Jan 2 Thu
Should I listen to the opinion of others in my apostolate?
Those who follow Christ should not consider themselves immune to criticism. On the contrary, they must be ready to respond honestly to criticism through an ongoing spiritual and practical assessment of their attitudes, ways, and means.
The first goal of anyone who seeks to follow Christ must be a serious spirit of prayer. The second is to take advantage of that daily prayer to understand the following three things:
(a) When we should change our attitudes or demeanor and when we shouldn’t;
(b) When we need to abandon a particular approach to our apostolate and when we don’t;
(c) When should we abandon one apostolic effort in favor of another, and when we mustn’t abandon it.
All of these decisions must be made in prayer; many of them should be made with the benefit of trusted advisors. Failure may result from our own inadequacies, deficiencies in our tactics, or the impossibilities of our project or the present circumstances in particular.
There is never a good reason to waste time blaming, criticizing, or even resenting those who oppose our work. We should not be concerned in the least, unless we are stupid, misguided, and out of step when it comes to God’s will. And that determination must be made in prayer and through advice from other sound Catholic friends, especially the priests to whom we turn for confession and spiritual direction.
At the same time, if we find that we are not able to accomplish the good that we try to achieve, it is time to recalibrate.
What is important is not that this or that proposed work should succeed or fail, but that more people are drawn to Christ and the Church, and that more people in the Church ask what they can do to strengthen their faith and the faith of others. The whole point, as St. Paul says, is that all things must be put in subjection to Christ. For “when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be everything to everyone” (1 Cor 15:28).
Every Catholic is called by baptism to be part of this great work of apostolate. The only questions that matter for any of us are whether we are really participating in this work of God and whether we can involve ourselves more fully and more effectively. It is the same for you, for me, and for any effort or project or apostolate which bears the Catholic name. Worldly judgments do not matter, but interested assessments can be enormously helpful.
We are all sinners and we are all fallible, but Our Lord has put the matter very bluntly: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Excerts from Dr. Jeffrey Mirus
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