St Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises asks the one doing them to spend time looking at the world from the viewpoint of the Trinity. The person is invited to imagine being with and listening to a conversation between the three divine persons. Ignatius leads us into this prayer by saying we should imagine the Trinity gazing on the world. The Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, looking on the world see:
“men and women being born and being laid to rest, some getting married and others getting divorced, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the happy and the sad, so many people aimless, despairing, hateful, and killing, so many undernourished, sick, and dying, so many struggling with life and blind to any meaning. With God, I can hear people laughing
and crying, some shouting and screaming, some praying, others cursing.”
The Trinity’s response to what they see is to send the Son, Jesus, to become incarnate and live amongst us. When they see all that is happening in the world, the Trinity decides to enter into the mess of human life.
We too are invited to contemplate our world and ask how we can respond, as the Trinity did, to what we see. We are invited to share in the mission of the Trinity by making what the Son showed us, God’s values, our priority and response to our world.
Today South Africa celebrates “Youth Day”. We commemorate the children of 1976 who lost their lives fighting for a better education. As we recall them we are invited to contemplate our society, focusing on young people today specifically.
We will see that many young people are feeling downcast and hopeless in South Africa today. Many young people are doomed to a life of struggle. Youth unemployment in our country has reached pandemic levels. Many young people are daily witnesses to and victims of violence. This violence is not only physical but also psychological and
spiritual.
Just as our Triune God responds to the plight of world by sending Jesus the Son to become one of us and live amongst us, so too, we are being invited to ask how we as individuals or faith communities can respond to young people’s struggles today.
On this youth day consider what contribution you or your community can make to uplift the young people you encounter. It might be, to begin with, as simple as creating a space to listen to them – very often young people feel they are not heard. Maybe you can help a young person by mentoring them. Maybe you can contribute, with a group of others, towards helping a
young person get an education. Maybe you are in the privileged position to offer a young person employment. How can you, or your community, best respond to contemplating the reality of where young people are in South Africa today? Our Triune God responds to us in Jesus, we too, like the Trinity, are invited to respond to what we see.
