by Stjepa Gorvat

The very title of the Pope’s message “Fire in the heart, feet on the road” considering that I am a Missionary of the Precious Blood of Christ, but also just the fact that I am a Christian, makes me think… I have been in different places where I have participated in evangelization, for example “Woodstock” in Poland or “Ultra” in Croatia, or worked with the homeless or volunteers who helped them, but also random encounters with people, for example someone on the street, a postman who brings us the mail, the car mechanic or the doctor I go to see. Many fruitful encounters came to my mind in which I experienced that God used me and touched the heart of another person. I myself lived a period of life without God and experienced the emptiness into which such a way of life led me. The encounter with Christ in the suffering of meaninglessness opened my eyes to the beauty of the fullness of life, and life is more meaningful and easier, and I am happy when I manage to convey that to another person. Despite this, life is not without difficulties, like struggling with one’s own weaknesses. Moreover, the demands of life in community with confrairs and the imperfection of the Church sometimes exhaust and discourage me; but I believe that these all are opportunities to grow in love and rely more on God than on one’s own strength or on another person.