DELIGHTED WITH LOVE, ENLIVENED BY YOUTHFULNESS
FR. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ
Recently I have received a very joyful telephone call: -Dear Priest, some girls of various ages arrived in our convent house – after the primary school, after junior high schools, after the secondary school, there are also students among them. It is a Catholic scouting – girl guides being created in Poland. In our town they have their scouting trainings but I notice that they are somehow different: they often use our chapel, pray a bit longer, they have a different behavior, different faces, eyes, joyful smile… I thought – it may be interesting. I sent our journalist there. After some time, I also managed to meet with the girls myself. They told me about what they did and were going to do, how they saw their further life. The talk proved that these enthusiastic girls were not going to lose their life, but, on the contrary – their attitude towards their life is very conscious and mature and they want to do something good.
As we know, ‘Niedziela’ publishes the supplement entitled ‘Niedziela for the Young’. We are open to young people, who follow Christian values. So, our intentions met together: ‘Niedziela for the Young’ and its chief editor and the Catholic girl guides who want to show the purpose in the life of young people. I hope that our cooperation will turn out to be fruitful.
Today the youthfulness fully uses life, but it should move to the right direction. Palm Sunday is a great feast of youthfulness and development. At this time we reminiscence John Paul II who will be the Saint soon and who cared about young people so much and when dying, he said: ‘I have been looking for you, and now you have come to me…’He was happy that young people understood him and they would look at their life in more mature way. Let there be as many such people as possible.
On Palm Sunday youthfulness comes out towards Christ, throws palm branches at his feet, calling: ‘Hosanna!’ and is glad with God’s word, God’s sowing – the seed of the Gospel thrown so carefully into the soil of human hearts. At present so much of this seed is being wasted by various impacts of media which sow weeds in the minds and hearts of young people, sows a chaos souls, leads people astray. Therefore, everything which the Church does, as well as the proposition of ‘Niedziela’ in the form of ‘Niedziela for the Young’ and the most beautiful ideas, which accompany such young people, as the mentioned girl guides or the youth gathered in many Catholic movements and associations – cannot be wasted. For, it is a seed thrown by God, the word of Jesus Christ – the Redeemer of the world. The joyful message about the salvation. Can there be something better than showing the man God’s idea of salvation? It is the idea of redeeming from the sin, the idea of serving to values, finding a real treasure. The man who finds it, feels renewed, fulfilled, does not destroy his life and will receive eternal redemption. He can have various purposes in life, great achievements, great fortunes and properties, but all this may lead to an abyss. There are other good – spiritual goods, which have eternal dimension - they do not rot, or they are not destroyed by any worm or rust and they will always give sense and constitute about the development both of an individual and the whole humankind.
And, having these good, which they are slowly uncovering, young people are going in the procession on Palm Sunday, bringing them to Christ to receive His blessing, get strength and spread the values to others. They manifest their joy with being a Christian – because there is really something to be happy about!
(AA)
"Niedziela" 15/2014