Dear Brothers and Sisters, I must admit, I hardly see any young Catholics at Masses I celebrate.
Sometimes I meet other parish priests who tell me that they face the same
issue in their communities. Many teenagers are not even interested in being a part of youth groups.
God seems not to be important in their daily lives. Even though they were baptised, they don’t
practise their faith and don’t participate in the sacramental life of the Church. Some time ago
I asked an 18-year-old boy why he didn’t come to church on Sunday.
His response was: “There are more important things to do.”
I guess, his friends might have a similar opinion.
We could try to blame parents for not raising up their children according to the values of
the Catholic Faith even though this was promised at baptism. We could criticise
teachers from the Catholic schools who maybe were not authentic enough in passing on
to their students the desire for learning about God and about the importance of faith.
We could say, it is the fault of clergy and the fault of the Church not living up to
expectations some young people have these days. We could blame the secular culture, social media
or peer pressure students have to face at their schools.
But maybe we forget that young people simply expect to see authentic Christian deeds,
not only empty words coming from the mouths of adults!
Saint John wrote in his first letter,
“Our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active” (1 Jn 3:18).
If our youth don’t see the correlation between our words and actions, they will become cynical.
“Why do I have to pray and go to church if my parents don’t?” – such a question was put to me many times.
So, the sad reality is, the majority of young Australian Catholics are disconnected from their parish communities.
Saint Paul wasn’t a part of the Church community at all.
He even “entirely approved of the killing” (Acts 8:1) of the first Christians!
We learn from the Acts of the Apostles that he “worked for the total destruction of the Church;
he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison” (Acts 8:3).
However, on the way to Damascus, he had a powerful experience of the Risen Lord.
Suddenly he saw “a light from heaven all round him” (Acts 9:3). He fell to the ground,
and then he heard Jesus’ voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4).
It was the turning point of his life. He was baptised in Damascus and began to share his faith
“in the name of Jesus” (Acts 9:28). We learned from our first reading that
when he got to Jerusalem Barnabas “introduced him to the Apostles” (Acts 9:27).
From the persecutor of Christians, he became one of the most dedicated believers of Christ.
Brothers and Sisters, Paul experienced the presence of the Lord.
He was received into the Church. He saw true faith lived day by day by first believers.
Christianity wasn’t for him a kind of fairy-tale but a reality!
I think, those who don’t practise their faith in our society need to go through such a process.
Young and old should be able to experience God’s presence in our Church communities.
They need to see other Christians who truly believe in God and practise their faith.
They must be welcomed back with open hearts so that they could renew their baptismal promises
and re-start their faith’s journey.
They need to meet people similar to Barnabas.
The name “’Barnabas” means “son of encouragement.”
Sometimes a simple invitation to come to church can change people’s whole lives.
We need to encourage others to open their hearts to Christ because he is the
only person who can transform their spiritual emptiness into a high-quality Christian life.
“I came that they may have life and have it in abundance” – Jesus said (Jn 10:10).
In today’s Gospel the Lord proclaims, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me,
with me in Him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).
We all need to understand that without Jesus’ presence in our lives we will be simply lost.
He also said, “Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers;
these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt” (Jn 15:6).
We cannot bear good fruits in life without the Lord’s help. We are unable to get to heaven without Jesus!
Only by being connected to Him and his Church we can produce the fruits of "righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17).
Let us pray that parents, guardians,
teachers, priests and all others in the position of authority are able to encourage young people
to think about their relationship with Jesus in the light of today’s readings.
May we all be serious about our faith and see the necessity of being a part of the vine.
Let us allow the life of Christ to flow within us every single day.
Only then we will produce good fruits in life and the gates of heaven will be wide open for us.