Do not believe that because you are in the world, you can swim like a fish in water. Do not believe that because the world enters your home through radio and television, you are authorized to listen to every program or view every telecast. Do not believe that because you walk the streets of the world, you can look with impunity at all the advertisements and indiscriminately purchase whatever publication at the newsstand or in the bookstore. Do not believe that because you are in the world, any lifestyle of the world can be yours: casual sex, immorality, divorce, hate, violence, theft.
No, no. You are in the world. Who does not see this? But you are not of the world. This comports a great difference. This classifies you among those who are not nourished by the things of the world but by those that are expressed by God’s voice within you. It is in the heart of every person and allows you to enter – if you listen – into a kingdom that is not of this world, where true love, justice, purity, gentleness, poverty are lived and where self-control reigns.
No, no. You are in the world. Who does not see this? But you are not of the world. This comports a great difference. This classifies you among those who are not nourished by the things of the world but by those that are expressed by God’s voice within you. It is in the heart of every person and allows you to enter – if you listen – into a kingdom that is not of this world, where true love, justice, purity, gentleness, poverty are lived and where self-control reigns.
The comfortable and tranquil life is not for a Christian. Christ has not asked and will not ask less if you want to follow Him. The world overtakes you like a swollen river and you must go against the current. For the Christian, the world is a dense forest in which we must watch where we step. And where should we walk? In Christ’s footprints, the ones He left as He walked this earth, His Word. (Chiara Lubich)
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