23 — INVITATION TO THE APOSTOLATE

Presence of God. — I place myself in the presence of Jesus, Head of the Mystical Body of the Church, so that He may teach me to collaborate with Him in the salvation of souls.

Meditation

1 — In the Baptist’s word: “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Lk. 3, 4), an invitation to apostolate is implied, to that apostolate which John himself exercised by disposing the hearts of his brothers for the coming and work of the Messiah.

This invitation is addressed to us not only by the Baptist, but also by Jesus, who wished to make every Christian a collaborator in His redemptive work.

It is clear that Jesus, with His infinite merits, alone merited the immense and precious capital of grace necessary to redeem and sanctify the entire human race; and yet He did not disdain our humble collaboration, indeed positively willed to “have need of us.” Pius XII in the Encyclical on the “Mystical Body of Christ” teaches thus: “It appears clearly that Christians have an absolute need of the help of the divine Redeemer... nevertheless it must be held... that Christ also has need of His members... This, indeed, does not happen because of His indigence and weakness, but rather because He Himself so disposes it for the greater honor of His spotless Bride.”

The Bride of Christ is the Church, and the Church is the “society” of His faithful, therefore it is we, it is our souls. Jesus had absolutely no need of us and, as He alone merited grace for us, so He alone could directly apply it to every soul: “He could have bestowed it by Himself on the whole human race; but He willed instead to do so by means of a visible Church, in which men would be united in order all to cooperate with Him... in mutually communicating the divine fruits of Redemption” (ibid.).

Jesus therefore, in His infinite goodness, wished to associate us with Himself, to give us the honor and joy of being His collaborators in the greatest work accomplished in the world: the salvation of souls.

2 — Since Jesus, in His infinite love for us, wished to associate us with His redemptive work, reserving in it a place for our activity, it must be said that now, in the present economy of Redemption, our collaboration is necessary. Henceforth, to bring His work to completion, Jesus has need of us. We must be holy proud of this, but we must not forget that from this there follows a tremendous responsibility: the salvation of our brothers and sisters depends also on the generosity with which we collaborate in Christ’s work. “A truly tremendous mystery, and never sufficiently meditated, namely that the salvation of many depends on the prayers, voluntary mortifications undertaken for this purpose by the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, and on the collaboration of pastors and faithful...” (Myst. Corp.). A “tremendous” mystery precisely because of the responsibility it imposes on us, and “never sufficiently meditated,” because we must be deeply convinced that “the salvation of many depends” also on us, on our collaboration. If this reality must impel every ordinary member of the faithful to a generous apostolate, how much more must it impel a soul consecrated to God! This soul has left everything to give itself wholly to Him, therefore its interests must, in a most particular way, be God’s interests; this soul is spouse of Christ and, as such, is bound to collaborate in the work of her divine Spouse: the salvation of souls, the glory of the heavenly Father.

Souls are the “patrimony” of the spouse of Christ, their salvation is her “passion,” the good and growth of the Church are her “interests”; she lives only for Jesus and for His Work.

Colloquy

“O Lord, You inspire in me such a lively desire not to offend You, not even in the smallest things, and to avoid, if I can, any least imperfection, that for this reason alone, even if there were no other, I would want to flee from people, and I greatly envy those who live and have lived in deserts. At the same time I would also like to throw myself into the midst of the world so as to obtain that even one soul might praise You more. I grieve that my weakness prevents me from doing so, and I envy those who can raise their voice to tell all who You are.

“Have compassion on me, O my God, and grant that I may satisfy, at least in part, what I desire for Your glory and honor. Do not look at the smallness of my merits, nor at the misery of my nature! Was it not You, O Lord, so powerful as to command the vast sea to divide and the great Jordan to hold back its waters, to leave free passage for the children of Israel?

“Stretch out, Lord, Your mighty arm; let Your greatness shine in a being so... insignificant, so that the world, knowing that by myself I can do nothing, may raise its praises to You. Whatever it costs me, I want only this, ready to give even a thousand lives, if I had so many, in order to obtain that even one soul might praise You more. I would consider them very well spent; but seeing myself unworthy to suffer for You even the smallest pain, I fear that still less am I worthy of death.

“O Lord, You must not forget that You are a God of mercy: have, therefore, pity on this unworthy sinner, on this weak worm that gives itself over to so much audacity! Look, O Lord, at my desires, at the tears that accompany my prayer and, forgetting my sins, I beg You by what You are, O my God, to have pity on the many souls that are being lost and to protect Your Church. No longer permit, O Lord, that among Christians so many evils take root, and dispel the darkness that envelopes us!” (T.G. M. VI, 6, 3-4; Cam. 3, 9).

O Lord, grant to me too a lively love for souls, kindle in me an ardent thirst for their salvation and grant that I may spend my poor strength to collaborate in Your great redemptive work.