Waking Up the World with Hungry Hungry Hippos

Since Pope Francis spoke to an audience of religious superiors in 2014 at World Youth Day in Rio de Janiero about “Waking up the World,” that quote has gained much notoriety.  The quotable message stresses how we are to live prophetic lives, make the Church attractive to youth, become more generous and willing to sacrifice, and talk to youth in a language that will resonate meaning and compassion to them.

         Waking up the world is an art form that can open young people to discipleship.  Pope Francis has written about how we need to “go out of ourselves” before we can be wake up others.  This entails that we have the intentional desire to alert youth to know that we are “in their corner” in life.  Young people knew that St. John Bosco was out for them because he identified with their real needs during an industrial era where a hard work ethic lacked a balance with play.  By promoting the experience and memories of playing in the playground, the youth enjoyed each other’s company and came to relate better with Salesians and collaborators, and for that matter, the world. 

Two weeks ago, Br. Craig Spence and I had an opportunity to visit with the St. Frances Cabrini Youth Group in Brooklyn, NY for their Tuesday evening program. To say that we thoroughly enjoyed our time with this extension of the Salesian family would not be enough.  When we entered their meeting room, we were asked to join in a friendly live action version of the game “Hungry Hungry, Hippos”. Some of you may have seen this new recess craze all over YouTube wherein participants ride around on small scooters and gather as many balloons from the center of the room as they can before their team pulls them back to base. I thought it was such a new, cool way to bring this cherished board game to life.  In fact, during the game it was hard to tell whether the youth or adults were having more fun.  That activity set the mode for the rest of the evening because the youth felt engaged and comfortable in a compelling way to relate with others.   Later, when Craig and I presented our vocation witnesses and session to them, we were well received for the presentations because the youth group had gotten off to a great start and genuine bonds had formed.

  The live action recess version of Hungry, Hungry, Hippos was transformed into a recreational game by a teacher who had the instinct  to create  an indoor playground experience when there was too much snow to have recess outside.  This teacher crafted a great way to “wake up youth” to see their indoors as their new playground.  As this teacher “woke up the world” for youth during heavy snows, how can we wake up youth wherever they might be?  At church? At youth groups? Through the use of social media?  Or, how might we wake up youth this summer as the heat index increases?   Both Jesus and Don Bosco continue to serve as examples of Pope Francis’ now iconic phrase. They went to the young people where they were and woke them up to love of God and the faith, not with giant productions or lengthy lessons but rather with a simple genuine care to see everyone  joyfully come to God with open hearts and take His love all in…..much like Hungry, hungry hippos take it all in!