This apostolate of giving doctrine makes us return many times to the same ideas. We must endeavour to present Our Lord’s teaching in an attractive manner. The crowds today also wander “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk 6:34), without a guide; don’t know in which direction to go, confused by so many short-lived ideologies.
No Christian should remain passive nor feel inhibited in this great task of doing apostolate. We must not make excuses. (‘I’m no good.' 'I can’t.' 'No time.’)
Apostolate is the Christian vocation, and God gives us the grace to correspond. Are we really a ray of light amidst so much darkness? Or are we bound by laziness or human respect?
We will be more apostolic if we sincerely consider, in the presence of God, that the people whose paths we have crossed had a right to expect from us the help to get to know Jesus better.
How have we fulfilled this Christian duty? Let us hope they will not reproach us, in this life or the next, for having deprived them of that help in words such as --
“... I don’t have anyone to plunge me into the pool ...” (Jn 5:7); I had no one to give me a little light in so much darkness.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb 4:12); reaching the very depths of the soul, to the source of men’s life and behaviour.
A great ignorance about Our Lord persists after 20 centuries, even among many Christians! The Second Vatican Council teaches that Revelation came about with deeds and words intrinsically blended. (“Dei Verbum”) The works of Jesus are those of God done in his name; simple people saying, “We have seen strange things” (Lk 5:26).
“The man who has the mission of saying great things (all Christians have this sweet obligation) is equally obliged to practise them.” (cf St Gregory the Great, “Pastoral Care”, 2, 3) Our relatives, colleagues, and friends, must find us loyal, sincere, cheerful, optimistic, good at our job, resilient, pleasant, courageous. Simply and naturally, we must make known our faith in Christ.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:199-200
The perfections of Our Lord’s glorified Body
As soon as our Lord’s Soul and Body were reunited, the latter, formerly subject to all human infirmities -- cold, hunger, weariness, the pains and sorrows of death -- became absolutely impassible and immortal: “Death shall have no more dominion over him.” (Rom 6:9)
How did Jesus, as man, merit such glorious gifts? By his death and sufferings, endured for his Father’s glory and man’s salvation. We shall receive the same gifts on the same conditions. Why fear death then?
Let us sanctify our sufferings by accepting them, as well as death itself, with total resignation to the will of our heavenly Father. Let us offer them up in expiation of our sins, and those of others, after the example of our Lord. The more we suffer with him, the larger our share in the wonderful perfections of his glorified body.
A ‘spiritual’ body has ‘spiritual’ properties, such as the power of penetrating matter, of passing at a single act of the will from one place to another, at whatever distance. How, we cannot understand, much less explain.
Nevertheless, such were the properties of our Lord’s glorified body. He proved this ability by appearing several times amidst the disciples, when the doors of the rooms in which they were gathered were shut. He disappeared again without their being able to follow him.
Such will be the perfection of glorified bodies of the just. “It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44); provided I endeavor to live a spiritual life.
“If by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.” (St Paul) Does my conscience testify I have done this?
Those who walk in the dark provide themselves with a light. For Jesus risen there is no more darkness. His glorified body is its own light. The splendors of his divinity, flowing from his Soul to his Body, make him more radiant than the sun at noon. The apostles had seen something of this glory during his transfiguration.
If I share the resurrection of the just, such will also be the radiance of my body. Its brilliance proportional to the mortifications it has been subjected to, and labors endured for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp188-90
The marks of the five wounds in Our Lord’s glorified Body
A prince returning to his kingdom is proud of the wounds he has received in battle. Therefore, we must not be surprised that our Lord chose to bear in his now glorified body the marks of the wounds he received in his glorious combat against sin and death.
He also wished to show us his esteem for suffering and infamy endured in the cause of God, and to encourage us to endure them, too. Suffering and humiliation shall bring us to glory and eternal happiness.
The saints drew their generosity and contempt for the world from contemplating the wounds and humiliations of their Lord. It enabled them to regard fame, honor, and pleasures as nothing. They rejoiced in suffering as he did hardships, labor, and ignominy. We are stimulated by the desire to resembling him than of acquiring merit by so doing.
These wounds also remind us of what he has done for love of us. To assure us of his never-failing protection; ever open to receive and shelter us. They are eloquent voices pleading for us before the heavenly throne. How can he who sits thereon refuse his beloved Son whatever he asks?
We often complain of dryness in prayer, even in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Of the little love, almost the indifference, we feel for the Person of our Lord; and of our weakness against the innumerable difficulties and temptations.
Our remedy? Let us seek it in the wounds of Jesus. Let us contemplate them and enter therein in spirit. All causes of complaint will disappear. “In every misery I have found no more efficacious remedy than the wounds of Jesus. Within them I rest in peace and safety.” (St Augustine)
Our Lord has, furthermore, retained these wounds to confound the wicked, at the last judgment, who have not profited by his Passion. And to rejoice the elect who have corresponded with the designs of his wonderful and merciful Providence by respecting them.
We wish to be among the elect. Our desire and confidence will be well founded if we earnestly endeavor to form within ourselves the likeness of our crucified God. Then with what joy shall we press our dying lips upon the five wounds of the crucifix! How we shall rejoice throughout all eternity!
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp190-92
Our Lady -- “When you see yourself with a dry heart, without knowing what to say, go with confidence to the Virgin Mary. Say to her, ‘My Mother Immaculate, intercede for me’.
“If you invoke her with faith, she will make you taste in the midst of your dryness the proximity of God.”
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 695)
• Our Lady of Laval, in Viverais. This church is much visited for obtaining rain to preserve the fruits of the earth. — Triple Couronne, n. 41. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• “Notre Dame de Laval”. Viverais, France. 1646. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Laval (1646). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Laval (Viverais, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
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