One year after the Synod on young people, Catholic youth from around the world engage with “Christus vivit,” Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation.
“It’s a huge call before a small, grateful response.” In a video released by the Dicasteries for Laity, Family and Life and for Communication, Barbara describes her own vocation: not one of a woman religious, but of a young lay missionary who chose to bear witness to God by giving herself to Him.
The post-synodal exhortation, Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive), was written to young people and the entire world after the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment, held in October last year.
A year after the Synod on Young People, and six months after the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, the Dicasteries for Laity, Family and Life and for Communication launched a video project earlier in October through social media to share the experience of “Christus vivit” in the world.
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From now until December, every Tuesday and Thursday, two brief videos will be published. Sent from young people, the impressions that they will communicate will from time to time be like pieces of a mosaic that will construct an image of the world in the end – the world of the millennials and others close to their age who grapple with the questions of faith and the challenge with which Pope Francis began the Apostolic Exhortation: “Christ is alive!” and “he wants you to be alive!”
In an excerpt from Christus Vivit, the Pope writes: Jesus always casts out the nets.
Chapter Eight: Vocation
The vocation to special consecration
§274. If we are indeed convinced that the Holy Spirit continues to inspire vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, we can “once more cast out the nets” in the Lord’s name, with complete confidence. We can dare, as we should, to tell each young person to ask whether this is the path that they are meant to follow.
§275. Occasionally, I would bring this up with young people, and they would respond almost jokingly: “No, that’s not for me!” Yet, a few years later, some of them were in the seminary. The Lord cannot fail in his promise to provide the Church with shepherds, for without them she would not be able to live and carry out her mission. If it is true that some priests do not give good witness, that does not mean that the Lord stops calling. On the contrary, he doubles the stakes, for he never ceases to care for his beloved Church.
§276. In discerning your vocation, do not dismiss the possibility of devoting yourself to God in the priesthood, the religious life or in other forms of consecration. Why not? You can be sure that, if you do recognise and follow a call from God, there you will find complete fulfilment.
§277. Jesus is walking in our midst, as he did in Galilee. He walks through our streets, and he quietly stops and looks into our eyes. His call is attractive and intriguing. Yet today the stress and quick pace of a world constantly bombarding us with stimuli can leave no room for that interior silence in which we can perceive Jesus’ gaze and hear his call. In the meantime, many attractively packaged offers will come your way. They may seem appealing and exciting, although in time they will only leave you feeling empty, weary and alone. Don’t let this happen to you, because the maelstrom of this world can drive you to take a route without real meaning, without direction, without clear goals, and thus thwart many of your efforts. It is better to seek out that calm and quiet that enable you to reflect, pray, look more clearly at the world around you, and then, with Jesus, come to recognise the vocation that is yours in this world.
With thanks to Vatican News, where this article originally appeared.
