘priestly’ or a ‘consecrate life’ vocation: 

In a time like our own, then, in need of prophecy, it is wise to encourage those vocations that are a particular sign of what we will be although it has not yet been revealed to us (cf 1 Jn 3, 2), such as the vocations of special consecration; but it is also wise and necessary to encourage the prophetic aspects typical of every Christian vocation, including the lay vocation, so that the Church, in the sight of the world, may be an ever clearer sign of the things to come, of the Kingdom which is "already but not yet".

However, vocational discernment should be a process put into practice by everyone because being an apostolical co-responsible is not an easy task to fulfil.

 

Fr Mark Bonello is a Gozitan Diocesan priest and serves as a delegate of the Bishop for Youth Ministry and serves in the Parish of St Peter and St Paul in Nadur as a parochial vicar.