Apostolate is for all

Before it gets frozen and confined in what may be called as a religious asylum, we have to strongly affirm and remind everyone that the duty to do apostolate belongs to everyone of us.

It’s not meant only for priests and nuns. It’s for all of us and most especially the lay faithful, since they form the majority in the Church and since they are spread out in all corners of the world—from the basic social unity which is the family to the most global levels.

Vatican II spells it out very clearly. “The Christian vocation is by its very nature a vocation to the apostolate.”  (Apostolicam actuositatem, 2) So, anyone who wants to be truly consistent to his Christian identity and calling should realize ever deeply that he is called to help others get closer to God. This is what apostolate is all about.

This duty actually springs first of all from our nature. We are not only individual persons. We are also a social being. Our sociability is not an optional feature. It is part of our essence, violating which would be equivalent to violating our very own nature.

We can never live alone. We need to be with others. And more, we need to care for one another. We have to be responsible for one another. And while this caring and loving starts with the most immediate material human needs like food, clothing, etc., it has to go all the way to the spiritual and more important needs of ours.

That’s why we need to practice affection, compassion, understanding, patience and mercy on everyone. We have to understand though that all these can only take place if they spring and tend towards God, “the source of all good things” for us.

Forget it if we believe we are capable of doing these duties merely on our own will power. We can give some semblance of their fulfillment, but if not anchored on God, the mask will just fall off sooner or later.

We have to be more aware of this duty. We need to talk about it more freely and more often. In the first place, because it has its complex and dynamic side that should be dominated. Besides, it has to contend with a world culture that is quite averse and even hostile to it.

There is so much self-seeking around, and many people are practically shackled by all sorts of human bondage—ranging from dependence on sensual and worldly things, to psychological obsessions and addictions—that hamper them in their duty to serve others, to give themselves to others, in short, to love, the very essence of apostolate.

Any appearance to care for others is often driven by some ulterior, selfish motives. We don’t seem to graduate from that level, and in fact, we look like we are sinking more deeply into more self-interest than concern for the common good.

To be effective in the apostolate, each one of us has to immerse himself in the love of God. We cannot give that love if in the first place we don’t have it. And so we have to understand that apostolate can only be a working venture if there is also an earnest abiding effort to achieve personal holiness.

We have to constantly examine ourselves if we truly are driven by love of God. If we notice that such love is missing or is not that strong, then we really need to do things to keep the flame alive. That’s the reason why we need to be hot, spiritually and morally, not lukewarm or, worse, cold in this department.

We have to take care of our spiritual life, because that would be the engine that transforms the fuel of God’s love into an energy for our apostolate, with the view of igniting others in such love too.

Of course, this personal apostolate has to be developed in true friendship and confidence. It has to go beyond formalisms and generic actions. We should be able to enter into some intimate communion of mind and heart, otherwise, it would not prosper.

This means that we should be willing to spend or to “waste” time with others, eager to understand them and able to motivate them to pursue the most important goal of life, which is to love God and others the way God loves us through Christ.

We should be willing to go beyond our personal preferences to be able to be all things to all men, as St. Paul once said, which is indispensable if we are to reach everyone for God.

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