"My grace is enough for you."
The message Fr. Carrón to the pilgrims of Macerata-Loreto

Dear friends, Christ is a presence so present to us that he fills us with gladness, making it possible for us to live in every situation. Our presecuted brothers and sisters witness this to us every day. In them, we see the fulfillment of Jesus’ words to St. Paul, “‘My grace is enough for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ […] Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:9-10).” We are little, and aware of our limits, of our daily betrayal and of the frailty of all of our efforts; but more than anything we are certain that the Father chose us just as we are so that His strength might be all the more evident.

In his boundless love for our lives, Fr. Giussani reminds us that “without Christ’s Resurrection, only one alternative remains: nothingness,” and he also reminds us that, “We never think of this, and so we pass our days in that spinelessness, that pettiness, in that thoughtlessness, in that dull instinctiveness, that repugnant distraction in which the ‘I’ wastes away.” He’s not scolding us; on the contrary, Fr. Giussani was always offering us this help: “We shouldn’t be shocked if we catch ourselves distracted for a few minutes; we should refocus our attention as soon as we realize we’ve been distracted.”

Nothing is excluded from the victory that Christ’s Resurrection brought about in history, and so no limit, fear or uncertainty, no amount of evil or malice are strong enough to cancel out that Presence from our gaze. May the supplication to Christ, that He be the center of our lives, that He sustain every step, giving us the experience of freedom, may this dominate each of you for at least one night, as you walk toward the house of Mary, no matter the woes or evil we may carry with us.
If each of you maintains a simple heart, your journey will help not to “petrify” the faith that takes you to Loreto. Every step you take is like a repeated asking, especially when you feel the strain: what makes it worth it to keep going? This is the question that comes forth from every fiber of our being every morning when we wake up: what makes it worth living another day?

I hope that you may walk with your eyes and hearts fixed upon the embrace of Christ’s mercy, which reaches us through Pope Francis, who constantly sets us straight again on the road toward destiny, “and when we arrive, He has already been waiting.” This is why we follow him, so that what happened to us when we encountered Jesus may become more and more our own. Gratuity is the flower that springs from the gratitude we have for the Lord, alive and present, and so each of us would give our life for our brother or sister who walks alongside of us. Those who give in to His attraction and let themselves be overtaken by Christ become part of the people of the Resurrection, who witness a surprising way of living ordinary things. They become “arms, hands, feet, mind and heart of a Church ‘which goes forth’ (Pope Francis).”

Many people are looking for a meaning in life, and they will only find it if they encounter people invaded by Christ, and who live better because of it, who are happy and face the pressures of life without succumbing to the difficulties. As they meet us at school or at work, on vacation or in a hospital room, others can recognize that “the Church is really a place of moving humanity” (Fr. Giussani), so clearly that they desire to live the same way. Have a good journey, my friends!

Fr. Julián Carrón

Milan, May 26, 2015