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Young French business graduate: ‘My faith sustains me’
A young French Catholic and recent business graduate speaks about the faith that sustains him, the witness of Pope Leo, and the importance of sharing the Gospel with others through everyday life.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov – Paris
Jason, 25, is a French Catholic who was born in Manchester, in the United Kingdom, and recently received his master’s degree in business. His family raised him in the Catholic faith, and he said their decision to move from the UK to France was partly influenced by his parents’ perception of France’s Catholic identity.
He said it is not always easy to be a young practicing Catholic in France, but he has found a sense of community among other young Catholics who meet each week to speak about Jesus and different aspects of the Catholic faith, particularly the joy they have in Christ and the hope of paradise.
“I’m proud to be Catholic,” he said, reflecting on how his faith has sustained him, even during difficult moments in his life.
‘I can overcome all with Christ’
“Thanks to Jesus, I know that life is not easy, but thanks to Him, I can overcome all of this. And yet, thanks to difficulties, I can find Jesus. I can find people who encourage me to overcome, to not give up. And thanks to those people, I can see Jesus through them.”
“Thanks to my faith,” he said, “I can keep moving forward and find Jesus everywhere.”
Jason described Pope Leo’s Apostolic Journey to France and his meeting with young people as an honor and something incredible, a grace for which he said he gives thanks to God.
“Through Pope Leo,” he said, “we can see that there is a message for us, for people from Saint-Denis. A message for us that we have to keep moving, to spread the Gospel, to not be afraid of that, to be like the Apostles.”
Pope Leo’s faith inspires young people
Through this witness, Jason said, people who are far from the Catholic faith can discover it through the lives of others.
Pope Leo, he said, is “an incredible Pope, for “he has the Word. We understand what he wants to say.”
Asked whether, as a young person pursuing a career in business, he finds it challenging to live his Catholic faith amid different values, voices and perspectives, Jason said he seeks to remain faithful to who he is.
“I respect all the opinions about Catholicism. I respect that. I have my faith, and I have to simply be myself and simply show Christ through what I’m going to do. And if we have some discussion, I can talk about my faith. Maybe someone will say, ‘What is Catholicism? Who is Jesus?’ And they can become Catholic also.”
Seeing Jesus through me
Jason expressed his hope that, through his actions, other people can see Jesus.
“Maybe at lunchtime I’m going to go to Mass and the person will say, ‘Where are you going?’ I’m going to say, ‘I’m going to see Jesus. Do you want to come?’ This is a way to spread the Gospel and to show Jesus, for example.”
“So, yeah, even if I will be in business, I can keep my faith and show my faith, and people will be touched through that.”
Social media contributes to growing interest in faith among young people
Acknowledging the growing interest among young people in the faith, Jason attributed social media as one important factor.
“I think that thanks to social media, we have a lot of people who talk about Jesus through social media, and this permits the Gospel to spread very quickly. I think this trend is going to continue.”
“In France, there are many young people who spread the Gospel,” he said.
Regarding Catholics with different perspectives, Jason recognized that there can at times be polarization among different viewpoints and priorities among the faithful, particularly on social media.
Yet he said it is positive that there is an open sharing of different perspectives. At the same time, he suggested, Catholics need to “build bridges” and focus on what unifies them, as Pope Leo calls them to do.
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