Reflections of the Apostolic Movement’s young people starting from the Message of Pope Francis for the XXXV World Youth Day (2020)

Young man, I say to you, get up!

(cf. Lk 7:14)

It seems I see him, Jesus, when he runs into the funeral procession that accompanies the burial of a young man, the only son of a widow. Jesus is affected by the pain of the woman, He sees her pain and has compassion for her.

A thoughtful and sincere gaze makes Jesus understand how much suffering envelops that humble woman and with simple words, before performing the miracle, he comforts her… (cf. Lk 7: 11-13)

In his message to young people, the Pope urges us to reflect on our gaze, our mode of being aware of the others’ suffering and our being young.

Seeing the extreme anguish pain and death the whole world is experiencing precisely in this period I find myself thinking; it’s a new twisted reality that leads us to restlessness and worry.

Like so many young people, I don’t hide that I often collapse in my emotional or social pain that can sometimes lead to apathy, discouragement and crying… You can feel dead from a failure and lack of a future, which leads to being oppressed by an inner emptiness. The Pope reports the phrase of a girl which seems being referred to the majority of us young people: “Among my friends I see that the urge of getting involved and the courage of getting up, have been lost.” It is precisely courage, strength and hope what we are lacking and this makes us live in futility, without it even being able to make us see the pain of who is around us…

But, beyond our unrealized dreams or illusions, there is Jesus that knows how to see pain, that gives us comfort and knows how to overcome Death. I can witness this in my journey of faith that began in the spirituality of the Apostolic Movement since I was a child.

How many times I have seen the Inspirer of the Movement turn her gaze towards us, “Little Herd”, and give us love, trust and hope; she awakened us dozing from our own indifference.

Therefore, death lies in making our life dead to life and this also brings pain to the many mothers who every day accompany us in a funeral procession, which is repeated.

So, we understand that we must try not to fall into this spiritual death, we must entrust ourselves to Jesus who sees pain and death and does not stand still: he heals us and calls us back to life.

As I learned from our Inspirer, we too, even if we are young and with little life experience, by overcoming our “death”, we can also prevent the “death” of our peers. We can give testimony and courage through a word, a smile, a simple attentive and not indifferent gesture. We must be the ones who awaken the other.

Maria Letizia Guzzo