Entering a new stage in life?

IT’S graduation season and we have to find ways to help

those who are in transition from one level of their education to the

next or from their formal education to the beginning of their

professional life.

            We, of course, have to reassure them that everything will

be all right, as long as the necessary prudential norms are taken.

They have to be welcoming to the new experiences they will be having,

together with their new freedom as well as their new responsibilities.

            Nowadays, with the way the developments are taking place,

we have to embolden them to face the challenge of the many new

opportunities with a stout heart, while at the same time pointing out

the possible dangers these opportunities can also occasion.

            To face this challenge, we all need to constantly monitor

things, discerning where they come from and where they are going, what

spirit and ethos animates them, what messages or warnings the signs of

the times are giving us. As much as possible, we have to be pro-active

or anticipative in this regard, not simply reactive.

            Our faith urges us to be always watchful. As Christ once

said, we need to be shrewd as serpents even as we also should remain

innocent as doves. We have to learn to contend with the reality that

while we may be sowing good seed, some bad elements will also sow

weeds. Yes, we have to be patient and strong, but not naïve.

            That is why, more than anything else, we have to help

those concerned to strengthen themselves spiritually, always seeing to

it that their relationship with God who is everything to us is made

more firm.

            We need to understand that one’s relationship is

established and nourished when he learns how to pray, how to make

sacrifices, how to have recourse to the sacraments, how to deepen his

knowledge of the faith, how to lead a moral life consistent with that

faith, etc.

            What is certainly helpful in this task is for us to be

firmly grounded on our faith, which gives us a complete picture of

what is truly proper to us, and at the same time, to be very

open-minded so we can promptly catch the winds of change and adjust

our sails according to a pre-determined course.

            We should try to avoid the extremes of mindless and

heartless rigidity, on the one hand, and undirected flexibility, on

the other. For sure, if we know our faith well, this is what we will

learn.

            Our faith teaches us to be constant in doing good, while

patient in going through the twists and turns of our freedom. We have

to learn how to flow with the times without getting lost. In a sense,

we should try to be sport in this task. We will make many attempts to

win in some way, but we should know how to move on even after some

defeats.

            Our faith will teach us to continue to evangelize the

world, always adapting our evangelization to the new sensitivities of

the people. “Non novus sed noviter,” we are told, preaching not new

things but in a new way.

            In this concern, everyone should help one another. The

families, the schools, the parishes and other institutions should be

properly equipped to extend the help that everyone needs.

            Those concerned should be helped to learn how to open up

to some competent people so that they can be more effectively helped

in their concrete personal issues, difficulties and problems. The

practice of personal spiritual direction should be fostered.

            That’s why everything should be done to encourage personal

friendship and dialogue that is inspired by the Christian spirit.