Divine Intimacy, Vol. 4 by Gabriel Father

Divine Intimacy, Vol. 4 by Gabriel Father

Author:Gabriel, Father [Gabriel, Father]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898701456
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2011-11-17T05:00:00+00:00


354. THE APOSTLE: FRIEND OF GOD

O Lord, who have not called us servants, but friends, grant that I may remain in your love (Jn 15:15, 9)

1. The prime purpose of the apostolate is “to reveal and to communicate the love of God to all men” (AG 10), that love with which God has loved us and with which he wills that we should love one another (ib. 12). The duty of bearing witness to charity and of diffusing it in the world, confirms the necessity of the apostle’s drawing it from his union with God.

Before Jesus sent his disciples out to conquer the world, he had them live intimately with him as friends, made them acquainted with his Father, revealed his love and, still more, shared it with them. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (Jn 15:9); “I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” and, as if in conclusion, added: “I have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (ib. 16). A Christian is an apostle when he is a friend of God and lives this friendship, whether in relation to him and to his neighbor, whether in prayer or in action. Prayer puts him at the Lord’s feet, listening to his words in order to welcome them and penetrate the depths of their meaning, to reenkindle love and to strengthen friendship, to implore grace for himself and for his brothers. Action offers him a way to translate into concrete works the light, the love, and the grace that have come from his intimacy with God, putting him at the service of his neighbor in accordance with the divine will. Thus, while prayer prepares an apostle for activity that is more generous and fruitful because more weighted with charity, the apostolate (which is itself an exercise in that same charity) in its turn increases interior fervor, and by making the soul experience the urgency of divine intervention impels it to a prayer and to a union with God that are deeper still. In this way, prayer and action, union with God and the apostolate, are not in opposition to each other; they do not create a dualism, but complete each other and grow simultaneously, because each is an expression of friendship with God, a friendship which requires both the interior fervor and the exterior diligence of charity. Jesus said as much: “He who abides in me” through the interior ardor of love, “bears much fruit” (Jn 15:5), the fruit of the apostolate.

2. The Christian apostolate does not consist simply in external activity; it is not exhausted by deeds, no matter now imposing and beneficial. Perhaps no one has stated it with such force as St. Paul: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge .



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.