October 14, 2004

When I was fresh off my conversion and just finishing high school I noticed I was the only young man attending daily Mass. In fact, I was the only young person - period! To be honest, there were days when I wondered if I was just weird. I wondered if any other youth had come to the same decision I had.

I recall with delight my first visit with the friars. Joy burst in my heart at the thought of so many other young men who, not unlike me, were pining and yearning for our Lord. During the course of my years as a friar I have come into contact with many people who have pondered the whole “youth question.” “Why aren’t they responding,” they ask. “Why don’t they come,” they wonder. And I wonder as well, for the formula is not incredibly complicated. Today, I see so many young people active in the Church and longing to do more. So I firmly hold and say this: the Church is alive and she is young!!

Recently I helped out at a young adult retreat where young women where quoting papal encyclicals and young men were relating insights during meditative prayer. I spoke to a young man last week who wants to be a lay missionary to China, a young woman looking for missionary work in Mexico and yet another young man who is hoping to start a Catholic theatre troupe. Lest you think otherwise, these people are serious. They are putting careers on hold and have stopped following the trends. The secret, you ask? How can my children do the same, you wonder? It seems to me that the common thread among these young adults is authenticity, faithfulness and a self-transcendent “full-life project.” But we, as youth, must see these things in others lest disillusion sink in. We all need to “live it,” just as I saw in a whole bunch of Mexican grandmothers faithfully attending daily Mass.

Br. Agustino Torres, CFR (residing at St. Leopold Friary in Yonkers, New York)
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