How do you begin your walk with Jesus Youth? (BJRE006)

 

How do you begin your walk with Jesus Youth?

(By Dr. Edward Edezhath - Published in Kairos Magazine in 2018)

It was the early days of Jesus Youth Campus Ministry, and I visited a Catholic College to address the teachers there. One sister approached me and asked, “Eddy, some of my students attended the weekend you organized. What happens there? What do you do with them?” She was so eager for details, and I became a little defensive, suspecting some mischief from the students. I tried to tell her that students come from different campuses, and we introduce them to life in the Lord, etc. She became a little impatient and started, 

“No, Eddy, I am so surprised by the unbelievable change that came over my kids. A very timid girl returned after it with such enthusiasm and asked my permission to talk to the whole class about her experience. Soon, she started a weekly group! And I wonder how, in a couple of days, you do it.” 

Oh, I was relieved. It was not a problem. Only the usual radical change in the youth surprises the onlookers.

Life in Jesus Youth is nothing but an active Christian life, pure and simple, and it has to begin with a U-turn in life. An adult's decision to dedicate oneself to Jesus and an ensuing personal encounter with the loving God becomes a life-changing experience. Of course, it is something that happens very much in the heart, but it cannot easily be hidden; it will be ‘proclaimed from the housetops’ in the form of a changed, happy attitude and transformed behavior.

A new beginning 

As Pope Benedict XVI remarks, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Deus Caritas Est, 1). Life in the movement begins with such an encounter. People are so different from one another; what they consider beautiful or distasteful also varies.  In the same way, or because of all this, the occasion, pace, and nature of people’s God-encounter also differ. When we go through the Bible, we note that how Peter, Nathanael, Paul, and the Ethiopian eunuch experienced changes in their lives were very different. 

Decades ago, a seminar on renewal was held at the city college, which allowed me to take a big step in my life. Maybe what struck me most was the joy and warmth I experienced there, followed by a new presentation of the core of Good News. For Joseph, a young man I know very well, it was a work camp in the poverty-stricken area that opened his eyes to what life really is. A girl I know quite well tells me how her friend invited her to a Jesus Youth prayer meeting and how people there prayed, addressing God personally, amazed her, and set her on a new path. Some speak of the transforming moments while reading the Bible, others of a time of adoration in the Jesus Youth program or a personal sharing session with a sympathetic elder. It is interesting to note how varied these paths to active Christian life are, but one fact remains unchanged: they come to an encounter and are changed.

What is it all about?

What is this personal event that we are talking about? Of course, we call it by different names: an encounter, God experience, conversion experience, personal transformation in Christ, and other similar names. But whatever the label, the outcome is very notable. With this event, God becomes a big reality. Many would say that with this, God's love becomes tangible. Prayer deepens into something meaningful.

This ‘encounter’ is like a magical touch that opens a bud suddenly into a beautiful flower. One is filled with a special joy or what the Apostle calls “a peace that passes all understanding” (Phil 4:7) that pervades one’s every dealing. The person’s value system gets reordered. With an active awareness of the indwelling Holy Spirit, one’s sense of right and wrong becomes quite sharp. 

They say that when Jesus Youth come together, it is a very different experience. Surely, the main reason is this: they are people whose lives this encounter experience is fresh and alive. Of course, unless you tend this flame, it may become weak and even die out. But if this flame is burning bright and people with this treasure gather, it is an unparalleled experience of joy. And, more than all that, when one is touched in this way, one wants to go out and share it with others.

Prepare the way!

How do people come to an encounter that would change the very direction of their lives? Of course, the answer to this question is so important for all faith formators and spiritual guides. All good Christian parents would like to know how to lead their children on such a path. 

In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of how God the Father draws people to himself (Jn 6:44). One translation goes like this: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come.” This is a meeting, like falling in love, between the loving God and the person in question. The bystanders can only support and encourage the person in question. 

Christian love persuades us to reach out to people and encourage them to develop a deep relationship with God. St Paul explains this supportive role step by step: “How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them?” (Ro 10:14). Perhaps the challenge today is that people have heard too much on ‘prayer and religion’ that they know it is the most boring business. The need of the hour is to have friendly and genuine people who show their peers how beautiful it is to come to a new life of friendship with Jesus.

I don’t remember meeting this timid girl who gave a big surprise to her professor. But my joy is that in the Jesus Youth movement, I have met many men and women who, at some point, had a face-to-face encounter with the Lord, making them very beautiful people. They became instruments of positive change for so many around them. 

= Pointers for Reflection =
1. How important is the Encounter in the life of the movement?
2. What are some of the changes that come about through an Encounter?
3. In your experience, in what ways do people come to a deep God experience?
4. What more can be done to bring today's youth to a deep friendship with Christ?