STEEMCHURCH-VENEZUELA: "Only thinking about God and others will we become good people"

Christians know that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

How I would like to be able to reach each one's heart and help them to face Jesus Christ face to face. As did Saint Andrew with his brother Simon. Conscious as I am that a true encounter with Jesus is the key to ushering in life and realizing ourselves as men and women, and above all, as children of God.

You have spent several years of your youth in the classrooms of the Monteavlia University. In addition to the science of each career, they aspire to also be imbued with a spirit that pledges in their hearts the determination to be good. Simple and truly good. And for that we need to be free and to know ourselves as children of God.

St. Josemaría says, "there are those who are afraid to exercise freedom. They prefer that they be given formulas made for everything: it is a paradox, but men often demand the norm - renouncing freedom - for fear of taking risks "(Letter of January 9, 1959, No. 59).

"The Christian is not a maniac collector of an immaculate leaf" (It is Christ that passes, n ° 75). Our religion is not a regulation, nor a moralism. Let's remember: "God does not want forced servants, he prefers free children" (Friends of God, n ° 33).

But in order to live as we should, we need to know the truth. Starting with the truth about ourselves. And this is where the personal encounter with Christ has a stellar role. The Holy Pope John Paul II frequently recalled that "Christ is the one who reveals man to man himself. Only He knows what is inside man, only He knows it "(Homily of beginning of the Pontificate, October 22, 1978).

Sometimes we are convinced that we know each other and that our self-awareness is enough ... and maybe we should not be so sure. If God does not really count in our lives, we are possibly ignorant of our most intimate truths.

Let's do a practical exercise right now that can help us. I consider that the most emblematic of a person is his own face. It is what universally identifies us. Well, without the help of something that reflects it, we would not know how we have the face. Let us try to describe ourselves with what we can see of our face ... Without a mirror, without a photo ... Well, without personal prayer, without those daily moments of sincere intimacy with God, we do not know how we have the soul. We can be very learned in many things and at the same time, illiterate of our deep identity. And being illiterate makes us the most vulnerable and manipulable people on earth.