The first week of September is ending, and summer is drawing to a close, even though the heat seems to get longer every year.   The days are getting shorter, and with them comes a certain nostalgia for how quickly the long-awaited holidays fly by. At least for me, that tends to happen every year, and at all the holidays that involve a long wait, although not this year, perhaps because of the excitement of soon seeing the face of my first grandchild.

We think everything goes by so fast, barely giving us time to enjoy it, and we blame it on the pace of life, but it’s in our hands to choose how we want to live it.   Perhaps that’s why, they say, young people seem to be starting to want to return to the habits of their grandparents. The excess of living in a virtual world is bringing a craving for real objects, for physical things, for paper books, for details, for analogues, and for the traditional—not simply for the sake of returning to the past, but because that’s what matters. I hope this trend continues.

The summer has been hot in every sense of the word. The temperatures on the thermometer and the concern over the fires ravaging the Spanish countryside, long neglected thanks to the exaggerated naturalism of those in power who prefer to let others grieve rather than build firebreaks, have been the hottest news stories. But this week, the big news has been the decision of Pablo Garna, a modern influential Catholic, to enter the seminary. His upcoming life choice has caused the news to be published in all media outlets and seems to have taken social media by storm.

Pablo is going to the seminary, but there are many other vocations where we can live and give the world God’s love: in our own families, at work, in education, medicine, in the groups we belong to, etc.

But   is it so surprising that a boy decides to enter the seminary and his only goal in life is to aspire to holiness?

This Sunday, the 7th, Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will be inscribed in the Register of Saints. Two saints who died young, one from the last century and the other from today, but both are a shining   example that one can be a saint in the world and despite it, in any era. This celebration is a joyful way to return to the routine of our lives, instilling in them the desire for holiness, because   being a saint is not about doing great works; it’s a matter of what we do every day, little by little. It is the daily renunciation of oneself for the good of another, what is called “love,” but with the help of the Holy Spirit, because we all know that we cannot do it alone. We fall again and again…

On September 12th, the film  “Solo Javier” will be released in theatres. This is the story of another young saint, though not yet recognized, but another young man who, after having lived a long life, discovered what was authentic, what gave meaning to his life, and gave it his all. And that same day,   “Kit de santidad” (The Holiness Kit), the path to God by Carlo Acutis, will also be released. These are good films that many theatres insist on boycotting.

In summer, we relax, but summer is over, and this news seems to give us the energy to get back to the routines we need. While it’s true that just changing activities brings a break, the change also makes us want to get back to what we do. And since we’re body, mind, and soul, we’ll have to get back into the routine that helps us take care of the three dimensions of our being with enthusiasm, trying to achieve the goals we had set for ourselves in previous years but almost never managed to achieve.

Just as we worry about getting back in shape, grooming our hair, and going on diets after summer excesses, we need to start taking care of our spiritual dimension again, if we’ve neglected it, which often happens. This dimension, in the end, is what truly guides our journey through life and our way of relating to one another. It also enlightens us about the goals we should aim for. If we are strong in the Lord, we will weather whatever returning to work, college, and the problems and challenges life brings. We won’t even need to read so many magic recipes to achieve that thing called inner peace, because it will come on its own.

The current data isn’t very encouraging, and I don’t mean to be dramatic here, but they are realistic because they are data. Current wars, or the damage caused by so much ideology, offer us devastating statistics. In this situation, it’s urgent to take action and make a plan,  and just as we make a diet plan, make a spiritual plan   that will help us grow and be closer to God. Pablo is going to seminary, but there are many other vocations where we can live and give the world God’s love: in our own family, at work, in education, medicine, in the groups to which we belong, etc.

It’s   the value of love in everyday life, in the things done with love for others, because if you put love into it, you will find love. Everyday life means being attentive, being there for others whenever they need you; it means humility, kindness, service, care, dedication of time, effort, self-sacrifice…

The life changes of so many exceptional young people, such as those mentioned above, or Sister Claire Crokett, Blessed Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos, and many more, who did ask themselves the questions they needed to ask, set the bar very high for us.

In the encyclical   Veritatis Splendor, Saint John Paul II recalled the need to ask ourselves again the questions that accompany the human condition, and perhaps the return of summer is a good time to ask ourselves these questions as a reminder, in case we’ve become a little distracted from the answers or haven’t yet answered them. Change for change’s sake, progress for the sake of accelerated progress at this time, keeps us   looking ahead without pausing to think.

No man can avoid the fundamental questions: What should I do? How can I discern good from evil? The answer is possible only thanks to the splendour of truth that shines in the innermost depths of the human spirit, as the psalmist says: “Many say, ‘Who will show us good?'”…. What is man? What is the meaning and purpose of our life? What is good and what is sin? What is the origin and purpose of suffering? What is the path to true happiness? What is death, judgment, and retribution after death? What, finally, is that ultimate and ineffable mystery that encompasses our existence, from which we come and toward which we are moving? These and other questions, such as what is freedom and what is its relationship with the truth contained in the law of God?, what is the role of conscience in the formation of man’s moral conception?, how to discern, in accordance with the truth about the good, the concrete rights and duties of the human person?  [1]

The life changes of   so many exceptional young people,   like those mentioned above, or   Sister Claire Crokett, Blessed Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos, and many more, who did ask themselves the questions they needed to ask, set   the bar very high for us. We have work to do to ask ourselves and try to answer them. 

NOTE: Obviously, those who do not read certain pages and presume to know nothing that has to do with faith, do not know saints, nor movies about saints, nor do they know that Christians are kidnapped and persecuted, and murdered, they do not even think that one can be a saint at the present time, and the news about Paul will have undoubtedly surprised them, but it will surely make them think.

[1]  John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 1993

Pilar Castañón  –  Woman Eessentia