You want to know about Jesus? How long have you got?

At first, the Abbot of Ampleforth was alarmed when a young man suddenly approached him him at Kings Cross and said he had been watching him “for a long time”.

Still, he hid his concern and smiled, and the young man continued, “Can you tell me about Jesus?”  Robert Igo OSB’s first thought was, “How long have you got?” His train was about to leave.

“Why do you want to know about Jesus?” Igo responded. 

The man replied: “I belong to a generation that hasn’t any hope and doesn’t know its purpose. I think if I find Jesus, I will find hope and purpose.” 

Igo gave him the small copy he carried everywhere of the New Testament, and a rosary.

 “Look to Jesus every day, listen to him by opening the Word of God and you will find him. Choose to live with and walk with him and you will find purpose and hope, my friend,” he said. 

“I cannot give you that hope, but He can and will,” Igo continued, linking his experience to A Quiet Revival, the recent Bible Society report charting a surge in the numbers of 18-35-year olds becoming Christians. 

Igo described the encounter while preaching on the Jubilee of Hope to nearly 500 young people at the Youth 2000 Summer Festival at Ampleforth Abbey.

During the four-day festival of worship, centred round perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist, prayer, liturgy and talks, many of the 16-35-year-old participants reported life-changing encounters with God.  Pope Leo XIV sent a blessing, as Pope Francis did last year. Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson has attended in the past.

“I felt God’s presence like never before,” said one first-timer. Referring to a healing service where people knelt in prayer before the Eucharist contained in a Monstrance and held in a humeral veil by a priest, they added: “God’s love felt so profound. The sense of community was amazing and the friendships I made are definitely friendships for life, built on the foundation of Christ.”

Youth 2000 was founded in 1990 by a young Englishman, Ernest Williams and seeks to draw young people into a Eucharistic relationship with Jesus Christ through Mary.

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