K O I N Ō N I A …together on the journey THE CONFERENCE OF GENERAL SPIRITUAL ASSISTANTS OFS -YOUFRA 2019 - 2 Year 26 n. 102 «Walking with the young people: a vital challenge for OFS» «Identity and Mission of YouFra» Fr. Pedro Zitha, OFM Introduction At times the world shows a negative and false image of youth, presenting it as lost in worldly things and without a future. It is sad to see that this is the idea that adults have of young people. Sometimes they forget their duty to empower young people to discover their true identity as living images of God and to live it in a dignified manner. Often young people are identified as generations that suffer a crisis of religious, cultural, political, social and economic identity. But this identity crisis often depends on the different realities in which they live, see and judge the world, a world in which the moral aspects in the political, social and religious spheres are almost non-existent. It is precisely in this kind of situation that the mission of Franciscan Youth is to show the world that young people still feel able to reactivate the flame of faith, so that they will never lose the hope of identifying themselves with those disciples of Jesus who have been called to be light of the world and salt of the earth. Their active participation in the recent Synod of Bishops centered on the theme «young people, faith and vocational discernment». Their engaging joy manifested not only in World Youth Days but also in the most humble and simple parish meetings and the presence in the various projects and proposals of the Church. All this shows that young people still continue to turn their eyes to Jesus, in order to be totally «rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving» (Cf. Col 2,7). If this is the daily attitude of young people, there is still hope that they can live their identity and mission. Youth, future hope of the World and of the Church A world without youth is a world without a Future, and if the Church does not take care of youth it is like a house founded on sand. So what should be the attitude of civil society, politicians and the Church towards young people? For centuries the political world, with its worldly ideologies (see for example the laws in favour of abortion, of marriages between individuals of the same sex that flourish in all parts of the world, political propaganda against the moral teachings of the church, etc...) has increasingly forgotten its responsibility to promote a youth which will be the society of tomorrow, healthy and with profound human and religious values. Unfortunately, some young people have been deceived by these proposals and as a result youth see themselves deprived of the «flourishing of virtues and life»1. However, the Church has never forgotten its responsibility to form young people, to seek the most appropriate ways to «listen to the world of youth and ask how to accompany the new generations to recognize and welcome the call to love and to life in fullness2». There are many apostolic and mission initiatives - I remember in particular those organized by the Youth Ministry and the Apostolic Penitentiary - but, in particular, it is important to underline that, in 1948, the Church approved the official birth of Franciscan Youth, side by side with many other Catholic movements: all this shows how the Church is 1 Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, “Confessione dei Giovani, Fede, Discernimento vocazionale”. Mi fai incontrare Dio? I giovani la fede e la riconciliazione, edited by Penitenzieria Apostolica, 2018, p. 18. 2 Ibid, p. 6. Koinōnia http://www.ciofs.org/portal/index.php/fr/assistance-spirituelle/koinonia 1 always available to help young people both to find a space of discernment and to rekindle the flame of faith that the world of today with its false and worldly propaganda seeks to extinguish. Today the world of youth is polarized by ideas and proposals that are contrary to true moral, ethical and political freedoms; the Church, for its mission, must always ensure young people its closeness and its support so that they should never feel alone. The Church must serve as a mirror of truth, a mirror that reflects to the young the teachings of Christ – the way, the truth and the life. Today, more than ever, the Church is called to show young people the true path to follow, that is, to show Christ, because Christ is the way that every Christian is called to follow if he wants to find peace, happiness and unconditional love. Thisis confirmed by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, when he says: «only the Catholic Church remains, in its weak fortress or strong weakness, to hold back the cataracts of evil, to act as a holding device which prevents man from destroying and annihilating himself, therefore we are called to respond to the needs of the young, building the Christian and at the same time the man: the man because Christian and the Christian because man»3. Identity of YouFra in Today’s World There is no better way or recipe to find one’s true identity than to commit oneself to understand what the Scriptures say about man and woman, creatures made in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen. 1: 26- 27). The Word of God offers, to those who listen to it, not only the opportunity to know their own identity, but also numerous perspectives to carry out the mission of witnessing to an evangelical life lived after the model of St. Francis. It is imperative that we should try to imitate the young man of the Gospel: “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk 10:17). In other words, even today, young people must have the courage to ask Jesus what the path they must follow to find their true identity and their mission in this world is, in the place and in the reality in which the Lord has placed them. When young people let themselves be guided by the light of the Holy Spirit, they understand that they are «called to share their experience of Christian life in fraternity, and, in the light of the message of St. Francis of Assisi, seek to deepen their own vocation under the auspices of the Secular Franciscan Order»4. Those who understand this and are thus able to deepen their vocation will be pleased to discover that their being a Christian is somehow intertwined with that of the OFS, whose Rule can become an inspirational document for the growth and maturation of their own Christian and Franciscan identity (cf. GGCC OFS art.96, 3). For this reason, the most important thing is to identify oneself as children of God who need to love others and to be loved, to listen and to be heard, to respect others as one wants to be respected (Cf. Mt. -40; Mk 12.29-30.33; Lk 10.27). However, this awareness is not attained automatically: everyone must listen to the Word of God, be able to love it and preserve it in his heart. It is important to have the courage to find one’s specific and true identity as children of God, worthy of the freedom to witness the faith, the happiness of living and proclaiming the truth, not only with words, but also with works. Thus the Holy Father reminded young people: “My dear young friends, love the word God and love the Church, and this will give you access to a treasure of very great value and will teach you how to appreciate its richness…It is not easy to recognise and find authentic happiness in this world in which we live, where people are often held captive by the current ways of thinking. They may think they are “free”, but they are being led astray and become lost amid the errors or illusions of aberrant ideologies”5. Therefore, the great secret whose discovery allows us to find our identity is hidden in the Sacred Scripture and in the Rule of the OFS (cf. GGCC art. 96.3): if it is sought with a spirit of discernment it is discovered and thus we become children loved by God and called by Him to follow Him along the path prepared for us, for the benefit of the fraternity and the world to which we belong. As believers we must always identify ourselves with Jesus: in service, in sacrifice, in listening, in forgiveness, in accepting, in mercy and in brotherhood. It is essential that today’s young people, despite their fragility, feel that they are his disciples, joyful to carry on the hope of a better future, without ever falling into conformism and allowing themselves to be guided by the true light - Christ himself! - at the same time walking in the light of the message of St. Francis of Assisi! To find one’s identity depends totally on continuous discernment, on the ability and courage to let oneself be guided by the Spirit of God. «If we live by the Spirit, we also walk according to the Spirit» (Gal 5:25). Of course, it is not enough to read or listen to the Word of God if one does not have faith transmitted 3 Ibid, p. 23. 4 OFS GGCC, Art. 96, 2. 5 Message of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, to young people on the occasion of the XXI World Youth Day, 2006, p.