Example

In this environment we have to set an example – at once humble and daring as well as persevering and sealed with our work – of an integral Christian life that is marked by hard work, understanding, and love for all souls.

With words

Exiit qui seminat seminare semen suum (Luke 8:5); a sower went out to sow his seed. This is our task: to sow, to give good doctrine, to take part in all the upright occupations and interests of this world, in order to give the good example of Christ’s followers.

With one’s life

Christ, my daughters and sons, coepit facere et docere (Acts 1:1); first he did and then he taught. And I want you to do this as well: to be true saints, in the middle of the street, in the university, in the workshop, in the home, with a very specific call from our Lord, which allows for no half-heartedness, but rather demands complete dedication.

Greatness and littleness

This dedication needs to be humble and silent. It will make you capable of knowing the greatness, wisdom and perfection of God. It will also make you realise the smallness, ignorance and wretchedness of human beings. You will learn to understand other people’s weaknesses by realising that you have your own. You will learn to forgive by loving, and you will want to establish relationships with everyone, because no human being can leave us indifferent.

My children, our zeal for souls should lead us to feel that we are not anyone’s enemy, to have a big, universal, Catholic heart, and to soar like eagles on the wings of God’s love without confining ourselves in a hen-coop of petty quarrels and factions, which so often render sterile the activity of those seeking to work for Christ.

Zeal for souls

In short, our zeal should bring us to realise that in Christo Iesu neque circumcisio aliquid valet neque praeputium, sed nova creatura.⁴ We realize that what really matters, when it is a question of doing good, are souls.