Apr 1 Mon
We have a serious obligation to do apostolate.
The Lord has risen from the dead, as he foretold. Let there be happiness and rejoicing for he is our King forever. Now that we are filled with Easter joy, the Church wants us to realize that this joy has to be passed on to others.
The Gospel of today's Mass describes how the women ‘departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.’ The risen Christ himself meets them and tells them: ‘Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.’
Every Christian must also be an apostle, who has found Christ and who feels the urgency to announce Him everywhere. “St Paul gave a motto to the Christians at Ephesus: ‘To fill everything with the spirit of Jesus,’ placing Christ at the center of everything. ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.’"
“Our task as Christians is to proclaim this kingship of Christ, announcing it through what we say and do. Our Lord wants men and women of his own in all walks of life. Some he calls away from society, asking them to give up involvement in the world, so that they remind the rest of us by their example that God exists. To others he entrusts the priestly ministry. But he wants the vast majority to stay right where they are, in all the earthly occupations in which they work: the factory, the laboratory, the farm, the trades, the streets of the big cities and the trails of the mountains."
Then, there will never be any need for us to receive that severe reproach of St Augustine: ‘If you are cold and lazy, and are only concerned with yourself, and live satisfied with that, and even say in your heart, "Why should I care for the others? I have enough with my own soul, I only hope to keep it intact for God" — Come on! Do you not remember the servant who hid the talent and did not want to trade with it? Was he condemned for losing it, or was it not rather because he did not want to trade with it? Think of this, and never rest with false self-satisfaction.’
“We must love souls for the love of Christ. Hence, we must always have a lively desire to give others the joy the Lord puts into our life. Thus, none of God's children can be at ease if they do not continually feel the hunger for bringing others close to God, like their own heartbeat."
With God's help and Mary's motherly protection, the zeal in our heart will never die out. But we must often ask ourselves: "In the time that I've been here, in this job, with these people, what changes have there been in my companions, and the people around me?"
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