On the second Sunday of Lent, the Church presents for our reflection the Gospel of the Lord’s transfiguration. Saint Peter felt enthusiastic when he saw the Lord transfigured in his glory. You already know the story. "Lord, this is magnificent, wonderful, let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Truly, when Saint Peter and the chosen disciples on the Holy Mountain saw the glory of the Lord transfigured, they felt so enthusiastic.

Saint Paul used to say—goodness, I’ve lost the reference, but I think it was the second letter to the Corinthians. The second letter to the Corinthians. Yes, the second letter to the Corinthians: “For the same God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' is the one who made light shine in our hearts so that we might radiate the knowledge of the glory of God that is in the face of Christ.” You know that Jesus Christ is true God and true man. Perfect man and perfect human. The glory of God, the glory of the humanity, of the divinity of Jesus Christ and of his divine person, shine forth through a human face.

On the occasion of this Gospel, of the Lord’s transfiguration, it occurs to me to think about this phenomenon that we are currently experiencing, the exaltation of ugliness... With the loss of all values and with the disappearance of God from the horizon of human life, with this nihilism we are living and this absence of all kinds of values, ugliness takes hold in art, in painting, in cinema, in literature, of course, in music, that strident music that has everything except music. If you notice, all of that coincides with the loss of values, with the loss of all sense of ethics, and with the loss and forgetting of God.

Beauty is one of the transcendentals. And beauty, ultimately, is also identified with being. That infinite beauty of the divinity of Jesus Christ, which in some way was manifested in his human face—I say in some way because, of course, human nature is only capable of reflecting the greatness of infinity up to a certain point. And we are only able to perceive it up to a certain point. But, if you notice, Christianity is the exaltation of beauty, just as it is the exaltation of joy. And it is also the exaltation of the body, another point to consider on the occasion of this feast or this Gospel scene of the transfiguration of the Lord.

That which you must do in your life, and ultimately the only thing you must do in your life, is to bear witness to the Lord. "We preach Christ, and Christ crucified," as the apostle Saint Paul said. We have not come to do anything else. We have been called precisely to this, and this is our vocation. The proclamation of the kingdom of God is nothing more than the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The announcement of the message that the Lord has brought to us and of the love that the Lord has revealed to us would have no meaning at all without the person of the Lord.

That is what we must bear witness to and to nothing else. Now, my children, realize that we cannot reach that knowledge, that understanding of the glory of God in the face of Christ of which Saint Paul speaks. And we cannot bear witness to that before others except through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is, as I have told you many times and as you know very well, the one who leads us to the knowledge of the Lord, to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Therefore, and for this to be possible, it is necessary that we let ourselves be led by the hand of the Holy Spirit. If we do not allow ourselves to be led by the hand of his inspirations and his suggestions, we will never come to know Jesus Christ and, therefore, we will never come to fall in love with him either, and we will never be able to bear witness to him before others.

Therefore, when the Holy Spirit suggests and tries to lead us along the path of evangelical teachings, the love of poverty, the love of sacrifice, the love of work, the love of obedience, the forgetting of ourselves, the concern and love for others, for our brothers and for all men, purity of heart, the love of the cross, and so on, remember that it is essential for us to be docile to these suggestions and inspirations of the Holy Spirit. In this depends our knowledge of Jesus Christ, intimacy with the Lord, and falling completely in love with the Lord, and with that, in turn, the possibility of bearing witness to Him.

Because look, we may speak of Jesus Christ—well, nowadays, hardly anyone talks about Jesus Christ. You know that today the message of the Church is a social message. The person of Jesus Christ has vanished from official catechesis today. What is talked about is, well, social concerns. And for us, our message, our witness to Jesus Christ, and our preaching, as I have told you so many times, will always be stammering. It will be authentic and definitive to the extent that people perceive the Lord in our lives. And that is only possible through the Holy Spirit.

Look, even if we are not, and even if you also never become, like me, great preachers, there is no need for that. What is needed is for you to be good, my children. That you be self-sacrificing, that you love people, that you have a spirit of work, that you deny yourselves, that you are not whimsical, that you are not fussy, that you are not selfish, that you are generous, in other words, that you are good and that you are holy. If this is so, you will bear witness to Jesus Christ and people will see it in you, they will perceive the Lord in you. You will radiate the Holy Spirit, and since the Holy Spirit is the only one who bears witness to the Lord, and the only one who knows how to speak about the Lord, and the only one who knows how to remind us of what He told us and to make us understand what He told us. I remember that yesterday, in a conversation very

I was talking to you about this yesterday evening, during the reading, and then more than a reading it became a talk, a conversation that we adults had with my brother, my brother Jesús, and we were talking about this, about the political situation, and we spoke about how dangerous fanatics are, like the Khomeinis, the Husseins, and the Hitlers, and all these people who are truly dangerous. Then I made a comment, in a joking tone, I said: "It is really very annoying to live next to a saint, no one can stand living next to a saint," referring mainly to the fanatics. But that phrase might work as a joke, but not as a truth.

Because these enlightened ones and these fanatics are not at all holy; they are, in fact, the very opposite of holiness. They are liars, they are cruel, truly cruel. Khomeini was a truly cruel man; only he knows how many people he killed, how many he tortured, just like this one, Hussein, and let's not even mention Hitler. They are cruel, they are selfish, they are liars, everything you can imagine and much more. Holiness is not there, not at all; it is quite the opposite, absolutely. True holiness is something completely different; it is the very antithesis of all of that.

Well, there it is, my children, be good, truly good, and then you will see how you bear witness to Jesus Christ. The rest no longer matters, whether there are better preachers or worse preachers. Study, for example, wisdom. Wisdom and study do not matter as much as accumulating knowledge for having fulfilled the will of God. Let me explain: it is not so important how much one knows, nor what one does not know, as the fact that one has studied what one could.

There it is. This one has studied as much as he could, he has made as much effort as he could. He will be blessed by God, and the Holy Spirit will be with him and will give a perfect testimony of Jesus Christ. In this sense, a man who perhaps has fewer opportunities and fewer qualities than another, but who, because he has made an effort and done what he could, possesses that supernatural wisdom from God that Saint Paul speaks of, will give a much more authentic and much more complete testimony of Jesus Christ than the wise, the learned, and the superintelligent man, who perhaps has not made as much effort because he has not loved as much. And therefore, he is also not as filled with the Holy Spirit.

And there it is, my children, why was the Curé of Ars so effective in his sermons? Because he was a holy man, he was a man who was completely filled with God. And yet, as you can see, his theology—the Curé of Ars knew theology, but as always happens to those who truly know theology, he knew theology because he was a man of prayer, not because he was a scholar. As a scholar, he was a complete failure; he was a man of very limited understanding.

They suspended him a lot of times in the seminary. They even came to doubt whether they could ordain him in San Zorote because he was incapable when it came to studies. He was unable to prepare for his exam, but he was a man of God. Of course, you can spend your whole life studying thick theology books. A man who approaches the tabernacle, who is a man of prayer, and who is in love with God, is the one who knows theology. Anyone—man, boy, woman, or girl—can know it. It makes no difference. Sometimes children know much more theology than the great theologians, the famous ones. The show-off theologians.

And so, my children, there it is. That is the great secret. Yes, that is why today ugliness, as I said at the beginning, is fashionable in every aspect. Sometimes it makes me sad because there are some very good young people, even very intelligent ones. I begin to think, how do I tell this boy? How can I make him understand when he is not going to understand me, and he will see me, as young people always do, as happened with me too when I was young? They always think that old people are out of date and that we only like things from our own time.

How do I tell this boy that pop music or rock music has nothing of true music? There you have it. Well, it is stridency, it is noise. And where is the beauty in that? Where is the art? The thing is, following those stereotypes, and this is so ingrained in the environment, and there is no way. And so, of course, the system achieves its goals. The idea is for young people to be incapable of perceiving beauty, to never hear good music, to not learn to appreciate good painting, to never read good literature, and therefore being incapable of assimilating and perceiving beauty, incapable of knowing God.

When Saint Peter saw the Lord, when he saw glory shining through the face of Jesus Christ, through his whole body, even through his clothes, he felt so excited. "Lord, how good this is, this is fantastic, let us stay here, let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Remember, my children, that you must present Jesus Christ to young people and to everyone as the perfect man, as the absolutely perfect model. And you must present him in such a way, and you must help them understand and know him in such a way, that they become enthusiastic about him and fall in love with him. How can you achieve this? With your words, my children, with your life, by being yourselves completely in love with the Lord.

I repeat it to you again. Realize, for example, that the Lord has taught us to be men. I remember when I was 12 or 13 or 14 years old, and as I have told you so many times, I was bored and wondered about the meaning of life and the purpose of my life.

...my own life because I found no meaning, no significance in my own life. My life, and when my parents told me, when respected elders told me that I had to study hard to become a man, to become a useful man, to become a man, I would look up and see men and the behavior of men, and I would say, well, if that's how I have to be, then it's not worth it for me to study. Only when I began, in some way, to know the Lord, my children, is when I started to learn how I could be a man. Later, I have gone through life and I have seen that I have also failed, that I have never managed to become a man, because I certainly am not one. But... I have clear ideas, I have the ideal there, and I have the model.

The Lord, for example, showed me the sense and meaning of courage. He showed me how it was worthwhile to be brave. And how it was worthwhile to spend your life going against the current and going against everything. Where does Vicente go? Wherever the crowd goes? And to be sheep and belong to the masses. The Lord was the one who gave me life, who taught me to be rebellious.

I already know what you are thinking, said the Lord in that synagogue, that on the Sabbath one cannot heal a man because it is a day of rest. However, if a sheep falls into a well, you will pull it out even if you have to work, because your own interests are at stake. It was the Lord who taught me to say what I think. Wherever I was, no matter where, no matter who might be affected, to say what I think, not to kiss up to anyone, to be brave, to love the truth, and to say things as they are, no matter who might be affected.

It was the Lord. Let's take any page of the Gospel and we will see it. That love for the truth, that courage, that refusal to let himself be manipulated. For example, when they wanted him to perform some miracle. And the Lord did not feel like working miracles just to show off as a miracle worker or as a circus performer before the people. Or when they tried to corner him so that he would answer certain questions. And he said, I will answer you if you answer me others. You do not answer me, you do not know, then I will not answer you either.

The Lord taught me to speak clearly and to tell people what needed to be said, with due respect, but also with the clarity and energy that were necessary. In the world of... as soon as I became aware, I realized that the world around me was a world of lies and a world of manipulation, and the world of my childhood, of my early years, in that sense, was nothing compared to today. Now, we truly live much more immersed in lies and manipulation. That is why, when I heard the Lord God say, "I am the truth," that is when I began to love the truth and to be passionate about the truth.

I have spoken with bishops and with all kinds of people and I have told them what I thought, with due respect, with the appropriate affection, but also with enough clarity and energy, of course. And I have preached before crowds, the older ones here know that. And I have told them what I thought. I have not devoted myself to flattering people, but rather I have told them what I believed in my conscience, which was that it was God's will that I preach the content of the Gospel.

I, as I tell you, when I was 12, 10, 11, 14, 13 years old, I used to get bored and could not find meaning in life. And it was the Lord who taught me the meaning of true freedom: to be freed from sin. Later, throughout my whole life, I have continued to be a sinner and I still am. But it is possible to be a sinner and hate sin and to have an extraordinary hope and an immense love, my children, for freedom. He who commits sin, he who does sin, is a slave. These words are from the Lord. And I understood, thanks to him, that the only slavery that exists in this world is that of sin.

They can throw me in jail and they may torture me and do whatever they want, but they cannot take away the freedom of my soul. Sin is the only thing that can take it from me. I remember when, at the institute, the principal would say to me: "And why are you the only one who doesn't sign in the mornings, as the teachers are required to do?" I would tell him: "Because I don't feel like signing. I don't come here as a teacher, I come as a priest." And besides, there were many other reasons that he knew about. I didn't feel like signing, so I didn't sign, and I was the only one who didn't sign. The sense of freedom, of personal dignity, of courage, and that kissing up to people is an ugly thing. I learned that from the Lord.

Above all, it was from Him that I learned that life had a meaning. That meaning which I was searching for, my son, when I was a child. And what was the meaning of life? It was to give it, to care for people, and to love. To love God without limit, without measure, and to give one's life for others, without argument and without hesitation. This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. It is better to give than to receive. Whoever wishes to come with me, let him leave everything and follow me.

It was from him that I learned very early on that in this world there were things worth much more than money, and that money did not bring joy or perfect happiness. On the contrary, to be happy you had to be far above money, very detached from money, because with money you would never be happy. And look, now at my age, I feel very happy not to have money and not to have money at my disposal. He taught me to look at a woman with purity. Is it possible to look at a woman with purity? With pure eyes? Of course it is. If your heart is pure, your whole body will be pure. If your gaze is pure, your whole body will be pure.

A pure gaze, according to the Lord, depends on a pure heart. And a pure heart depends on a clean gaze. A clean body, clean eyes, and a clean heart always go together as one. This perfect and wonderful man freed us, according to the letter to the Hebrews, from the fear of death.

At this moment, my children, many men are dying. You already know that at dawn, the great offensive began in Cuba. The forces of Juscelín are fighting fiercely right now, on three fronts at once. A great many people are dying, as always happens in wars. As happens in wars.

And look, the fear of death and the dread of death, and having to face death as an ending, the end of life and the end of existence, because after that there is nothing else, was something from which the Lord set us free. The Lord, thanks to Him, now for us death has meaning. And moreover, what kind of meaning? We know that death can be the culmination of a life, of an existence, of a life of love. No one shows greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. And if our vocation in life is to love, and if the meaning of our life is to love, that love never reaches its fulfillment, never in this life, until the moment of death.

It was on the cross when the Lord said, as His last words, "It is finished." It is there, only there, that our existence is fulfilled. These men are giving their lives. But that life, that giving of their lives, has a meaning. These men have faith, they pray. You know that American soldiers, unlike ours, or those from France, or most others in general, are people of faith. The chaplains go at the front, they go to confession, both Catholics and others, and the others attend their own services. They are men of great faith. They are men of faith and they pray.

Those men offer their lives thinking that they are offering them for something worthwhile. I heard this morning—this is why I laughed so much—because I read Bush’s speech, I think it was at 4 in the morning Spanish time, shortly after the invasion started, a speech by Bush to the American nation, beautiful, short, beautiful. I don’t know why I understood it, and later I was laughing a lot at the translator, a lady who seems not to know much English, but it was a beautiful speech. And President Bush was indeed speaking, and he said to the people, to the Americans: “Leave everything you are doing right now, whatever it may be. Dedicate yourselves to praying. Think about those men and women of ours in uniform who are right now at the front, offering their lives for God, for our country, and for ideals that they believe are worth offering them for. Pray for them and may God bless them. And may God bless the United States.” He is a man of faith. That is why, when I hear certain things, it makes me very sad because

Because I thought, I believed, that the Lord had freed us from those petty matters. And in fact, the Lord freed us from those petty matters, but I see that not everyone. For example, when I hear things like this: we must accept Gorbachev's plan, Gorbachev's peace plan, because peace is necessary at all costs. And I think, but peace is not necessary at all costs. If the price we must pay for peace is greater than what we are going to gain, then it is not worth it.

Peace is a good, and war is an evil. But let us remember that peace is not the highest good, nor is war the greatest evil. Peace is not the supreme good. And sometimes it is necessary to go to war, because otherwise we would lose things that are worth more than our own physical life. For example, dignity. For example, freedom. "I did not come to bring peace, but war," the Lord said. "I did not come to bring peace, but the sword." Peace is a good, but not the highest good, and especially not human peace. Above human peace is true peace, the peace brought to us by the Lord. "I do not give you peace as the world gives it." This cannot be forgotten.

And the greatest evil is not war; the greatest evil is sin. It is the greatest and the only true evil. War is bad and should be avoided as much as possible, but it will not always be avoidable. If, in order to avoid war, we must allow our dignity and our freedom to be trampled, then it is not worth avoiding the war. I believed that the Lord had taught us this and had taught us to free ourselves from pettinesses like Estardo, like Vicente, to be where the people are, like speaking in a way that makes us think we are pleasing people and going along with whichever way the wind is blowing.

I thought that we were free from all those things, and I see that we were not free. I do not want war, and I desire peace, but not at any cost. War is an evil, but sometimes it is a necessary evil. How is it an evil to cut open a man's belly? Or to open his head or his heart, because he needs surgery. But if he is not operated on, he dies. It is a necessary evil. Therefore, war can be just in certain circumstances and occasions, as the Church has always recognized.

And the offering of life can have a meaning. And then death can have a meaning. And that offering of life which has a meaning, and that death which has a meaning and can even be glorious, this was brought to us by Him, Jesus, the Lord. We owe it to Him, to Him who also gave His life. If death were an evil, and the supreme evil, an evil, the Lord would not have offered Himself, would not have offered His life, and would not have submitted to death. The culmination of the Lord’s glory is on the cross. Death is an evil, but I repeat, not the supreme evil. The supreme evil, and in fact the only true evil, is sin, I say again. Death can become a loving offering, as the Lord did.

And thanks to him, from that moment on, every death united to his becomes a loving offering. Every death united to his becomes a loving offering and the culmination of a life of love. That is why I am outraged when I see those manipulations. That is why, my children, I urge you to be brave, to love the truth, to not let yourselves be manipulated, to not go along with whichever way the wind blows, to truly be rebellious, but truly rebellious, not like the 4,999 sheep who decided to be rebellious, but like that one sheep out of 5,000, just one, who said it did not feel like being rebellious and planned to remain a sheep, if only to be a nuisance. While the other 4,999 became rebellious and all went off together singing their hymn of rebellion: "Baa! Baa!"

Truly rebellious! And for that, my children, you must draw near to the Lord. Sometimes, at my age, I feel a bit sad when I see that even we, the priests and bishops and those who should continue giving witness to an authentic Christianity and to true love of the Lord, I see that we give in, and I see that we go along with the environment and with the prevailing winds, and that we are cowards. And this makes me very sad.

And when I feel that sorrow, well, I don’t know, I feel an even greater desire to draw near to the Lord. And then I remember that story about Tiberio that you all remember and that I have told you so many times and that you have read. When they asked Tiberio what he wanted to be when he grew up, he told me, “Well, I would like to be a gardener of the air.” “A gardener of the air?” “Yes, to always be among the clouds, among the birds, to be far from men and closer to God.”

And I, of course, sometimes, indeed, my children, feel like being a bit farther from men and a bit closer to God. Because when one looks around and sees the environment, and especially when I look at myself and see, I repeat, those of us who were supposed to be giving the example of an authentic Christianity, of a serious morality, and who were supposed to be preaching the Gospel with courage, and yet I see that we are just looking around to see where the weather vane points, where the wind is blowing from, so we can align ourselves with it. "I do not preach what pleases men," said Saint Paul, "these people only talk about human things, about earthly matters, and they preach what pleases people instead of preaching what pleases God, what God wants." Well, my children, I tell you something I have told you countless times, the only way to escape manipulation, the only way to escape the pressure of the environment, the only way to avoid being absorbed by the clichés of the environment, the only way to escape from that is to be a man of prayer. To be a man of prayer.

Yesterday during the walk, I think it was Paulino who asked me, "Father, how is it possible that such eminent and wise people, for example, some theologians, even some well-known ones, and people like that, say sometimes the nonsense they say? How is it possible that things which are so clear, nevertheless they do not see them? How is it possible for the compass and the north to be lost in such a way?"

And I used to say to Don Paulino: "Look, that which might seem impossible, and yet happens, is possible because when one stops praying, when one stops praying one ends up seeing white as black and black as white. The only way to see things as they are, with their true nature, with their bare reality, is to be a person of prayer, because only there, in contrast and in dialogue with infinite truth—'I am the truth,' said Jesus—and with the infinite reality that is God, only there can one become aware of the truth of things and the reality of things and escape the manipulations of the father of lies and the great deceiver, as the Lord called the devil, whose power spreads in such a terrible way throughout the world."

"How is it possible that such prominent people say those foolish things, Father?" I would say to him, "Well, look, it is possible because they lose their compass. And they have lost their compass because they have stopped praying. They are not men of prayer, and then, as soon as you stop praying, you automatically begin to say foolish things and you start, like parrots, to repeat what people say, and what is in the air, and to live by clichés. And what the television says, what the radio says all the time."

Yesterday I got indignant because I turned on the radio—I don’t know at what time—to hear the news. And of course, you always have to turn it on half a minute before or something like that, and I heard the usual interview with a certain gentleman who had apparently been, I don’t know who he was, I didn’t catch it, a certain gentleman who had apparently been persecuted, as always, cruelly, under the Franco regime, or under the previous regime, as it is now called, because you know it’s forbidden to say Franco regime or Franco’s regime. And there he was, the good gentleman, talking about his terrible sufferings, and how he had been taken that night, he says, to the General Directorate of Security, or rather, he went, he had gone there to the General Directorate of Security because there were some detainees, and he said, “I’ve come to express my solidarity with the detainees.” “Ah, well, come in,” and they let me in, and there I met Felipe González, Tierno Galván, Enrique Tierno Galván, and so on, and so on. And I thought, how outrageous, just look at these men and how they were persecuted—Enrique Tierno Galván, what a martyr’s life.

That man, and how persecuted he was. That is why, when he later left the General Directorate of Security and went to Murcia as a professor, he became my professor. I was his student. You should have seen, he was plump and good-looking, because Enrique has a certain way, a man of good appearance, in spite of the terrible tortures and persecutions he had suffered. One must see the persecutions of the Francoist regime.

I, on the other hand, did live through those poor three priests, three priests who were killed in my village. I lived it, because I was a little child, but I remember it perfectly. In my village alone, they dragged three priests. I remember perfectly the scene in which my father, my mother, and someone else—I don’t know who—were traveling, and I was with them in a car going to Murcia. When we passed through the checkpoints in all the villages, everywhere on the outskirts, there were checkpoints everywhere. A militiaman stuck his rifle through the car window and asked, "Where are you going?" "We are going to Murcia." I don’t know how he didn’t shoot us. It’s as if I can still hear his voice. I must have been, well, it had to be the year 1936 or 1937, so I must have been four or five years old, and I remember the scene perfectly as if I were living it right now at this very moment. Notice how deeply that was engraved in me. How impressive.

At the parish of Carmen in Murcia, they cut off his testicles and ears, roasted them, and ate them. Then they hung him from the window, and that window still exists, from the tower of the church of Carmen in Murcia. The window where he was hanged is still there... and they hung the poor man, when he was already a corpse, they hung his corpse there. Etc., etc., because why should we continue, but no one talks about that; they talk about the terrible persecutions suffered by Felipe González and Tierno Galván, that when someone is big, he is stronger. Well, because uncle Galván has already died. There have been just three poor martyrs. Do you see? There you have it. And that manipulation and that lie is constant, 24 hours a day. And people swallow that and live off it.

That is why I say to you, and let us no longer speak of a theological manipulation, or a religious manipulation. The only way to be free from manipulation, to be in the truth, and not to be a sheep, is to be a person of prayer, to draw near to Jesus Christ, and to fall in love with the Lord. "I am the truth." And only whoever is with Him will be in the truth and with the truth, my children.

Some people, for example, perhaps some of the young ones, may think, upon hearing me say these things, that I am a fascist, that I am a supporter of Franco. Well, between Franco and Felipe González and the current system, I would choose Franco. But I am not a supporter of Franco, just as I am not a politician; I have never been a politician. I am simply a priest and a man with common sense, and an ordinary citizen who has lived through that time and this time, who has experienced both worlds, that one and this one; I have known both.

You young people have only known this. I have known both, and no one should think that I am lying. I am telling what I have lived, what I have felt, what I have seen, what I have witnessed. I am not a Francoist or a supporter of Felipe, I am a priest. I am not a politician, I am simply a lover of the truth, and I tell the truth, and I say what I have seen.

It never occurred to me to say that the Franco regime was infallible, that it had no defects, or that Franco was a holy father; like any man, he also had his defects. However, he was not a brute, as I see these gentlemen are now, nor was he a scoundrel, nor did he have mistresses all over Europe, nor villas all over Europe, nor millions in all the banks of Europe, and so on, as you know that many people who are quite prominent, whose names and surnames are well known to you because they are public figures, well, you all know them.

Man, I’m not a fascist, nor am I not a fascist. Simply... I love the truth. And I say what I have seen, because no one told me about it. I have lived it. So don’t come to me with stories. Well, let’s leave it here. You are all very tired. And so am I.

In summary, my children, let us be good and let us draw near to the Lord. When we draw near to Him and get to know Him, we are going to be enthusiastic, because He is wonderful. Just as Saint Peter was enthusiastic. "Lord, this is wonderful. Let us stay here with You and with Moses and Elijah. Let us stay, because this is wonderful."

We thank you, Lord, for the good thoughts and feelings you have inspired in us during this graduation. And we ask for your help, and also yours, Our Mother, to put them into practice. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

There are political people, ecclesiastical people, and so on, who are in the spotlight and whom I hear say certain foolish things, such as, for example, "Is it necessary to implement Gorbachev's peace plan at all costs?" Well! At all costs is a bit much. Is it necessary to put it into practice? Perhaps. But not at all costs. You see, there are things that are better than peace. Peace is not the highest good. And war is not the greatest evil. Peace is desirable and war should be avoided. But neither is the highest good nor the greatest evil. And not at all costs. Not if it has to be at the expense of our dignity, our freedom, and moreover, if it leads to worse things afterwards. Because if this gentleman is allowed to do whatever he wants, just imagine...

What we are going to have in two or three years, in just a very few years, is that when this man already has his nuclear arsenal, which he will have very soon. Then it turns out that it will be much worse still. Let us examine things calmly.

What I was saying... Sometimes, when I stop to think, I wonder, well, how can such brilliant people say these things, whose falsehood, on the other hand, is so clear? How can someone say such nonsense, and how can someone lose their bearings like that? These people are deceiving us. That’s why Don Paulino asked me yesterday, "Father, what do you think of these people?" I don't think they are trying to deceive us. There are some very good bishops out there, and very good people who say things that, although they are nonsense, you can't believe these people are motivated by ill will. I can't believe it is ill will. What I do believe is that they have lost their sense of direction.

And why have they lost their compass? Because they do not pray. Today, people do not pray, and the priests do not either, and neither do the bishops. Of course, when you do not pray, you are immediately dominated by lies. Look, my children, I am 58 years old. I have seen people, including priests and bishops I have known, who abandoned prayer even though they were very good before. And the moment they gave up prayer, I saw how their lives took a complete turn. They began to live in a merely human way, and they started saying idiotic and foolish things, people who before were very sensible, full of common sense, and spiritual.

They have abandoned prayer and have begun to live in a worldly way and to say stupid and foolish things. I have seen it myself, I have confirmed it, no one has told me about it. That is why I tell you, my children, to be careful with that. The only way to live in freedom, to be truly rebellious, and to die with the satisfaction of saying—hopefully these could be our last words, if we are able to say last words—that we could die saying, not like Saint Paul who said: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." That we could say, for example: "I have fought the good fight, I have spent my life being a pain in the neck."

Father Alfonso Gálvez