These leaders need to have both moral authority and spiritual gravity, Martin said, giving an example of Mother Teresa confronting a pro-abortion politician about their stance during a Mass. Mother Teresa had moral authority, Martin said, which meant that her concerns and advice were taken seriously by others.
"There's two types of people in this world: there's thermometers, and there's thermostats," he told the conference hall. "When you walk into a room, does the room impact you, or do you impact the room?"
Christ-like leaders must be "thermostats," he explained, especially in a world where current culture tells people that their lives have no meaning or purpose, and that their existence is the result of "random chaos."
In this culture, Martin said, Christians are called to announce that Christ "loved [each person] into existence" and that each of them will be "loved for eternity."
"The world says you're nothing, Christ says you're almost everything." He advised the crowd to "pursue truth so that you can live in love forever," rather than pursuing earthly desires which left human nature wounded by sin.
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God, Martin said, created human beings to do "amazing" works, and not to live in a kind of virtual reality or video game. It is important he told attendees, to go into the world, to take risks in order to live a full life as designed by Christ, with the eventual goal of making it to heaven.
Catholics were not made for the "pleasures" of this world, he explained, but instead they were made for and by Christ. They are called to find out their purpose in this world, in order to find "everlasting happiness."
FOCUS was founded in 1998 and seeks to evangelize college students. FOCUS says its missionaries are currently present on more than 150 campuses throughout the United States and Europe.