284. Thirteenth Friday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 268 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Our Lord came to save everyone.

In the middle of his daily work, among the other publicans and tax-collectors, Matthew heard the call. One day, after curing a paralytic at Capharnaum, Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

In a single moment, the accounts, the bags of money and the tribute payments were all left behind. He left them all joyfully; suddenly they seemed worthless, in comparison with the simple command, Follow me, which gave him a place at his Master’s side for ever.

Not content with abandoning everything to follow Christ, Matthew decided to share his good fortune with the people around him, and he brought his colleagues to meet the Man who had changed the course of his life. His apostolic desire went hand in hand with the call he had received, because a vocation adds to our work a sense of mission, which ennobles our existence and gives it its worth. Matthew gave a banquet at his house in our Lord’s honour.

And as Jesus sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. Perhaps Matthew is already looking forward to going to the boundaries of Palestine and even further with his Master. But he doesn’t wait for that to happen to make Christ known to other people: he starts to do apostolate straight away. Our Father commented: The apostle should begin his divine work with what he has to hand, and not waste his zeal on fantasies and wishful thinking. That is my advice to you. There will come a day when you can put into effect your desires of love and apostolate among all the peoples of the earth.

Many tax collectors had a reputation for swindling and opportunism. They had eyes only for their own profit, and the Roman occupation of Palestine suited them very nicely. Therefore, seeing how Jesus sat at table with such people, the Pharisees said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Do you see that? Christ’s enemies reproach him with being a friend of sinners. Of course he is! And so are you! If not, how are we going to convert them? How are we going to bring them to the divine Doctor?

Naturally we’re friends with sinners! You can do this apostolate, just as long as friendship with such people doesn’t endanger your interior life; as long as you have enough fire to raise other people’s spiritual temperature without allowing your own to cool down.

Yes, friends with sinners, real friends, through your prayer and your affectionate, sincere and noble friendship. But always making sure that it never becomes a danger to your soul.

Jesus came to save all souls without exception. So in reply to the criticisms of the scribes and Pharisees he said: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick … For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Following Jesus Christ’s example, in our apostolate we cannot let ourselves be influenced by any distinctions between one person and another, and we cannot exclude any human activity, because all honest occupations, all honest jobs, are motives for sanctification for us, and highly effective means to apostolate.

Charity involves us in other people’s lives.

The Gospel scene we are contemplating is a very eloquent one: the tax collectors were thoroughly despised by everyone else in Israel, but Jesus Christ welcomed them with love. From among their ranks there were many who followed him. And we too want to do good to everyone: to those who love Jesus Christ and those who perhaps hate him. But these last make us feel very sorry, and so we must try to treat them with affection, help them to find the faith, and drown evil, as I say, in an abundance of good.

Our Father insists: Let’s make friends with the people at work, with everyone around us, even though they may be separated from God. I’d go so far as to say that we should be still better friends with such people, because they need us more. The people who need us most are the lukewarm Catholics, who aren’t living up to the faith they profess. Let’s reach out to them with all our charity and all our understanding, offering them real, sincere friendship that is both natural and supernatural.

Don’t be held back by the fear of contagion, because by our contemplative life, by faithfulness to our spirit, to our Norms and Customs, we are inoculated against their errors and their bad example, if they are not Christians. Since we love them with Christ’s own heart, Jesus is there between us and them, and we will end up by drowning evil in an abundance of good.

No matter what sort of difficulties we have to overcome, we will never stop trying, at least, to help souls. Experience has taught us that very often the people who take the most prayer and sacrifice to make friends with, feel a deep desire for atonement and generous service as soon as they allow God’s grace to gain entry to their souls. Therefore, with great love and exquisite care for people’s freedom, we should never let human respect or cowardice stop us from doing all we can to win from God the grace of a vocation for a soul.

A divine madness should impel us to intervene, daringly but sensitively, in the spiritual lives of our companions and friends. We who have Christ’s truth in our hearts must get this truth into other people’s hearts, minds and lives; we have a serious obligation to do so. Anything else is passivity and false prudence. Our Founder asked us: Did Jesus Christ ask you for permission before he got involved in your life? Nor did he ask me. And you and I have to be another Christ, and all Christians have the duty to be proselytistic for as long as we live. Anyone whose faith isn’t alive hasn’t really given himself or herself to Jesus Christ. Anyone who doesn’t get involved in other people’s lives doesn’t know anything about redeeming with Christ. Our concern with other people’s lives is to help them - to stimulate, suggest, propose and foster a change that will do them good; to encourage them to be better people.

Patience and perseverance in proselytism.

A person who doesn’t feel a universal thirst for souls does not have a vocation to Opus Dei. You and I, children of God, dedicated to serving other people for love of our Lord, have to look at people and see souls. We have to tell ourselves: “Here is a soul to be helped, a soul to be understood; a soul to be befriended; a soul to be saved.”

Our Lord counts on the effects of time for his work with souls. Let’s not be surprised, then, if someone we are talking to takes a long time to respond well. Rather than assuming that they haven’t got the right qualities, or enough generosity, we should think that God must be working at a different rate with them, or that he wants to test our faith. What is absolutely certain is that nothing we poor mortals do is wasted when we are really seeking to serve our Lord. If we keep trying constantly to be faithful and to help souls, we will hear the voice of Providence reassuring us: “Do not be afraid; I will give you the increase.” If you have worked generously, if you have really prayed, that promise cannot go unfulfilled, even though we may not see the result immediately in the apostolate.

We must be patient and know how to wait. Control your impatience, our Father wrote: seek new vocations calmly, slowly, at God’s pace… But no matter what, never leave this task! We need to work without slackening, without interruption. Apostolate has to be constant. Pure gold is in the bowels of the earth; it doesn’t just drop into your hand. And it is in apparent darkness that a great gold-mine of holy vocations can be prepared. Proselytism depends on your fervour, your joy, and your unseen, ordinary, everyday work. It depends on our tireless determination never to give up doing apostolate with our friends and acquaintances.

Besides winning vocations straight away, our apostolate will benefit many other souls, by helping them to improve, to see some light, and to grow in virtues. They will feel bound to the Work and the Church with ties of affection, and their enduring gratitude will impel them to cooperate in our apostolates. Perhaps when time has gone by they too will receive a call to greater self-giving.

Mother of ours, Queen of Apostles, make us tenacious and constant in our zeal, our prayer, our sacrifice and our work for proselytism.