Continuity of the work during the holidays: the summer

I have often told you, my daughters and sons, that there are no vacations in the apostolate. The St Raphael work goes on continuously all year round. Of course, the work done with students during the vacations is in some ways different from that done during the academic year. But there is no break.

For young people there is one particular period of the year which can be very dangerous, namely, the summer, since it almost inevitably involves less contact with the majority of the companions with whom they participate in the apostolic activities. Hence you need to employ the ordinary means, so that the summer is not a total break in your contact with them.

It is essential that the continuity of our relations with the young people not be broken. You must help them to be faithful to the norms of piety they have begun to make part of their life, and to do some apostolate in the place where they spend their vacation. You have to help them to make good use of their time, by improving their cultural formation, studying some language, and resting too. I have always told these young people that rest, which is not doing nothing but rather changing one’s activity, is very important. I have even wanted it to be included as a point in the examination of conscience during their monthly day of recollection.