Aug 23 Wed
We should serve our Mother the Church with our whole soul, in accord with the specific way God wants for each; for many of us, by imbuing temporal realities with a Christian spirit through our personal apostolate, carried out in our ordinary work.
This apostolic way of acting is a permanent need. “As long as there are people on earth, there will be many working in the intellectual or manual professions. Therefore, there should also be Christians dedicated to sanctifying those professions, while sanctifying themselves, and sanctifying others through their work.” Saint Josemaría
“The best service that we can render the Church and mankind is to provide doctrine. Most of the evils that afflict the world are due to a lack of Christian doctrine, even among those who want to follow Christ closely or who give the appearance of wanting to do so. Thus, you will experience the joy of working effectively in the service of God's Holy Church and of all souls, when you are carrying out the very beautiful apostolate of providing doctrine by your word and example, and by your professional work in the middle of the world.
“You will do so in places that are inaccessible or even forbidden to priests and religious, and consequently often abandoned or neglected, to the great sorrow of the Church.”
We should serve the Church unselfishly, with a lay spirit; and without compromising her.
Our apostolate is very often carried out in surroundings where being a Catholic and practicing our faith meets with opposition. “We don't look for applause in our apostolate.
Rather we want to stand up for the Church when being a Catholic is difficult, and to pass unnoticed when being called Catholic is fashionable. In fact, in many places, truly being a Catholic, even without calling oneself one, is cause enough for receiving all sorts of slights and attacks.
Therefore, I have told you that ‘living off being Catholics’ is repugnant to us. We live, if need be, ‘in spite of being Catholics’."
“The sole ambition and only desire of Opus Dei and of each of its children is to serve the Church as she wants to be served, within the specific vocation which God has given us.”
“Love will demand more of us each day, and our works will always look small, since the time that we have is always short. Tempus breve est (1 Cor 7:29).”
Image: Our Lady of Ganjuran, Shrine in Central Java, Indonesia.
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