One of the odd things about growing up is that at every stage in your development you meet people who don't think you are ready to contribute to the world because you just aren't old enough yet. This, I guess, keeps happening pretty much until the age at which they say you are too old to contribute.
I was lucky enough to go to a meeting of the tertiary franciscans (lay people who take vows to live a franciscan life and be a franciscan presence in their families and communities) from our local area, and... yes... I was the youngest person in the room. But, unlike lots of events at church/school/uni/work/wherever, people actually seemed quite enthusiastic that I was there. And actually, I had to work quite hard to get people to share their own experiences, so interested were they in learning about mine at Hilfield.
The prophet Joel wrote: 'I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.'
The most venerable and complex role (interpreting dreams - think of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dreams about skinny and fat cows!) is left to the elderly, the most experienced in society. But the most vibrant gift of the Holy Spirit, that of prophecy, the act of MAKING GOD'S MESSAGE SPEAK TO ORDINARY PEOPLE, is left to the young.
The first Christian martyr, St Stephen (cf. Acts 7), stoned to death for preaching that
Jesus was the Son of God, probably in his late twenties.
St Luke puts Joel's words into St Peter's mouth in Acts 2:17 when Peter is trying to convince a crowd of Jerusalemites (hardy city-folk who are convinced the disciples must be pissed when they start preaching the Gospel!) of just how exciting the Church can be when it is open to God.
How exciting life can be, when we are ALL open to the Spirit acting through ALL of us.
Brother Douglas (or Brodo for short) was a co-founder of the Anglican Franciscans. Here's what he had to say on the subject in 1942:
Some of our wisest thinkers are wondering today how democracy will work in the post-war world - unless a new spirit of unselfishness is born in every individual and every class, unless in our economic life the motive of private profit is somehow transformed into the motive of public service... and we ask is there any hope of eradicating the selfishness ingrained in the very structure of our social order? Can we exorcize this acquisitive instinct that is so rampant, and awaken that higher instinct of joy in loving service which we might have seen predominant if only Christ had been accepted as the Lord of our life?
It may be that the fate of our civilization will depend on whether there are enough Christian leaders among the younger generation who will give up at least part of their life to win people for Our Lord in this way.
When I first started talking to people about my vocation to be a priest, the first response was usually along the lines of, "Yes, that's all well and good, but you're far too young to be able to offer any real help to anyone."
Bollocks to that.
My prayer tonight is for more young people to have the courage to come forward, to answer God's call, whatever people around them say. We need them more than we realise.
Father,
pour out your Spirit on all your children,
young and old.
Give us the courage to listen to you
and not to those who try to put us down;
so that we may do what you want
and not what they want.
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