This morning at the Wednesday morning Mass with some of the teens from our youth group, Fr. Joy made a very interesting point in his homily.  He said that Jesus had to trust his apostles and disciples, that they would carry out the mission he had left for them.

Jesus had to trust others.  He had to trust those he was teaching and guiding.



Jesus had to trust.

Trusting is a very human thing.  It’s something that we have to constantly work on and make a concerted effort to have.  We work to have trustworthy friends and spouses.  We pray that we might be able to trust in the Lord, in His plan for our lives.  Many of us struggle with trusting due to things that have happened to us throughout our life that have broken our ability to easily trust.

And, yet, Jesus had to trust, too.  Jesus, who was God, who knew how it would all turn out, had to work on the very human act of trusting in his followers.

I suppose it stuck with me because I was sitting there among the teens of the youth group.  I love the teens to death.  I love them more than they understand.  I have a frighteningly accurate understanding of the responsibility that has been placed in my hands with these young souls and I take it very seriously.

But, they are still teenagers and they can still make me absolutely crazy.  They often frustrate me to no end (and, I only seen them sporadically throughout the week!  I fear the days when one lives in my house, 24-7!).  They are young, still trying to figure things out.  But me, the adult, I am the one who gets impatient because I want them to “get it already”.  I want the faith light bulb to go off so that I can see the fruits of my labor.  I want to see the seeds that have been planted in their lives, either by me or by others before me, begin to grow and blossom.

Fr. Joy reminded me today, though, that I have to learn from another example given by Christ.  Jesus is patient and He trusts in us.

He trusts ME enough to give me the responsibility of teaching and guiding these teens.  He trusts ME to carry out a small part of the mission of the Church, just like He trusted the apostles and first disciples.  If Jesus, who knows all my imperfections and shortcomings even better than I know them, can entrust me with so much, why can’t I do the same for the young Church?

Teens are still teens and they ain’t perfect.  But, they are such an important part of the Church.  We need them and we need to trust them.  They will be the teachers, youth ministers, priests, sisters, etc. for MY children.  If we who love and serve the Church don’t start trusting them, who will?

I once was a teen who was a mess and made bad choices at times.  But, along the way, people trusted me enough to invest in my faith development and eventually, I was given the chance to share all I learned and was given with others.

My hope is that I can somehow, in some small way, honor God and those people who trusted me so much by following Christ’s example of trusting others, especially, in my case, the young Church.

“You are the future of the world, you are the hope of the Church, you are my hope.” (Pope John Paul II to youth)