There were about six hundred young people at this Conference. They took part in teachings, workshops and rallies which were highly animated by the language and the kind of music that resonate with young people. Music is an amazing tool to convey the message of Jesus Christ in a most practical and enduring manner. There was also the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance daily.
I felt really energized in the presence of such a great number of young people in their middle, late teens and early twenties. Shayne Bennett is the presiding elder of the Emmanuel covenant Community and I asked him how this idea of such a conference developed. He told me that it was a choice that the community made to offer its talents, resources, personnel and gifts to as many young people in our parishes as possible. We have always heard how difficult it is to talk to young people about faith in Jesus Christ and to encourage or help young people to maintain an interest in religion.
However, as believers in Jesus Christ we are asked to make choices. It is either a question of keep accepting that things cannot be done because they have been tried before and they did not work. Or else we submit ourselves in daily prayer in asking our God for new opportunities that may come our way in order to continue to do his work. He said that they started these conferences about four years ago when a hundred young people were present. One can only imagine the doubts, the difficulties, the problems and the anxiety that were encountered during that first meeting. Yet they persisted. They remained faithful to their commitment to our Catholic faith and to their deepening of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They were constantly seeking new ways how to relate and how to present the message of Jesus in a way that could touch the hearts of our young people. The results of their perseverance has been the conference of this week.
This is precisely what we find in the readings of today. choices need to be made. The first reading and the gospel present a unified theme. In the first reading from the book of numbers we read about the consternation that arose among some of the leaders that Moses appointed because two other men who were not part of the original group chosen by Moses to help him in leadership started to manifest the great gift of prophecy. Joshua said to Moses "My Lord Moses stop them". In the same manner in today's gospel we see John saying to Jesus "Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him". Both Moses and Jesus reacted negatively to these attitudes. Why stop God's work? Does God work in one way? Has not God got the freedom to do His work in different ways? Why limit God? Moses' reply was "Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all". Jesus reply was pretty much the same, "You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us".
What a lesson for us. Our quality of life as human beings and as believers in Jesus Christ has much to do with the kind of decisions that we make. We can either be a source of negativity and darkness or we can be witnesses of hope and empowerment to ourselves and to others. We can either choose to be swamped by the negative influences that can assail us or we can make a choice against that and to turn what seems to be tragedies into triumphs. This can be achieved through maintaining our daily walk with our God through our prayers, participating actively in the life of the church and through maintaining ourselves formed by attending good conferences, retreats, talks, being part of prayer groups, listening to good music and reading good and solid books about our Catholic faith. We can also become a source of blessing when we take the ordinary situations that come our way and make sure that the way we face these situations in in line with what Jesus has taught us.
Let me give you a few examples taken from today's Gospel. Jesus warns us not to be an obstacle "to bring down one of these little ones who have faith". We have a choice to make. We can either become a stumbling block or a stepping stone. A stumbling block crushes others, while a stepping stone enables and encourages another person.
I am a stumbling block when I am unjust in the way I treat others and I damage their self-confidence. When I fail to understand the weakness and the mistake of others and I write them off and as a result of my harsh condemnation I make them feel as if they are evil. I am a stumbling block when I humiliate others when they do not live up to my expectations. When I keep others down, or hold them back so that I can appear good and grab the limelight thus making them feel inferior. I am a stumbling block when I heap unjust criticisms and destroy the dream and the ideals of those around me.
On the other hand I am a stepping stone when I support others in moments of weakness and doubt, and when we help someone to discover their talents when they feel inadequate. I am a stepping stone when I support others in moments of weakness and doubt and when we help someone to discover their talents when they feel inadequate. I am a stepping stone when I challenge others, not to hurt them but to help them grow and develop their potential or when I accept others, though they have been rejected by so many. I am a stepping stone when I become a light in somebody else's darkness and when I not only give to someone a cup of water to drink but as we were told in today's gospel, when I lead that person into my own well and shared all that I have with him or her.
"Lord Jesus I want to take this opportunity today to re-commit myself to you. I choose you again today, to be my guide and my shepherd. I choose only you to be my god and my Redeemer. I trust you and I desire to live my life according to your teaching. I choose to walk with you again today. Amen".
