You will also have to state that evil is increasing. Maybe you will think that this is exactly what is happening today. It must always be remembered that "few are the elect" (Matt. 22:14). But don't let this upset you. Your business is still to invite the brothers to a feast. There will always be those among them who will hear your call. Your duty is to call everyone, for you yourself were called to save the world. Those who do not listen to you may die, but they will choose their own fate. You are a sower, not a reaper. God will reap the harvest on the last day. In the meantime, without revealing to you the "mystery of sin," He calls you today and tomorrow in His name to root out sin. It will come to pass, here or there, when you least expect it.

The most important thing is to save yourself from evil. For you are responsible for the salvation of your soul. Thus you will purify yourself every day with the abstinence of a man who does not accept any dirt and rejects any compromise. Do not forget, however, that he who has managed to protect himself from the filth of the world must also protect others from it. God will reward you for every ray you give you.

Therefore you must always remember that the expression "to save one's own soul" does not mean to accumulate virtues for one's own benefit, which, however, would not make any sense, for it is obvious that he who saves his own soul certainly saves the souls of others. On the contrary, this expression means that you cannot purify others if you have not purified your own soul. This is what we mean when we prioritize the liberation of our being from the embrace of darkness that pollutes us at every moment. Seeing your inner freedom, others will also be encouraged to liberate themselves.

Since everything comes from within a person, do not imagine that you are able to purify the soul by deeds that seem good to you: deeds can be good only when they come from a pure and good soul. You are more important than your affairs. You will have to be the founder of grandiose institutions, but if it is not done from a loving heart, they will serve nothing. You can direct yourself by an effort of will, but if you lack love, all this will be only conventional. Any worldly organization, if it is limited by the worldly spirit, will perish with the world. People need to be loved, even if they live in the heart of the desert. Part of our Church was once nomadic. This living Church was called the "Church of the Tents" in Jordan, and its bishops and all their flock were nomads. Our Church knew both universally recognized achievements and prosperous institutions, but they turned out to be alien to the Spirit.

It is important to have the criteria for distinguishing between good and evil, permanent and ephemeral, true existence and the organization of existence. The true is not always seen through the organization. When you participate in the creation of institutions, the main thing is to put love first, to know the ultimate goal, which is never a means. I am not saying that we do not need tools and means, I am only drawing attention to the fact that the accumulation of them in large quantities is not always inspired by the Spirit. Where the Spirit wants to breathe, there He finds His own means of expression, and these means are not limited to the realm of reason.

If the mind does not visit the heart to be enlightened in it and to know its own limits and its own weakness, it will become more and more withered and will find satisfaction in the accumulation of things. And only the heart connects all things.

What is a well-trained soldier without love for the fatherland? What is a priest in whom the fire of God does not burn? What is the Church without the Word? What is the whole world worth if it is deprived of gifts from above? How can one become an heir of the Kingdom of God if one does not manifest in life, in the practice of the virtues of poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy and peace, named by Jesus in the Beatitudes, this true "charter" of the Kingdom, to which the entire Gospel can be reduced? What is a Christian if he is not "the light of the world" and "the salt of the earth"? "But if the salt loses its savor," said the Teacher, "with what wilt thou make it salty?" (Matt. 5:13).

It is probably no accident that in the Sermon on the Mount the first words spoken by the Lord after the Beatitudes are: "Ye are the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13). What are the practical consequences of this call to be the salt of the whole earth? Salt adds flavor to food or improves its taste. Those to whom doctors forbid salt are well aware of this: for them, food is tasteless. In addition, salt preserves food. The Old Testament speaks of "the covenant of salt" (Num. 18:19). In this covenant, God made David and his descendants kings (2 Chronicles 13:5). If this Old Testament word is combined with the thought of the Gospel of Matthew, the meaning of the verse: "You are the salt of the earth" will be as follows: "The stronger your 'saltiness', the more you yourselves are the covenant between God and people. To the extent that you are poor in spirit, meek, merciful, peacemakers, so you yourselves become this covenant."

The connection between God and humanity is realized through this small blessed, chosen and loved remnant of God, to whom He is already opening the gates of the Kingdom.

The encounter between God and the people of God takes place through those who have understood that they are citizens of the Kingdom in the midst of the world. They preserve the world and give it taste. The world is not extension and multiplicity, the world is a small number of pure people. The world draws from it what it can draw, but those in whom God has created a dwelling already have everything.

These words were spoken by Jesus after He had chosen four of His disciples. Two left their nets to follow him, and the other two left their father. A multitude of people accompanied them because they loved Jesus and wanted to hear Him proclaim the Kingdom. But what kind of kingdom is it? What will be in it? What virtues do you need to acquire in order to go to it? In response to these questions, like Moses, who gave his people the law written on Mount Sinai, Jesus—in his capacity as the new Moses—led the people to a mountain in Galilee to give them a new law. Jesus "opened his mouth": the new law is Himself. I think that the mountain in question is Mount Tabor, where He will later be transfigured, since there is no other mountain in this area. Matthew seems to want to suggest that it is possible to be transformed into a new man only when one lives in accordance with this New Testament.

After finishing the sermon, the Lord descends from the mountain and performs ten miracles. He instructs His friends with word and love: both word and love lead to healing. Then he chooses the twelve apostles and sends them, filled with His power, in turn to instruct and heal. He makes them the salt of the earth.

The expression "salt of the earth" brings to mind two things at once. On the one hand, Jesus' apostles live in Him, on the other hand, He sends them not to withdraw into themselves and revel in their courage, not to create a Christian "environment," but to be with others and serve them. They are everywhere in the world, but they do not monopolize the world. They are like salt: it gives food taste, but it is not visible, it is not all food. The disciples of Jesus are not subject to the world, for they are not of the world. But they want the world to be imbued with their spirit, they call on it to recognize their Lord.

It is normal for Christians to form a community, for the Lord has united them to Himself, making them partakers of His Body and Blood. They are united with Him in His love for them and in their obedience to His will. His words shape them because they receive those words in order to live by them and be transformed into the words of the Lord. In this way, they become His presence in the world, and He works through them. They live permanently with the Teacher on Mount Tabor, for they are nothing if they are not transfigured in Him. It is through His transfiguration that they resist darkness, are freed from the oppression of the world and from its snares, as if they had never known them. They know them, but the simplicity of Christ allows them to fill all people with light. This is what wisdom consists of. They delight in nothing or anyone except their freedom. They are not guided by bourgeois morality, any laws or customs of a social group. They do not label people, for they know that even the righteous can apostatize, and the evil can reform. And, without condemning anyone, they realize that publicans and harlots will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before many who consider themselves pure.