Jul 31 Fri
Should I help others come close to Jesus, or is this only for priests?
Like Jesus, we must have compassion for souls, who are like sheep without a shepherd.
They wander through life without ever hearing that the divine Shepherd came to ransom them from their sins.
“No one can rest content in Opus Dei without feeling troubled by the anonymous crowds: a drove, 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 bring them back to life, heal them, enlighten their minds, and strengthen their wills, so they can become useful!"
Zeal for the salvation of all souls is an essential characteristic of all God's children. We have to fan it 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 other people 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, 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 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 my children must feel the generous urge to reactivate men's rusty, torpid 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."
Our charity should be orderly to reach everyone.
God has called us by our name and loves us with special affection.
“But we have not received the grace of a Christian vocation for ourselves alone." God has called us to spread his message of infinite love throughout the whole world. Not a single soul is excluded from our charity. When Christians understand and implement the catholicity of the Church, when they realize how urgent it is to announce the good news of salvation to everyone, they find that they have to become all things to all people, to save them all.
“We begin with those closest to us; from the heart of the family to our workplace, then to civil society, to the seat of learning, or to the political arena. Our apostolic zeal is at work among all our fellow-citizens in every walk of life. It reaches out to international relations, and encompasses whole races, continents, and civilizations in its love."
“Jesus is urging us on."