What is worthwhile without Him?

 

Like those disciples who reaffirmed in Capernaum their full adherence to Christ, many men and women of all times and races, after perhaps having walked for a long time in darkness, one day found Jesus and saw the way open and marked out that led them to Heaven, so it also happened in our lives; at last, our freedom no longer served only to go from one place to another without a fixed direction, but to walk towards a goal: Christ! Then we understood the surprisingly joyful character of the freedom that chooses Jesus and what brings us closer to Him, and rejects what separates us, because "freedom is not enough for itself: it needs a north, a guide "4. The north of our freedom, that which marks the direction of our steps at all times, is the Lord, for without Him, where would we go, what would we spend these short days that God has given us, what is worthwhile without Him?

For many, unfortunately, freedom means following their impulses or instincts, letting themselves be carried away by their passions or by what they feel like at any given moment. In reality, these men - so many! - are forgetting that "freedom is certainly an inalienable and basic human right, but that it is not characterized by the power to choose evil, but by the possibility of responsibly doing the good, recognized and desired as such "5. A man who has a wrong and poor concept of freedom will reject any truth that proposes a valid and obligatory goal for all men, because it will seem to him as an enemy of his freedom6.

If we have chosen Christ, if He is the true goal of our actions, above all others, everything that indicates to us how to progress towards Him or points out to us the obstacles that separate us from Him we will see as an immense good, as a valuable orientation for which we feel deeply grateful. The traveler on his way to an unknown region consults a map, asks those who know the way and follows the road signs, and does so with interest, for he wishes to reach his destination. In no way does he feel that his freedom is curtailed, nor does he consider it a humiliation to depend on maps, signs and guides to get where he has set out to go. If he was unsure or began to feel somewhat lost, the signs he finds are a source of relief and gratitude.

In fact, we often rely more on maps or road signs than on our own sense of direction, of whose unreliability we have ample experience. When we accept these signs we do not experience any sense of imposition; rather we receive them as a great help, a new knowledge, which we soon make our own. This happens with the Commandments of God, with the laws and teachings of the Church, with the advice we receive in spiritual direction or that which we ask for in a compromising situation....

 They are signs that, in different ways, guarantee our freedom, the free choice we made to follow Christ, leaving aside other paths that do not lead to where we want to go. "The authority of the Church, in her teachings of faith or morals, is a service. It is the signpost on the road that leads to Heaven. It deserves all trust, because it enjoys a divine authority. It is not imposed on anyone. It is simply offered to men. And each one can, if he wishes, appropriate it, make it his own... "7.

7 We should not be surprised if at times these signs that God uses lead us to leave paths or avenues that seem more pleasant in order to choose others that are steeper and harder. Even if that choice suffers the protests of our comfort, we will always have the joy, even when we feel the roughness of the terrain, that our life has a formidable goal, which we chose perhaps already a good number of years ago or, on the contrary, just a few days ago. Let us go to the summit, and there Christ awaits us.


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