GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOUNG PEOPLE
Fr Roy Panell, a retired parish priest from Chesterfield, encourages young people to share their divine insights with others.
JESUS SPEAKS
One day, out of the blue, Jesus exclaimed, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children!” (Matthew 11:25) I wonder why He burst out with something like this. What had brought it on? Had a child spoken to him? Did some young guy go up to him and say something amazing? It was so remarkable that someone took the trouble to record the occasion for us. It was as if Jesus had just made a wonderful discovery.
WISDOM
Yes, it is true. Jesus said that God our loving Father has a lot to show and much wisdom to reveal to young people, about Himself, about the world and about growing up in this world. There are many wonderful things that are important for them to know. Things that will help them to make sense of their lives, things that will help make their lives much richer. So, what is He showing you? What has He helped you to understand?
DISCOVERY
Certain things He reveals will be for your ears only, perhaps about things that you have told the Lord in confidence. But other things He will want you to share. In other words, we all have so much to learn from you who are young, and growing up with us in the Church. You have already begun your life’s journey as a Child of God and will already have discovered lots of things that have helped you on that journey. Some of these you can share with the rest of us, to help us and to benefit the whole church.
EXAMPLES
It may be something that you are learning about prayer or how to show love to people you find difficult to deal with. It could be about the strength you can receive through the Sacraments or how to help people in need. Maybe it is about finding courage to be proud of your loyalty to Jesus. All of us, young and older, have so much to learn from each other and it doesn't matter if our journey is well on the way or if we have just begun it.
SHARING
How do we share these things with each other? Well, we all do it quite naturally with our friends, sometimes it seems right to share them with our families but remember what Jesus said, “I bless you Father, Lord of heaven and earth for hiding these things from the learned and the clever, and showing them to children.” When Jesus discovered this Divine truth, He wanted to share it with everyone in the world and of course He has! Otherwise we wouldn't know anything about it. And that was in the days before e-mail, mobile phones and social media! So perhaps we must learn to say, from time to time, “I bless you Father, Lord of all creation for showing me that.................” You can fill in the blanks!
DO YOU HAVE ANY WISDOM TO SHARE?
Has the Lord revealed His Divine wisdom to you? Have you been given any insights or inspiration that might help others in their journey of faith? If you would like to share these, then write to us at kfkmag@gmail.com and we will publish the best ones.
