Another word for “values” might be “principles.”  They are usually described as what is most important.  What are the ultimate values or principles of Youth Apostles for our spirituality, our communal life, and our apostolic work?  

The answer is simply – God!  Our principle and foundation (a.k.a. the meaning of life) is that “Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul” (Ignatius of Loyola, 1524/2000, #23).  Youth Apostles have often heard our founder proclaim on retreats simply, “We come from God and we are going back to God.”  It is also reminiscent of the Last Supper in which St. John the Apostle recounts how Jesus was fully aware that … he had come from God and was returning to God (Jn 13:3).  Yet, we still need signposts on this journey to God.  What are those signposts and how has God created us to travel in the best possible way on this path?

God made us with:

1. A mind that seeks truth in reason and is graced by faith

2. A will that seeks freedom for excellence and the good in our actions and is graced by hope

3. A heart that seeks love (care) in relationship and affection for God who is Beauty and for others (and even ourselves) as beautiful persons made in His image and likeness, all of which is graced by charity (God’s love).

In 1974, Dr. Eduardo Azcarate and Beatriz Hernandez were both working with young people at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Falls Church, VA – Eduardo with the boys, Beatriz with the girls.  Notably, the girls had already been meeting and had a group called “Cool Clean Christians.”  Together, Azcarate and Hernandez created a handbook for youth ministry (a single-sex ministry they called “Catholic Life Community”) in which the ultimate values of truth, freedom, and care were identified as the core elements of ministering to young people and drawing them into a life of faith, hope, and love.

Truth: Honesty, openness in communication, and mutual trust are integral parts of the CLC commitment.  By following the truthfulness and radical openness of Christ, members are inspired to a deeper FAITH in God and a greater sense of accountability to one another.  

Freedom: Responsible choices, achieved through a strong personal discipline, are the foundation of true freedom.  This freedom enables members to make a commitment to Christ, and to live a life filled with HOPE, the same hope that is destroyed by impulsive and irresponsible choices.  

Care: Care embodied in warmth and friendship fosters unconditional love and Christian charity.  Inspired by Christ’s sacrificial love, CLC members are challenged to outwardly show their support and LOVE for God and each other.

– Dr. Eduardo Azcárate, Y.A. & Beatriz Hernandez, 1974, Youth Apostles’ Catholic Life Community (CLC) Moderator Handbook

These same values are what we strive to continue within CLC, Sunday night youth events, campus ministry, and anywhere that a Youth Apostle is ministering.  Young people, and indeed everyone, need ultimate values to ground us in our efforts to live Christ-like lives based on the Lord’s sacrificial love.

Our communal life is characterized by these values, as well.  We do this by our fraternal embraces to live in care, by our sharing groups of radical openness in order to live in truth, and by our generosity towards brothers in community in order to live in freedom.

Most importantly, our spirituality is rooted in God’s call to live a life of truth, freedom, and care.  We live in love by centering our lives around the Eucharistic Christ and in imitation of Mary.  We live in truth through fidelity to the Church, enrichment through the Scriptures, and praying in utter honesty to God so that His light will shine in our hearts.  We live in freedom by our constant attention to inordinate attachments so that we may prize God as the most valuable treasure – the pearl of greatest price.

Truth, Freedom, and Care are Inseparable

There are deep philosophical, theological, and psychological reasons why truth, freedom, and care are the ultimate values, including the Greatest Commandment from Jesus (Mk 12:30-31) and those Catholic buzz words you might hear frequently (e.g., beauty, truth, and goodness).  However, as a simple starting point in understanding their importance, one can see the inseparability of truth, freedom, and care.  In a reflection given internally within the community, I shared the following:

Love without truth is a lie, and love without freedom is using another person to pleasure the self or avoid the fear of being alone.  It ends up not being love at all, but rather a desire to domineer, control, and utilize a person. 

Truth without love is callous, unmerciful, and destructive – a sword with no sheath.  Truth without freedom is a dictatorship where the truth is imposed on others as opposed to it being a choice to live in that truth.  I am not referring to laws that keep us safe. I am referring to the Truth of Jesus Christ which must be accepted in freedom and not by force. Jesus prays to the Father that we would be “consecrated in truth” (Jn 17:17-19) because He respects our free will.  

Freedom without truth is a misunderstood liberty to do whatever we want, and freedom without love is a freedom without purpose because the gift of freedom is ultimately to exercise it for the purposes of accepting God’s love and loving him in return.

– Clem, 2022 pg. 37

A question to ask ourselves this day and always is: how am I walking forward on the path to God with a truthful mind, a free will, and a loving heart, while doing my best to have these integrated?  Pray for the “Spirit of Truth, of Freedom, and of Love” (John Paul II, 1993, #83) to come down upon you so that you live a more Christlike life.  In conclusion, Fr. Jack Peterson, Y.A. gives us all a reminder that God made us with the tools we need to pursue God in response to His pursuit of us.

“When God fashioned us in his image and likeness, he bestowed upon us extraordinary powers and capacities.  His explosive love drove him to share with us the capacity to know, love, and will, which together enable us to make decisions in freedom.”
– Peterson, 2020, pg. 155

References

Azcárate, E. M. & Hernandez, B. (1973). Youth Groups Off the Ground. Youth-Progressio [Christian Life Community magazine in Rome, Italy], 47(2) [March 1973], pgs. 13-20

Clem, J. (2022) Heart, Mind, and Hands: A Reflection on the Soul of a Youth Apostle [unpublished]

Ignatius of Loyola (2000). The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius [Translated by L. J. Puhl (1951)]. Vintage Books (division of Random House, Inc.): New York, NY (Original work composed 1522-1524)

John Paul II (1993). Veritatis splendor [Encyclical, on certain fundamental questions of the Church’s moral teaching]. Libreria Editrice Vaticana: Vatican City, Vatican

Peterson, J. (2020). Jesus Himself Drew Near. Wellspring: North Palm Beach, FL