Now that you have finished your first year as Prelate,
I would like to know how you feel being the Father of this great family that is the Work.
Do you know how I feel?
Well, I feel closely accompanied by the prayer of thousands of people.
And you can also apply this to yourselves, all of you,
because thousands of people are praying for you.
The whole Work prays for you as well.
And you are praying for the whole Work.
And we all help each other through the Communion of Saints.
Rio de Janeiro 22 - 30 January 2018
We need to learn how to love,
because we have to learn to do good.
And real love means doing the good.
We learn this by loving.
One day I was asked to pray,
and I realized that I didn't know how to pray anymore.
Here In Rio, we have one of the 7 wonders of the world:
the Christ the Redeemer statue.
And He always has his arms open,
welcoming everybody who arrives.
I am Maicon, from Morro Reuter city, which is in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Father, I am very happy that we have you here with us.
We consider ourselves a cheerful people,
but sometimes, we can be a bit too comfortable, and lazy in our apostolate.
So I began receiving classes of Christian doctrine.
And next March, I am going to receive the sacraments of initiation:
Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation.
That's great!
Father, how can I discover God's will for me?
I was actually reminding people of this recently, with words from Saint Paul,
when he says: "Christ Jesus has made me his own."
Think about it: you are not the one who has won God over,
rather, it is He who has gained you for Himself.
How can you know what God wants from you specifically?
In the first place, ask God for light. Pray and ask Him questions.
Talk with God, and tell Him: "Lord, give me light. Make me see.
Help me understand what my path is in life."
It's also important not to limit ourselves to asking for light,
but to also ask for the strength to want to correspond.
Our vocation gives us light, it shows us the path.
But it is also a strength and a grace.
Strength for the journey, strength to keep going down the path.
Thinking is very important.
(Laughing) Although let's not exaggerate either, eh?
Because if we only dedicate our time to thinking, we will accomplish nothing.
And this means that we are apostles with Jesus Christ,
to really place Jesus at the summit of human activities.
And it seems impossible to do this.
We can think:
Can we really do this in Brazil?
Not to mention in the whole world, but just focusing on Brazil for now,
in all of Brazil, place Christ at the summit, in all activities?
Impossible.
Humanly speaking, it really is impossible.
But it's not impossible for God.
And that's why it's good to have a great hope,
together with our faith:
supernatural optimism.