A fantasy [that people have, of possessing] property takes no account of
the fact that, for the great majority of mankind, life is a struggle.
On those grounds I would see this idea of choosing one's own path in
life as a selfish attitude and as a waste of one's vocation. Anyone who
thinks he already has it all, so that he can take what he wants and
center everything on himself is depriving himself of giving what he
otherwise could.
Man is not there to make himself, but to respond to demands
made upon him. We all stand in a great arena of history and are
dependent upon each other. A man ought not, therefore, just try to
figure out what he would like, but to ask what he can do, and how he can
help. Then he will see that fulfillment does not lie in comfort, ease
and following one's inclinations, but precisely in allowing demands to
be made upon one, in taking the harder path. Everything else turns out
somehow boring, anyway. Only the man who "risks the fire", who
recognizes a calling within himself, a vocation, and ideal he must
satisfy, who takes on real responsibility, will find fulfillment. It is
not in taking, not on the path of comfort that we become rich, but only
in giving.
-found at Catholic Education
5/28/2012
Dear papst
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