By Joseph Boulos
October 30, 2024
Among the many issues our world faces today, perhaps the most profound and devastating is the crisis of identity.
When we forget that we are adopted children of a loving God, made in his image and likeness, it is not a surprise that so many of us spend our whole lives searching aimlessly for love, identity and purpose. People travel to the ends of the earth searching for peace when the giver of this gift was within them all along.
This year, I have had the privilege to serve on a youth committee for the Maronite Eparchy of Australia. Being UniMaronite Coordinator has given me the unique and humbling opportunity to serve university students and young adults on campus and in parishes. It has also shown me that perhaps more than anyone, young people are the ones struggling the most with this crisis of identity.
Some young people may have forgotten their God-given identity. Others may be ignoring it. But so many have not been told who they are. I believe that this is the mission of all those who work in youth ministry: to help young people recognise who they are, and most importantly, whose they are.
From the 18 to 20 October, our UniMaronite ministry held its first spiritual and study retreat for young adults and university students. In planning, I was drawn to the words of Christ in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”
I felt that they captured what the Holy Spirit was calling us to do with this retreat; to help the participants recognise that Jesus has chosen them to be his witnesses in the world.
As St Teresa of Avila taught, “Christ has no body but yours,” so each one of us is called to be the face of Jesus to every person we encounter on campus or in the workplace. Even a smile, or a calm and peaceful presence as we go about our business is enough to attract a soul to the joy that God has placed within us.
This is not an easy task. A central symbol for our retreat was the empty Cross, reminding each retreatant that being a follower of Jesus requires us to take up our crosses daily and, at times, even be “crucified” with him through our willingness to give everything for his sake. But we should never be afraid. Never! If Jesus is really calling us to this mission, he will provide the way and the means. We only have to be willing to serve.
This is echoed by Pope St John Paul II whose feast we celebrated last week; “Young people… the church asks you to go, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to those who are near and those who are far away. Share with them the freedom you have found in Christ. People thirst for genuine inner freedom. They yearn for the Life which Christ came to give in abundance…. In your hands, carry the Cross of Christ. On your lips, the words of Life. In your hearts, the saving grace of the Lord.”
On Saturday evening, we processed to the chapel for Eucharistic Adoration. Retreatants were greeted at the door of the chapel with the Crucified Jesus and the words, “I Thirst” which he spoke from the cross. While Jesus would have truly thirsted after the terrible agony he suffered, he wants each of us to understand the deeper cause of his thirst.
Jesus thirsts for souls. He longs to give us the fulfilment and happiness we are searching for. He sees so many young people wandering aimlessly through this life, and he yearns to fill them with a peace they cannot find in pleasure and immorality. He thirsts for brave witnesses who will carry his light into the dark slums of spiritual poverty and make disciples of all nations.
So, who are we, and whose are we? As the Season of the Glorious Cross draws to an end, let us look to the great sign of our salvation. There, we will find the answers we seek. And once we know this, we can help a whole generation of young people to realise it as well.
Joseph Boulos is the Coordinator of UniMaronite, a ministry for Maronite students in universities.
