“Youth are an important face of the church and without them
she would be disfigured” says Benedict XVI. We the novices of sacred Heart Training Center and Novices of Salesian Training Institute were indeed
privileged to attend the three days course on Salesian Youth Ministry which was
animated by Fr. Ajoy Fernandes SDB and Fr. Glenford Lowe SDB. This course
really made us realize that youth work is different from youth ministry. Youth
work includes only activities but youth ministry includes activities and holistic
development. It aims at making youth good Christians and honest citizen. It
follows the method of Preventive System and encourages devotion to Jesus and
Mary.
The Rector Major addressed the youth by telling them “ask us
to accompany you, to pray with you always, to be among you especially when you
need us most. Do not be afraid to bother us. This must never be a nuisance for a Salesian heart because “the boys of Valdocoo and girls of Mornese made Don
Bosco’s heart and Mary Mazzarello’s heart greater”. Don Bosco wanted his every
institute to be a home, a school, a church and a playground, a home that builds
the heart, a school that builds the mind, a church that builds the soul and a
playground that builds the body. These four dimensions of Salesian youth
ministry will help us to make our youth good Christians and honest citizens. We
should always appreciate the strength of the youth and their weaknesses will
disappear. Someone has rightly said “If you want to pluck less weeds plant more
flowers”. Don Bosco was ready to work, suffer, to humble himself when it was a
question of saving a soul. We are called to be travelling companions with the
young. As educators we are called to touch their lives. Youth ministry is not
just working for the youth but a ministry of relationship, mutuality,
self-generative presence. Affirmation of the special gifts of the young, it is
more important than rules regulations, programs and structures. Youth are the
most precious portion of humanity. May we as educators be the hands and feet of
Christ serving the young specially those rejected by the society.
