FROM
THE METROPOLIS YOUTH & FAMILY
MINISTRIES OFFICE
Embrace
your Potential
By
Pete Sotiras, Director
Once
again, we are in the middle of another
Christmas season.Our malls and department stores
are packed as people try and find the
perfect gift for their families and
friends.There’s no doubt that this
season is one of the biggest shopping
seasons of the year and there’s no
doubt that retailers look to your
generation to sell many of their
products.However, you are more than just a
generation of consumers.Whether you know it or not, you
are a generation that has the potential
to change this world for the better.You have the potential to do
something meaningful, to make a
difference, not 10 or 20 years from now,
but right now.You have the potential to make
this world into what it was meant to be:
Paradise.To understand your potential, let
us look at the meaning of Christmas and
see how it helps to answer how your
generation can be more than consumers.
On
Christmas, we remember and celebrate how
God become a human being.One hymn of the Church tells us
that with Christ’s Incarnation,
“Heaven and earth are made one”.Christmas is about the promised
Messiah entering the world in order to
bring healing, peace, hope and love to
those who were broken, those who had no
hope, and those who had no purpose in
life.Christmas is about our God
entering our world so He could bring us
to Heaven.While all of this is true, we may
be tempted to believe that Christmas is
just an event that happened 2,000 years
ago.We look at the icon of the
Nativity and place this event in the
past.This should not be.Just like He did 2,000 years ago,
Jesus still needs to enter our world in
order to bring healing, peace, hope and
love.He continues to enter our lives
through the sacraments, but not only
through the sacraments.He also enters the world through
His people.Jesus didn’t abandon us when He
ascended into Heaven.He gave His disciples the power
of the Holy Spirit so that they would
carry out that which He started.
Now
it is your turn to step up.I don’t care how old you are.Through the power of Holy Spirit,
your generation can make a difference,
by continuing to bring Christ to a
broken world.How is that possible you may ask?Every day, through our actions,
we manifest Jesus Christ.Whenever we listen to a friend
with a problem, go with our youth group
to a food shelter, say a kind word to
someone at school who has been
mistreated, respond with non-violence to
someone who provokes us, respect our
parents, or refuse to gossip about
someone, Christ enters the world.This Christmas season, I
challenge you and your generation to be
more than consumers.Be a generation that finds its
fulfillment and purpose not in objects
or possessions but in making your home,
your school, your community and your
society a better place. Be a generation
that seeks to bring Christ to the world
and in doing so, brings heaven and earth
together.
