The great WYD that awaits us

This week, in Lisbon, the celebration of the World Youth Day It will awaken, in many, feelings of nostalgia. Who would be 20 years old again! But, come to think of it, being young is no big deal.

Eternal youth is one of those idols with feet of clay that, ever since man has been man, has deceived, humiliated and enslaved millions of people. Wanting to be what one is not turns the individual into a weather vane incapable of directing the course of his life because he will depend for everything on the opinion of others. The obsession to look young, to not grow old, has a lot to do with the fear of death typical of a culture that has buried this human reality to avoid the transcendent question, and with the fear of being rejected typical of a materialistic and pansexualized society that gives priority to physical attractiveness over the rest of the qualities of the person. The fear of growing old is fear of living!

I do not agree with the generalized opinion that youth is the best time of life, because young people also suffer from their own problems. From the perspective that my almost half century of life gives me, I can say that each stage can be wonderful if we adapt rationally to the particularities of each age group, without skipping steps or becoming stagnant. At every moment there are advantages and disadvantages.

The happy unconsciousness of childhood is often accompanied by complexes or traumas; the brilliant spring of adolescence and youth comes with the consequent emotional crisis; adulthood, in physical and mental plenitude, brings with it the hardness of the beginnings of work and family life; in maturity, when one seems to have life under control, come the problems with the children; and when retirement age arrives and one begins to have time for oneself and to enjoy one's hobbies, the first ailments also come.

And then? Well, the second, third and fourth, but also the serenity and enjoyment that wisdom offers in the face of the small details of life. How much joy and hope I have seen in the elderly who, from faith, await without fear the future that awaits them and that has no end!

So what is the best time? The one in which we accept everything that comes to us with gratitude, both the good and the bad. Because God is always present, accompanying us, rejoicing with us and suffering at our side. For, as the Council reminds us, "the Son of God by his incarnation has united himself, in a certain sense, with every human being". That is, with every baby, with every child, with every adolescent, with every young person, with every adult or mature woman, with every elderly person....

We are called to sanctify with Him every moment of our life, with its riches and shortcomings, with its virtues and its defects. Happiness consists in being able to elevate each stage to the level of God, as Jesus did.

So, young people who are preparing to experience the WYDWSeize the moment, open your ears to the words that the Holy Father will give you and your heart to what the Holy Spirit will tell you through him. You do not have to wait for tomorrow, you do not have to wait to grow to reach the fullness of life and happiness. Now is a unique opportunity, do not throw it away.

What about those of us who are no longer young? Are we going to be left in a corner, as some people pretend, making us feel guilty about turning years old? Or are we going to make fools of ourselves by becoming eternal adolescents? None of that! Let us also take advantage of the opportunity given to us by the vital moment in which each one of us finds ourselves.

And those who grow older, let them not lose hope. Let them look for the voice of God behind every wrinkle, every sore knee, every hair that falls out or whitens. They are the preparation to celebrate the best and most multitudinous world meeting in history, they are signs of the call to the great WYD that awaits us, in which we will all begin to live together in eternal youth.