lance’s blog

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Many great men in history has claimed to have conquered the world through sheer physical and military might such as Alexander, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and many more.

But the best conqueror ever who did not even lift a finger to put someone down but has even given himself to die upon an instrument of shame called the Cross is no one else but the Lord Jesus Christ! By dieing upon the cross he has conquered the world not with military power but by the power of God.

Through the Internet we wish to proclaim his greatness and great love. We wish to proclaim his invitation to a divine relationship with the Father (John  15:12-17) through the Holy Friendship.

Let us be friends in the Lord and let us make this world a better place for our friends!

Remembering the words of PJP II regarding the youth as the "Present" and comparing it with the words of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, we could see no conflict. Rizal wrote that the youth is the hope, or the future, of the fatherland. He was in a completely different setting as Pope John Paul II. Rizal was referring to the youth as the hope or the future because he saw that their present generation would only be able to strike the fire of change in the society but it would be the task of the next generation, the youth, to sustain that fire and create a better society for the Filipinos. He saw that through the next generation, the youth of their time, the country would be able to fulfill their dreams of independence and development.

PJP II on the other hand was living in the present and he knows that in the present even those undergoing formation could contribute very well to the task of evangelization in their respective areas of concern - shome, school, workplace, even in the streets, etc. PJP II believes in the capacity of the youth, and he initiated the Wolrd Youth Days in order to show to the world that the young can be the partners of the adults in the various tasks in the different aspects of life.

Rizal believed that the young when they become adults would be able to contribute towards the betterment of society. PJP II believes that young even in their youth could already contribute towards making changes in the society.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the Philippines does not develop is that we keep ourselves hostaged by a wrong interpretation of the words of Rizal. We alwasy remind ourselves that the youth is the hope of the country, that the youth is the future! But as PJP II said, if this is so, when the future comes the youth afre no more because they have already grown up to be adults!

Let us give the youth the chance to prove themselves. They could do great things. We only must give them good examples and we ought to give them truly good examples!

Upon seeing the large groups of young men and women walking the streets of Rome during the World Youth Day in Jubilee Year 2000 one of the bishops remarked that "The future of the Church is here!"

Pope John Paul II corrected his colleague. He told the bishops present that "the youth is not the future of the Church. If they are the future, they won’t be there anymore when the future comes" because they would have grown into adults already. Rather, the youth is, as JP II believes, the present, they are now, they are today!

That is why he instituted the World Youth Days. He believes in the youth and he knows that they must be given the opportunity to contribute in the mission of evangelization because they also are members of the Church.  They have that vocation to holiness also and the vocation to bring others to Christ in the various milieus that they are in.

The youth has a lot to contribute to the work of evangelization. If formation will be seriously given to young Catholics there would be less troubled marriages, less cases of priests and religious going out of their vocations, less Catholics seeking the "true faith" in other religions, less cases of graft and corruption in the secular world, and more people aspiring for holiness.

The Church must take into serious consideration these words of the great Pope who led the Church into the Third Millennium. The youth must be considered as today, now, the present. Their contribution cannot be disregarded. Though they are inexperienced and needs formation, they must be given their particular roles and responsibilities already and not just relegated into the sidelines called upon only when there is a need for messengers, liaison personnel or manpower during Church activities!