Young People in Zambia’s Livingstone Diocese Encouraged to be Hopeful and Alive

Livingstone, 21 December, 2019 / 1:30 PM

At a pre-Christmas youth camp in Zambia’s Livingstone diocese where young people from various parishes converged for a weeklong meeting focusing on Pope Francis’ Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “to young people and the entire people of God” Christus Vivit (Christ is alive), the message of hope and being alive in Christ was emphasized in line with the Holy Father’s March 2019 document.

“The message of Christus Vivit is a message of hope to young people who are facing a lot of challenges and see (themselves) differently from how God sees them,” the youth Chaplain of Zambia’s Livingstone diocese, Fr. Bruno Hamukali told ACI Africa in an interview Friday, December 20. 

“The message brings to young people how much God loves them and gives life to them so that they may be alive too: "Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive", Fr. Hamukali said and added, “Jesus conquered death and he is alive and wants young people to be alive.”

Convened under the theme “He walked with them,” the youth camp held in Sioma, a town in the Western province of Zambia, drew its inspiration from “the Gospel of Luke 24:15 where Jesus accompanies two disciples who have lost hope in their lives and need someone to uplift their hopeless situation,” the  Zambian cleric said.

“This is also in response to the Pope's call to the Church to accompany the young people in their journey of life as Christ Jesus did as it is a Year of "Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment," he added.

Responding to how the message in Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation speaks specifically to the young people, Fr. Hamukali said, “Pope’s message encouraged young people to understand that they are not ignored or sidelined in the life of the Church but they too are agents of evangelization.”

“Young people should know that God loves them, that the Church loves them and they should see themselves as such,” he explained.

The facilitators reminded the young people who actively participated in the camp and successfully organized the various activities “to have a more positive understanding of themselves as people who are loved by God (and) that God sees them differently from the 'world'.”

“Jesus who is eternally young wants to give them hearts that are ever young, ready to learn and open to the future while keeping Christ Jesus as their foundation,” the youth chaplain of Livingstone diocese said.

In his view, the message of Pope Francis “speaks to young people from across the world regardless of religion, race and culture.”