Turn now to the Book of Wisdom and here, in the seventh verse of the third chapter, we come upon a simile. "The just shall shine and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds." We have Our Lord's own word for it that the just in heaven shall shine "like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
The "reeds" represent those men and women whose lives are superficial because of their inconstancy in God's service. Either they do not know Him at all, like the pagans, or, if they do, they have tired of the effort to live by His Law. Hence, like reeds they are shaken by every gust of wind, they are slaves to silly conceit and vanity, much that they do is motivated by human respect, what little solidity of principle they have is easily uprooted. The antithesis of all this is found in the Baptist. "What went you out into the desert to see?" asked Our Lord. "A reed shaken with the wind ... But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet."
Amongst these "reeds" the just run to and fro like sparks. Our Lord told His apostles that this is precisely their mission _ to be "in" the world, but not "of" the world. St. Francis Xavier would have the apostle go in by the sinner's door, when laboring for his salvation, but he must come out by his own. Every true apostle, like Xavier, is "a saint in a hurry." He "runs" amongst the sinners he encounters, but his running is no indication of undue haste or a restlessness that cannot give time to hear and help. His hurry shows rather his sense of the shortness of the time at his disposal and the gigantic nature of his task, and the consequent need of availing himself to the full of every moment, to fill it with prayer and works of zeal.
The apostles, ancient and modern, are aptly compared to "sparks." The spark is a particle which has leaped forth from the great furnace. Saints and apostles are often described as being "on fire" with love of God and love of souls. They have been living very close to the Sacred Heart, and by prayer and assiduous meditation and His grace they have begun to glimpse, how dimly soever, the sheer truth of the love He bears to all men. When next they move in and out amongst men, they are living sparks, enkindled at this divine source; and whatever they contact or whomsoever they meet, they can scarcely help communicating the divine light and the divine warmth of love.
Jesus, I have been myself a reed, a broken reed. But humbled by my sin and by my many failures, I come today to pray. Cast my heart into the glowing furnace of charity that inflames Your Heart and draw it forth and send it into the world, where, like a spark, it may inflame the reeds it encounters, sharing with them its knowledge of You, giving to them some of its love of You, infusing into their languishing souls Your own very life, sanctifying grace.