United to our equals

The supernatural mission that we have received does not lead us to distinguish or separate ourselves from others. It leads us to unite ourselves to everyone, because we are the equals of the other citizens in our country. We are, I repeat, equals of everyone else – not like everyone else – and we share all the ordinary civic concerns, and those pertaining to professional work and other activities. We have in common with them our environment, our way of dressing and of working. We are ordinary men and women, who in no way differentiate ourselves from our companions and colleagues, from those who live with us in our environment and our circumstances.

Leaven in the dough

I like speaking in parables. More than once, following our Lord’s example, I have compared this mission of ours to the action of leaven working away in a mass of dough,⁴ until it is all turned into wholesome bread. When I was a child, during the summer holidays, I used to love watching bread being made. At the time I wasn’t trying to draw any supernatural conclusions from it: my interest lay in the fact that the women who made it, used to give me a bird made from that dough. It still gives me pleasure to recall the whole ceremony. There was a real ritual involved in preparing the leaven well: a small lump of leavened dough, kept from the previous batch, was added to water and sifted flour; it was then mixed and kneaded and covered with a cloth and, protected in that way, it was allowed to stand until it had risen as much as it would. It was then cut into portions and placed in the oven, and eventually out came marvellous, spongy bread. Because the leaven had been properly conserved and prepared, it allowed itself to be dispersed – to disappear – in the midst of that mass, that multitude, giving it quality and goodness.

Passing unnoticed

Our hearts should be filled with joy when we consider that what we are is just this: the leaven that transforms the dough. Our life is not self-centred; it is a battle on the front line. It is to immerse ourselves in the stream of society, passing unnoticed and to reach all hearts, carrying out in all of them the great work of transforming them into wholesome bread, so that it be the peace – the joy and the peace – of all families, of all peoples: iustitia, et pax, et gaudium in Spiritu Sancto;⁵ justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

But, to be leaven, there is one necessary condition: to pass unnoticed. Leaven does not produce any effect if it is not buried in the dough, if it is not mixed in to become one with it. I will never tire of repeating to you, my children, that you should not be in any way different from other people. Our wish should be to remain where we already were and be what we are: ordinary Christians, persons who live ordinary, simple lives.