Aug 9, 2026 Written by 

Being mortal and ultimate choices: not easy, but with Christ it is possible

The young man in the Gospel as we know asks Jesus: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?". Today it is not easy to speak about eternal life and eternal realities, because the mentality of our time tells us that nothing is definitive that everything changes, and changes very rapidly. "Change", in many cases, has become the password, the most exalting exercise of freedom, and that is why even you, young people, have often come to think that it is impossible to make definitive choices that would tie you down for the rest of your life. But is this the right way to use your freedom? Is it really true that in order to be happy we should content ourselves with small, transient joys that once they are over leave bitterness in the heart? Dear young people, this is not true freedom nor can true happiness be reached in this way. Not one of us is created to make provisional and revocable choices but rather definitive and irrevocable decisions that give full meaning to our existence. We see it in our lives: we should like every beautiful experience that fills us with happiness never to end. God created us with a view to the "forever", he has placed in the heart of each one of us the seed of a life that can achieve something beautiful and great. Have the courage to make definitive decisions and to live them faithfully! The Lord may call you to marriage, to the priesthood, to the consecrated life, to a special gift of yourselves: answer him generously!

In the dialogue with the young man who possessed many riches Jesus pointed out what was the most important, the greatest treasure in life: love. To love God and to love others with one's whole self. The word love we know it lends itself to many interpretations and has different meanings. We need a Teacher, Christ, to teach us its most authentic and profound meaning, to guide us to the source of love and life. Love is the name of God himself. The Apostle John reminds us: "God is love", and adds, "not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son", and "if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 Jn 4: 8, 10-11) In the encounter with Christ and in reciprocal love we experience in ourselves the life of God, who abides in us with his perfect, total and eternal love (cf. 1 Jn 4: 12). Therefore there is nothing greater for man a mortal and limited being than to participate in the life of God's love. Today, we live in a cultural context that does not encourage profound and disinterested human relationships; on the contrary, it often induces us to withdraw into ourselves, into individualism, to let selfishness, that exists in people, prevail. But a young person's heart is by nature sensitive to true love. That is why I address each one of you with great confidence in order to say: it is not easy to make something beautiful and great of your life it is demanding, but with Christ, everything is possible!

[Pope Benedict, Meeting with Young People, Turin 2 May 2010]

85 Last modified on Sunday, 09 August 2026 04:51
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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It is necessary to know how to be silent, to create spaces of solitude or, better still, of meeting reserved for intimacy with the Lord. It is necessary to know how to contemplate. Today's man feels a great need not to limit himself to pure material concerns, and instead to supplement his technical culture with superior and detoxifying inputs from the world of the spirit [John Paul II]
Occorre saper fare silenzio, creare spazi di solitudine o, meglio, di incontro riservato ad un’intimità col Signore. Occorre saper contemplare. L’uomo d’oggi sente molto il bisogno di non limitarsi alle pure preoccupazioni materiali, e di integrare invece la propria cultura tecnica con superiori e disintossicanti apporti provenienti dal mondo dello spirito [Giovanni Paolo II]
This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings (Pope Benedict)
Questo può realizzarsi solo a partire dall'intimo incontro con Dio, un incontro che è diventato comunione di volontà arrivando fino a toccare il sentimento (Papa Benedetto)
He is “the very stone which the builders rejected” (cf. Mt 21:42), because they judged him to be hostile to the law and a danger to public order [Pope Benedict]
Egli è “la pietra che i costruttori hanno scartato” (cfr Mt 21,42), perché l’hanno giudicato nemico della legge e pericoloso per l’ordine pubblico [Papa Benedetto]
"His" in a very literal sense: the One whom only the Son knows as Father, and by whom alone He is mutually known. We are now on the same ground, from which the prologue of the Gospel of John will later arise (Pope John Paul II)
“Suo” in senso quanto mai letterale: Colui che solo il Figlio conosce come Padre, e dal quale soltanto è reciprocamente conosciuto. Ci troviamo ormai sullo stesso terreno, dal quale più tardi sorgerà il prologo del Vangelo di Giovanni (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
That 'always seeing the face of the Father' is the highest manifestation of the worship of God. It can be said to constitute that 'heavenly liturgy', performed on behalf of the whole universe [John Paul II]
Quel “vedere sempre la faccia del Padre” è la manifestazione più alta dell’adorazione di Dio. Si può dire che essa costituisce quella “liturgia celeste”, compiuta a nome di tutto l’universo [Giovanni Paolo II]
But what moves me even more strongly to proclaim the urgency of missionary evangelization is the fact that it is the primary service which the Church can render to every individual and to all humanity [Redemptoris Missio n.2]
Ma ciò che ancor più mi spinge a proclamare l'urgenza dell'evangelizzazione missionaria è che essa costituisce il primo servizio che la chiesa può rendere a ciascun uomo e all'intera umanità [Redemptoris Missio n.2]
Freedom and love coincide! On the contrary, obeying one’s selfishness leads to rivalry and conflict (Pope Benedict)
Libertà e amore coincidono! Al contrario, obbedire al proprio egoismo conduce a rivalità e conflitti (Papa Benedetto)
Are they not all spirits charged with a ministry, sent to serve those who are to inherit salvation? (Heb 1:14)
The Church with its permanent contradiction: between the ideal and reality, the more annoying contradiction, the more the ideal is affirmed sublime, evangelical, sacred, divine, and the reality is often petty, narrow, defective, sometimes even selfish (Pope Paul VI)

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