June 2001

Don't think that just because you walk the streets of the world you can look at all the advertisements indiscriminately and buy just any publication from the newsstand or bookstore. Don't think that just because you are in the world, you can adopt everything the world does, for instance, a relaxed morality, abortion, divorce, hatred, violence, dishonesty…
No! No! You are in the world; no on can deny that.
But you are a Christian; therefore, you are not of the world.
This fact makes a great difference. It places you among those who live not according to what the world says, but according to what the voice of God suggests to them from within. It is in the heart of every human being. If you listen to it, it will lead you into a kingdom that is not of this world, where true love, justice, purity, meekness, and evangelical poverty are lived, where self-control is the norm.
Why do many young people become followers of the Oriental religions, hoping to find some silence and to discover the secret of certain spiritual masters of the East, who, after a long process of mortifying their inferior self, radiate a kind of love that touches everyone who meets them?
It is a very natural reaction to the uproarious sounds of the world, to the noise around us and within us which leaves no room for the silence we need in order to hear God's voice.
But is it really necessary to go to the East, when for two thousand years Christ has been saying to you: “Deny yourself… deny yourself”?
The world is coming at you head-on, like a river in flood, and you must go against the current. For a Christian the world is like a thick forest land and you have to look very carefully where to step. And where should you step? In the footprints which Christ himself laid down for you while he was passing through this world; these footsteps are his words: Today, he repeats to you:

«If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself…»

If you follow Christ, you may be scorned, misunderstood, laughed at, slandered, isolated. You must be ready to lose face, to give up the easy-going, socially acceptable way of being a Christian.
But there is more:

«… take up his cross daily and follow me.»

Whether we like it or not, suffering is a part of everyone's life, yours as well. Sufferings, great and small, come our way every day.
Do you try to avoid them? Do you rebel against them? Do you feel like cursing them? Then you are not a Christian.
Even amidst tears, Christians love the cross. They love suffering because they know that suffering has value. God had innumerable ways at his disposal by which he could have saved humankind. When he chose to use suffering, he did it for a reason.
It's important to remember, however, that after having carried the cross and having been nailed to it, Jesus rose.
Resurrection is also your destiny if you do not despise but accept with love the suffering brought on by your faithfulness to a Christian way of life, and every other suffering that each day brings with it. By doing so you will see that even here on earth the cross is a way leading to a joy you have never experienced before. You will begin to grow spiritually. The kingdom of God will become firmly established in you. Little by little the world around you will begin to look like a fake construction made of cardboard. You will no longer envy anyone.
Then you will be able to call yourself a follower of Christ.

«If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me».

And, like Christ whom you have followed, you will be light and love for the countless suffering people in today's world.

Chiara Lubich