Today, the Lord surprises us by “advertising” himself. It is not my intention to “shock” anyone with this assertion. It is only our earthly publicity that lessens the great and supernatural things. What induces us to look at publicity with suspicion is, for instance, promises such as those assuring us that, within a few weeks, we will be losing five or six kilograms if using a certain “trick product” (or others to the same extent). But, when we have a hundred per cent guaranteed “product”, and —as in the case of the Lord— nothing is being sold in exchange for money, and we are only asked to believe Him while considering Him our leader and a model of a certain life style, then this kind of “publicity” should not surprise us and can be accepted as totally legitimate. Has not Jesus been the greatest “publicist” when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6)?

Today, He affirms that “I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them” is wise and “is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock” (Lk 6:47-48), for he now has a well built house, that can face any kind of weather. On the contrary, if the builder is not so sensible, he will end up in the middle of a pile of rubble and, if he was in the house when the flood burst into it, he may lose not only the house but his own life, too.

Therefore, it is not enough to get close to Jesus, but we have to listen, with the maximum attention, to His teachings and, most of all, to prompt them into action. For even the curious, the heretic or the history or philology scholar may approach Him... So only by coming close to Him, and basically, by practicing Jesus' doctrine, shall we be able to raise a building of Christian saintliness, as a paradigm for the faithful pilgrims and glory of the celestial Church.