I am a pilgrim in my life’s journey looking for experiences. During my student days I learned a lot about the material things. I have heard a lot about spirituality and asceticism. I undertook yoga and meditation and learned to meditate. I discovered an inner world of our existence and relationships. I discovered that whole universe is calm and serene, though it is in its unconscious state if mind.
True! God has created man in his image and likeness as the Bible says. Man is the only created being, who is aware of himself and has the power to think and has the knowledge of things, may be because Adam ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. This consciousness is the root cause of man’s bliss and misery.
Man is not only aware of himself, but compares himself with others. This comparison with others sets him in competition with others. This competition sets him in a race for superiority; man loses himself and his peace of mind. That is why the wise men of the world have chosen to withdraw from this mad race of the world and to live their lives in isolation to be with themselves and with God.
This sounds absurd, that one needs to withdraw oneself from this world. This could sound as escapism. Certainly I would not advocate the youth today to go to spiritual and withdraw from the world. I think the words of Jesus, which goes this way: “No one puts old wine into new skins. If he does the wine will burst the skin and the wine will be lost and the wine skin too.” Math. 2:22.
Jesus came to this world not as an ascetic like John the Baptist. He was not for withdrawal from the world. He was for the involvement in the affairs of the people of his time. He flighted the norms of the Jews in the way of purity, which was the only superficial, skin-deep and had no concern for human affairs. He moved with the people, with the poor, sinners and publicans and brought them the meaning of life on this world of absurdities. This is the mission I would advocate for the youth today.
In the pre-Vatican time, asceticism was dominant. In the post Vatican time, spirituality is one of the involvement of the world. In fact there is a need for the integration of both.
Present day youth is marked by four major concerns.
• Concern for personality growth and fulfillment.
• Concern for social involvement and justice.
• Concern for genuineness and truth.
• Concern for relevance and meaning.
In their concern for personality growth, they demand the freedom to be themselves, to use their own gifts and to develop their own style of living.
In their concern for involvement, they resent unnecessary restrictions.
In their concern for genuineness, they shun anything that seems false, formal and artificial.
In their concern for meaning, they find it difficult to bother about empty externals.
These four areas of concern set the youth of today in a constant search of the self, the inner self. Everyone should ask the basic question, “Who am I? What am I called to be?”
If the youth find the answer to these two basic questions, they would find meaning in their lives and find the very purpose for which they have come into the world.
Let us remember the teachings of Jesus Christ,
that in order to be first, we must be last of all;
that in order to be the greatest, we must be the servants of all;
that in order to save our lives, we must lose it for His sake; and
that in order to be God’s children, we must accept all as our brothers and sisters.
Let us vow to accept every man and woman as my brother and sister and will lay down my life for all mankind as Jesus did for the forgiveness of sins and for life everlasting.
Fr. Venance Asir, SVD.