A Jubilee of Enriching the Young People through the Year of the Youth

By: Shuvyneal O. Salud

498 years had passed since the day when Christianity was introduced in the 'Pearl
of Orients' by the Spaniards led by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer who
established a good relation with the indigenous people of Cebu. It was on March 16, 1521
when the Spaniards claimed the Island of Cebu as a Spanish territory and named it as
Islas de San Lazaro. On March 31, 1521, on the Easter Sunday, the first Mass which was
celebrated on the Limasawa Island of Cebu took place and the first Christians, Rajah
Humabon and Hara Amihan, were baptized as Carlos and Juana respectively. The arrival
of the Spaniards rooted us to have new systems, new governance, new policies and most
especially new faith. On July 13, 2012, the Catholic's Bishop Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) had issued a pastoral exhortation which will launched a "nine-year
journey for New Evangelization" to prepare the Catholics for its fifth centenary of the
arrival of the Christianity in the Philippines. The preparation started last 2013 and will end
on 2021 with different themes each year. The first five years were dedicated to "integral
faith formation" (2013), the laity (2014), the poor (2015), the Eucharist and the Family
(2016), and the parish as a communion of communities (2017). The year 2018 was
dedicated to the clergy and consecrated persons while the remaining two years of the
preparation will be dedicated to ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue (2020) and missio
ad gentes, or bringing the Gospel to all people (2021).

This year's theme is "Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered."

which aims to have some activities on "youth in formation, youth in communities, church
and society, youth in mission, and youth ministry and youth ministers." This started on
December 2, 2018, the first Sunday of Advent, and will end on November 24, 2019, the
Feast of Christ the King.

“Kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.” This statement has been introduced to Filipinos
when we were still pupils by our teachers which, we all know, is famously quoted from
our Philippine National Hero, Gat Jose Rizal. We even wondered why? But our teachers
explained that on the adolescent stage, young people are engaged on transforming
themselves into a complete human person. It is for the reason that they are more capable
of changing their attitudes, habits, personality, mentality, and most especially faith. These
are all through because they are influenced by the environment which they are exposed
to. Unfortunately, if a young person grew in an environment where everything that is
considered bad happens, then, he or she is in danger for the reason that a young person
easily follows what he or she had witnessed. This resulted, nowadays, to teenage
pregnancy, drug addiction, several crimes and many more. Yet, it also depends also on
that young person if whether he or she will choose the right thing from the wrong thing. It
is a matter of choosing between God and the worldy things. It is the young person’s
responsibility to remain in his or her faith and believe the things that the Church is
teaching.

Apparently, the Church is doing her best in molding the youth to be more faithful.
In a CBCP pastoral exhortation written by Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, the
president of the CBCP, young people are the "catalysts of change" capable of efforts for
a "renewed church and society." He added that bishops see youth as the "protagonists of
this change" and the "dynamic force of the church" who should "reach out to the
peripheries to bring Jesus and His message of salvation to the lost, the least and the last."

Here is an excerpt from his official pastoral letter addressed to the Youth of the
Philippines:

"We, your shepherds, thank you from our hearts for coming together to chart the
course of our celebration of your year, the Year of the Youth. We delight in your
recognition of your being vital members of the Body of Christ, the Church. As a response
to your letter, the Philippine Catholic Church embraces you and your being life-given and
life-giving, and with you, we affirm that:

YOU ARE BELOVED: Just like John the beloved disciple, who in his youth was called by
the Lord to follow Him, the Church loves you with special affection, and we share with you
the same call from the Lord. You are loved by the Father [cf. Dt 1:31; Is 40:11; 41:10;
46:4] as Jesus declared to His disciples, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you” [Jn
15:9], and He then invites you to remain in His love by following His commandments [cf.
Jn 14:15]. Only then will you experience the joy that is complete [cf. Jn 15:9-11]. The
Church in the Philippines seeks to show you the same love [cf. PCP II, 385; KA-LAKBAY,
pp. 35-41], especially through her youth ministry, whose aspiration is to raise you up and
carry you lovingly through life, with all its trials and tribulations.

YOU ARE GIFTED: The Sacrament of Baptism you received initiated you into the life of
God and with God. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, you were gifted with the Holy
Spirit who inflames you with faith, passion, and courage. Like the young lay missionary
catechist St. Pedro Calungsod and Richie Fernando, the young Jesuit who died shielding
his students from a grenade explosion, your fresh and energetic youthfulness is also a
gift, enabling you to commit yourselves in service of others, as well as renewing the
Church and the world. To the countless youth volunteers and missionaries who share
their gifts in the building up of God’s Reign—upholding and defending life and human
dignity, the environment, justice, freedom and peace, among others—your families, the
Church and our society recognize you, and need more of your willingness and dedication.
You clearly remind us that a life embraced and shared wholeheartedly contributes to the
ongoing work of creation and glorifies God.

YOU ARE EMPOWERED: In the face of so many problems and difficulties today affecting
our Christian life, families, social relationships and communities, as well as various
personal and socio-cultural concerns you raised in your letter (mental health, substance
abuse, HIV-AIDS, access to education, environmental problems, human trafficking,
politics, dialogue with cultures, digital community, etc.), you are able to exhibit the humility
to seek the support that will lead you to discover your strengths and capabilities to live
meaningful lives. Like Mary, you are humble enough to proclaim “How can this be…?” [Lk
1:34] and still give your assent in faith. This pleases not only the Lord but also your elders,
because you are making us an important part of your development into mature
individuals, fully aware of being persons called by God, capable of discerning decisions
that positively impact your lives and those of others. We all long for a better world and
society, for a renewed Church, and we see you as protagonists of this change, as the
dynamic force of the Church now, when you reach out to the peripheries to bring Jesus
and His message of salvation to the lost, the least and the last, including other young
people like you who yearn to be loved, gifted and empowered.

YOU ARE IN MISSION. We look at you, our young people, so full of dynamism, as
disciples sent on a mission to make disciples for Jesus. We pray that your discernment,
choices and actions will lead you to a purposeful life—whether in the ordained ministry,
consecrated life, marriage and family, or the single state—with the Spirit of the Risen
Christ directing your steps in making and leaving a marked difference in the world and
society [cf. Mt 28:19-20].

A youth is any person between the age of 15 years and 30 years regardless of the
gender. Unfortunately, the youth are the backbone of a society and hence they determine
the future of any given society. This is because all other age groups; the kids, teenagers,
middle aged and the senior citizens, rely on the youth and expect a lot from them. This
makes the youth to be an important age group in both today's society and the future
society than other age groups. Therefore, due to the high dependence on youth in the
society, we, the youth, have a role to play because the future of our families, communities
and the country lies in our hands.

Indeed, the youth really plays an important role in the society. They needed to be
dynamic in order for the society to be dynamic as well. They have to be open-minded and
understanding in order for the society to flourish. They have to be faithful in order for the
society to be saved. For instance, in your family, only you, a youth, goes to Church every
Sunday and by your enthusiasm and perseverance, you can influence your family,
especially your mother and father, to also go to Church. For that we need to know why
youth are so special. It is so because they are young, full of energy and educated with
rationality as their ultimate belief.

The role of the youth is simply to renew, refresh and maintain. Youth have a role
to renew and refresh the current status of our society including leadership, innovations,
skills etc. We are expected to advance the current technology, education, politics, peace
of the country. On the other hand, we have also to maintain the culture of our culture, all
good values in the societies, development projects, etc.

First of all, kids and teenagers need to be advised, taught and encouraged by the
youth. We also have to be a good example to the young generation. We have to teach
both the teenagers and kids all aspects of general life, show them the way so that they
grow up differentiating the right and the wrong. We also have to advise and encourage
teenagers and help them to solve social, educational, psychological, emotional and
various problems the teenagers encounter in life. Furthermore, we have the role of
teaching teenagers and the young generation what teachers and parents don't.

Secondly, as the middle aged and the senior citizens grow older, many
employment posts remain vacant. These vacant positions have to be filled by none other
than the youth. This will enhance economic well-being as well as the social life of the
citizens that serve. Youths have to bring in new innovations, new skills in the job industry
for more productivity at a lower cost because they will do away with old technology or
they will invent new ways of doing a certain job. In doing so, the country will develop in
terms of industrialization and both her economic and social well-being.

For any country to succeed, it needs educated, well-informed and responsible

leaders. For your information, the best leaders are the youths. The youth have to correct
the mistakes and shortcomings of the previous leaders and completely change the
outlook of that particular society. Youths have to do away with vices like corruption, self
centered and greed in leadership so as the citizens realize development, gender equity
and equal allocation of resources. We also have to maintain virtues set by other leaders,
help the society or country to achieve her visions in future.

The youth, after some time, are expected to be the next parents. This is to continue
with recreation. We are expected to start and maintain our own families as our parents
did. Intermarriages between the youth will bring sharing of ethnic cultures and hence this
will improve peace within communities and hence overall peace for the whole country.
Sharing of different cultures all over the country will bring national peace and social well-
being of every citizen.
 Nothing comes onto a silver platter. There’s nothing will happen if we don't work to
accomplish our role. Education is the most important. For one to gain skills, innovations
and knowledge we must study to fit in this society. So apart from the above roles of the
youth, we also have a role to study since it is the key to success and development. We
also have to seek information from the middle aged and the senior citizen groups
concerned with various disciplines to ensure that the youth achieve their role for the
society in future.

Since the youth hold the important part of our society's future, we need to be
educated, guided, encouraged, advised, taught and shown the way to go so as to make
sure that we achieve our dreams and visions. So, it is everyone's duty especially the
middle aged and the senior citizens to guide us because the future of our society lies in
our hands.

This is a wakeup call for all the youths, the time is now, our future is in our hands.
Let us arise and work towards our future. As we look forward to 2021, let us envision that
the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines will
be a time to celebrate a bountiful harvest from young people's ranks—youth committed
to families, to the Church and to the country with a renewed passion to proclaim the Word,
ready to work with their communities and the Church, and willing to share in molding a
just and peaceful world through missionary involvement. As the Holy Father Pope Francis
challenged the youth: “So make a mess! But also help in cleaning it up… a mess that
brings a free heart, a mess that brings solidarity, a mess that brings us hope, a mess that
comes from knowing Jesus and knowing that God, once I know Him, is my strength”
(WYD2013).

References:

 https://journal.com.ph/editorial/opinion/2019-year-youth
 https://www.kenyaplex.com/resources/13270-the-role-of-youth-in-the-future-society.aspx