Jul 9 Wed
What should my attitude be toward the indifferent?
Like Jesus, we must have compassion for souls who are like sheep without a shepherd.
Today we watch our Lord going from village to village, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
As Christians, we too feel the same pity as Christ for the crowds of people who do not know him, but who wander through life without ever hearing that the divine Shepherd came to ransom them from their sins. “No one can rest content in God’s family without feeling troubled by the anonymous crowds: a throng, a flock, a herd, as I once called them. Under their apparent indifference, there are so many noble aspirations, so many possibilities! We must serve all of them. We must lay our hands on them one by one, as Jesus did; He laid his hands on every one of them, to bring them back to life, heal them, enlighten their minds, and strengthen their wills, so they can become useful! That is how we will turn the throng into a family, the flock into an army, and bring out of the herd those who do not want to be unclean."
Zeal for the salvation of all souls is an essential characteristic of God's children. We have to fan this zeal into a flame every day by following the example set by Jesus, who calls us to co-redeem with Him.
We may at times be tempted to dissociate ourselves from others and refuse to get involved in their lives. Against such moments, we have St. Josemaría’s warning: “If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering: ‘Who's telling me to embark on this?’ we would have to reply: 'Christ himself is telling you, is begging you.’
The harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting. Don't take the easy way out. Don't say, ‘I'm no good at this sort of thing; there are others who can do it; it isn't my line.’ No, for this sort of thing, there is no one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else.
Christ's plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself excused, for whatever reason: age, health, or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever. Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren."
“All of us must feel the generous urge to reactivate men's rusty, apathetic energies in the service of God. They must make whatever sacrifice is needed, devoting all their strength to the task. They should adopt as their own our Lord's cry: I have compassion on the crowd, feeling pity for the multitudes."
Mary Immaculate was found worthy to be the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She will answer our plea: she will pray for us to have a burning zeal for souls, and an abundance of harvest from God.