In the face of the multiple difficulties in the relationships among persons of such different mentalities, among peoples that are so different, cultures that are so distant from one another, religions distorted by the presence of extremists, there is only one remedy: universal brotherhood, to make humanity one family in which God is the Father and all people are brothers and sisters.
How can this be done? Who is qualified for such a task?
There is no doubt about it: someone who also died for his ideal, but who then rose and gave this possibility to everyone. It’s Jesus. We must aim at bringing him back to earth, through ourselves, by being another Christ, another incarnate Love, Holiness, Perfection, as he is.
This is the hour to resolutely strive for perfection.
But what doe perfection consist in?
I recently re-read, in a paper on the spiritual life, wonderful words of great Church Fathers and saints. Perhaps we already know these things, but it will be helpful to remember them in this moment.
All these eminent people of the Church agree that perfection consists in never ceasing to grow, because whoever does not go forward, goes backward. And, considering that ours is a journey of love, perfection consists in always growing in charity.
Let us love, therefore, and let us always improve in our love, always improve. How?
By keeping before us our perfect model: the Blessed Trinity, God who is Love.
In the life of the Blessed Trinity, each divine Person is by not being so that the Other (the other Person) may be. If the Father – likewise the Son and the Holy Spirit – is not (is not closed in himself, but open to the Other; is not self-possession, but gift without reserve to the Other), then he is: he is love.
This is the way it must be for us too: each one is himself if he lives the other (our neighbour) or the Other (with a capital “O”), God: the will of God.
St. Francis de Sales says: “The person who makes no gain loses…. The person who does not climb upwards goes down on this ladder. The person who does not vanquish is vanquished in this battle.”
We are struck by the radicalness demanded by love. But everything in God is radical.
We can contemplate such radicalness in the second divine Person who became man: Jesus.
In the abandonment he completely empties himself of the human and of the divine. And we can see this in Mary desolate who, in a certain way, senses that her divine maternity is being nullified when Jesus shows her another son. Thus she loses the most human and divine of what she had.
God asks for everything. We can’t keep anything for ourselves. If we do, we are not, we are no longer ourselves. We are, I repeat, if we are the other, if we are the Other.
It means that we must sell all that we have and all that we are, and not only material goods, but really everything. In a sense, it means giving ourselves to the will of another, transferring ourselves into another. And we must do so in every present moment without reserving anything.
Is it difficult? Is it easy?
Try it and see. Give yourself to the will of God in each moment, to the other, to the brother or sister you must love, while working, while studying, while praying, while relaxing, while carrying out an activity. And we must continually improve in this: otherwise we will go backwards.
To help us do this, we can repeat with every action, even the most simple and commonplace: “This is the most beautiful thing I can do in this moment.” Then we are, we are ourselves because we are him, Jesus who is love.
John XXIII tried to live each moment perfectly, as if he had been born for the sole purpose of each individual act.
In this way we too will train ourselves for the task that awaits us and which is so very much ours: universal brotherhood. (applause and music)
(Collegamento CH, Castelgandolfo, 27 settembre 2001)
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