October 25, 1977

Città Nuova

Jesus did not come on earth solely to prepare us for Eternal Life. Certainly, this was his main mission.
He was also concerned with the earthly life of men and women. His public life was filled with so many physical miracles! He taught us to ask the Father for our daily bread, to trust him for what we will wear and what we will eat. He promised the hundredfold in this life to those who put him in the first place in their heart, putting aside all other affections….

However, what he wants is that already here on earth we live like when we will be in heaven. Therefore, he wants us to renounce all that is not right, that is not good, that is not lawful, that is not correct, that is not pure….
As Paul said, Jesus wants us to make the “old man” in us die.
But this is not an end in itself. Christianity is not a religion of emptiness for the sake of emptiness, of nothingness for the sake of nothingness. Christianity is the religion of God who is and who is Love.

Consequently, we must deny ourselves so that the “new man” may live in us: Christ.

The ones who were able to live this experience really well were true Christians; just think of the saints. Christ himself lived in them, and in a very different way in each one.
Now the saints (let’s think of the young St. Catherine, the Curé of Ars, St. John Bosco, but the same applies to all of them…) certainly played a leading role in life, leaving a divine imprint on the century in which they lived.
Young people would like very much, as you say, to play a leading role in their lives.
Certainly, in humanity there are also people who are protagonists in things that are evil, or that are interesting but that pass away. I think that you want to be protagonists in doing good, not only in your lifetime but also when you will have passed onto the next life.
The conclusion then? Allow the Protagonist of the universe and of history to live in your small world and in your brief life story.

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