Those who say that the young people of our day are lazy and have no initiative, don’t know that, since the beginning of this year, our House of Formation has hosted seven groups of university students. They came knocking at our door to ask to spend time with us. Some of the girls had already been several times before, when they were in high school, to participate in the retreats that we proposed to female high school students. Then they returned, bringing friends. Others, like Alessandro, Francesco and Maria, took seriously an invite from Sr. Teresa at the stand of the Meeting and came to see us, without knowing anything about us or about our life. This year, along with Sr. Alina and Sr. Teresa, I was entrusted with hosting these young people. We make a proposal for them that is simple but intense: studying together, prayer, the possibility of going to confession, some manual labor, and discussions or films based on a certain theme. Finally, meals during which they can ask all of the questions that they have, without needing to censure anything.
“What difference does it make in my life that Jesus died on the cross for me?”
Already after one or two days of adhering to this proposal, we have seen some of them open themselves up deeply. The questions that emerge strike us for their sincerity and urgency. Questions such as: “At times, I doubt that God really exists. What can I do?”; “Why must I receive the Sacraments and make time for prayer if I do not feel anything?”; “What difference does it make on my life that Jesus died on the cross for me?”; “How an you say that God exists, in front of suffering and evil?”; “Is it just me who needs Jesus or does He, in some way, need me too?”; “Is it really true that God wants every life that comes into the world?”. They are not questions designed to provoke us; they are questions that weigh on their hearts, often buried under a thousand distractions. They listen to our responses and they take them seriously, which allows to come to the surface a great thirst for truth, to hear about Jesus.
It is above all the life that we share, intense but also very normal, that speaks of Christ Risen. Many daily particulars reflect His love, which we need to experience and touch with our hands. It is the joy which becomes song during while cleaning the terrace of our house; that haste to get outside, at nine in the morning, to weed the gardens; the desire to finish a work that has begun, even if it requires great effort; experiencing freedom in a limited use of cell phones such that a decision was made to continue the same way at home; the decision to go to confession and receive the Eucharist after years of being away from the sacraments. The more difficult it becomes for a young person to live the faith in today’s world, the more these young people go in search of a serious, concrete and guided proposal of Christian life. And to us the Lord gives the grace to repeat the famous words of Fr. Giussani: “The true protagonist of history is the beggar: Christ begging for the heart of man and the heart of man begging for Christ.”
