This is the Part IV and the conclusion of the article begun in the October 2000
bulletin.
Click here for Part I, Part
II or Part III
Weekend Themes:
Friday night
Rebuild My Church
Saturday Morning
Intimacy: Building a Healthy Society
Early Saturday Afternoon
Ecology: Building a Healthy Cosmos
Later Saturday Afternoon
Youth: Building a Future Church
Our rule calls for us to be involved with youth. Many of us run from this involvement. Yet it is in the youth that the future of the Church and our order waits for us.
Some at the Jubilee Celebration had been in Rome for the recent World Youth Day. It was noted how Pope John Paul II comes to life in the presence of youth. He is totally committed to the youth and recognizes their importance to the future of the Church.
Do we love our order? Do we wish to see it continue beyond our time? If we do, now is the time to impart the Franciscan charism to those younger who will some day replace us and be the leaders of our order. Of course, to do this we will have to meet them. They are not coming to our gatherings, so we will have to meet them where they are, doing the things they do and interested in the things that interest them.
This is a great challenge. It is not new. Each generation before us has had to face the need to pass their faith and values to the next generations. Surely the charisms giving to Francis 800 years ago have not become irrelevant in the last few years. If we will present these charisms, surely the Holy Spirit will call those whom he chooses to follow Jesus in the footprints of St. Francis.
There are resources available to help. The Tau USA, newsletter of our National Fraternity, has articles each quarter on the Youth Commission. Our region has a youth commissioner, Dick Beal from Brainerd, who is actively involved with youth with his fraternity and can help us in our involvement. Even in St. Bridget�s I have often seen Fr. Vincent reaching out to youth. Perhaps we could get help that close to home with how to begin.
The weekend ended with an anointing service. Each person present was anointed to go out and live the gospel. This is our rule. May we empower each other to live the gospel and proclaim it with our lives!