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An attitude, a journey, means and context.
A testimony of Fr. Beppe Lavelli SJ.


In winter it's in Villapizzone and during Advent, Lent and throughout the summer it’s in Selva di Val Gardena where Fr. Beppe Lavelli, turning 58 in November meets thousands of young people every year. He listens to their anxieties and difficulties, dreams and helps them discover their gifts.  And he recalls: "Since I was a teenager my greatest desire was to build beautiful relationships with people". He came in touch with the Society after his high school diploma in Science at Selva di Val Gardena. "I was very impressed by the way the Jesuits spread the Word of God and by their interior freedom. Today I am a Jesuit because I feel at home with my companions and I came to understand that together we are rendering a precious service to people. But how do you accompany a young person today within this fluid society where families are often fragile and challenged?

"I would say that the starting point is an attitude of true welcome, of respecting the young person’s journey and his life.  It is somewhat like Moses who takes off his sandals in front of the sacredness of a person’s life.  Then one should listen profoundly to what the young person is saying as he opens his heart to him.  It is listening confidently.  It is trusting both the young person and what the Lord is doing. In this way the young person himself can start to believe that the Lord himself is speaking to him, and then to understand what the Word of God is saying to him. This is the significance of annotation 15 of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius.

It is also important to offer young people a journey that has some landmarks, some essential points of reference:
- helping the young person to examine his own life in order to discover his gifts.  Let the first step be recognising the good received.
- enabling him to get in touch with his desires and to discover his deepest desire so that it becomes the fountain of his existence. In the Gospel of John, the first words of Jesus to the two who were following were: "What are you looking for?". The first thing the Lord reveals that he has very much at heart is the desire of those who follow him.  It is important to nurture this desire, let it surface and believe in it.

- Another step is the recognition of our fears. When we identify them, we become free of them and they do not remain the controlling factor behind our actions. We should trust that we can face them with courage and humility.  We can win this battle with our fears as David won over Goliath.
- Finally let us allow Our Lord to show us our true identity, our new name. We are constantly growing in our identity.  We discover it gradually.  Our identity is like the gradual development of a film rather than a photograph.

To help young people along these stages of their journey we offer them three tools: a prayer method, giving them a lot of space to pray on the Word of God.  Cardinal Martini was a great inspiration to us for this type of prayer; teach them how to apply the rules of discernment of the Spiritual Exercises to their lives and finally teach them how to examine their conscience so that they are able to examine themselves by recollecting themselves at certain periods of the day.

Finally, the context is also very important for the spiritual growth of young people. It is not only one’s personal relationship with the Lord that is important but I think the sharing of personal experiences within a group of young people who are undergoing the same journey is very helpful to them as they learn from each other what the Lord is doing in their lives.

Let me now return to the respect and trust that the companion should practise when listening. The companion should speak very little and should do so especially after listening to what the young person has to say.  Another suggestion I would give is never to set oneself as an example; the Lord is much greater than what the companion can say or think of and perhaps the Lord has far greater and new things in store for the young person and maybe for the companion also. It is important that the companion is available, he is there to listen and can establish a totally free relationship with the young person and is able also to let go of it.

A recommendation I would make to the religious is that it is also important that these young people experience life within communities that are open and welcoming to them.



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