What is the Spirituality of the Young?

A reflection at Reunion of Leaders, 09/09/00, by Fr Joe McCloskey, SJ

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is a wonderful story in four volumes that have taken the country by storm. Young people and those not so young have brought the four volumes published to the top of the bestseller list for fiction. Four out of the first five best sellers are Harry Potter. This phenomenon tells the story of how great the hunger is for something spiritual. Each volume of Harry Potter portrays the battle between good and evil.  There is a hunger in our world that Spirituality needs to fill.

What is the spirituality of the young?  I see the beginning of an answer in three words: hope, continuity and the fear of failure.

Hope is a driving force behind a healthy spirituality. The ability to dream dreams is born of hope. The spiritual of life is factored by the quality of the hope in the resurrection that is born in our souls with baptism. We belong to God in our hope of the resurrection. Hope and the resurrection go together like hand and glove. Hope grows in our hearts through our connection to the Good News.

It is written on our hearts that we belong to God. Wherever there is love God is there. J. R. Rowling’s love of her child brought her from destitution 5 years to a reputed 500 million dollar income last year. She had a dream to be a writer, and although the first five publishers she approached with her work never picked her to succeed, she worked on her dream during breaks from her job as a waitress and got the break which made her dream a reality. What is important is that she had a dream. Dreams flesh out the hope one has.

My work with drug addicts has brought me into contact with people whose loss can only be described as a loss of hope. The addict is a hopeless person; the first thing that goes when one becomes addicted is spirituality. They are trapped in themselves. They are in love with self. Hope for an addict begins when the “I” of self becomes the “We” of community.

The beauty of the man or woman of hope is their lives are colored by dreams. It is in our youth that dreams are born. Youth is sparked by the energy of dreams. Dreams are what make a person attractive. Our Cursillo dreams are about our Brother Christ. He attracts people to us. If we are willing to live as Jesus Christ, people will come to us. When I was a young person the words of a poem "Who Am I" grabbed the attention of my heart. The words that I am constantly quoting are “Am I fleeing from the victory already won?” Confidence in the victory of Christ is the strength of hope in spirituality. My hope is in Christ.

When my heart two years ago was failing and my bypass operation was not working I wrongly figured it was my time for heaven. Having received the Sacrament of the Sick and having made my peace with God, I thought I had it made. My heart stopped completely. I could not call for help. I told God I was ready to go. I wondered if God had heard me. Suddenly my heart was filled with joy. Then those rude doctors rushed in and did the ER thing on me and got my heart going again. The hope to be with Christ was replaced by the need to share Christ. Today I have two new years of life I was not counting on. Life is a special gift to me today in all the ways I have a chance to share Christ. I date my rebirth from that day. I can identify with young people in my new start of sharing Christ. My hope is to share Christ with the life I have left. The Christ who is the same, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, gives continuity its meaning in spirituality. The Cross of Christ, which leads to the Resurrection, takes away the sting of death and of failure. What is done for Christ makes all our efforts worth the price we pay. The Christ who lives in our hearts gives us the chance to be his presence in the world and in allowing us to be his hands and his feet makes our lives special in his love.

The Spirituality of the young is everything that brings them to the realization that now they live in Christ and share him by being themselves. The forever of new beginnings in Christ take our hope and give it continuity in the victory over the crosses of life that give way to the joy and the excitement of the resurrection. Their spirituality answers the question of who they are in being themselves for Christ.

Hope rekindles the dream. The Cursillo is built around the dream that "I can change the world." Hope is the victory already won, if I am willing to let God work 100% in my life. I need to be willing to need other people, and this is where continuity comes in.

Young folks are not already locked into certain behaviors, nor trapped by historical choices, but can be open to those around them. The can respond to the needs of our world with open hearts. Rather than consuming another person, using them up, the idea is to invite them into my life. This is precisely the study of the environment. God will use our talents if we let him. We are all searching for meaning in life and God will give us meaning in our Brother Christ. Young people are still asking the question "Where is the place where I can make a difference?" which brings in the possibility of failure.

How much Christ am I willing to let into my life? Am I really willing to be who Christ would have been if Christ had been lucky enough to have been me? Am I capable of being nailed to a cross? Am I willing to work at something so "impossible" that the only way it can possibly be done is if Christ is in it? Am I willing to share Christ with others? Matt. 25.40 says that whatever we do for the least person is done for Christ. I can't do it by myself. If I give love, I need to give it without hope of any return. If I expect a return, then I am practicing Justice, not Love.

Who I am is visible in the community I belong to. Cursillo will die unless we pay attention to youth. The young people in the recent gathering in Rome had the realization of belonging to our church. Cursillo has such a great need of the next generation we can be Christ to the young in sharing our need of them.

The young man in spiritual direction with me who is coming up for ordination to the priesthood this year impressed be greatly because he is no longer worried about being a priest, but he has set his sights on being a saint. I wanted to be a saint when I was 4. I still wanted to be a saint when I was 10. Today once again I want to be a saint. That is the vision of the Cursillo. We offer the young a chance for the wholeness of holiness. We have a dream that will give the young a measure of belonging to something that has claimed the hearts of the young down the ages. There will be no fear of failure in the victory of the Cross. Let us not be afraid to claim the next generation for Christ.

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