List of points

Why don't you give yourself to God once and for all… really…, now?

If you see your way clearly, follow it. Why don't you shake off the cowardice that holds you back?

'Proclaim the Good News... I shall be with you…' It is Jesus who has said this… and he has said it to you.

Patriotic fervour — which is praiseworthy — leads many men to turn their lives into a 'service', a 'crusade'. Do not forget that Christ too has his 'crusaders' and people chosen for his service.

Et regni ejus non erit finis. His kingdom will have no end.

Doesn't it fill you with joy to work for such a kingdom?

'Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father's affairs?'

The reply of Jesus the youth. And a reply made to a mother like his Mother, who had been seeking him for three days, believing him to be lost. A reply which has as complement those words of Christ that Saint Matthew records: 'Any who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me'.

It is childish of you to judge the value of apostolic undertakings by what you can see of them. With that standard you would have to prefer a ton of coal to a handful of diamonds.

Now that you have given yourself to him, ask him for a new life, a 'seal', to guarantee that your mission as a man of God is authentic.

That — your ideal, your vocation — is madness. And the others — your friends, your brothers — are crazy. Have you never heard that cry deep down inside?

Answer, firmly, that you thank God for the honour of being one of those 'lunatics'.

You write: 'Our longing to see it all going ahead and spreading seems about to turn into impatience. When will things get under way, when will the break-through come,… when will we see the world ours?'

And you add: 'It won't be a useless longing if we seek an outlet for it in "coercing", in "pestering" God: then we will have made excellent use of our time.'

I can understand how you are suffering when, in the midst of that enforced inactivity, you consider the work still to be done. Your heart would break the bounds of the universe, and it has to adapt itself to… an insignificant routine job.

But, tell me, for when do we keep our fiat, 'Thy will be done'?…

Don't doubt it: your vocation is the greatest grace God could have given you. Thank him for it.