Jun 14 Sun
How did Jesus empower me?
Christ gave the apostles the gospel for free, and they must give it to others for free as well.
However, it was not free for Our Lord.
YOU cost Him a lot.
Giving the gospel to others was not free for the apostles either. It cost them a lot.
Christ and the apostles gave, and the Christian gives 100% to the gospel. This means we subordinate everything we do to God’s will.
Each of us, apostles, must:
- Like a prophet, tell the truth. Each must live and speak the moral law and adhere to and spread the truths of our Catholic faith.
- Like a priest, offer our lives, our work, our sufferings to God.
- Like a ruler, with God’s help, rule ourselves, and, with Christ as our model, serve others.
Thus, once empowered, we must help others to go to heaven by our good example.
“If you learn how to serve others, how well they themselves will learn to serve! How thoughtful you will become, and help others to be so! For you will teach by example, which is how one ought to teach.”
“Afterwards, when you've helped them with your witness, you can give them the doctrine, the theory. Each of us has to be another Christ, Christ Himself, since Jesus Christ began to do and to teach.”
“In the wars of old, in moments of danger, it was the general who carried the flag, and the others followed. Give an example!" St. Josemaría.
We will be responsible if we strive to be on the front line, in the thick of things. We should carry out our work with the others in mind, helping them to be effective.
First of all, we should be careful not to hold up whatever has to pass through our hands. We finish our work as well as possible to help those who will continue it. We leave notes of experience, so that whoever replaces us can begin where we left off; we're glad to see others carry out our work more effectively; we teach those with us how to work well... and countless other details that a responsible person easily discovers.
“The Christian is the salt and light of the world, not because he conquers or triumphs, but because he bears witness to God's love. And he won't be salt if he can't give flavor. Nor will he be light if he doesn't bear witness to Jesus through his example and word, if he loses sight of the purpose of his life."
Let’s examine our conscience to see whether the example of our life is convincing to those alongside us. And as we know that such help depends very directly on the consistency of our whole life, “we must beg our Lord, through his Mother who is our Mother too, to increase his love in us, to grant us a taste of the sweetness of his presence. Only then will we attain the fullest freedom: the freedom of not wanting ever to abandon, for all eternity, the object of our love."