Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Sydney Catholic Youth Purpose Conference. I had the great pleasure of hearing Jason Evert, founder of the Chastity Project, and Matt Fradd, host of popular Catholic podcast Pints with Aquinas, speak on the topics of gender, sexuality, chastity, living the Catholic life, culture, and the Church. I also had the privilege of being in the audience for a live version of Pints with Aquinas.

There was so much to take in from the Conference, and while I’d love to discuss every single thing that Matt and Jason spoke about – because the content was so good – there were two points that really stuck with me. One of these came from Matt, the other from the Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

I want to touch first on Matt’s point. In his second talk, Matt noted seven key things that each of us – especially the Christians among us – should do. While all seven were fantastic, one of them really stood out for me.

“Find a bubble.”

Oftentimes we are told not to live in a bubble. We are given the impression that doing so can be isolating, that it can insulate us against the world. While, to a degree, this may be true, the negatives do not outweigh the benefits.

To expand a little on Matt’s point, he noted the importance of finding a good Christian community, a community that you can be yourself with, that will support you and be there for you when you need it. Really, it’s a community that you feel at home with. This is your ‘bubble.’

Being in such a bubble isn’t isolating. It’s actually incredibly liberating. It gives you the freedom to be who you are, to be raw, open, and honest. You are among people who you know you can trust. You all support each other in times of celebration and times of sorrow. No matter what, you know you have someone to lean on, and they know they can lean on you when they need it.

Having been in the realm of social and political commentary, there have been countless times that I have heard people say that we should avoid echo chambers. They say that if you get caught up in an echo chamber you’ll never come into contact with other ideas and different people.

Again, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to be within an echo chamber. What if this echo chamber is reinforcing the positivity in your life? What if it’s full of good and decent people, of virtuous beliefs and ideas?

If you’re living in an echo chamber like this, a ‘bubble’ with people who want to build you up while you do the same for them, chances are you’re all going to grow in virtue, faith, and goodness.

This is not to say that you’re never going to be exposed to ideas outside of your own. Part of the mission of a Christian is to go out into the world and speak with others, to evangelize, to catechise, and to sacramentalise. It is inevitable that, in carrying out this mission, you will come across people who hold different views and values to you. They might even be the complete opposite. But it is so important as Christians that we are open to listening to them and then conversing with them. Jason Evert, speaking on the issue of gender-fluidity and transgenderism, noted the importance of not only being the mouth of Christ, but also the ears of Christ. It is just as important, even more so, for us to listen as to speak. Many people have wounds that are not visible on the outside. Sometimes all they need is for someone to listen to them.

The culture that has taken hold of the world today is not all that pleasant. There are so many destructive acts and ideologies that are wrapped up in bows and given names that do not accurately describe them. For example, abortion is called ‘women’s healthcare.’ Healthcare would imply it is benefiting the health of an individual in order to maintain human life. Yet abortion is the leading cause of death, with tens of millions of innocent human lives cruelly taken each year.

Another example is the rampant hookup culture that plagues this world. As Matt said, people now just call this ‘sleeping together.’ That makes it sound so harmless. But it’s more than that. It is the devaluing of each other as human beings. Hookup culture just demonstrates that people are not valuing others for who they are. Rather, all they care about is using the other person’s body. Human beings are more than our bodies. We all possess a soul. We all possess unique qualities that make us who we are. We were created for a greater purpose than just to be used and to use each other.

The issue with our culture is that it has become so much more focused on how we can satiate our own selfish and meaningless desires, things that will only give us temporary pleasure. In order to maintain such pleasure, we have to continue to repeat and pursue the acts that allow us to achieve them. But eventually these acts will become tiresome and dull. Eventually, pleasure will give way to pain, to a state of bleakness or depression which will wash over the individual and conquer them.

And this goes to Archbishop Fisher’s point. In his interview with Matt and Jason on the live episode of Pints with Aquinas, the Archbishop spoke to how entrenched we can become in things that really don’t matter. He observed how we can start off looking for one thing on the internet, and then several clicks later we find ourselves somewhere far away from what we were originally searching for.

He also noted how people say they need to watch or read the news. He said that, most of the time, people are not doing this because they need to be informed of what is happening, but because it is entertainment. He went on to note how so much of the media is more focused on entertainment value rather than impartial information.

This really struck me. And I think it is something we all need to take heed of. Many of the ‘news’ stories we see or read focus on things we really don’t need to know about. A lot of ‘news’ these days is just people sharing their opinions and berating others. I think we really need to consider what we’re consuming, and, for those of us who write, what we’re putting out into the world and the impact it will have.

Over this last year, I have grown so much more deeply in my faith. I’ll go into this a bit more in my Year in Review, but I think it would be pertinent to mention a few details for the sake of what I’m discussing here.

I have been so fortunate to grow closer with other Catholics, to find a community that is so generous and supportive. I have grown in my friendships with other young Catholics who I am so privileged to know and who I thank God for every day. There have been several things that have happened this year that have really put everything into perspective for me. I thought I was pretty certain about some things, but sometimes God throws you a curveball and you start to learn what really matters.

I think it’s been about three or four months since I’ve actually written anything. Reflecting on the past few months, apart from the business of life, I think part of that was because I was really trying to figure out who I wanted to be as a writer. Again, that’s something I’ll go into more in my Year in Review, but I can say that spending time with friends, being part of a good community, and helping out with events within that community has really shown me what matters most.

I think I was struck by what Matt said because the world I’ve been living in has taught me that living in a bubble is a bad thing. And sure, it can be if that bubble consists of you and negative thoughts alone. That kind of bubble is small and isolated.

But after attending Purpose Conference, being among other young people who love God, love their faith, and want to build each other up, spending time with good friends, making new ones, and meeting others who are each walking the same path towards the Kingdom of God in different ways, I think I’ve found my bubble, and I’m so happy to be living in it.

Because this is our purpose as human beings – to bring light into the world, to find community and use our unique talents to help build up the Kingdom in whatever way we can, to be a listening ear, to help those who are struggling, to cultivate meaningful friendships and relationships. All of these things contribute to our highest goal, our ultimate purpose – to serve God and attain the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Venerable Bruno Lanteri had a motto that he used throughout his life of service to the Church as a priest: ‘Nunc Coepi.’ This translates to ‘Now I Begin.’ In a letter he wrote to a religious sister, Lanteri elaborated on what the phrase means:

‘Say with courage: Nunc Coepi – Now I Begin and walk always in the service of God. Do not keep stopping to look back, because he who looks back cannot hasten forward. Do not content yourself with beginning this year. Begin every day.’

Let us say each day, ‘Nunc Coepi’ and do what we can to be good, kind, and loving servants of God.

May God Bless us all as we walk together on this journey.