The Church does not lack initiatives and solid programmes that can allow young people to feel accepted and listened to, and to make their voice heard. Yet the Synod acknowledges that the ecclesial community does not always manage to convey the approach taken by Jesus with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, when he asked them, before enlightening them by his word, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” (Lk 24:17). All too often, there is a tendency to provide pre-packaged answers and ready-made solutions, without allowing young people’s real questions to emerge and to face the challenges they pose. Listening makes possible an exchange of gifts in a context of empathy. It allows young people to make their own contribution to the community, helping it to appreciate new sensitivities and to consider new questions. At the same time listening sets the conditions for a preaching of the Gospel that can touch the heart, truly, decisively and fruitfully.
TheoFonsAt the sources of the faith