141. Fourth Tuesday of Easter

Meditations no. 187 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

By calling us to sanctify the world, our Lord asks us to exercise all our rights as citizens.

Since he wanted you to be an apostle, the Lord has reminded you, so that you will not forget, that you are a child of God. As his children, we have an inheritance to administer - the inheritance of Christ, which includes the whole world: You are my son, this day I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.

Meditating on Psalm II on Tuesdays leads us to turn our eyes and our hopes to this world of ours, which is the place of our daily meeting with God, and is so badly in need of redemption. The world awaits us. Yes, we love the world passionately because God has taught us to do so: Sic Deus dilexit mundum… God so loved the world. And we love it because it is there that we fight our battles in a most beautiful war of charity, so that everyone may find the peace that Christ has come to establish.

The task that awaits us is that of recovering for Christ all that he gained on the Cross. It is a task which we should carry out in a spirit of joyful certainty, for creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Jesus Christ, who rose as he foretold, is among us, and he inspires us to live our vocation fully, and to carry out the mission he has entrusted to us on earth: we have to sanctify ourselves, and sanctify other souls and institutions, by being in the world and making use of the things of the world.

The Apostle St Paul’s attitude is a clear example for all Christians who live in the middle of the world. St Paul had been in chains for quite some time already, and the Jews had resorted to all kinds of manoeuvres against him. They could not prove anything, yet the Procurator Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked Paul: Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me? Paul was doubtful of the Procurator’s intentions and he asserted his rights as a Roman citizen. Caesarem appello, I appeal to Caesar, he said.

Eager to work for Christ’s cause, Paul did not hesitate to make use of the rights that his citizenship conferred upon him. He made use of them for the benefit of the new-born Church. He knew that he was obliged to use all the means available to further his apostolic work on earth, and so he invoked his rights in God’s service.

Your task as a Christian citizen is to help see Christ’s love and freedom preside over all aspects of modern life: culture, the economy, work and rest, family life and social relations. That is why it is not true that there is opposition between being a good Catholic and serving civil society faithfully. In the same way there is no reason why the Church and the State should clash when they proceed with the lawful exercise of their respective authorities, in fulfilment of the mission God has entrusted to them.

Those who affirm the contrary are liars, yes, liars! They are the same people who honour a false liberty, and ask us Catholics “to do them the favour” of going back to the catacombs.

We must be present wherever necessary to guard and defend Christ’s interests.

Many things, whether they be material, technical, economic, social, political or cultural, when left to themselves, or left in the hands of those who lack the light of the faith, become formidable obstacles to the supernatural life. They form a sort of closed shop which is hostile to the Church.

You, as a Christian, and, perhaps, as a research worker, writer, scientist, politician or labourer, have the duty to sanctify those things. Remember that the whole universe - as the Apostle says - is groaning as in the pangs of labour, awaiting the liberation of the children of God.

The reality of our divine filiation makes us strong and sure in our task of renewing the face of the earth. Pope Pius XI wrote that it is the duty of Catholics to hasten and press for this renewal with their deeds and actions. Nevertheless, many do not have the position and authority in society needed by those who bear the standard of truth. Such a situation could be attributed to the apathy or timidity of good people who abstain from fighting or who resist only feebly. From such an attitude, the enemies of the Church draw greater fearlessness and daring.

We are in the world, and our mission has to be carried out among other people. Our Father writes: For this very reason I have told you, time and again, that you must set a good example; you must bear witness to Jesus Christ in all fields of human activity. You must take the good seed you have received to all of them. Then you will be sowers of divine seeds; you will be salt for souls who have never yet tasted the Gospel message, or who have forgotten its flavour. You will enlighten those who lie in the darkness of error and ignorance.

In all the fields of human work, I insist, you also have to be present, with a marvellous spirit of service as servants of Jesus Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve. It would be a very grave error if you imprudently abandoned public life. In public life you must act as the ordinary citizens that you are, and you must do so with personal freedom and personal responsibility.

We will go about our duties optimistically - since we are children of God - and we will be assured of victory, because we are not seeking any kind of self-affirmation but the establishing of the kingdom of God our Father, who has shown us this refinement of Love: he has let us conquer the world for him.

He is always so humble that he has wished to limit himself to making it possible… To us he has granted the easiest and most agreeable part: taking action and gaining the victory.

We must give Catholics a clearer awareness of their personal responsibility in public life.

A dedicated and unselfish presence in public life offers immense opportunities to do good, to serve. Catholics - and you, my children - cannot abandon this field and leave politics in the hands of people who don’t know or observe God’s law, or who are hostile to the Holy Church.

Man’s life, at both the individual and the social level, is inescapably linked to the law and spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians, therefore, naturally see the connection between apostolate and the regulation of society by the State, that is, political activity. As Christ said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

As ordinary citizens, we have the same obligations and rights as everyone else. However, when the glory of God and the salvation of souls depend on the correct use of these rights, they are no longer ours but God’s. Thus they become duties which cannot be renounced. We cannot simply fold our arms when a subtle persecution condemns the Church to die of starvation by putting it outside the sphere of public life, and above all obstructing its part in education, culture and family life.

These are not our rights; they are God’s rights. He has entrusted them to us Catholics so that we may exercise them! That is why in society, a Christian cannot adopt an attitude of indifference or neutrality, as a mere passive spectator. That false humility is laziness. In fact, such feebleness is a handy way of giving up rights that are, in reality, duties.

We must teach people this doctrine, because ignorance of it is the cause of many evils. Incidentally, I would like to tell you of one my great desires, our Father reveals. I would like to see elementary catechisms spelling out clearly what the basic points are, the ones on which nobody should give in for whatever reason in public life. I would also like to see stated the obligation which people have of getting involved in public affairs and not just abstaining; being ready to serve the common good loyally, with their personal freedom. This is a great desire of mine. Thus Catholics will learn these truths in their childhood, and will know how to practise them later as adults.

In God’s presence, and asking his most holy Mother to enlighten us, let us now consider the extent to which we feel urged to carry out this task: whether we have the deep sense of responsibility which stimulates and guides the activity of Catholics in public life. Let us also examine what exactly we are doing, each in our own place and through our personal circumstances, in order to set Jesus Christ at the summit of all human activities.