What, in practice, does the apostolate imply for me? There is, first, the question of example. I rub elbows several hours every day, perhaps, with men and women who are not Catholics. I possess a religion that gives me a way of life, that tells me what to believe and shows me how to shape my everyday life in accordance with the principles of my Faith. Catholics ought to be different in their manner of acting and judging, given that they have a different outlook on life from so many of those around them. What that difference ought to be will have become clear if I have persevered in making these meditations.
I remember how a poor man was once brought to Our Lord to be cured. The man was deaf and dumb. There are dumb Catholics too. It is a calamity to be possessed of divine truth, to have all the wonderful guarantees we know, and to be timid and uncertain of the answers when we are questioned or attacked. There are many today who see that the world is tottering and they turn to God and to religion as to a last hope. For them Catholics can do much. For them I can do much. Am I doing it _ in my home or factory or club; in social life; in church, indeed, but also outside?
See what the first apostles became! Huddled together at first for fear of the Jews, they were transformed into other men by the coming of the Holy Ghost. They now went forth and preached Christ everywhere; they were imprisoned and scourged, but to no purpose. Most of them died for Christ, and all of them suffered much in executing His divine commission to spread His gospel. They revolutionized their world, effecting the impossible by changing the face of the earth. Idols fell before them; converts flocked to them; persecution began then, and to this day the sword is drawn and to this day it drips the blood of Christians; but the faith cannot die, because it is divine.
There is need of their great spirit today. Many more of us are capable of imitating them in their spirit of sacrifice, in the tireless zeal with which they spent themselves for souls. You are a Catholic not only while you are on your knees here in prayer, not only when you assist at Mass or make a retreat. Being a Catholic goes on all the time, twentyfour hours of the day and seven days of the week. "Integral" Catholics act under the conscious influence of their belief in all places and at all times. That is why they are on the alert to seize upon every opportunity of sharing with others the privileges and the security and the beauty of their Catholic Faith. "We cannot but speak of those things we have seen and heard."
Jesus, life is speeding by and there is so little to show for the years You have given me. Not lack of opportunity, but of zeal and devotedness and of realization, must account for my apathy. I would begin once more, refusing to be discouraged, drawing support from You, Your example, Your understanding of my frailty.