'Christ Is Alive,' April 18, 2019 by Catholic San Francisco

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APRIL 18, 2019

$1.00 | VOL. 21 NO. 8

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Young people wait for Pope Francis’ arrival at the World Youth Day vigil at St. John Paul II Field in Panama City Jan. 26, 2019.

Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis 2|

The Vatican provided a detailed synthesis of Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation, “Christus vivit!” (“Christ is Alive!”). The book-length document was signed March 25 at the Holy House of Loreto, Italy, an ancient shrine of Marian pilgrimage. In the exhortation, composed of nine chapters divided into 299 paragraphs, the pope explains that he allowed himself to be “inspired by the wealth of reflections and conversations” of the synod on young people celebrated in the Vatican in October 2018. This version is further redacted for space, with chapter references noted for those with access to full document, which may be ordered online at http://store.usccb.org/christ-is-alive-p/7-628.htm, or accessed at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20190325_christus-vivit.html.

What does the Word of God have to say about young people?

Francis recalls that “in an age when young people were not highly regarded, some texts show that God sees them differently” (6). He briefly presents figures of young people from the Old Testament: Joseph, Gideon (7), Samuel (8), King David (9), Solomon and Jeremiah (10), the very young Jewish servant of Naaman, and the young Ruth (11). Then he moves on to the New Testament. The pope recalls that “Jesus, who is eternally young, wants to give us hearts that are ever young” (13) and adds: “Let us also keep in mind that Jesus had no use for adults who looked down on the young or lorded it over them. On the contrary, he insisted that “the greatest among you must become like the youngest” (Luke 22:26). For him age did not establish privileges, and being young did not imply lesser worth or dignity.” Francis affirms: “We should never repent of spending our youth being good, opening our heart to the Lord, and living differently” (17).

The exhortation recognizes that there are young people who feel the presence of the church “a nuisance, even an irritant.” This attitude that has its roots “in serious and understandable reasons: sexual and financial scandals; a clergy ill-prepared to engage effectively with the sensitivities of the young; … the passive role assigned to the young within the Christian community; the church’s difficulty in explaining her doctrine and ethical positions to contemporary society” (40).

Jesus, ever young

The pope addresses the theme of Jesus’ youthful years and remembers the Gospel story that describes Jesus “as an adolescent, when he had returned with his parents to Nazareth, after being lost and found in the Temple” (26). We should not think, Francis writes, that “Jesus was a withdrawn adolescent or a self-absorbed youth. His relationships were those of a young person who shared fully in the life of his family and his people,” “no one regarded him as unusual or set apart from others” (28). The pope points out that, “thanks to the trust of his parents,” the adolescent Jesus, “can move freely and learn to journey with others” (29). These aspects of Jesus’ life should not be ignored in youth ministry, “lest we create projects that isolate young people from their family and the larger community, or turn them into a select few, protected from all contamination.” Rather, we need “projects that can strengthen them, accompany them and impel them to encounter others, to engage in generous service, in mission ” (30). Francis then speaks of the youth of the Church and writes: “Let us ask the Lord to free the Church from those who would make her grow old, encase her in the past, hold her back or keep her at a standstill. But let us also ask him to free her from another temptation: that of thinking she is young because she accepts everything the world offers her, thinking that she is renewed because she sets her message aside and acts like everybody else. No! The Church is young when she is herself, when she receives ever anew the strength born of God’s word, the Eucharist, and the daily presence of Christ and the power of his Spirit in our lives” (35). The pope goes back to one of the teachings most dear to him and, explaining that the figure of Jesus must be presented “in an attractive and effective SEE CHRIST IS ALIVE, PAGE C2