The first condition for vocational discernment in the Spirit is an authentic experience of faith in Christ, dead and risen, remembering that faith “is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey” (Francis, Lumen Fidei, 57). In Christian communities we sometimes risk presenting, even without intending it, an ethical and therapeutic theism, which responds to the human need for security and comfort, rather than a living encounter with God in the light of the Gospel and in the strength of the Spirit. If it is true that life is awakened solely through life, it becomes clear that young people need to encounter Christian communities that are truly rooted in friendship with Christ, who leads us to the Father in the communion of the Holy Spirit. Chapter I The Gift of Youth Jesus as a young man among the young
TheoFonsAt the sources of the faith