Developing your own education.

The work of both the family and the school is incomplete – there is more to be done which you must undertake yourself. Christ’s words “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free” are your programme for self-education. Young people have an inborn sense of truth – you desire freedom! But being free means knowing how to use your freedom. It does not mean doing everything that pleases me or doing what I want to do. Freedom contains the criterion of truth: to be free means using my freedom for what is truly good. This is the kernel of self-education.

As you enter adulthood you can no longer be schooled from without. Now you must build your life from within. You must sculpt your own personality. Your spirituality is your greatest building tool – the way in which you open yourself to God and the way in which God is in contact with you! Who you become now is the foundation of who you will be in adulthood.

You must also be aware of the threats to your formation which could have a negative affect on you. First, from within, there is the temptation to be critical and to challenge everything. There is the temptation to be cynical about traditional values – this can easily become a practical cynicism about the issues of you own life. Secondly, our culture distracts us from the truth. Leisure and entertainment culture encourages passivity, selfishness and self-isolation; it leads us away from commitment. Advertising and consumerism promotes self-fulfilment in material goods. The media often leads us to simply follow our instincts and not to engage in truly human projects. Alcohol, drugs and irresponsible sexual relationships are offered by the world as good options – but these will always exploit and misdirect your search for meaning and happiness. In fact, anything at all that works against the hope that is in you is false and illusory. Christ spoke very strong words about scandal and those who cause it. (Luke 17: 1-2) He came to reveal love and he shows how deep is the difference between good and evil, between virtue and sin. It was his love for young people that made him utter such severe words.