There are some men who ask no questions. That is very bad, for men who do not ask questions are not really human. None the less, these same men will one day ask: Is there a meaning to my life? And they will not be prepared to answer that question. They will try to forget it, and they will not be able to; for to forget such a question is impossible.
There are some men who settle down in life and forget that life has any purpose other than living. They surround themselves with material goods, and, always greedy for more, they never have enough. They are condemned to a life of perpetual dissatisfaction, for, they no sooner manage to satisfy one desire than ten more rise up to take its place. They are like slaves who work until they drop, and yet have nothing to show for their pains.
Many men - the majority - have experienced human love. They have made a home and had children. This was their immediate goal, and a noble one. Such men live for their homes and their families. But they have not solved the problem of their livesj they have only postponed it. One day, a day of suffering or worry, the problem will reappear: why continue to struggle? For the children? But what is the purpose of children? Why have children at all? Indeed, why live?
There are men who believe in the supremacy of technology and science. They are proud of man' s intelligence and power, and they believe that these things will create an ideal world capable of satisfying man' s deepest aspirations. None the less, however proud man may be of his victories  over the limits of time, of knowledge and of life, the fact remains that these limits are still there to frustrate and exasperate him.
There are other men who stand in fear before the power of technology and science. They are like children terrified by a great machine which they have somehow set in motion and cannot stop. Will they be able to control this power? How will it be used? And, why?
Some men live by violence. They are fighting against an unknown enemy. All they know is that they must take revenge because they were only given little joys when they were looking for happiness. They were looking for happiness-but what kind of happiness? They are like blind men lost in an unfamiliar street. And these are the men whom we call rebels without a cause.
There are, on the other hand, those who are engaged in a legitimate struggle against society. We try to inundate them with 'consumer goods', but we ignore other desires in them - desires and hungers which grow keener every day. These men therefore try to destroy society by working against its economic, social and political structures. They have plans, projects; but they look vainly about the world for any concrete realization of the kind of man and the kind of society of which they dream. Where they find signs of clear progress, they also find signs of terrible crises and of the profound dissatisfaction of men.

We are not asked to 'defend the rights of God' by strug

gling to have his symbols on a wall or on a flag, orhis name in

a rule or a law. No matter how frightened we may be by the

modern world, we must not 'take refuge in God' by means

of prayer or pseudo-mysticism. What we must do is to re-discover God in our lives. Some people have tried to take God out of life to keep him 'safe'; and some have tried to

force him out of it. The majority of men, however, simply

do not know that he is there.

God-Love is present to man and to the world,

as sap is present in a tree,

as leaven is present in bread,

as life is present in a body.

lt is up to us to meet him, to love him, to struggle at his side

in order to free mankind. lt is up to us to make his presence

known.

We feel sorry for people who do not know why, or for

whom, they live. Sometimes we are scandalised by their lack of awareness. But can we truthfully say that, for prac

tical purposes, our own lives are centred round our brothers and round God-Love who is at the heart of our brothers and of the world?

Most of our actions, even our supposedly 'apostolic'

actions, are performed without a clear vision of the end at which they are aimed.

The alliance between the Creator and the creature must be realised within ourselves. We must re-discover the Centre: God-Love. We must build within ourselves, but on

the 'Rock', the corner-stone, which is Jesus Christ. Then, from our present situation on earth as pilings under a struc

ture, we and our brothers will be able to 'build a tower with its top reaching heaven'.

More than ever before, men today have need of a Saviour.

III

Without knowing it, they are erying out to him. As Christians, we know that this Saviour is our friend, that we

are his brothers and that God, his Father, is our Father. If we

~ive as sons and brothers, then men will reeognise the Saviour

m uso

with men,

as a man,

without looking at my feet,

without stumbling as though I were blind, but with my eyes open, as one who sees.

Then, Lord, perhaps if they see me walking among them, as a man who sees,

they will be freed from their anguish.

Lord, tonight, in the quiet darkness, I heard the world heave a deep sigh,

I heard the tragie ery of anguished meno

They do not know where to tum, and therefore

they are searehing blindly,

losing themselves, rebelling,

or simply resigning themselves.

Make me open my ears and my heart so that

I ma~ be able to hear their eries and diseover their meanmg.

Give me the strength to gather up these eries

and offer them to you as one immense supplieation

rising from earth towards you-a prayer:

Lord, do not forget our allianee. Show yourself to uso

We need you.

Y ou are our Saviour.

Help me to fÌnd you-I, who so often act as though you were

not there.

Help me to belong to the world,

but with you within myself,

in my heart,

in my living flesh,

in my human aetions.

Help me to be one of those who walk, who wa1k in life where men walk,

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