We adults have a serious problem: we always speak to you, young people, as if the past were better. I want to tell you that this is not true. With age, one tends to idealise what one lived through. I want to apologise to you. "To love our time" (Saint Marie Eugénie) is essential. You are living an extraordinary time! Life expectancy is high, as is access to better treatments and medicines; technology has become an incredible tool for making daily life easier; topics of conversation that were once taboo have become everyday matters, fostering more honest and open dialogue; there is an open awareness of human diversity — from the sexual to the ideological — and of the importance of unconditional respect for the dignity of every human being; globalisation opens doors to study and professional growth as never before; your ecological reflection is action. Truly, what a wealth of blessings!
This may sound like unrealistic optimism; rather, this snapshot of the present still needs to acknowledge the challenges it carries, for they exist in every age. The challenges you have to face are strong, and they must be recognised so that you can take them on and live them in the best possible way.
Overexposure to the digital world is a major one. Unlike some adults, you can see, hear and almost feel, in a continuous way, all kinds of information and content that bombard the mind, the body and the spirit. Your mental, social and emotional health depends largely on what you choose to listen to, watch and experience. This is very complex, and you must be very wise in order to choose well. Be especially careful with sexual content that is highly eroticised; with violent content that is highly grotesque; with racist content that is deeply mistaken; with ideological content that is heavily contaminated; and with consumerist content that is heavily manipulative.
If you do not take care of what you choose and do not filter everything you are exposed to, this bombardment will take away the best of each of you: your life, your health, your mental and emotional balance; and you will depend on external things to feel valuable and worthy of love. There is no worse mistake. Each of you is a beloved child of God from the moment of conception, and He wants you to live in health, fulfilled, with plans for life (not for death), with healthy and loving relationships, in safe and happy environments. He gives you every ability and talent to achieve it… it depends on you and your daily decisions.
A deep spiritual life, aware of your transcendence, is an essential foundation for achieving this, together with caring for your nourishment, exercising and taking responsibility for what falls to you at home, at school, at work and in the community. Live meaningful in-person experiences: volunteering, missions, retreats, commitment to an NGO; develop your vocation with a sense of service, transcendence and hope.
Bound up with this challenge is that of remaining consistent; that is, that there be no inner conflict between what you feel and what you express, what you do and what you think, and so in every area of your life. Consistency is not easy, but it is the best way to live, because it allows you to remain faithful to yourself and to your fundamental values, the values of the Gospel.
To live and "to be in fullness," leaving a mark of love and service, is the call for everyone… especially for you.
Lourdes Canales
Province of Ecuador – Mexico