Dear brethren, there are two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. Our dear Saviour's company is on the right, climbing up a narrow road, made all the narrower by the world's corruption. Our kind Master leads the way, barefooted, crowned with thorns, covered with blood, and laden with a heavy cross. They are only a handful of people who follow him, but they are the bravest of the brave. His gentle voice is not heard amid the tumult of the world, or because people lack the courage to follow him in his poverty, sufferings, humiliations, and other crosses which his servants must carry all the days of their life.

 

On the left hand is the company of the world or of the devil. This is far more numerous, more imposing, and more illustrious, at least in appearance. Most of the fashionable people run to join it, all crowded together, although the road is wide and is continually being made wider than ever by the crowds that flow in a large amount. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions, and paved with gold and silver. On the right, the little flocks that follow Jesus speak only about sorrow, penance, prayer, and indifference to worldly things. They continually encourage one another saying, "Now is the time to suffer and to mourn, to pray and do penance, to live in retirement and poverty, to humble and mortify ourselves; for those who do not possess the spirit of Christ, which is the spirit of the cross, do not belong to him. Those who belong to Christ have crucified all self-indulgent passions and desires. We must be true images of Christ or be eternally lost." "Have confidence," they say to each other. If God is on our side, within us and before us, who can be against us? He who is within us is stronger than the one who is in the world. The servant is not greater than his master. This slight and temporary distress, we suffer will bring us tremendous and everlasting glory. The number of those who will be saved is not as great as some people imagine. It is only the brave and the daring who take heaven by storm, the crown is given only to those who strive lawfully according to the Gospel, and not according to the fashion of the world. Let us fight with all our strength, let us run with all speed, that we may attain our goal and win the crown. Such are some of the heavenly counsels with which the flowers of Christ inspire each other.

Those who follow the world, on the contrary, urge each other to continue in their evil ways without scruple, calling to one another, day after day, "Let us eat and drink, sing and dance, and enjoy ourselves. God is good; he has not made us to damn us. He does not forbid us to amuse ourselves. We shall not be damned for so little. We are not to be scrupulous. 'No, we will not die.

Dear brothers and sisters, remember that our loving Saviour has his eyes on you at this moment, and he says to each one of you individually, "See how almost everyone rejects me on the royal road of the Cross. Pagans in their blindness regard my Cross as foolishness, obstinate Jews are scandalized at the sight of it, as if it's an object of horror, heretics pull it down and break it to pieces as something contemptible. Even my own people and I say this with tears in my eyes and grief in my heart - my own children whom I have brought up and instructed in my ways, my members whom I have quickened with my own Spirit, have turned their backs on me and forsaken me by becoming enemies of my Cross. 'Will you also go away?' Will you also reject me by running away from my Cross like the worldlings, who thus become so many antichrists? Will, you also follow the world; despise the poverty of my Cross in order to seek after wealth; shun the sufferings of my Cross to look for enjoyment; avoid the humiliations of my Cross in order to chase after the honors of the world? 'There are many who pretend they are friends of mine and protest that they love me, but in their hearts they hate me. I have many friends of my table, but very few of my Cross.' (Imitation of Christ‚ book 2, chap. 11.). At this loving appeal of Jesus, let us rise above our human nature; let us not be seduced by our senses, as Eve was; but keep our eyes fixed on Jesus crucified, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection (Heb 12.2). Let us keep ourselves apart from the evil practices of the world; let us show our love for Jesus in the best way, that is, through all kinds of crosses. Reflect well on these remarkable words of our Saviour, "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16.24; Lk 9.23).