Airports are meeting places, waiting rooms for a humanity in constant transit. While I waited for my connecting flight at the sumptuous Doha airport, on my way to Nairobi, I saw a group of young people wandering like free birds, indifferent to the commercial spaces offered to them. They chatted as they walked down the halls, making their way through the crowd. Later, I saw the same group again at the boarding gate to Nairobi. Although numerous, they seemed like a family. I thought they might be students on a graduation trip, but I soon realized they were young Catholics, accompanied by a priest. Once in Nairobi, I asked the priest “who they were and what they were doing.” He told me they belonged to a Catholic movement. They were in Kenya for a month of volunteering. I said goodbye to the group. The priest humorously asked me: “Please, pray for these savages.” They all laughed loudly, and within seconds, they were gathered for a family photo. A happy and committed family.
When we look back on our vocational journey, we realize there were key moments, foundational experiences, periods when our eyes were “opened” to a new reality. These are kairos moments—moments of grace with great transformative potential. After such a vision, we can no longer live as we did before, as if nothing had changed. A certainty takes root, an idea in seed form that germinates slowly and determinedly, seeking to take shape in a new adventure. The person “knows without knowing,” though timidly, what they want to do with the gift of their own life. Perhaps they will find someone—a vocational guide—who will help them grow and find the light in the public space.
Youth is a time of dreams that shape a new identity. Young people are very generous, driven by timeless questions: Why is there evil in the world? Why is there inequality? What should I do to respond to the problems of my brothers and sisters? What should I dedicate my life to? Where is God? Why don’t adults commit to causes like peace and ecology?
Many vocational stories begin precisely at this age. When they experience something like a summer camp, a volunteering period in a land of great material need, a WYD, a Taizé meeting, a pilgrimage to a shrine, among others, their “eyes are opened” and nothing can ever be the same. An unexpected epiphany compels them to change direction. There is a desire to begin a new story, faithful to the novelty that springs from deep within. New paths open. They are willing to give everything, like someone who has found great love. And thanks to that great love, everything is possible!
Far beyond formal celebrations and document production, closed assemblies and devotional practices as pious entertainment, offering such experiences could also bring about the revitalizing effect we long for in our communities.
Our institutions—provinces and vice-provinces, branches of the family and parishes—should promote these kinds of initiatives among young people. It would be an honorable way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Little Company. Beyond protocol festivities and the production of documents, closed assemblies and devotional practices as forms of pious entertainment, offering these experiences could also bring about the revitalizing effect we desire for our communities.
F. Nélio Pita, CM
