Welcome to the Become who you Are podcast , a production of the John Paul II Renewal Center . I'm Jack Riggert , your host . I'm so glad you're joining me .
I've been doing a series , as you may well know , trying to put it out every Friday or Saturday , depending on my schedule , to young people , and not just young people , but young at heart and those who want to help young people because they've been lied to about so much , so much confusion . Well , why the confusion ? Because we've forgotten God .
We've forgotten the larger story . So this is chapter three . So this is chapter three , which would be episode number four . I did an introduction to it's part of a broader work that I'm doing . Actually , I completed it and now I'm getting it ready for maybe even publication here . We'll see how it goes , but anyways , it's based on Delecti Amici .
It's an apostolic letter that John Paul II wrote in 1985 to young people , and this is , like I said , chapter three , part three , and this is my writing . He did a framework there and I took his framework and just expanded on it , because he's speaking to young people .
This one I titled Youth is a Treasure , following John Paul's work and that eros , this power , this infinite power within us , you know , searching for all the true , the good and the beautiful , especially the beauty of love . It's this erotic power , this atomic energy within us . Love .
It's this erotic power , this atomic energy within us especially within young people , but within all of us , hopefully and eros as a path to truth , this untwisting of our hearts , so that we can find the truth , look for the truth and actually be like a rocket that propels us to eternal life . I want to talk to you about youth as a treasure itself .
You see , when young people are and when I'm speaking to young people , these are young people that may have went to World Youth Day in John Paul's time . That's who he was thinking about , so let's call them teenagers . You know late teenagers to . You know 20s even . Some even went in their late 20s to World Youth Days . So I want to talk to them .
I want to talk to you . I want to talk to you about this treasure of youth itself , because it's a time for discovery . It's a time to take in the awe and wonder of what it means to be a human being , to be you , and we come into a crazy time . This is a perilous time and we got to get cut through the confusion .
You're going to have to make a decision which path you want to be on . But you came into this world at a particular time in history , exploded upon this stage .
We call our lives a drama into a story , and you're going to be told by this crazy , twisted , distorted , evil Western culture that the drama that you came into is a meaningless vacuum that you just got to make up . These people , the leaders today , the world elites they're clueless . They're really clueless and evil and evil . But you got to take heart .
This battle's been going on for a longer time , but you got to understand the bigger story and then you're going to be able to find meaning and purpose to your life . Right , we're pilgrims on this , on this journey .
Your smaller story and what you know of it so far , who you know around you , is part of a larger story that's been unfolding since human history began the truly exciting awe and wonder of this whole cosmos and it's linked to what's happening in your heart and it's discovered .
Your path is discovered when you find out how you fit in , how your heart and your great desires , your eros , fits into the context of this larger story that you were created within .
It's a story full of meaning and purpose , one that is created , true , good and beautiful , and especially important is that , one that opens up the beauty of love to you , that atomic power , that energy of the soul that has the power to take you again to the stars , to blast you all the way up into eternal divine love himself , the person of love , god himself
. And for those of you who are a little bit older , this is also for you . God wants you to know his eternal plan for yourself , and also that you can pass it on to the young , no matter where you are in this pilgrimage .
Think of your life as a ship that's sailing on a trip to discover the cosmos , to discover the meaning and purpose of life , and it has a destination . It's going someplace , but with a navigation system that is steering you . You're not at the wheel , you're not at the control of this . We know this already , don't we ?
This is your time , your destiny , your eternal life . You're in the ship . It's a journey with a destination , and we are not the captain , or we better not be , for we haven't been given the entire details of the map , have we ? We came into a story and we're here to discover it . Luckily for us , we have someone to guide us on the path .
We have to trust that we're not in charge , but we're being guided by Jesus Christ , god , the Father , the Holy Spirit and the whole crew he's given us on this journey .
Angels , saints , family members , your parish , maybe , the store clerk down the street , all these people that you come in contact with , perhaps , are giving you clues , sometimes just tiny clues , but you got to watch for the clues to all .
That's true , good and beautiful , and let your navigation system align with the navigation system of the captain that's steering this boat . Allow God to be the navigator . You are just a crew member , huh , along with all the other crew members , and you have your job to do . This is a perilous time in human history .
We live in a post-Christian culture , a post-Christian Western civilization , where men and women have forgotten God and that allows evil to run rampart all over the world . Even our country , our beautiful United States , founded on Judeo-Christian principles , values . A law is being dismantled .
You've got Joe Biden right now seeking to put his political opponent in prison while simultaneously provoking Russia into a nuclear war . That's unneeded , unnecessary . They're both evil . These are deep roots that are pushing evil Evil . Think about Joe Biden pushing right when he came into office . Abortion , child sacrifice huh .
And then , if a child makes it out of the womb , wants to render them sterile with this so-called affirming care , huh . Annihilate the bodies , annihilate and mutilate the bodies of our poor young people through these gender ideologies . You know this is an illusion . This won't end well . So what can we do ? What can we do ?
We've got to make a decision and not a half-hearted decision . There are two roads leading to two cities . Those cities are the city of God eternal life or the city of man eternal death . This is a larger story .
If you came into a story in a particular place at a particular time , we all did , and there's two forces out there , one for good and one for evil , and you're going to have to decide . You know all of Scripture . When you read Scripture every day , it's speaking and speaking of this . The first letter of John , chapter two , verse 15 .
Do not love the world or the things of the world . If anyone loves the world , love for the Father is not in him , for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of God , but of the world , and the world passes away , and the lust of it , but he who does the will of God abides forever .
You know , we have 1 Peter . It's something one of my favorite ones . 1 Peter , chapter 5 , verse 6 here . Humble yourselves , therefore , under the mighty hand of god that in due time , he may exalt you . Cast all your anxieties on him , for he cares about you , but be sober , be watchful .
Your adversary , the devil , prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour . Resist them , firm in your faith , knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world .
And after you have suffered a little while , the God of all grace , who has called you to the eternal glory of Christ , will himself restore , establish and strengthen you . To him be the dominion forever and ever . Amen . That's from Peter . Let me read you one more from John . I mean this is from James .
This is James , chapter four , right in the beginning A friendship with the world or a friendship with God . He says what causes wars , what causes fightings among you ? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members ? You desire and do not have , so you kill . And you covet and cannot obtain , so you fight and wage war .
You do not have because you do not ask . You ask and do not receive because you ask , wrongly , to spend it on your passions . This is the world that's given over to its passions of sin and death . You know , jesus himself talks about these different paths In Matthew 6 , at the very , very toward the end , verse 24 , serving two masters .
No one can serve two masters , for he either will hate the one and love the other , or he will be devoted to one and despise the other . You cannot serve God and seek just riches and power .
In chapter 7 , he says , verse 7 , he says Ask and it will be given to you , seek and you will find , knock and it will be opened for you , for everyone who asks receives , and he who seeks finds , and he who knocks it will be opened . And then he says you have to enter through the narrow gate .
These are the two gates , the two roads the narrow gate or the broad road . Almost everybody comes into this world and lands on the broad road . You have to exit to find the narrow gate .
And Jesus in verse 13 , this is still Matthew 7 , verse 13 , he tells us enter by the narrow gate and he , of course , is the narrow gate , for the gate is wide and the way is easy . That leads to destruction . And those that enter it are many , for the gate is narrow and the way is hard . That leads to life , and those that find it are few .
Do you hear that ? Those that find it are few . I'm going to talk a little bit about youth as a special treasure . This is this time for discovery to get on the right path . This is a great time to be alive because it's becoming so clear this battle between good and evil .
And if you haven't been compelled to get on that narrow , to take that narrow gate and find the city of God before , certainly , certainly certain , when you look around the world right now and you're confused , step into this larger story and choose the good , choose God , buckle up and get ready .
For In the Gospel of Matthew you remember , if you recall the last couple of episodes that I've been talking about there was a rich young man that asked Jesus you know , how do I find eternal life ? How do I find that ? What do I look for ? What do I do ?
And Jesus says to him and I'm just paraphrasing it you know , you know the commandments , you know how to live . He says I've done all of that . And he says okay , you have one more thing . He's a rich young man and he says go sell all your possessions and then come and follow me .
And the young man looked away , sorrowful , because he had many possessions , he didn't want to get rid of them , he didn't want to make that choice . Youth is a special treasure . John Paul says Youth is that treasure , that richness and eros , this great desire of the human heart .
If you understood it and allowed Jesus to untwist , that for you is a path to truth . So John Paul says that youth is that special treasure . He says it's not just money and wealth and stuff , it's youth right now . There are , however , reasons and there are also objective reasons for thinking of youth as a special treasure .
John Paul says that a person experiences at a particular period in his or her life . It's a period which is certainly distinguished from the period of childhood that you've come out of . It is precisely the time when one leaves those years of childhood and starts to look out , but we're not at full maturity yet .
So this is a time that you can discover yourself , put yourself on the right path , for the period of youth , john Paul said , is a time of a particularly intense discovery of the human eye . Who am I , what's my purpose ? And the properties and the capacities connected with that story ? You have this in your heart , huh .
Before the inner gaze of that developing personality within you , the young man or woman , there's a gradually and successively revealed story that's opening up , in a sense , unique and unrepeatable potentiality of a concrete human being , which is you , in which there was inscribed your whole plan of your future . Life is coming before you . What path do you go into ?
Life presents itself as this carrying out of that plan . Again , think about yourself in this boat , looking for self-fulfillment . How do I fulfill myself ? You fulfill yourself , actually , by giving yourself away , but that's a story that you have to enter into , to open yourself up to that captain of the ship who will journey with you .
The question naturally deserves an explanation from many points of view though , of course , but to express it in a few words , one can say that the treasure which is you reveals itself in precisely this shape or form .
This is the treasure of discovering and , at the same time , of organizing , choosing , foreseeing and making the first personal decisions , decisions that will be important for your whole future , in the strictly personal dimension of human existence .
At the same time , these decisions that you make are of considerable social importance , importance not only to you but those around you and those you come in contact with .
See , the rich young man in the gospel was in this existential phrase John Paul says when we're starting to go out into the world and starting to find out who you are and affect the whole world .
Therefore , in the final words , about these great possessions that this young man has meaning , wealth can be understood precisely in this sense the treasury which is youth itself . See , that young man had youth . What was he gonna to do for the rest of his life ?
Take these riches that were passed down to him and just grasp and take them and try to what , build up more of those without really knowing . You know what is this path , what is this meaning to my whole life ? So , this youth that we're in , you're in , is it time to find your path , which there are fundamentally two .
Again , that broad highway of the world , or we get into the narrow gate . It's the city of man or the city of God . Going someplace . And here John Paul challenges you , dear young people , pay attention , your life is not an endless series of open doors . Listen to your heart .
Do not stay on the surface , but go to the heart of things , deep within and , when the time is right , he said , have the courage to decide . Young people are often attracted and enticed by the world and its material goods and promises , find themselves , by default , living on this broad road . Yet many are anxious , unfulfilled , seeking something more .
Nobody's telling them what that more is . That's what we're talking about here , because you're seeking the truth , seeking answers to timeless questions . But how often do you encounter shepherds , and even in the church ? How often do you encounter shepherds ?
And even in the church , our so-called church leaders , the educators in the school systems , even family members , even church goers , who say they're going to church but aren't really living that out ? They're no different than the rest of the world .
This is an injustice done to the young , and our Lord will judge all of us harshly for not protecting them , for not sharing the truth with them . We as a church , as a people of God , as the body of Christ , must respond to young people who are seeking nothing less than the answers to the timeless questions of the human heart who am I ?
What's the meaning and purpose of my life . Why were we created , male and female ? How do I find happiness , joy and peace in this world , here and then on forever ? And then that forever means how do I find love in this world that lasts forever and takes me into the lover himself , that brings me into eternal life ?
I led my small team from the John Paul II Renewal Center , next door to a Catholic high school , just in time for morning mass . We were there to present an all-day retreat and we filed in just behind the sophomore class who we'd be spending the next eight hours with . We were there to share John Paul II's beautiful biblical vision of love with them .
As I was behind those students , looking at all those students they looked bigger and older , more mature than 16 years old . I prayed for them and our team sensed that God's presence was there and knew that he wanted to reach their hearts through us . But he would be there .
He would be there navigating the ship with us After mass , walking downstairs to this conference room , one of the teachers on the way down the stairs said to me good luck with this class . They're going to be a handful .
Many of them , the teacher said , are not here really for a Catholic education , but because the school is known to recruit the best athletes from the whole area . College talent scouts know this . Students are heavily recruited too . I smile back . That may be true , but God is passionate too , and I know that he's out recruiting for his team .
The morning session had gone well , the first of four and I led 15 boys down the hallway to our small group breakout room . I opened up . I asked them if they had one memory in high school that stood out for them so far . How would they sum up high school through one major memory that happened to them of school .
We went around the room and everybody shared something Then , before I could turn the subject back to the material we presented in the morning . So I wanted to discuss that . The boys then turned to me and they said they wanted to know if I had a memory that stood out from my high school days . Ah , that's easy .
I said it was my junior year , the first day of the school year and 10 minutes before the opening bell , and I was surrounded by my teammates on the football team . We were all of us high energy , talking , laughing , excited about the new year and our upcoming game , the season opener that we had practiced for all summer long . And then it happened .
I glanced up and there she was , walking down the corridor in my direction . The way she walked , different somehow Her long wavy hair , her dark , long wavy hair , a glow and an energy about her that made her stand out like a light between the other girls that she was with . Time stood still in that moment for me . Who was she ?
I could no longer hear the guys In a sea of bodies coming down that hallway . I saw only one body and my heart pounded . She was so beautiful .
What is this mysterious force of attraction that's so powerful that today , so many years later , I still have that scene not only etched vividly in my memory , but I can feel this little ache in my heart as I even share it with you .
The Greek philosopher Plato called it eros a force that somehow imposes itself on human beings as a kind of intoxication , the overpowering of reason by a divine madness which tears man away from his finite existence and enables him , in the very process of being overwhelmed by divine power , to experience supreme happiness .
Whoa , this is the power of Eros that we're talking about today . When I was sharing that story with the young men , we opened up a discussion then , about Eros , about the burning desires of the human heart .
What we talked about is not trivial desires or superficial wants , right , but the atomic energy of our souls , that universal ache and longing we feel deep within our hearts for something more . Where does this hunger come from ? Why do we have it ? What are we supposed to do with it ? Most important , is there anything to fill it ?
John Paul II called this powerful initial movement love is attraction , recognize the good in another person , seeing their outer beauty , sensing their inner beauty , and we're attracted . Almost our takes our breath away .
But see , at this stage it's , this is , this might be the raw material for love , but it has a long way to go to move from this initial stage to authentic love . This is where the confusion lies so often in our culture . My heart goes out to you . I told them and I'm telling you now . You're growing up in a very twisted , distorted , toxic culture .
You've been repeatedly lied to about the very basics concerning the meaning of marriage , the family , what authentic love is , the true meaning of sex and sexuality . And more Particularly disturbing is the sexual indoctrination , grooming , desensitizing of our children's consciences . You've gone through that in public schools . In a word .
The culture coerces young people who are seeking love and relationships . They have this innocence about them and in fact they twist and distort it . So , in fact , we sabotage our chances to find authentic love as we grow older Because we're told to sexualize those relationships . That love has been reduced to a feeling and then down to sex .
But by sexualizing this raw material for love , this eros that I was describing earlier , love is attraction .
Before it's matured , young people are being robbed not only of their intellect but of their hearts and , strikingly , it's damaging the very ability of our young people to experience or intellectually understand what this eros even is , what erotic love is , erotic love that takes place between a man and a woman in the sacrament of marriage that's what this is pointing
to to become one with that beauty that you see , one forever . What does that mean ? This authentic love and giving ourselves away . See marriage , the sacrament of marriage . That's the bond that creates and holds our societies and even nations together . It creates and holds our societies and even nations together , eschewing the beauty of love .
What does our culture tell us to do ? Settle for lust and utilitarianism , using one another , and you'll never find the banquet , though , that God has prepared for you .
You're growing up in a culture that's reduced the beauty of authentic love and eros to a feeling again , and then further to sex , to the point that your immoral imagination has been obliterated by pornography and these gender ideologies .
As confused as I was in my time by the sexual revolution of the 60s and the 70s , your generation's confusion is multiple times worse . It's continued to get distorted and twisted . A George Barna research study found that 30% of millennials born between 1984 and 2002 identify as LGBTQ .
Where hardly any none of the baby boomers did , now we're up to almost 40% of Generation Z , ages 18 to 24 . It only seems to get worse . It's madness , actually , but in the midst of the darkness and confusion caused by the vacuum of moral relativism comes a voice with some very good news . There will always be those who will not settle and give up .
Give up on that hope that is within them . As I spoke to that class and we had the rest of that retreat today those young people responded so you see , the more the world deprives young people of what's true , good and beautiful , the more earnestly they will yearn for it . We got to put them in touch with it .
It , though , because this vacuum of modern secularism actually becomes a fragrant invitation for young people to rediscover the sacred . You know you want something more if you're in touch with your hearts . Young people yearn for meaning , beauty and freedom . In your bodies you feel love stirring and you want to seek it . You want to go out and find it .
Of course we're called to do this . This love is attraction , love is desire . You want to break away and use your freedom to find love .
Yet how often are you led to a counterfeit , a lie , and it's sad , how often your freedom leads you away from love because it leads you away from God himself , who is love , and you get yourself , just like so many , many , many , many people , into no small amount of trouble attempting to unravel these mysteries of life and love .
But you don't know the larger story . You're trying to navigate a ship and you don't know where it's going . Yet You're trying to navigate a ship and you don't know where it's going . Yet None of us did and none of us do .
Until we open ourselves up to the great captain huh , as you stumble to find answers and we all have stumbled to find answers we grow weary of a culture that views us all as a disappointment . Then along comes John Paul II , declaring this young people of every continent , do not be afraid . True love exists .
Do not be dispirited , he said , by those who are disillusioned with life and who have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of your hearts . You are right to be disappointed with hollow , meaningless entertainment , passing fads , pornography aiming at too little in life . Why should you lower the bar ? That's what the culture tells you .
That's the world's job , not our job . We want to raise the bar . We want to raise our eyes to all that's true , good and beautiful . You can use your freedom to seek the easy life , but you're going to find it to be an illusion and , insulated by your own value system of subjective moral values and opinions , you'll never find the beauty that you seek .
I'm reminded of John Paul II when he was asked why he talks so much about sexuality , and he said this because it's the abuse and misunderstanding of sexuality that's the main obstacle to spirituality , when it gets twisted and distorted . This is that Eros , this power . He reminded young people that the sexual drive is a gift from God .
However , he maintained that the sexual urge must never be separated from authentic love , the desire to do what is best for the other . That's what authentic love is . When you take the selfie off your own grasping and lust and you start to look at the beauty of another person , you see the good within them and you desire what's best for them .
This is sacrificial . This is giving yourself away for other people .
This is how you learn to be a lover , though Such sentimental love often results in disillusionment when you reduce love down to a feeling whereby the woman eventually discovers that a young man's sentiment , his feelings and his kind of moving out know moving out to you and you feel him interested in you , but it's merely a screen for his desire to use you .
Isn't this the culture today ? This is why women don't trust men . Men have to raise the bar , but women have to raise the bar with them . We have to do this together . You know .
You have to be able to respond and say yes , I respond to a man who's a gentleman , a man who wants my good , who seeks my heart not just for lust and selfishness , but he seeks my heart because he sees the beauty and the goodness within it , and it brings out the beauty and goodness with him himself . Right , see ?
Conversely , this works too , because a man can discover that he was simply a means to an end to be used by a woman for whatever purposes too . It goes both ways . When relationships are built on such foundations like this , the truth will eventually emerge . And what is that truth ? That it was never love at all . This is sad huh .
Closely connected with the formation of consciences , then , is the work of education , which helps individuals to be ever more human , leads them ever more fully to the truth , instills in them growing respect for life , trains them in right interpersonal relationships . This is the challenge of the church . This is the challenge of our education system .
This is the challenge of families and parents . We have to share the truth . That's what we do here at the John Paul II Renewal Center . John Paul II , in Evangelium Vitae , writes this this is seven , if you ever wanted to look it up . In particular , he said there's a need for education about the value of life from its very origins .
It's an illusion , he said , to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection Sexuality , our sexuality , which enriches the whole person , manifests its inmost meaning in leading the person to the gift
of self in love . Trivialization of sexuality is among the principal factors which have led to the contempt for new life . What does he mean there ? When you trivialize sexuality , when you're into the sexual union that's meant for marriage , and say someone gets pregnant , what are you going to do ? You know , abortion , I guess , is the backstop here , isn't it ?
That's what he means . The trivialization of sexuality is among the principal factors which have led to contempt for new life . We don't want the new life that comes because of that union and communion , so we'll destroy it . We'll kill a baby , mother Teresa said . Isn't it a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you can live as you wish ?
You see , only a true love is able to protect life . There can be no avoiding the duty to offer , especially to adolescents and young adults , an authentic education in sexuality , in love , an education which involves training in chastity as a virtue , which fosters personal maturity , makes one capable of respecting the spousal meaning of the body .
You know , this is the beauty of reciprocal love , of giving to one another . This is really what we're looking for . This is where our eros wants to take us . That eros , though , right now , how does one find the banquet and beauty of love ? Ah , aim your eros , aim your desires at Jesus , the eternal bridegroom . He knows . Read Matthew 7 .
He says ask , seek and knock . And he tells the rich young man you know , put away all those attachments , all those other things that are getting in your way , open your arrows , open these deep desires for the true , the good and the beautiful , especially the beauty of love . To me first , I will help you .
Come and see , follow me into the rest of the story , and I'll continue again next week . Hey , god bless you . Thanks , everyone , thanks for being with me .