Give them the ideal of Christ

Work so that, from their early years or in their adolescence, they feel moved by an ideal: to seek Christ, to find Christ, to have a personal relationship with Christ, to follow Christ, to love Christ, to remain with Christ.

We wait patiently for divine grace to do its work in their souls, for the hour to come when they encounter the Master, and for them to have the generosity and love to follow his voice – Veni sequere me (Matt 19:21), Come, follow me – saying no to so many things that are licit for others.

Young people have a hunger for truth

From the start of the St Raphael work, in the efforts I made with the first fellows in my mother’s home, I have always considered St John the Apostle’s hunger for truth. This same hunger has been felt by clean-living adolescents and young people of every epoch, when their eyes are opened to the realities of the world.