JY is all about striving for a new world order. (BJRE045)

JY is all about striving for a new world order

Eagerness to welcome God's Kingdom is the foundation of JY’s life and mission

(By Dr. Edward Edezhath. Published in Kairos Magazine in 2021)

Wednesday gatherings after our prayer meeting used to be quite fascinating. By 6 pm, the prayer meeting would be over. Then, for about 30 minutes, everyone would move around in free fellowship and interaction. By that time, others would gradually come in for another discussion meeting. At different times, these 6.30 pm sittings became fertile settings for different socially relevant plans and projects to take shape. At one point, it was ‘City Alive,’ then ‘Colony Outreach,’ another was ‘Peace on Earth,’ again ‘Grace Land’ idea development, and so on and on. But they were all Jesus Youth brainstorming on getting involved in the wider society.

To share one of these memories, Babu, James, Rupesh, Dominic, Shaji, and a host of other JY would begin the 6.30 session with prayer and then go on into their dreams about the city. One would talk about how their cell group visited the public park, sitting and chatting while other youths would gather, leading to a time of connecting with lonely youth. Another talks of relating to beggars; another talks about where bundles of illicit drugs reach the city; and another talks of connecting to youth clubs in nearby villages. The casual chats with the tourists in the city and the friendships they had built were the point of another sharing. Experiences, insights, and plans would get exchanged weekly, and projects would take shape. An often-repeated refrain would be, ‘Jesus has an exciting plan for our large city. ‘ 

MAD for the Lord

A website on youth action begins, “We want you to GO MAD. Yes, Go and Make a Difference.” When I read this, I remembered one of my favorite songs of yesteryears, ‘O Lord, all the world belongs to you,’ and every stanza ending, ‘Is what’s turning the world upside down.’ I am sure you get its reference from Acts, which describes Christians as “men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). 

Young people often find a world that needs a lot of change. When they see discrimination, poverty, and injustice, they yearn for a better world. They sometimes vent in furious arguments, and some even find refuge in groups that fight against it. One of their great disappointments is that the day-to-day life of the Church they see is least bothered about these big problems but challenges people to more and more pious rituals and prayers. 

Pope Francis highlights the danger of youth turning away from the problems around them, “At times, seeing a world so full of violence and selfishness, young people can be tempted to withdraw into small groups, shunning the challenges and issues posed by life in society and the larger world. They may feel that they are experiencing fraternity and love, but their small group may become nothing but an extension of their own ego.” The Pope then mentions a greater problem. “This is even more serious if they think of the lay vocation simply as a form of service inside the Church: serving as lectors, acolytes, catechists, and so forth” (Christus Vivit, 168).

Thank God, today at least some people take a different route, “For me coming to Jesus Youth was a dimension shift about Jesus and Christianity. The big change was from a path of only piety and prayer to a path searching for ways to fulfil my dream of building a better world. And here I met so many who shared my dream.” This was a young student Antony responding to the question what he found beautiful in Jesus Youth. 

Thy Kingdom come!

During the last few months, a few senior Jesus Youth, many of them active professionals, have been coming together for discussions on the socio-political issues. They asked questions like, ‘How can we keep silent in the face of growing darkness? Is it enough that we pray very well and be content with pious Church life?’ If, earlier, it was our 6.30 pm meetings, now I see some meetings on the social media platform. These professionals from around the world discuss their questions and dreams. That doesn’t stop there; it leads to local involvement and action.

Jesus came into the world to announce a new Kingdom. From then on, in every generation, Christians have been looking around, wishing and praying that the message of Christ would change the world around. Over the centuries, that tiny seed Jesus sowed has spouted and grown. In the same way, these Jesus Youth discussion meetings have borne fruit in many ways: in tribal youth gatherings, child support programs, family meets, migrant care programs, labor camp missions, dress collection initiatives, nature calamity interventions, Farm at-home projects, and a host of other social interventions they have made a big difference in the world around. In recent political elections, Jesus Youth members have also been taking a positive interest, resulting in more than a dozen JY candidates contesting the last local body elections under different political banners.

The recent Popes have urged lay people, especially youngsters, to have a balanced spirituality with enough attention on their mission in the wider social realm. “(Youth) forget that the lay vocation is directed above all to charity within the family and social and political charity. It is a concrete and faith-based commitment to building a new society. It involves living amid society and the world to bring the Gospel everywhere, to work for the growth of peace, harmony, justice, human rights, and mercy, and thus for the extension of God’s kingdom in this world” (CV, 168).

There are enough signs of hope in the Jesus Youth movement. Here and there, many are eager to ask what the Lord's will is for the present day and dream of changes. Thankfully, some Jesus Youth fellowships go beyond being ‘prayer clubs’ and ask where the Lord would lead us. These Kingdom initiatives are bearing a rich harvest of sixty or a hundred folds.