120. Easter Tuesday

Meditations no. 166 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Apostolate comes as a consequence of charity.

The whole of Jesus Christ’s life, and in particular his sufferings during his Passion and Death, speak to us eloquently of the value that souls have in God’s eyes and of his great love for them. God continues to show that love through the miracle of the Resurrection and even after Christ’s Ascension into heaven. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place … And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

It is the Holy Spirit, the Love of God, who is the driving force of the apostolate. How would it be possible to love God without at the same time loving those who are his children, those who are the objects of his love and fatherly care? If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. Fraternal charity knows no limits. It should constantly move us to be concerned about the others, and to love them in an active and effective way, which is both supernatural and apostolic.

Our Christian vocation, this calling which our Lord makes to each of us personally, leads us to become identified with him. But we should not forget that he came on earth to redeem everyone, because he wishes all men to be saved. There is not a single soul in whom Christ is not interested. Each soul has cost him the price of his Blood.

We must feel strongly urged to bring everyone before our Lord, and place them at his feet: those who are close to us, and the millions of others whom we do not yet know. Yours is only a small love if you are not zealous for the salvation of all souls. Yours is only a poor love if you are not eager to inflame other apostles with your madness.

The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few: the urgency and greatness of this task.

God’s love for mankind, which is a love he shows in both words and deeds, is not being repaid as it should be. Many people remain indifferent, unaware of God’s care for them. This was the misfortune of the multitude that witnessed Christ’s Passion; and it is the case whenever huge crowds turn their back on God’s love. Lord! our Father exclaims, where are your friends? Your subjects, where are they? They have left you. This running away has been going on for twenty centuries… We, all of us, flee from the Cross, from your Holy Cross.

Blood, anguish, loneliness and an insatiable hunger for souls… these are the courtiers around your royal throne.

By rising from the dead and sending us the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ has given us a share in his own love for souls. He urges us to pass on to others the happiness we have found in him. If we truly love our neighbour, we cannot be left indifferent by all the unhappiness and frustration in this world of ours. What compassion you feel for them!… You would like to cry out to them that they are wasting their time… Why are they so blind, and why can’t they perceive what you - a miserable creature - have seen? Why don’t they go for the best?

Pray and mortify yourself. Then you have the duty to wake them up, one by one, explaining to them - also one by one - that they, like you, can find a divine way, without leaving the place they occupy in society.

There are millions of people who do not know the true God. That is why they do not love him. There are noble souls who, if they truly knew Jesus, would certainly fall in love with him, and would be capable of great deeds. What our Lord pointed out to his disciples twenty centuries ago - the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few - is still very much the case. As a result, our hearts must be set aflame, impelled by the desire to seek labourers for the harvest. There are so many who have no one to help them!

Do you remember? Night was falling as you and I began our prayer. From close by came the murmur of the water. And, through the stillness of the Castilian city, we also seemed to hear the voices of people from many lands, crying to us in anguish that they do not yet know Christ.

Unashamedly you kissed your crucifix and asked him to make you an apostle of apostles.

The characteristics of true apostolic zeal.

We find a good example of this zeal for souls in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which describes how, on the day of Pentecost, Peter and the other Apostles spoke to the crowd without fear or human respect. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

On hearing this, the crowd were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles. “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

There was no desire for revenge or human triumph in St Peter’s words, but only a sincere, impartial love for the people listening to him. What Peter wanted was to make them happy in this life and to lead them to eternal life - even though some of those who heard him thought he was quite mad.

Apostolic zeal is a divine madness I want you to have, and it has these symptoms: hunger to know the Master; constant concern for souls; perseverance that nothing can shake.

If we want to ensure that this apostolic zeal is not just a passing sentiment, but remains a constant need, we have to be closely united to our Lord. The closer an apostle is to God, the more universal his desires. His heart expands and takes in everybody and everything, in its longing to lay the universe at the feet of Jesus.

The first characteristic of our zeal, our first concern, should be this: hunger to know the Master. It is the love for God within us which really attracts souls. Let us never forget this. Lord, make us crazy with a contagious craziness that will draw many to your apostolate.

How easy it then becomes for those who know us to be moved to love God! Only in that way will you be vibrant with the vibrancy that the spirit of the Work demands, so that those who are in contact with you in your profession and in your social activity will often repeat the comment Cleophas and his companion made at Emmaus: Nonne cor nostrum ardens erat in nobis, dum loqueretur in via? Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?

Then our constant concern for souls will keep us from wasting any opportunity that arises, since the time for souls will not wait. And when the opportunity comes, we have to create an atmosphere of trust straight away, leading to personal and direct apostolate.

We should work without ever feeling discouraged, with a perseverance that nothing can shake, that leads us to cry out to our Lord again and again: Jesus, souls… apostolic souls! They are for you, for your glory! You will see how he will end up listening to you.

He will end up listening to us because we always leave our petitions in the hands of our Lady, Regina Apostolorum, Queen of Apostles.