Special commitment to serve God

Our life, therefore, is a divine commitment – I wish to have it set out in a simple civil contract of employment, which I will explain to you one day – which helps us to live, not by religious vows, but by the Christian virtues; now that you have beenset free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life (Rom 6:22).

Freely

We Christians, who know we are free, willingly lose our freedom for the love of Jesus Christ, so as to be servants of our fellow human beings. We are convinced that our commitment of love for God and of service to the Church is not something to be put on and taken off like a garment. It encompasses our whole life and, with the help of grace, we want it to do so always.

Naturally

We should not seem to others like exotic beasts, like a white elephant or some other strange creature, whether repulsive or marvellous, which is kept in a cage and looked at with curiosity, wonder or revulsion.

Being equal to others, we help them to find God

We are the same as our fellow citizens; that is why we must always live in the street, go out into the street or at least lean out of the window. We have a duty to dissolve into the crowd like the salt of Christ, seasoning society. Thus, we make no distinctions of any kind, because our particular spirit does not allow them; we are the same as our relatives, friends and colleagues regarding the noble concerns of the world. Then we will help people see that they cannot live for transient things alone, that they will never be happy that way. We will help them to raise their minds and hearts to heaven, and they will rejoice in the knowledge that man is not an animal.

Need to draw near to Christ

We should be light and a blazing fire, like the fire ever burning on the altar,¹⁸ to bring others to God, in accordance with their particular circumstances, responding to Christ’s call, Venite ad me omnes (Matt 11:28), come to me, all of you. Or else to bring God to others, when Our Lord can be heard saying, Ecce sto ad ostium et pulso (Rev 3:20); behold, I stand at your door and knock.

But truly zealous Christians must not forget that they need to remain serenely balanced between these two positions, because if, on the one hand the Lord says ecce venio cito et merces mea mecum est (Rev 22:12), behold, I am coming soon, bringing with me the reward, to give to every man according to his works, he also says through St Matthew that souls must force their way to him.¹⁹

It is enough for us to recall a wonderful passage, after the Resurrection: on the road, the Lord joins those disciples who are sad and wavering in faith. And when he has opened to them the meaning of the Scriptures, having arrived at Emmaus, he makes as if to go on further. Cleopas and his companion, speaking in a way that is full of divine and human tenderness, beg him, mane nobiscum, quoniam advesperascit, et inclinata est iam dies;²⁰ stay with us, for it is night without you.