Introduction

In 2018, Pope Francis held a listening session about how to help young people grow in their Catholic Faith and discover God’s plan for their vocation.

The Pope then published his thoughts about what was learned during that listening session in a document called Christus Vivit, Latin for Christ is Alive.

Pope Francis addressed his reflection to people who are young, both as years are counted, and also to older folk who are young at heart.

Youthfulness, he says, is in the heart, a state of mind, an attitude of candor, daring, and the capacity to love, to listen, to learn, and to build a better world.

We are made and kept young, the Pope goes on to say, by things like fidelity to our vocation, prayer, promoting justice and the common good, helping the poor, defending the rights of women, and life from conception to natural death, and caring for the earth, our common home.

People can have a youthful state of mind no matter how old they are; the Pope encourages all of us to cultivate that state of mind after the example of Jesus.

I plan to write my own reflections on the Pope’s reflection, in a series of installments, with a focus on learning our vocation: how we are to follow and partner with Jesus to make the world a better place.

This project is also inspired by one of the mission priorities for the Archdiocese of Dubuque: to promote vocation in general, and the vocation to priesthood in particular.

Regardless of your age, are you youthful, young at heart? What is your personal vocation to partner with Jesus in unfolding the Divine Plan?

This is part of a series by Archbishop Jackels on vocations.  Previous installments of the series can be found here