Jesus Caritas

I did not feel that I was called to imitate Jesus in his public life and preaching, but understood that I should imitate the hidden life of the humble and poor workman of Nazareth.

I was thirsting to lead at last the life I have been searching for these seven years, the life I glimpsed and guessed at when I walked the streets of Nazareth where Our Lords feet had trod, he the poor craftsman unnoticed in his lowliness and obscurity.

What I am dreaming of is something very simple and small in numbers, something to resemble those simple communities of the Church’s early days. To lead the life of Nazareth, working humbly and contemplating Jesus, a little family, a little monastic household, something very small and simple.

Set up home as Jesus of Nazareth, obscurely, poorly, humbly with hard work. Imitate as closely as possible the humble and hidden existence of the Divine Worker of Nazareth, living solely from the work of your hands.

In every situation, ask yourself: what would our Lord have done? Then do that. That is your only rule but it is absolutely binding on you.

We should try to be so closely united to our Lord that we reproduce his life in our own, that our thoughts and words and actions should proclaim his teaching, so that he reigns in us, lives in us.

We are to love God, then, because he loved us first. [1 Jn 4:19] The Passion on Calvary is a supreme declaration of love. It was to redeem us that you suffered so much, O Jesus. The least of your acts has infinite worth, since it is one of God's acts, and would have been more than ample enough to redeem a thousand worlds, to redeem all possible worlds. But you suffered so much because you wanted to make us holy, to bear our burdens and to draw us into loving you freely. Loving is the most powerful way to attract love, loving is the most powerful way to make oneself loved.

When you love, you forget yourself, and think only of the one you love.

Let us follow Jesus as our One and Only Model.

It is impossible for me to understand how anyone can love Jesus, and not desire to pattern their whole life on his.