By Fr Jason Smith
Young missionaries carrying the cross down Broadway on Good Friday. I love the contrast between consumerism and Christianity in this picture.
I recall standing in line at a Starbucks waiting for a double shot of espresso, when a young man behind me asked if I was a priest. I told him yes and he proceeded then and there to pour out his life’s story, how he had tried everything (not referring to the menu) and it had all left him empty. I asked him if he had ever sincerely tried living the faith. He had not.
This young man’s story is not unique. I run into this feeling of emptiness in so many of the youth I work with.
What I find perplexing and even shocking is that, on the one hand, young people have more things that should fill them than anyone their age throughout history: Opportunity, education, technology, medicine, social networks, travel, freedom, and the list goes on; yet, on the other, many feel so empty they will do almost anything to escape, even resorting to cutting and suicidal thoughts or attempts. One could opine this is nothing new, but I am finding it be increasing in frequency every year that I’ve been directly involved in youth work.
Perhaps it is unfair to tag the emptiness so many feel only upon our post-Christian, materialistic, and relativistic culture. I know there are many other sources of depression. But still, even if I’m being over simplistic, one must admit that most people today have everything except a real relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe that to be the root of the problem.
I can’t help but compare the emptiness of so many with the fullness that Christ promises in the Gospel and the fullness many have experienced when they open their hearts to the Lord.
I think here of six young people I know and have worked with who were contemplating ending it all–not because of a medical depression–and now, having found Christ and rejecting the emptiness of the culture, are transformed.
We all sense deep down that the world cannot, will not fill us. Yet today everyone seems to have bought into the lie that it can, and when it doesn’t and it leaves us torn apart, what’s left?
The Lord’s teaching is the opposite. We must die to the world but in doing so we find true life and are “filled with the utter fullness of God.” Eph. 3:19
I wish everyone would try that.
Biltrix 
Good post!
But, you “which”, or you “wish?”
Thanks Fr Matthew. I whitsch everone wood cach my tipoes.
Secularism sure can take over our lives if we let it. The culture today isn’t friendly to God and Christianity either. That coupled with peer pressure can often lead to depression and loneliness or feeling lost in life when young.
Great post!
The onslaught of secularism is brutal and potentially irreversible (humanly speaking) at this point. Yet with God, all things are possible. Today more than ever in our post-modern culture we need to evangelize. Thank you for your comment, Teresa.
While I do agree with the deeply-rooted Christian understanding that “the world” is often full of empty promises, (and there is much truth in this), I am often sad to see some fellow Catholics/Christians shunning and being automatically wary of so-called ‘secular’ culture. Perhaps by doing this we are not giving enough credit to God, who dwells in ALL places, and whose voice can be found in all places, EVEN, dare I say, in secular culture. God is bigger than that, and as Christians we must bear witness to him wherever we find Him, and we will be surprised the myriad of places we do in fact find Him!!
Thank you for your post and insightful comment. I agree with you and think you make an excellent point. The answer isn’t found in retreating from “the world” into a fortress or shunning it. Our culture has a lot of wonderful things to offer. The point I wanted to make is when what the culture has to offer is seen as an absolute or all that there is, that is precisely when it leaves us empty, and I see that more and more frequently today.
Beautifully stated …
Thanks, Interface.
Sadly, some young people pile up a lot of testimony before the meaninglessness of their life choices hits them. Oh, that eyes would be opened sooner than later.
Educating young people is always a challenge. Today we are seeing the need more to step up to the plate and guide them better. The stakes are too high to let discourage stop us.
Someone directed my attention to this well written article that was recently published and backs the point made above: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/11/17/what-want-parents-to-know-about-teens-and-cutting/