What does it mean to live the years of our youth in the transforming light of the Gospel? We need to raise this question, because youth, more than a source of pride, is a gift of God: “To be young is a grace, a blessing”.71SAINT PAUL VI, Address for the Beatification of Nunzio Sulprizio (1 December 1963): AAS 56 (1964), 28. It is a gift that we can squander meaninglessly, or receive with gratitude and live to the full.
God is the giver of youth and he is at work in the life of each young person. Youth is a blessed time for the young and a grace for the Church and for the world. It is joy, a song of hope and a blessing. Making the most of our youthful years entails seeing this season of life as worthwhile in itself, and not simply as a brief prelude to adulthood.