What can I do to change the world?
There is an enormous task, human but at the same time supernatural, which every Christian who lives in this first half of the twenty-first century has to undertake. The threat of utter ruin hovers over the world; the problem is urgent. We must act now, immediately.
First, I want you to open your eyes wide and examine that lukewarm, worthless life which you are now leading. Naturally, some have fled from God, but your life interests me far more. And never forget that your lukewarm life is one of the real causes of this disease that is consuming the world. You, too, are guilty!
The problems of this century are various and urgent, much too urgent for you to sit down quietly and enjoy yourself, letting others look for solutions. Don't say that just one life, yours, can make no difference, that one man can do nothing. The sons of God must surely be as influential as the sons of the Devil. In the whole of Christendom, there must surely be young persons strong and healthy enough to put a stop to the vicious onslaughts of their enemies.
Have you too forgotten God? Do you realize that right now you are living and working side by side with saints?
Whatever you may think of yourself as an individual, you must realize that you carry within you the possibility, the seed, of a marvelous human life on which the supernatural life — which is grace — can be firmly based, and which could make of you, not just one more person, but a real son of God with all the strength and courage of our prophets.
Who says that disregard for solid human virtues is humility? Today, more than ever before, every Christian must be first of all a human being. This world has a vital need for Christians who are strong and courageous, loyal soldiers, and hard workers. It needs persons who have learned to unite a life of prayer with a life of daily work; who have learned to put together their intimate union with God with a happy social life among their parents, family, friends, and even enemies. Are we not ashamed to face the world as cowards, and have a religion which is insipid, timid, and altogether ridiculous?
Do not for one moment think that, because Christianity puts into practice the supernatural virtues, it is no longer compatible with ordinary life. Christianity above all is life: supernatural life united with human life.
Some people, usually the more intelligent, manage to understand the supernatural life, but the true value, the intrinsic value, of our human life remains unknown and forgotten by many. Our human nature will always have to be the basis and foundation of any serious, deep, and healthy interior life.
Oct 21 Tue