A few days ago, I was
shown a video on YouTube from the Night of Mercy Festival at World Youth Day’s
Mercy Center. I had the privilege to be at that event which included, among
other things, Eucharistic Adoration presided by Bishop Robert Barron. I could
go on at great length describing that evening, the very real presence of Christ
in the Eucharist and in the gathered community who united more than 25,000 young members of the Church in praise and adoration. Every detail remains very
real in my memory.
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| Night of Mercy at Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland |
After watching this
video, what I recall above all else is that group of thousands who surrounded
me. While I was having a profound experience of God’s presence, I could not
help but watch the young adults around me. I could see conversion happening in
real time. I could see surrendering and healing happening right before my eyes.
I could see real thanksgiving being expressed through word and song. But I also
experienced a peace-filled silence in what would later that night become the
loudest place in Krakow.
After the event, I was
walking back to the hotel and thought about the critics of young adults—those
who say my generation is self-absorbed, out of touch with the values express by
the Church, unable to quiet down, ungrateful, or unable to worship in a “fitting
way.” These things, without a doubt in my mind, are also sometimes said with a
pessimistic eye to the future of the Church. I thought to myself, “I wish those
people were able to experience what I just experienced.” Well, thanks to
technology, now they are. I would challenge those pessimists to watch what I
saw that night in Krakow, Poland. I would
challenge them to find one person in that video who could not quiet down, who
was not expressing in their own way deeply grateful hearts, who did not look
like their worship was moving them closer to their God.
As I said that night,
“The young church is doing just fine.” It’s time to give young adults a break
and let them do what the Spirit of God is moving them to do for the Kingdom of
God. They won’t disappoint.
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Bill Beechko is a seminarian for the Diocese of Scranton. He is from Mayfield and a member of SS. Anthony and Rocco Parish in Dunmore. He is in Third Theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland.