The Care Provided to Youth
First: The Main Idea of the Lecture
The lecture revolves around the importance of comprehensive care for youth, emphasizing that caring for the young person does not begin only in the youth stage, but its roots extend back to childhood. Every deviation in youth is often the result of previous neglect in upbringing and guidance. Therefore, the Church stresses continuous follow-up of spiritual, intellectual, and psychological growth from childhood to maturity.
Second: Respecting the Youth’s Mind
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III emphasizes the necessity of respecting the young person’s mentality and intellectual level, especially in the age of knowledge and technology. The method of mere instruction is no longer sufficient; dialogue and persuasion must be used, and questions must be answered even if they are opposing. The young person needs to feel that the Church understands him and respects his thinking.
Third: The Role and Preparation of the Servant
Not every person is suitable for serving youth. The youth servant must be intellectually, spiritually, and psychologically prepared, capable of answering questions, and aware of the needs and problems of youth. Service requires special preparation and conscious training, not merely enthusiasm.
Fourth: Filling Free Time
One of the most dangerous things facing youth is emptiness. Therefore, beneficial alternatives should be provided: sports activities, purposeful plays, spiritual films, camps, disciplined clubs, and artistic activities. The goal is not to prevent talents, but to direct and refine them so that they serve faith and do not deviate from it.
Fifth: Developing Talents
The lecture stresses the importance of discovering youth talents in writing, drawing, music, acting, and others. Talents should not be suppressed under the pretext of strictness, but guided in a faithful spirit. Music, for example, is not forbidden in itself, but can be a means of praising and glorifying God if used properly.
Sixth: Integrated Culture
The young person needs diverse culture: religious, historical, literary, health-related, and national. Occupying the mind with what is beneficial protects it from moral and intellectual deviations. Religious education should also rise in level as the youth grows older, so that the content does not remain at a childish level.
Seventh: Education in Values
True care includes instilling correct concepts about strength, freedom, self-control, respect for order, and not being swept away by anger or violence. Strength is not violence, and freedom is not chaos, but commitment and responsibility before God and society.
The General Spiritual Message
The essential message is that caring for youth is a comprehensive church responsibility aimed at forming a complete person spiritually, intellectually, and morally, who lives in the world without losing his faith, and grows gradually in spiritual matters according to his capacity, without excess or negligence, in wise balance that leads him to true Christian maturity.
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