The Penance That Heaven Asks of Us
Mollens, 25 August 1988 A new charism in the Church like the one God generously gave to Chiara Lubich does not overrule the previous Christian practices, but rereads them in the light of God’s gift, of its own evangelical perspective. I had an opportunity to do some reading on great saints the Church honours, and also to watch some films about them. One of the strongest impressions I took away was the harsh, very harsh life of penance that some of them lived; they often wore the most uncomfortable hairshirts, practiced continual fasts, painful vigils, interminable silences, sleeping on the bare ground or on boards. It was also on the strength of these penances that these saints became what they were. Naturally I asked myself: What about us? What do we do? Don’t we too want to become saints? And immediately, in my soul, I got a clear answer: “You (individually and collectively) must look to Mary. It is she who is your model. About her, who lived in the midst