Small moments really
make impact
Big events with big attendance numbers often make a big splash in the news (the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., marks a notable exception). Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the closing Mass for World Youth Day with 350,000 young people from all over the world in Sydney, Australia last Sunday. A big event for sure, and a vast crowds said by one observer to be Australia’s largest public gathering ever.
Sometimes, though, it’s the small moments that really make an impact. Case in point was half a world away in Doylestown, also last Sunday, when about 500 young people celebrated the closing Mass of local World Youth Day with Msgr. James Beisel and many priests, religious and family members. The numbers in attendance weren’t eye-popping. But considering that temperatures rose into the high 90s with high humidity while young pilgrims processed three miles to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa on Saturday, then prayed together on Sunday, their joyful, prayerful celebration appears even more remarkable; modest numbers, but a powerful witness of faith.
With all the inspiring words spoken over the weekend, one sentence should give pause to any Catholic concerned about the participation of young people in the Church. As reported in the Bucks County Courier Times, 12-year-old Sheila McCluskey of St. Teresa of Avila School in Norristown said, “I wanted to come because I was invited. I thought it would be fun.”
Maybe the parish’s youth ministry coordinator invited Sheila, or perhaps it was her pastor. Maybe it was a friend who also thought the event would be fun.
Whoever invited Sheila to the local World Youth Day celebration had the right idea. If we each take the initiative to invite young people — to come to fun church event (yes, those words can go together), to consider a vocation, to discover the rich benefits of prayer in the Eucharist, to pray the rosary or meditate in private prayer each day — they will respond.
No matter how many respond, the point is that they can’t come if they aren’t aware. And being invited to share in an event is more effective than merely telling someone about it. Young people do respond with a great outpouring of enthusiasm and love for the Church. It’s inspiring, certainly, but also instructive. If we want them and their somewhat older brothers and sisters to share more deeply in our holy faith, then let’s invite each other to do so with confidence
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