Truth and the Young

For this reason, dear friends, I encourage you to strengthen your faith in God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are the future of society and of the Church! As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians of Colossae, it is vital to have roots, a solid foundation! This is particularly true today. Many people have no stable points of reference on which to build their lives, and so they end up deeply insecure. There is a growing mentality of relativism, which holds that everything is equally valid, that truth and absolute points of reference do not exist. But this way of thinking does not lead to true freedom, but rather to instability, confusion and blind conformity to the fads of the moment. As young people, you are entitled to receive from previous generations solid points of reference to help you to make choices and on which to build your lives: like a young plant which needs solid support until it can sink deep roots and become a sturdy tree capable of bearing fruit. 

Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day 2011 Address

I have been reading the Pope's messages to young people lately since after the Encounter.  I'm a little bit troubled by them because it rings so true and despite the truth that it brings, many young people escape it.  Evade it.  And that is the burden I place before the foot of the cross as I wait for Easter today.  That young people do not deceive themselves of the freedom they thought they have already possessed and continue to seek the true freedom that is theirs in Christ.