Youth Ministry

(a small reflection on movie Oliver Twist)

Jesuit ministry today covers many areas, most of which are in the area of education for young people, especially teenagers. For me, this priority is not unreasonable for one’s teenage years is the phase when young people absorb a lot of things from adults that will affect their lives in the future. Jesuits see this good chance and potential and try to explore it. But, the problem is that a good education demands a high cost of expenses so that not all young people are able to get a good education. Throughout the ages, we can see that most of the time, Jesuits provide good education can only be afforded by the middle and higher classes. How about the poor? They need good education too, but they can’t afford it.

Jesuits are supposed to do their ministry freely, without any cost. It is our way to be able to give good education to those who cannot afford it. Another way to help them is to propose cross payment. Those who are rich pay more for those who are relatively poor. In this way, can solve the problem and lighten the cost of the poor people have to pay. However, it’s not an easy task for us Jesuit to invite them to do so.

From my experience of dealing with the poor people, it is not easy to approach them. They claim to have their own world and consider us as the higher class who evade them. But, once we can approach them and be accepted, we will win their hearts and easily give them the education or understanding we want them to know.

Education has been one of the Jesuits ministries which is interesting for me and makes me choose the SJ to join. But, so far, I find that the work for and with poor people is more challenging. Besides, I can also combine them, working with poor people and giving them education. In this case, I will do the same as what I have mentioned above. I will take no cost for my work for the poor and try to make the rich help the poor. I will also plant in their hearts the seeds of understanding the importance of helping each other. Hopefully, when they gain success, they will always remember to help others, especially the poor. I think it is a more important lesson for them besides the better education they receive because of this will help them understand the cause of their poverty and how to overcome it. So the point is to encourage them so that it is they and not we who raise their lives for we can only empower them.