ACTIVISM
Lord make me an
instrument of your peace. “… apostolic action is not the primary aim of
religious profession”.
Renovationis Causam
“The novices should
understand the limitations of their own activity without being discouraged and
to work at the ordering of their own life, bearing in mind that no one can give
himself authentically to God and his brethren without first getting possession
of himself in humility”. (Ren. Causam)
“Let those brothers to
whom the Lord has given the grace of working, work faithfully and devotedly in
such a way that excluding idleness, the enemy of the soul, they do not
extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion to which all temporal things
must be subservient”. (St Francis of Assisi, Rule)
“These are my Knights
of the Round Table, who keep hidden in remote desert places the more earnestly
to spend their time in prayer and meditation, deploring their sins and the sins
of others, plain of life and humble of manner, whose holiness is known to God,
but at times unknown to their brothers and to the people”. (St Francis in The
Mirror of Perfection)
“Lives that are
effective are not always those that attract attention. They are never those of
the proud who storm against obstacles which cannot be removed. Lives lived
humbly, under the eyes of God, illumined by his grace and radiant with love for
others are always effective”. (Michel Quoist, Prayers of Life. The Sea)
“If you wish to work
efficiently for the glory of God, hide yourself". (St Teresa of Avila)
"Overwork is a
wile of the devil, by which he deceives holy souls urging them on to do more
than they can, in order that they may be unavailable to do anything at all; but
the spirit of God gently incites us to do whatever good we can reasonably
effect, provided it can be done with perseverance, and for a length of time.
Act in this way …and you will act according to the spirit of God". (St
Vincent De Paul, Letter to Mademoiselle Louise de Marillac)
"…active life can
be carried too far…mere energy is not zeal. To be working very hard for
religion is not necessarily to be religious. (cf. Luke 11:38) 'take heed to
thyself'' St Paul wrote to Timothy. Timothy was a zealous and hard-working
apostle; but it is always possible for the busiest church workers to neglect
themselves. Our spiritual expenditure must not be in excess of income. Where
there is no repose, no reflection, everything will be shallow, flimsy and cheap.
We all know what sort of vessels those are that make the most sound". (A.
Roche, Bedside Book of Saints)
“Activists are
self-reliant apostles who put doing before being and who have no inner light to
radiate. Neglecting contemplation, they have no breath of love. Empty of it
they cannot overflow with it. So often feverish work is justified on the score
that work is prayer. Work and prayer are distinct things; they are related but
distinct. Prayer involves theological virtues, work the moral virtues. Prayer is
internal while work is external. Work cannot be prayer but it can be an
acceptable sacrifice to God provided:
·
it
is a continuation of God’s work of creation or redemption
·
it is done under the influence of desire
to do God’s will which is kindled by mental prayer
·
it is done virtuously with perseverance
humility and obedience”. (Sergius Wroblewski OFM Prayer)
Pope Pius XII
encyclical Menti Nostrae
cautions priests who become too ‘absorbed in the swirl of external activity, to
the neglect of their primary duty, namely their own sanctification…it is
necessary to correct the error of those who dare to suppose that the salvation
of men can be procured by what has been called ‘the heresy of action’ action
that is, which does not rely on grace and disregards the means of
sanctification appointed by Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there are those
who incline to withdraw too much from external affairs’.
“The social worker does
it for something but we as religious do it for somebody, because we see Christ
in our fellowmen”. Mother Teresa who also said that welfare is for a purpose,
and admirable and a necessary one, whereas Christian love is for a person.
“Without our suffering,
our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be
the work of Jesus Christ, nor part of the Redemption”. (Mother Teresa)
Faithfulness not success. (Mother Teresa)
“We can accomplish
works to be admired but those which will count will be those which proceed from
the merciful love of Christ within us. At the end of our lives we will be
judged according to our love, the love which we have allowed to grow little by
little and to open out in compassion for everyman”. (Prior Roger Shultz of
Taize)
“One cannot be an
apostle without first being a contemplative. We can pass on to others only what
we have received. How can we bear a message of resurrection to others if we
have not died ourselves? For what should we bring to others? Our good
qualities, our strength of character, our infectious enthusiasm? Perhaps they
would have some good effect on a small-scale and for the time being. But it
would not last. What we have of ourselves is not communicable since it is
personal to us. You will discourage others with all your so-called fine
qualities for the very reason they do not possess them. And so after following
you for a certain time, their enthusiasm will evaporate and they will leave you
feeling discouraged and all the more impoverished by comparison. Only that in
me which is not of me is communicable. Only Christ is communicable. We can pass
on to others what we have received from Christ. The only valid testimony that
we can give of Christ is that he has done in us precisely those things that we
could not do ourselves. So long as St Paul had himself sent on missions because
he had a taste for them and was by nature zealous he caused nothing but
catastrophe. But from the moment when ‘it was no longer [he] who lived but
Christ’, Christ who travelled, Christ who spoke, Christ who acted – then Paul
was no longer dangerous. He could carry out his apostolate. But first he had
let himself be killed, he had let himself be led by the hand like a man
suddenly struck blind. So long as we are not ‘dead’ in this sense, our work - even
our apostolic work - is that of mercenaries. We act in order to win something –
influence or at least merit: ‘I tell you most solemnly, I am the gate of the
sheepfold. All others who have come are thieves and brigands; but the sheep
took no notice of them’. (St John 10:8) All those who come by themselves, all
those who go to others without carrying Christ to them, all those who go to
others before emptying themselves of themselves… all those are evildoers.
Unless our only strength is the strength of Christ, then for Heaven’s sake let
us do nothing. We are capable only of pillage and crime”. (Anonymous)
“It was nothing less
than Divine Wisdom itself that taught her how far more complete a sacrifice in
God’s eyes is the acceptance, as direct from Him, of little troublesome
annoying things, so easily avoided, than the offering of something perhaps much
bigger to look at but chosen by oneself. ‘Sacrifice and oblation you did not
desire… it is written that I should do your will’. (R.H. Steuart, Diversity re
St Therese of Lisieux). cf St Matthew 7:21f. “It is not those who say Lord,
Lord, but do Father’s will”
“Be calm and serene as
Pope John XXIII was. He did not become hysterical or distracted with all the
urgent concerns of the world yet no one can deny that he achieved far more for
the Church than so-called radicals. If we rush about or get in a state, we find
ourselves getting so worked up that we are unable to do anything worthwhile. We
must see ourselves as pilgrims going always forward with faith and confidence.
Our objective should never be lost sight of”. (Bishop Derek Worlock)
FAVOURITE MAXIMS OF
POPE JOHN XXIII
·
Do not believe everything you hear.
·
Do not judge everything you see.
·
Do not do everything you can.
·
Do not give everything you have.
·
Do not say everything you know.
