During their university studies they were a very united group. After graduation each went her own way. Some married and others didn’t. But they continued to meet as a group once a year or so.
Sara had seen her vocation before finishing her studies, during her last year of Medicine. Our Lord made her see that he wanted her for Himself as a Numerary member of Opus Dei, living apostolic celibacy while practicing medicine in the very heart of the society.
One year the group planned to meet in a restaurant. Sara had been practicing medicine for three years by this time and that afternoon and evening she was on guard duty at the hospital. It happened to be a very hectic day and she had had to take care of a number of people who had been injured in car accidents, some of them severely. When she finished her shift she was dead tired, but decided to join the others anyway in order not to miss this opportunity to spend a short while with her friends, some of whom she had not seen since their last get-together a year earlier.
At the end of the evening one of her friends from the group drove her home. On the way, her friend said something completely unexpected to her: Sara, your life is so much more interesting and wonderful than mine. How we envy you!
It was obvious that she was speaking truthfully, from the bottom of her heart. She said that the group had precisely been talking about this before she arrived and that they were all in agreement.
Sara was completely taken aback, since she had had to miss most of the evening and had arrived very
tired after having spent the day and part of the evening working very hard while her friend had been able to spend a pleasant evening with their friends.
By way of explanation her friend said: Sara, you lead a full life. Of course we saw that you arrived late and tired, without having had the chance to freshen yourself up and in need of sleep. But our lives, at least mine, is a little empty. That’s the difference.
A full life, thought Sara. Even though, like everyone else, she sometimes experienced tiredness, sorrow and failures, her love of God and her dedication to others gave meaning to everything. This was the cornerstone of her life, the key by which everything else fitted in. Her life was worth while! She wouldn’t change it for anything.
The more full a life is, the less it needs parties, entertainment and the latest gadget. Only God can fill our heart. It is made for Him. And each one of us is called in his or her own way, in his or her own circumstances, to friendship and intimacy with God.
Where would I go, Lord, if you did not exist? Without You, My Lord, everything is weakness and emptiness. How different were the lives of the Apostles before and after following the Master. He filled their hearts, as he fills the hearts of those who wish to follow Him closely. As Christ Himself said to his Apostles, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.
Only Christ can satisfy the deepest cravings of the human heart. Whenever we try to fill our heart by following a way that leaves Christ out of the picture, we only find loneliness, sadness and frustration. The experience of those who did not wish to listen to the voice of God calling them in different ways has always been the same: they have realized, sooner or later, that apart from God there is no stable and lasting happiness. Far from Him we can only gather empty and bitter fruit. Without Christ, one’s life is a failure, regardless of whether one is fifteen years old, or twenty or forty… Christ is the true and perfect answer to the deepest aspirations of the heart of man.
Christ gives man much more than man can hope for or desire. Christ alone reveals the true face of God and of man. He is the key, the centre and the purpose of all human history, and of our lives as well.
We are made for greatness. We are called to greatness. We are born with that great potential to lead a life in communion with God. Through grace we are configured to Christ, adopted into God’s family, made children of God, members of God’s household.
And we only realize our great potential by striving to lead a life of virtue, allowing the Holy Spirit to carve the image of Christ in us. We can only flourish as human beings and really live life to the full in the measure that we strive to become more Christ-like. This is the only way to lead a fully human life, a full life. Unfortunately, many people are not even aware of this and lead lives based on vain, empty, meaningless pursuits that cannot satisfy.
At World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002, Pope John Paul II spoke these words: Dear young people, many and enticing are the voices that call out to you from all sides: Many of these voices speak to you of a joy that can be had with money, with success, with power. Mostly they propose a joy that comes from the superficial and fleeting pleasure of the senses.
People are made for happiness. Rightly then you thirst for happiness. Christ has the answer to this desire of yours…. Only Jesus speaks the unchanging message that responds to the deepest longings of the human heart. Today he calls you to be the salt and light of the world, to choose goodness, to live in justice, to become instruments of love and peace. His call has always demanded a choice between good and evil, between light and darkness, between life and death. He makes the same invitation today to you who are gathered here on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Blessed are those who seek the Lord, those who foster and cultivate desires for holiness. Everything that makes for true joy and happiness is present in Christ. As He Himself said, these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full
At World Youth Day in Rome in the year 2000 Pope John Paul II had the following to say to young people about the quest for happiness:
It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you. He is the beauty to which you are so attracted. It is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise. It is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life. It is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal;, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.
To truly seek Christ it is necessary to make a definitive decision, a lifelong commitment to do the will of God, no matter what. As Pope Benedict has said to young people, You are very generous, but when you face the risk of a lifelong commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, you are afraid. You worry, and ask yourselves, by making a definitive decision, am I not tying up my personal freedom and depriving myself of freedom of movement?
I urge young people to reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life.. They are the only decisions that do not destroy our freedom but offer to point us in the right direction. So I urge you to take the leap towards the definitive and so embrace life fully.
As St. Josemaria, the Founder of Opus Dei put it: Once you used to “enjoy” yourself a lot. But now that you bear Christ within you, your whole life has been filled with a sincere and infectious joy. That is why you attract other people.
In the homily at his inauguration Mass in 2005 Pope Benedict addressed himself particularly to young people on the question of fidelity to Christ:
At this point, my mind goes back to 22 October 1978, when Pope John Paul II began his ministry here in Saint Peter’s Square. His words on that occasion constantly echo in my ears: “Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!.” The Pope was also speaking to everyone, especially the young. Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom?
And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.
Let’s examine ourselves to see whether we are leading a full life; a life of spiritual grandeur, a life of transcendent truth and love. Let’s examine ourselves to see whether we really trust God sufficiently to answer generously to his call, the way the pope is urging
From El Día que Cambié mi Vida, by Francisco Fernández Carvajal (Ediciones Palabra, 2003)