A QUEEN’S WORK PUBLICATION





Mpostles MU
BY

Richard L Rooney^ 5. J.

fTHE QUEEN S WORK
3115 South Grand Boulevard

St. Louis 18. Missouri



SUMMARY

There is more to being on apostle than lapping an

ice-cream cone. . . . But even this, Father Rooney insists

can be put to work for the modern apostle. In outline-

discussion form this booklet presents basic material on

which discussion-club groups can work— away from
namby-pamby living and toward the kind of apostle-

ship that the world looks for from today s Catholics,

apostles all.

Imprimi potest:

Peter Brooks, SJ.

Praep. Prov. Missoacianae

Nihil obstat:

Edward G. Murray

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

William Cardinal O’Connell

Archiepiscopus Bostoniensis

Bostoniensis, die 7 Janiiarii 1944

Fifth printing, July 1952

Any financial profit made by the Central

Office of the Sodality will be used for the

advancement of the Sodality Movement and

the cause of Catholic Action.

Copyright, 1944

THE QUEEN'S WORK



DISCUSSION I

WELL, WHAT IS AN APOSTLE?

Discussion

This opening discussion may begin naturally enough

with the leader's going through the group and getting

from each member present his or her ideas of just what

an apostle is. What is the meaning of the word?

Whence does it come? Where did each first hear it?

With whom does he or she invariably connect it? Is

such a connection too narrow? Can we speak of nazi

and communist apostles? How does an apostle differ
from a disciple? When all of these ideas have been
garnered, a comparison of them for weal or woe with

what follows can be made.

The Original Twelve

The word apostle (from the Greek apostello, which means,
'

I send") is one that is known to the Catholic from early child-

hood. Other children's heads are peopled with fairies. Mother

Goose, Dick Tracy, and Superman. Though these same fic-

tional and legendary folk may be present in the Catholic child's

mind too, he is conscious of another group as well. There is the

Lord Jesus at the center of that group, with His Mother Mary

close by His side. Then grouped about them are other men.

For a time the child is a bit confused about these. He hears

them called now disciples and now Apostles. Gradually however

out of the larger, vaguer group Peter and James and John and

Andrew and Matthew and the rest of the Twelve emerge as

more clear-cut figures, men closer to the Lord, with a fuller

training than the others and with a more definite job to do.

These the child comes to know at last as the Apostles.

Recalling what they remember from the New Testa-
ment, or even having the New Testament on hand and
reading from it whatever there is in it about the Apos-

tolic Twelve, let the group work out the basic essen-

tials which they think should go into the make-up of

the Twelve's relations to Christ. Eventually their find-

ings should come close to the resume.

— 3—



From an adult study of the Gospels it will be found that the

Apostles were men ...

specially picked and chosen by Our Lord,

trained and fitted by Him for a period of three years for

the special work that He had in mind for them,
namely the work of sharing with Him His

Redeemer vocation;

and then ordained,

signed,

sealed.

and commissioned or sent by Him to

make others His disciples, that is, to gather to Him people

who would learn the lessons that He had to teach
them and would live their lives by those lessons and

thus save their souls and sanctify them.

Such were the men whom Jesus Christ, the Great Apostle,

chose as His first coworkers in the apostolate.

2.

The Essence of Aposdeship

At this point view the qualities and characteristics

of the original Twelve. See if you can break down the

ideas given there so that you can generalize, so that

you can say: “If a man or a woman possesses this,

this, and this, then he or she is an apostle.*' How do
your group s ideas agree with what follows here?

Although such qualities as personal holiness, labor and toil,

“blood, sweat, and tears." prayerfulness, ingenuity, a knowl-

edge of men. and the like, go into the making of a real apostle,

the heart, core, essence, of Christian apostleship lies in these

four elements:

1. A choice, a singling out, an election, a call given by God
to a Catholic man or woman.

2. A sending, a mission, or commission by God or Christ,
directly or indirectly ( i. e.. through His official represent-

ative )

.

3. To others,

4. For a definite work with them for Him—briefly: to make
them godlike and Christlike,

The apostolate consists quite simply—and quite gloriously—

in one's accepting the call, fulfilling this God-given commission,

spending oneself utterly to give Christ to others.

— 4



3. A Fact Little Known

With all that has so far been learned about apostles

and apostolates, put a question to the group: Do you

think that all Catholics are supposed to be apostles? or

is it just a chosen few, like priests and nuns, etc.? Get

the answers down on paper and the reasons behind

them. Once again compare your results with what

follows.

Jesus Christ was the most generous man that ever lived.

There was nothing that was His which He did not share with

His own. He was the Great Apostle. He had the Father-given

apostolate of saving men from themselves and from sin and

death. He might have hugged this work of His to Himself

alone. As a matter of fact He didn't do this. He shared that

work with us men just as He has shared everything else. He

wanted us to be coworkers, coredeemers, coapostles. And

when we say us, we mean just that. It is true that He gave the

commission to go therefore and “teach . . . all nations" primarily

to the Twelve. But He did not stop with them. He gave the
same command to each and all of us, to each and every single

Catholic. Since that is true, then every Catholic can and should

—'though in a different degree—introduce himself (verbally, if

you will, but better still by his life and actions) to those with

whom he comes in contact, as St. Paul introduced himself to

those to whom he wrote his epistles: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ." Each one of us can say—with a degree of difference

of course but in all truth—“Mary (John, Jacqueline, or Albert),

an apostle of Jesus Christ." For each of us by reason of our

baptism and more especially because of our confirmation is an

apostle. Each has the title and commission of apostleship. Each

one of us has a share in that most divine of all divine things : to

work with God in the salvation and sanctification of souls.

That title and that commission clearly demonstrate two

things

:

1. The position that each of us has in the world—our rela-
tionship to other men.

2. The interior spirit that ought to move us.

As someone has said, we are living in a world which is inter-

ested in the wonders of the machine and has forgotten the won-

ders of the man who makes the machine: we are more interested

in the conditioning of reflexes than in the building of character:

— 5—



we are more concerned with Wasserman tests than with chaS'-

tity, with psychological quizzes than with examinations of con-

science. Ours is a world full of ignorance, for all its educational

institutions; of moral dirt, for all its modern plumbing. It is a

world which needs, not nazism or communism or even neces-

sarily political democracy, but what it needed two thousand

years ago—Jesus Christ. At that time twelve men went out into

that world and gave it what it lacked. Today twelve men are

not enough. That is why the Popes have cried to all the Catho-

lic laity to -live up to their vocation as apostles, to take up the

cause of Christ—the work, the labor, the toil, the use of every

means at hand to win the world of men today to accept and to

live by the ideas that stem from the divine wisdom Himself.

No longer can Catholics be merely Christians; they must be

Christianizing souls as well, men and women who desire to save

themselves and others precisely by saving and sanctifying

others. They must be men and women who sanctify themselves

for this definite purpose: that they may sanctify others as well.

Even though it may not realize it, the world we live in is seeking

two things. It is looking and longing for freedom from darkness

and freedom from sin. We as Christ's apostles must give these
seekers the Light of the World, the Redeemer of mankind.

Discussion

Does the idea that each of you personally should be

an apostle come as something new to you? If so, and

if it is not too clear as yet, be patient. The rest of the

outline will bring clarity. If the idea is not new to you,

then what have you done so far about the matter of

your apostleship? How active have you been? where?
when? with whom? What experience have you had in

bringing others to Christ and Christ to others? Have

you failed to do all you can, been stopped by the catch

comment ‘’Religion is a private, a personal aflFair"?

What is the fallacy enunciated there? Does your past

negligence disturb you? Does the prospect ahead

vaguely frighten you? Then press on with the text for

a while.

4, I Am With You^'

You look at the task that is yours, even as the Twelve must

have looked at their tasks? Then you look at yourselves, even

as they must have looked at themselves. The discrepancy is

— 6—



greats so great that you shiver, as they did. “I, unworthy, weak,

dull, sinful, lazy, small, unknown, I do all that? Impossible!"'

you say. Then you realize, as they did, that it is not you alone

who work; it is Jesus Christ who works in you and through you

and with you. You are but an instrument; He is the workman.

All you need to do is make yourself as responsive to His touch

as possible. That with His grace you can do. He will do all

the rest.

Project

At the end of this first discussion, poll the group.

Learn how many are willing to make of themselves

real apostles of Christ. Retain these in the group; let

the others go. They are neither big enough nor brave

enough for the task ahead. Send them away with a

blessing ^—^and a prayer. Those who remain can pre-
pare for the next meeting by saying frequently from

their hearts, ‘‘Mary, Queen of Apostles, make a real

apostle of me.”

DISCUSSION II

BASIS OF THE APOSTOLATE--THE
MYSTICAL BODY

Project

At the opening of the present discussion, let the

group leader ask the following question. “What atti-

tudes is it possible for men to have toward one

another? Let the members ponder this question for a

few moments and then contribute their ideas. These

are to be taken down by the secretary, analyzed and

digested, and then given back to the group as a com-

posite picture of their thought on the matter. Now go
on with the text. ^

1. A Contrast of Attitudes

The Bible is the book of life, of God's life with man. Thou-

sands of years old, it is as fresh and modern today as only

eternal things can be. Change the names in any number of the

incidents, and you'll find the events as up to date as your morn-

ing newspaper. If you ask of the Bible the question which you

have just discussed, you will find that men yesterday have had

_ 7^



and men today have roughly three general attitudes toward

each other.

1. HATRED. You cannot open a newssheet today without
being faced by accounts of murder^—murder in the mass on all
the battlefronts of the world, murder on a small scale in back

alley, apartment house, automobile. We call it news (an indi-
cation that murder is still not being committed by the majority

of men, else it would have no news value ) . As a matter of fact

murder is a disgustingly ancient story.

Turn to the Book of Genesis, Chapter iv. There in what

might be called Mankind's Morning Journal you find the first

murder headlined: ''Cain Slays Abel!" Cain's jealousy of Abel’s

favor with God grew into hatred. Under semblance of friend-

ship Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let us go forth abroad.

And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his

brother Abel, and slew him." Then on being asked by the Lord

for his brother's whereabouts, he answered, with callous flip-

pancy: "I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?" And God
cursed him, as He always curses people who ask that question.

Pause for a moment. Let each examine his own

heart. Is there anyone you hate? Probably not. People

filled with hate are not interested in being apostles.

Is there however anyone of whom you might ask, "Am

I my brother's keeper?" What of the poor, the under-

privileged, the Negro, the Jew? What of your next-

door neighbor? What of that non-Catholic down the

street or the lapsed Catholic across the way? You

don't hate him. No. But do you treat him with about

the same lack of love and warmth as if you did hate

him?

2. INDIFFERENCE. Turn now to the Gospel according

to St. Luke, Chapter xvi, beginning with verse 19. There is

another story that is paralleled in every American city. Dives

(Mr. Goldbucks, Our Lord might call him today) lives in a fine

home, where he dines sumptuously every day; he is clad in the

best of fashion. Right next door, under the shadow of his pent-

house, is Lazarus Poorman, needy, ill, starving. Death came to

these two with the same impartiality that death shows to rich

and poor today. But after death the positions of the two are

reversed. Lazarus goes up to dwell in a celestial penthouse.

Dives goes to a hot dirty shanty in hell.

— 8—



Scan Luke s words well. Recall the story. Is there any men-

tion of a single mortal sin on the rich man's part? You find

nothing there of defiance of God, blasphemy, adultery, murder,

or thieving. Dives went to hell, not for a single sin, but for a

sinful attitude of mind, the attitude of indifference to his neigh-

bor's welfare. As long as he was well housed, well clothed,

well fed, what did he care about the beggar at his gate, a beg-

gar with pus-filled sores, his stomach empty and his clothes

dirty rags? Was he his brother's keeper? Evidently he was.
Else why did God damn him to hell for his neglect of his poor

brother?

Pause again as above. How many people are there
in your life to whose welfare, temporal and spiritual,

you find yourself quite indiflFerent? What of the people

in the same office or office building with you? What

of your fellow students? What of people whom you

meet on the bus, streetcar, sidewalk? What of those

in your neighborhood or those others halfway across

the world from you? How interested are you in their
salvation, in their growth in Christ? If you do not

labor for them, how often do you pray for them? Are

you satisfied to enunciate that equivalent of Cain’s

words, "As long as I save little me, why should I

worry? I myself will have a hard enough time getting

into heaven without worrying about anyone else. Let

each man to look to himself"?

Discussion

How prevalent do you think this indifference is
among Catholics? Do you think too many are addicted
to the attitude mentioned above? How did they get
that way? What of this present group? What can
you do to dislodge this bias from yourself? from

others? Discuss this statement: "You cannot go to

heaven solo, alone; for Christianity here and hereafter

is a matter essentially of a 'being with'." (Confer

Matthew, xxv, 31 f[, for the position of indifference in

the general judgment.)

3. LOVE.

a. Humanly Human, "Political" friendships, those through

which some personal benefits are hoped for, are as old as man.

— 9—



They were as common in Our Lord's day as they are today. An
outstanding example of one is found on the day that Christ

went to His death. Ironically enough His murder brought about

a friendship between Pilate and Herod. He, the shuttle sent

from one to the other, sewed these two black hearts together:

''And Herod and Pilate were made friends, that same day; for

before they were enemies one to another." Human love merely
human is often that way. It looks to gain, dislikes to give, and

cares little if a third person is injured.

b. Divinely Human, The Old Testament is the story of

God’s pursuing the Jewish race with His love. Through king

and prophet He manifested that love with revelation after reve-

lation. He wooed them at one time; He punished them at
another time. Always however His every act was an appeal

of love.

Then came His greatest revelation of all. He sent His Son to

become man, to walk among men, to show men how a God

could love them with a heart which was both human and divine.

There in the New Testament we have the story of Christ’s love
for all men, a love that was as deep as the impenetrable core of

divinity, as universal as mankind. His was a love that was

sealed by a bitter death on a cross. This love was the fire that

He had come to cast on the earth. This love it is which He held

up as a model to each of His followers, saying, "By this shall

all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one
for another,’* and "Love one another, as I have loved you."

Turn back to the questions and the people men-

tioned above. Have you in your heart a love for these

people such as Christ’s? Do you love all men? Do you

love your enemies? Do you love the nazi, the Italian,

the Jap? Recall the Lord’s parable of the good Samari-

tan. There you have a picture of Christ’s love couched

in easily understandable terms of daily life. And you,

how do you treat your neighbor ( f . e., everyone ) ?

2. Vine and Branch

It is the way of love to want union, oneness with the beloved.

In the case of Our Lord, His beloved was mankind. He wanted

union, oneness with them all. Being omnipotent. He could eflFect

it. His desires and His way of executing them are explained in

His own words during His farewell address to His Apostles at

the Last Supper. There He spoke of Himself as a vine and of

— 10—



US as the branches. The two being united as branch and vine

are oned by the vital bond of a life shared by both. When

vitality flows from Christ to us, we are alive. When we stop

that vital flow, we are but dead and lifeless branches, of no

value whatever. When He told the Apostles and us to go to all
nations and make all men His disciples. He was really asking

that they and we become supernatural Joseph Davies men, that

we do all we can to engraft these withering branches onto Him,

the vine of love and life divine.

Discussion

Turn to the Gospel according to St. John, Chapter

XV, verses 1-13. Read the passages; then get the picture

clearly in your mind. Note the ideas of union, of a

common life force, of the. fact that without Christ

(i. e., outside of union with Him ) men can do nothing

and hence cannot even live. Since Christ loves all men

and since without Him they are lost, what conclusion

can you draw with regard to His desires and designs

for those already oned with Him? with regard to those

who are still without Him? What can you do to help
Him satisfy those desires and work out those designs?

3. Head and Members

St. Paul, following Our Lord's lead here, expresses the idea

in another way. Christ so loves all men that He wants them to

make with Him one body, of which He is the head and they the

members. (Read St. Paul: I Col. xii, 12-27)

Once again note the oneness-of-life idea. Had Paul been a

modern, he might easily have talked in terms of cells rather

than of members. For just as each cell in the body lives with its

own life and yet lives with the life of the whole body, so we in

Christ remain individuals but receive in our own individual souls

a life which comes to us through the whole body and which is

the same in every other individual in that same body, a life that

comes to each and all from the head.

It is a further fact of biology that when any cell or tissue or

organ in the body suffers harm, the other cells or tissues or

organs immediately set to work for the help and cure of that

cell or tissue. It would seem that all are anxious that every

brother cell be in a healthy state, and they are willing to work

— 11



for that end. They love each other, as it were, so much that

they are willing to give of themselves to show that love.

The application to ourselves is obvious. Since we are at one
with all Christians, then we should love them in deed and in
truth as well as in word. This love is shown:

1. By our doing nothing which will break down the grace-

life in any other cell in the Mystical Body.

2. By our doing everything in our power by word and work

to make their oneness with Christ and with others in that body

more intense and more close.

Discussion

Show the parallel in the main points between

Christ's words about the vine and the branches and

St. Paul's words about the head and the members. Go

over the passage that you read in St. Paul's letter to

the Corinthians and discuss each of its salient ideas

thoroughly. Show from the fact that love is directed

to those closest to oneself that we as apostles must

love the other members of the Mystical Body first.

What two general ways are there in which we can

express this love?

It is the will of God and of Christ that everybody become

incorporated in Christ's Mystical Body, that every living person

become encelled in it. As a matter of fact there are millions of

people who are still outside of the Mystical Body. This thought

—that God's will is being frustrated for so many— gives a fiirm
and vital basis for apostolic activity. Here God yearns for all

these souls. Here we yearn to do what we can for Him, to give

Him all that He wants. The result . . . action of an apostolic

nature—action directed toward heretics and schismatics, who
are but partially incorporated in Christ; action for infidels;

action for all those who are not oned with Him at all. Thought,

reflection, meditation on the idea of the Mystical Body can have

but one effect: that of stirring the apostle to use every means in

every place and at all times to engraft all men in Him.

Discussion

Are all men • actually members of the Mystical

Body? Should they be? If they are not, what can you

do about it? Can you face Christ with a clear con-

12 —



science if you have not labored for these separated

brethren? How will meditation on the doctrine of the

Mystical Body help an apostle?

DISCUSSION III

BASIS OF THE APOSTOLATE^SHARING IN
HIS PRIESTHOOD

1 The Time's Signs

Anyone who with even one quarter of an eye looks about the

world at large or the little one wherein he lives and moves and

eats and works and plays can at present see one very striking

phenomenon. Both of those worlds are forming rather rapidly

into two vast camps under two chief standards. In the one are

the followers of Christ; in the other the haters of God. Millions

still remain of course in the between-land, but they will not be

there for very long.

Our recent Popes have seen this fact from their watchtower

on the Vatican. They have also seen that the hierarchy, the

clergy, the religious, the officers, as it were, in Christ s army

are too few to be equal to the double task of keeping those

within His ranks up to full fighting spirit and of drawing the

in-betweens to fight for rather than against Him. Opening their

lips then, these same Popes have clarioned to the laity, challeng-

ing them to live up to their apostleship, to mobilize in order to

take their part in the kingdom of Christ for His reign in men s

hearts.

Discussion

Can you give any concrete instances to illustrate

this trend of the times toward either Christ or godless-

ness? Can you give instances of hostility to religion?

indifferences to religion? lack of interest in religion?

Do you know of people who are groping toward reli-

gion? What makes you believe this? All of the state-

ments made in this discussion should be backed with

definite incidents, experiences, situations, people, read-

ing, etc.

What like instances can you adduce for the inade-

quacy of the hierarchy, the clergy, and the religious to

meet the double demand that is being made on them?

Judging from the circle in which you move, do you

— 13—



think that the majority of Cathohc laymen are becom-

ing aware of their obligations and privileges to help

these ‘‘ofiFicials** in their work for Christ? From per-

sonal experience give sound reasons for your answers.

If the laity is still dormant, what can you personally

do about the matter in yourself at home, in your neigh-

borhood, in your parish, etc.? Is there anything you

can do as a group?

2* Kingdom of Priests"'

In our last discussion we saw that the doctrine of the Mysti-

cal Body is one basis for our apostolate. Here we place our

apostolate on another teaching of the Church, that of **the

priesthood of the laity."'

Project

At this point take a census of the group:

1. What do they think the phrase "‘priesthood of the

laity" means? How many have ever heard it?

a. What do they think of when the word priest is

mentioned?

b. What are the three chief functions of a priest?

c. How can the laity be said to share in these
functions?

d. Of the ordinary priestly tasks and privileges,

how many would you think the laity might

have? What ones do the laity certainly not

possess?

2. Is the idea that not only Father Brown, curate at

St. Malachy's, but also his truck-driver brother Bill

possesses a share in Christ's priesthood new to

those gathered here? Why? Should this idea be a
fact? If not, why?

That this idea is really as old as Catholicism can be seen from

the following citations. St. Ambrose, who lived in the fourth

century, said "A// the sons of the Church are priests; for we are

anointed into a holy priesthood, oflFering ourselves to God as

holy victims."

St. Augustine, who lived in the fifth century, pointed out that

"Not only has Jesus, our head, been anointed with this unction

[of priesthood] but with Him also all His members—that is all

— 14—



those who form His Mystical Body, all Christians [not merely

bishops or priests] who are already properly called priests in

the Church/*

St. Ambrose and the great bishop of Hippo were merely

echoing the words of the first Pope, St. Peter, who said: “But

you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood [italics ours],

a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may celebrate His

virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous

light** (1 Pet, ii, 9),

St. Thomas, who lived in the thirteenth century, commenting

on these words of St. Peter, says that this share in the priest-

hood unites the layman with Christ “by spiritual union . . . but

not by sacramental power. Consequently he has a spiritual

priesthood for offering spiritual sacrifices.** The saint then adds

that this priesthood obliges them, L e., Christians, all of them, to

preach to their fellow men and to proclaim the virtues of Christ

and the blessings of redemption.

Finally less than twenty years ago Pope Pius XI said:

"Christians are to offer sacrifices for sins^—and this in much the
same way as every priest.**

Discussion

From the above the fact of your share in the priest-

hood of Christ, the Great High Priest, is beyond ques-

tion. Does this mean that you can consecrate or

absolve from sins? or that you can lay claim to the col-

lection? Have you any idea where or how you receive

this sharing, when or how you were “ordained**? The

group might pause at this point and spend a couple of

minutes in the reading of St. Paul*s epistle to the

Hebrews, which deals with the priesthood of Christ.

We have stated here merely the fact of the laity*s share in
Christ*s priesthood. If the group is interested in going into the

matter more deeply, we refer them either to “Men at Work at
Worship,** by Rev. Gerald Ellard, S.

J.,
Chapter V, or to our

own outline “Light on the Liturgy.**

3. A Further Consecration

When you were still delightful infants, you were taken to a
baptismal font and baptized. In that instant you were incor-

porated into Christ, and you became a sharer in His priesthood.

— 15—



You were configured to Christ the priest, made like to Him,

able to be used by Him to carry on His life and worship. Most

of you were so young at the time that you don't remember the

ceremony.

A number of years after baptism however you again went into
the church to receive a sacrament. You knelt in front of a

bishop, answered some questions, received an anointing and an

innocuous blow on the cheek. In other words you received the

sacrament of confirmation. This ceremony you were old enough

to remember.

Project

Here let the leader ask each one in the group for his

impressions of that ceremony. What did it mean to

him then? What does it mean to him today?

Unless your group is made up of particularly enlightened

Catholics, you will probably have missed or not adequately

understood the significance of that sacrament. Did not your

answers add up to the following? You knew you had received

an increase in sanctifying grace. You acquired a new name.

You were supposed to be grown-up in Christ (whatever that

meant at the age of twelve or fourteen). You were a soldier of

Christ ( another rather ambiguous and fuzzy idea at that time )

.

You had received in your soul another indelible character or

sign or seal in addition to the one impressed at baptism. How
many of you however realized that at that moment you received

a fuller consecration, a fuller anointing, a greater share in

Christ's priesthood? Yet that is precisely what happened. While

still less a priest than one who receives holy orders, you were

made more a priest than you had been made by baptism alone.

Project

Recall certain facts:

1. That you share in Christ's priesthood,

2. That this participation comes through the sacra-

ments of baptism, confirmation, and. for the one

rightly called a priest in the fullest sense, holy

orders.

3. That by this sharing you are deputed, set aside,

''to receive or to give to others those things which

pertain to God's worship" (St, Thomas) according

to the Christian rite.

— 16—



4. That by baptism you become receptive instruments

that Christ can use for worship even as the priest

uses the chalice.

When these ideas have been clearly fixed in your
minds, answer this question: What does confirmation

add to baptism? It is true that the baptized Christian,

because of the character impressed by that initial or

gateway sacrament, gives Christ an outlet for worship,

even though he is in mortal sin, that the unbaptized

cannot give Him. Now does the Catholic who has
received the sacrament of confirmation possess some-

thing by which he can do things that the merely

baptized caqnot do? If so, what are these things?

4^ This Time for Positive Action

Confirmation is essentially a sacrament, an anointing,, an

ordination for action.

All the sacraments of Christ have for their general end and

aim the conferring of sanctifying grace or an increase thereof.

Also each of the sacraments has a particular unique and indi-

vidual effect that it produces. Three of the sacraments, baptism,

confirmation, and holy orders, further produce a character in

the soul, a new spiritual reality, which is as permanent and inde-

structible as the soul itself. By reason of this character the soul

is made like to Christ and becomes currency, as it were, for the

further functioning of His priesthood, even as a coin stamped

with a buffalo or an Indian head is currency for exchange in

the United States.

Now just as baptism has for its effect the destruction of
original sin and the impression of a character upon man’s soul

by reason of which Christ can use him as an outlet for the con-

tinuing of the worship of the Father He came on earth to give,

and just as the sacrament of holy orders gives a man a further

increase in grace and a fuller participation in the priesthood of

Christ and by the character of that sacrament enables him to

consecrate and to administer the sacraments, so confirmation

not only effects this same increase but also has its own pecu-

liarly definite effect.

This effect peculiar to confirmation adds to baptism the need

and privilege and commission for action. By it each lay Catho-

lic is anointed and set apart for the sacred purpose of the

defense and spread of the faith. He does not receive this great

— 17—



sacrament for his own personal benefit. Rather he is anointed,

marked, signed, and sealed primarily for others, for action for

them.

Confirmation carries with its indelible character the commis-

mon, the sending, the mandate^plus the power necessary to

fulfill it-^to share further in Christ's priesthood by:

1. Publicly professing the faith in the face of dangers or

ridicule or indifiFerence.

2. Protecting the kingdom of God from within.

3. Extending the kingdom of God to those who are not as

yet citizens of it.

4. Reproducing in one's own soul, words, actions, and life

the teaching and example of Our Lord.

It is by reason of this sacrament that all the faithful who

receive it can carry on His work of saving and sanctifying souls.

It is on this sacrament that the Popes rely when they call on the

laity to join with the hierarchy to work for Christ's kingdom

within and without. So it is by the fact of confirmation that each

and every one of the faithful receives as one of the essentials of

apostleship the commission mentioned in Discussion I, Section 2.

Confirmation it is which makes apostles of us all. No longer
can Catholics look on themselves as merely private citizens.

Now each of them has the definite social obligation to exercise
his share in Christ's priesthood, to labor as He did for men, to

spread the good of Him in a foul'^smelling world.

Discussion

1. Recall the particular aims and efFects of each of

the sacraments.

2. How are they alike? How do they difiFer?

3. How are baptism, confirmation, and holy orders
more closely knit together than the others?

4. What twofold gift does baptism give to the per-

son who receives it?

5. What does confirmation add to baptism'—a) from

the standpoint of worship? b ) in any other way?

6. What does holy orders add to confirmation?

7. Which of the priestly functions are added to the

laity through confirmation?

— 18—



8. Go back over the four points given above. Then

let each one examine himself and report on how

actively and well he has carried them out in the

last week or month.

9. How can confirmation be called ‘‘The Sacrament
of Catholic Action**?

10.

In the light of all this justify the title of this out-

line—^“Apostles All.**

Project

If time permits or inclination urges » the group might

spend a few discussions on:

1 . **The Sacrament of Catholic Action,** a pamphlet

by Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S.
J.

(The Queen*s

Work).

2. ‘‘Confirmation in the Modern World,*’ by

Matthias Laros (Sheed & Ward).

DISCUSSION IV

APOSTOLIC QUALITIES-HUMAN

Project

1. Start the meeting off by reviewing the ideas of

apostleship given in Discussion I.

2. Review the motives given in Discussions II and

III.

3. Now working together, draw up a list of those
natural and human qualities and traits of body and

soul, of character and personality which you feel a

real apostle should possess.

1. What Is Your A. Q.?

Although the following qualities may or may not be on the

list that you have just drawn up, and although the following list

is by no means exhaustive, we do think that the points are from

a human standpoint essential for an apostle*s full success. We
list those points and suggest that in the space provided in the

right-hand margin each group member rate himself on a per-

centage basis. When this has been done, the individual averages

— 19—



can be computed and the rating of the group as a group arrived

at. Finally if it seems feasible, the group can be divided, one

half rating the other, member for member, on each of these

traits. Honesty and truthfulness are the watchwords throughout.

Bodily Qualities

%
Attractive appearance

Posture

Neatness

Cheerful expression

Pleasing voice

Energy

Qualities of Mind

%
Judgment

a clear understanding of your job here

and now; the means you have at hand to

use it; the best way to use those means

best.

Decisiveness

the ability to make up your mind and

stick to your decision.

Knowledge

of your own particular field.

Understanding

of men; an insight into and a correct

appraisal of their motives, impulses, in-

terests, ambitions, loves, hates, and

fears.

Faith

in one’s cause

in oneself

in human nature

Emotional and Volitional Qualities

%
Unselfishness

Courage

Enthusiasm

Sympathy

Sincerity

Dependability

— 20—



Confidence

in one s goal .

in one’s methods

in one’s success

Determination

Willingness to work

Persistence

You can now get your A. Q. (Apostolic

Quotient) by totaling your ratings and

dividing them by 20 . . . . . . .

Project

It will make for profitable discussion if you decide

together:

1. Which group of qualities is most important

—

bodily, mental, emotional and volitional? Why?

2. Go over the entire list again and rearrange it in

the order of importance. Why have you relined it
as you have?

3. How do you go about getting the traits you lack or
strengthening those within you which are weak?

2* The Three Faiths

It is not our intention here to go into all of the above-named

human qualities needed by the apostle. The general method by

which to acquire them and a discussion of some of the qualities

in particular have been treated in our ’’Personality for Leader-

ship” outline. There are however three needs that must be

stressed here especially.

a. Faith in Your Cause

A man can hardly win others to a cause in which he himself
believes only halfheartedly. Unless he personally is completely

’’sold” on it, his words will lack conviction and sincerity. He

will not throw himself wholeheartedly into his labors. He will

not have the enthusiasm that is needed to set others on fire.

Discussion

Can anyone give an instance of a person’s lack of

faith in his cause or his product hampering his efforts

to put it over to others? What gaps will such a non-

— 21 —



faith^full apostle have in the essential human qualities?

Why has the apostle of Christ special reason to have
faith in his cause?

The apostle’ of Christ has the job of ‘‘selling** the best com-

modity the world has ever seen. He is to “head up** all things
again in Christ. He is to bring them under His sway. He is to
teach men the way to live happily—that is, holily—here so that
they can gain the happiness of heaven’s riches hereafter. His

cause is God's cause, and hence it cannot fail even when all

appearances seem against success. “And the gates of hell shall

not prevail against it.*'

b. Fiuih in Oneself

Discussion

1. What bases have you in the natural order, in the
supernatural order for belief in yourself as an

apostle?

2. How can these supernatural facts prop your nat-
ural self-confidence?

3. Why and how should they be aided and abetted
by natural trust in yourself?

Nothing else hinders the winning of others more than does a

lack of faith in yoiurself. Men look at you. They search both
your face and your soul to see if what you are trying to draw

them to has given you the quahties that they want: dependa-

bility, self-reliance, courage. If their search is vain, so are your

labors. If they are satisfied with what they find in you, they

will listen to you further.

Once again the apostle of Christ is fortunate. He knows the

worth-whileness of His cause. He knows that his cause is God's.
He knows further that he has been called to play a vital and

ofiFicial role in the winning of men to Christ. That is what his

confirmation meant. He believes that God supplies him with the

means to play that role successfully. All of this gives him a

faith in himself and a self-confidence, the natural roots of which

draw their vitality and certainty from supernatural and divine

assurances.

c. Fittth in Others

Discussion

Take a poll of the group on the following points:

1. Do you think that the majority of men are to be

believed in? To what extent?

— 22—



2. What reasons can you give for your answers?

3. What are the main general attitudes that you can

assume toward others: v» g., idealistic? realistic?

pessimistic? ( Define each of the preceding terms. ) .

Which is the right attitude and why?

One of the most painful experiences of youth is the heart-

break that comes when they find that their elders, even their

parents, do not trust them, have no faith in them. That is a

feeling that never completely dies, even in adulthood. Old and

young need trust. No man can lead others, even to Christ,

unless he shows them that he believes in them.

Obviously such a faith in others should not be blind or

Pollyannish. It should be completely realistic. And that means?

. . . Simply this : that faith in men should comprise the following

factual elements.

1 . Man is neither a beast nor an angel. He is a strange inter-
tangling of both.

2. Man is imperfect, always has been, and from the looks of
things always will be. **It must needs be that scandals

come.**

3. Hence men are to be neither condemned nor idealized but

taken for what they are with sympathetic understanding.

4. Accept men as they are and not for what you think they

ought to be. Remember the words of Scripture: “He hath

not dealt with us according to our sins; nor rewarded us

according to our iniquities ... for he knoweth our frame.

He remembereth that we are dust.** And “Go, and do

thou in like manner.**

5. Finally with equal realism realize that human nature is

fundamentally good. By its very make-up the human

mind — despite darkness, falsehood, error, prejudice
seeks truth. The human will, even when it commits sin, is

seeking good. If sin is committed, the human will rises up

again in tears of remorse and cries out its sorrow.

An apostle equipped with such faith in others is bound to win
men to his cause. If he fails, he is not discouraged. If they fail

him and let him down, he is neither surprised, shocked, nor

embittered. His will be a faith and a humane understanding

like that which rings out from Our Lord*s words: “Father, for-

give them, for they know not what they do.**

— 23—



Discussion

What suggestions can you in the group make
which, gathered together, will enable you to under-

stand each other and your fellow men better? How do
you act when another person lets you down? Is it the

sane and human way to act? How should you act?
What will help you most to the right conduct? Why
is faith in others essential for the apostle? What must

he do when that faith is betrayed? What must he not

do? For which of these causes do you think it is true

that most people let you down: because they are

1 )
shortsighted? 2 ) lazy? 3 ) selfish? 4 ) deliberately

unkind? 5 ) motivated by external circumstances? Give

reasons for your answers.

DISCUSSION V

APOSTOLIC QUALITIES-DIVINE

Discussion

Since the work of Christ’s apostle is not merely a

natural and a human thing but essentially supernat-

ural and divine, all the natural good qualities in the

world will not accomplish it alone. Supernatural and

divine gifts are needed as well. Start the present dis-

cussion then by finding out what is the group’s idea

about what makes up the complex of these supernat-

ural traits required by the apostle. Combine the

various notions of the members in a list, which will

form a goal for each of the apostles here present to

shoot at. How are these qualities to be gained? How
does your list compare with what follows in the text?

1. ^‘Not L but Chrisf'

It is obvious that the Christianizing Christian must be before

all else in vital and vitalizing contact with Our Lord. He must

be in the state of grace. The richer the quality and quantity of

this share in Christ-life and God-life, the better is he as a chan-

nel of grace to others.

That after all is what it means to be an apostle. He is one

who is engrafted onto Christ, incorporated in Him. Made one

with Him, the apostle then becomes a high-tension wire through

— 24 —



whom the supernatural electricity of divine life passes to others

and thus gives light and warmth and power to others. He is but

an instrument in the hands of Christ for the forming of His

vital, pulsing, living presence in other souls.

Once the apostle realizes that of himself he is nothing, that

he is merely a carrier of divine life— just as a wire running
through a light bulb is neither the fountain source nor the term

of the electricity it transmits but merely a carrier of it—^he will
do all in his power to become daily more oned with Christ by

grace. He will strive to remove all obstacles to Christ’s action

in and through and with himself.

Discussion

1 . Why must an apostle be at one with Christ?
2. How are we incorporated in Him?

3. What is the result of this incorporation for the

apostle himself? for others?

4. What are the chief obstacles to union with Christ?

How arc they removed? How is this union with
Him best strengthened?

2« The Theological Three

Along with sanctifying grace come three virtues, three quali"

ties, three powers for action, which are essential for any real

apostolic activity. They are the three theological virtues: faith,

hope, and charity. Before going further, stop here for a moment

and 1 ) define each virtue and 2 ) try to decide why each helps

the apostolate.

a. Faith

The apostle must have a bright faith for two reasons. First:

He has been commanded by the Lord to teach others ‘‘all things

whatsoever I have commanded you.” It is only by faith that

these ”all things” are known and made applicable to ordinary

human life. Second: Faith is essential if the apostle is going to

evaluate aright God and immortal souls. It is only when he has

done this that he will be willing to spend himself for them and

for Him.

Discussion

1. What is the diflFerence between faith and the faith?

2. What other reasons can you add for an apostle’s

need of faith?

-^25—



3. What arc the main undcrmincrs of faith?

4. How can faith be increased and strengthened?

b. Hope

The apostolate is difficult. The apostle must bestir himself

and *'go.*' Like any other fisherman he must seek and search

for souls—^a toilsome task. He must teach men—'one of the
hardest jobs on earth, especially when he has to inveigle them

into dropping their love for pleasure and to follow a crucified

Christ. Work, labor, toil must go into the work of landing men

either in Peter’s bark or on the shores of a higher spirituality.

You lose men so often. So frequently your labors are vain. Dis-

couragement can set in very easily. Hope then is needed, a hope

which gives you a courageous heart to carry on despite all

obstacles, a hope which bases persevei^ce on the words can

do all things in Him who strengtheneth me” and ”My grace is
sufficient for thee.”

Discussion

1. What is hope?

2. Enumerate the difficulties of the apostolate in one-

self and in work with others.

3. What basis of hope have you other than those
mentioned above?

4. How can you exercise and increase this virtue?

c. Charity

No apostle will stay long at his labors or be extensively effec-
tive in them if he works merely out of a sense of duty. His

energy and his enthusiasm will lose head unless they are kept

up by the fire of charity, of love for God and for man. He alone

is a real apostle who has taken to Himself Christ’s supreme

command: “Love one another, as I have loved you.” He looks

on the Lord and sees Him giving Himself utterly, even unto

crucifixion, for himself. Then having warmed his own heart at

the Sacred Heart, he spends himself for others, loving them not

merely in feeling and in word but in truth and in deed. He loves

them so much that he withholds nothing of himself, if only by

this self-giving he can win them to Christ. He gives them all.

in so far as he can, the greatest of all love-gifts: life more

abundant. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a manday

— 26—



down his life for his friend/' He can give this love either in one

grand gesture or by inches, in daily toil and labor.

Discussion

1. What is the difference—in themselves and in the

effects of their labors—between duty- and love-

driven apostles? To which do you warm more

quickly and fully? Why?

2. Did Christ command that we like everybody?

What is the difference between loving and liking?

3. Whence can the apostle draw this love for others?

4. What is the chief source of apostolic love in our

daily lives?

5. Is it true that one who gives his life for another

gradually fulfills Christ's words about love

(
quoted above

) as truly as does one who fulfills it

by a single act?

6. Who do you think fulfills those words to a greater
degree? Why?

3« Zeal

Out of a goodly possession of the theological three comes that

virtue which is most distinctive of the apostle, namely zeal. Zeal

is an attitude of mind and heart which drives one on to labor

unselfishly and unceasingly for the interests of God and of

souls—all the while mindful of Pope Pius X's words: “To do

nothing [/. e., for souls] is a sin of omission, and it may be

extremely grave.'' It is a fire in a man's heart which will die out

into ashes unless it is given to others and sets them afire too.

Zeal is a two-tongued flame: One branch of it reaches up and

unites itself with the fires of the Godhead; the other stretches

out to men in an all-embracing love and labor.

Zeal excludes all of those hindrances to apostolic success such

as egotism, self-seeking, laziness, indifference, inertia, and indo-

lence. All those looking for ease, comfort, note: this-far-and-

no-further spirit.

When the zealous soul meets an obstacle, he does not become
subject to the evaporation of enthusiasm, the slowing down of

effort, the setting in of discouragement, the birth of inertia, the

final giving up with a despairing, “Oh what's the use?'' Rather

does zeal force a man to follow the Great Apostle Christ despite

27—



weariness, fatigue, lonesomeness, meager results, opposition

from enemies, denial and betrayal by friends. Even though he

sees his labors ending on the cross of failure, he still carries on.

Discussion

1 . What is zeal? Why is it necessary for an apostle?
Whence does it spring? Why do most Catholics
lack it? What happens when the Catholic has it?

2. What are the enemies of zeal? How can zeal be
acquired?

3. How zealous is the present group? What signs of
zeal do you show? What outlets have you for it?

where? when? how?

4. Why not take a few extra discussions and go
through the New Testament for particular exam-
ples of the zeal of Christ in action?

DISCUSSION VI

APOSTOLIC ARMS^HUMAN

Discussion

Start the present discussion off by getting the group

to suggest and to list such equipment as the apostle

needs from a natural standpoint or such as will make

him a more efficient worker for the Lord. When this
list has been drawn up, compare it with what follows.

The apostle of Christ is the whole man working for the

spread of His kingdom. He uses both natural and supernatural

arms to win souls for his king. Looking first at the instruments

that nature has put in his hands, we find that they naturally fall

into two classes. What follows is by no means exhaustive, but

it does point out some of the most necessary bits of equipment.

L Within Himself

a. Externals

In the ordinary course of events the better appearance an

apostle makes, the more attractive he will be. Granted that there

have been saints who like Benedict Joseph Labre were positively

revolting externally, most of us are drawn more to the person

who looks smart, who gives the appearance that he knows what

28 —



life is all about, who lives in the world in the twentieth century

though he is still not of it, than we are by the old-fashioned,

dull, unkempt, or dowdy individual. Externals are only surface

things, it is true; but often the first step toward the saving of all

for Christ is the saving of that same surface.

Here is a check list on appearance for the apostle. Others

may want to make a good impression for their own selfish inter-

ests. The apostle wants it for the glory of God.

1 . Do you take a bath daily?

2. Do you keep your hair neat and clean?

3. Do you keep your face and hands clean at all times?

4. Do you wash your teeth twice a day and use a mouth-

wash daily?

5. Are your clothes always neat, clean, well pressed, and

mended? ^

6. Are your shoes shined and in repair?

7. Do you give yourself a manicure weekly?

8. Are your white (or light) collars, cuffs, etc., snowy

white (and spotless)?

9. If you are a girl, do you use make-up excessively?

10. Are your fingers denicotinized?

1 1 . Are your underwear and your socks and stockings fresh

and clean?

12. Do you dress everyday as if you are conscious that you

are walking in the presence of God?

If people are pleased by your appearance (and note that this

doesn’t mean that you must be expensively garbed) , then they

are more liable to be willing to hear what you have to say. Your
next weapon is your voice. Perhaps there is nothing else which

so captivates another as a good voice and pleasant, attractive,

vivid, musical speech. A man may be ugly; a woman as homely
as an old shoe. But if they have vibrant, clear, arresting voices,

their looks are soon forgotten in the magic of their speech.

What of the voices in this present group? Someone has clas-

sified voices as follows. Do you, any of you, fall into one of

these groups?

The hot-potato talker. . . . He mumbles.

The nasal nuisance. . . . His voice comes out through his

nose.

— 29—



The whinnier. . . . He sounds like someone vaguely remi-
niscent of the horsel^ugher.

The whiner. . . . He makes music like a high wind in the
wires.

The boomer. . . . He thinks that he*s always addressing a
vast audience.

How do each of you individually answer the following ques-
tions?

1. Am I on the throaty side when I talk?
2. Is my tone a drone, dead, flat, monotonous, sleep

-

inducing?

3. Am I a speedster in my speech, three hundred and twenty
miles an hour, like a fighter plane? Or am I a snail?

4. Is my voice lifeless, giving the impression that life is a
bore or a burden? Or is it dynamic and vital?

5. When I start to speak, does the other person feel: “Why
here's a friend of mine"?

Following are a few hints on how to improve your voice . . .

for the furthering of the kingdom of God.

1. Watch your pronunciation; see that it is correct.

2. Keep an eye on your enunciation; let every word be

distinct.

3. Vary your paces: now fast . . . now slow . . . now medium.

. . . Avoid monotony.

4. Vary your pitch too: Get it up; then let it slide down to

a low^ register; then up again.

5. Practice every time you open your mouth. You may drive

people slightly mad for a time, but keep at it. You’ll soon

be charming them.

You may have caught a prospective fish on the bait of a good

appearance and an attractive voice. But you will certainly lose

him unless you add one final barb that will hold him until he is

landed: That is example. There must be complete harmony

between what you look like, what you say—and what you do.

One great curse of the Church today is the vast discrepancy

between what we Catholics say we believe and the way we

actually live. This is a hardheaded world. People want to see

results. The only way that they can know what Christ is doing

for you inside is by watching your external actions. And they

will watch you like the proverbial hawk. If in you they find

— 30—



word and deed walking hand in hand, they will want to know

more about what you are trying to give them. If in you they

find words going along a high level and deeds verging on the

gutterish, they will lose interest immediately.

Discussion

Pause here and from your personal experiences pre^

sent examples of people who have drawn you by their

example rather than by mere words. Do you know of
instances in which people have been kept from the

Church by the bad example of Catholics? Draw up a

list of actions that Catholics engage in which are detri^-

mental to the apostolate. Resolve to avoid those

actions as individuals and as a group.

b. Iniernals

No other internal weapon is more effective when you are
dealing with others than is the understanding of people. To get

anywhere with men, you must know them, what they want,

what moves them, what obstacles they are liable to put in your

way, and how to remove those same hurdles.

Project

Stop here and work out a list of those things that

you think men and women want; make a separate list

for each sex. In the light of this list what have you as

Catholic apostles to give them to satisfy those wants?

V. g„ both men and women want admiration; a chance

to express themselves, to be approved of, to be loved;

security; adventure; the opportunity to feel they are

intelligent, attractive, and successful. How does
Catholicism supply those wants?

The apostle, even though he may be hailed with “This is the

Army, Mr. Jones,** is not a military man, not a top sergeant, not

a dictator. He has no whip with which to drive people; hence

he must draw them after him to Christ. He must know that

people act because they want to obtain some object they desire,

whether it be a hot dog or heaven. It is for the apostle, by the

ingenuity that is his, to make them realize that it is in God alone

that all of their desires will be satisfied and that there is only

one way to Him—^through the man Christ Jesus.

— 31 —



A full treatment of how to understand people and how to
bring them to do what you want them to do would fill a book

ten times the size of this outline. We ofiFer here just a few sug-
gestions that may form a ground plan for further study and

practice.

In dealing with another man, be he Catholic or of another

profession, saint or sinner, do not approach him with either a

condoning or a condemnatory air. Simply try to realize that

here is another human being like yourself: imperfect, lazy per-

haps, not a genius intellectually but a good man withal at heart,

looking—even though he may not know it^— for the kingdom of
God. Try to learn as much about the man as you can. Find out

what causes have gone into the making of him as he is today.

Then see what measures you think are necessary to change him

for the better, to bring him closer to Christ.

A check list of your own quahties of understanding is the
following.

1. Does another’s hostile reaction to you arouse: a) hostility?

b) a desire to find out what is behind the hostihty?

2. Do you make it a practice to condemn another’s behavior

if it doesn’t suit you? Or do you assume that there are

reasons which if you knew them would make the behavior

clear to you?

3. How sympathetic an ear do you lend to others? Do you
really try to get a clear picture of what others are trying

to tell you?

4. When you talk with others, do you talk about yourself
and what you are doing? or about them and their doings?

5. Do you find that people often say to you, “You know,

you’re the first person I’ve ever told this to”?

Once you have learned to understand people, you will be in

a position to persuade them, that is. to get them to do what you

want them to do.

Persuasion can be either direct or indirect. Sometimes the

former is needed. We poor humans are inclined to procrasti-
nate, to delay action, to put off, to forget, to remain passive

about things. Inertia is a terrible weight in the most of us.

Direct persuasion prods us out of such inertia. Making dead

lines in pubhshing houses, signing a man up for a series of lec-

tures or concerts, investing some money in a project, snagging

a person into action—all of these are direct-persuasion ways
— 32—



that the world uses to overcome human inertia. What ways can

you as an apostle use by this method for the kingdom of God?

Indirect persuasion is often a better method, especially for

the apostle. Quietly, coolly, adroitly, smoothly insert your sug-

gestions and your motives. Let the other fellow think that it

was really his idea all along to go to confession tonight or to

talk with a priest about this thing the Catholic Church. We
know of a priest in a certain seminary who got the seminarians

there to read all the books he wanted them to read by the simple

method of bringing a book into class, reading a bit of it, stating

that of course it was over their heads, and then putting it aside.

Later one of the men would come to his room and ask if he

couldn't read that book. After some hesitation the professor

would give it to him, with the strict injunction that he alone was

to read it and none of the others. The result? Everybody in the

class read it. The old saying of the cat and the drowning is still

sound psychology.

Project

There are three obstacles that you encounter in

others whenever you advance an idea: inertia, which

we mentioned above; suspicion; fear. Set to work here

on a set of ways by which best to solve this terrible

triplet.

Let each one in the group take the following test.

When all of you are through, go back over the ques-
tions which you found to be most commonly flubbed

by the greatest number. Work out together ways to

overcome these apostolic faults.

1 . Do you know how to present Catholicism in such

a way that it satisfies that deepest of all urges in

a man, the desire to be important?

2. Do you show the advantages of a change of ways

of thinking and living before you try to change

others* habits?

3. Are you able to take knocks without showing that

they hurt you?

4. Do you forget grudges and grievances?

5. Dp you make others feel that you are confidently

but not egotistically sure that you are right?

-33 —



6. Do you encourage the other man, giving him
credit for what he has and showing him how he

can become even greater?

7. Do people ever question your loyalty to them and
to your cause?

8. Do you know what this person or this group
wants most?

9. Is everything that you do and say marked with a

crystalline clarity?

10.

Do you know how to make people realize that
through Catholicism you can help them make

their dreams come true?

2* Outside of Himself

Over and above the instruments that the Lotd has given the

apostle inside of himself there are other, outside instruments.

We merely list them here; for each group is different, and each
will because of this difference have to work out the best way to

use these other arms for the fishing for souls.

1 . The circle of home and friends.

2. Parish and fraternal organizations:

a. Sodahty.

b. USO.

c. Holy Name Society, etc.

3. Place of work.

4. Talks:

a. Formal.

b. Informal conversation.

c. Radio.

5. Pen or typewriter:

a. Pamphlets.

b. Papers.

c. Posters.

6. Stage.

7. Screen.

8. Soapbox.

The exercise of the apostolate is possible during any hour of

the day—save when you are asleep. Its field is anywhere from

a streetcar to a pulpit. One thing alone is needed: the courage

to exercise that apostolate wherever and whenever possible. A

— 34—



true love of God, of your fellow men, and of the faith give that

courage. Some of the fields for the apostolate will be taken up

later in this outline. Look over the list above. Are there any

natural apostolic arms that this group has that it is allowing to

become rusted from disuse? What are you going to do about

them? When?

DISCUSSION VII

APOSTOLIC ARMS-DIVINE

Although purely human good qualities might be sufficient for

the apostle to persuade the ration board to give him more gaso-

line or to sell a house or a motorcar, and although these qualities

are to be cultivated by the apostle of Christ as extremely useful

of themselves, they are inadequate for the job he has to do. His

work is on the plane of supernature. The goods*' he has to

“sell" are beyond the reach of sight, hearing, and the other

senses alone even beyond the vision of reason unaided by

grace. Hence in the apostle's armory there must be divine

weapons as well as human ones.

Discussion

1. Why is a person who is in the state of grace—^even
though he may lack certain attractive personality

traitS'^a more effective apostle for Christ than is a

person who possesses all the personality traits but

lacks grace-life?

2. How do you define the supernatural? Why is it
more difficult to “sell" the idea of the supernatural

than, say, lollipops or nylon?

3. Draw up a list of divine arms that you think the

Christian apostle should have in order to be

effective.

1. Without Me, Nothing

Our vocation to be apostles, to teach Christ to all with whom

we come in contact, means that we are merely instruments used

by the divine apostle, who came down from heaven to give men

life more abundant, life divine. Now just as a sculptor cannot
fashion his masterpiece unless the hammer and the chisel are in

his hands and at one with him, so must we be at one with Christ

by having His life. His grace. His vitality flowing through us

— 35—



before He can use us as He would. Hence to be in the state of
grace is absolutely essential for real apostolic endeavor.

Again just as poor equipment can impair the work of the

surest craftsman, so is the divine builder*s effectiveness impaired

by us unless we are in the finest possible condition for His use.

In other words the more we grow in Christ, the more He can do

with us.

The apostle's need of an intense life and the value of such a

life for his work is admirably treated in “The Soul of the Apos-

tolate," by Dom Chautard, O. S. B. (P.
J.

Kennedy 6 Sons.

New York. 1933). It would be of vast profit to the present
group if they would: 1 ) either get this little volume and during

a few extra sessions glean the divine grain it contains, or 2)

assign a couple of the group members to read it and give to the

whole group in digest form the results of their study. One out-

come of such labor would be to prevent this group from wasting

time and energy in the pursuit of “the heresy of good works,”

which we have mentioned previously.

The apostle must be Christlike; then only can he give Him

to others. This doesn’t mean that he must be a great saint

before he begins that work of the apostolate. It does mean that

he must be in the state of grace and on the way—slowly per-
haps but truly ^—toward greater sanctity, greater likeness to the
Lord.

Discussion

1. Why must a man himself be headed for holiness
before he can draw others to Christ? In what does

this holiness consist?

2. Is it enough for you to be in the state of grace?

3. What else must you do?

4. Offhand what would you say was meant by the

phrase “heresy of good works”? Can you give

instances of it from your own experience?

5. Even without reading Chautard's book, explain the

statement that the more intense an apostle's own

inner life is the more apostolic will he be.

6. How is it true that the Trappists, the Carmelites,
the Magdalens can truly be called apostles?

— 36



2.

The Triumphant Three

There are three weapons which Christ has put in the apos-

tle’s hand for use in the work for His cause. These weapons

we will consider here.

a. Grace-full Words

The apostle’s words are, as we have seen, an important means

for the winning of souls. Here however we do not mean just

ordinary words that anyone might speak. Rather do we mean

words which are filled with grace because they come from a per-

son in the state of grace. They are grace-filled too because they

are aimed by the apostle either directly or indirectly at one thing

only: the bringing of souls to Christ. I may invite a person to

dinner in order that during the meal I may turn the conversation

on the truths of the faith. I may talk about baseball at one time

so that at another time I may lead this person to be baptized.

Before I even open my mouth to speak, I must intend that my

speech give in some way or other light and warmth; tliat it draw

others to Christ and to a closer following of Him. He, not I, is

my aim in all that I say and write. And never must laziness,

fear, human respect, desire for popularity and acclaim cause me

to drop this divine weapon, which brings grace to souls.

Discussion

1. What difference is there between the words of a

salesman and those of an apostle: in source? in

content? in purpose?

2. Judging from what has been said, must I always go

about talking piously? Would not such talk turn

people away from me and from Christ?

3. Is it true that “out of the abundance of the heart

the mouth speaketh’’? Can you give examples of

this from the activities of doctors? nurses? profes-

sional men? Why is it all right for them to talk of
their interest and all wrong for Catholics to speak

' of their interests?

4. What must be added to speech to make it really
effective?

b. Prayer

The apostle has labored over this soul far into the night and

has caught nothing. He has tried every human device he knows

— 37 —



to win this person, and the results are nil. Brain, lips, heart

—

all have been used to no avail. Discouragement is setting in.

What more can he do? We could make one suggestion. A little
more work on his knees might be the one thing needed. If he

lacks the force, the power, the wisdom, the ingenuity, the attrac-

tiveness, the constancy to win this soul, then he must plunge

more deeply and more frequently into the fountain source

whence these things can be gained—prayer. As someone has

said: *‘If I am a man of faith and true zeal, I shall value it

[prayer] more than all my external activity, devoted and untir-
ing though that be." It is because they are men of faith that the

members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and of the Catholic

Evidence Guild match every hour of external activity on their

feet with an hour of prayer on their knees.

The next time you find yourself at a dead end, try the follow-

ing. Give up your labors for an hour. Retire to a church or a

chapel. There let your soul fiy up and penetrate the Godhead.

You may say nothing: you may simply immerse yourself in God.

Or you may pray the prayer of an apostle for this particular

soul. The result in either case will, we guarantee, be truly

amazing.

Discussion

1.

* Which do you think that we Americans hold in

higher esteem, activity or prayer? Why are we
definitely wrong?

2. Here is a prayerless individual always active for

souls. Here is a man bedridden for years who

prays for souls daily. Which is the better apostle

and why?

3. Is each member cif this group willing to pledge

himself here and now to an hour of prayer to

parallel every hour of discussion?

4. Recall instances from the life of Our Lord when

He prefaced any important act of His by prayer.

c. Suffering

Prayer which does not lead to self-denial and self-sacrifice is

but a spurious thing. Now no man has ever given Christ cruci-

fied to others who has not either brought crucifixion to himself

or accepted it when it was sent of God. No soul is won save

through the bearing of a cross. No soul is sent Christward until

— 38—



it has been stamped with the red seal of the apostle's own blood.

Christ won a world only on Calvary. His followers will win

souls only on little calvaries of their own.

The greatest enemy of God and of souls that any of us has is,

not the world or the Devil or even the flesh; rather is it self. It

is my ego which will impair my work and mislead me; which
will make my eflforts ill-advised and fitful; which will cause me

to follow, not God's interests or the interests of souls, but my

own natural inclinations and antipathies. There is one way to

slay myself—through suffering, suffering accepted, suffering

sought. Through suffering I can be an apostle even though I

am confined to a bed, even though I cannot see or hear. By

accepting pain, disappointment, loss, sorrow, and failure, I can

send graces flooding into souls. Or again when I find I am

making no progress with a soul, I can resort to mortification:

spending a week without cigarets, accepting rationing without

complaining, depriving myself of make-up, taking a cold

shower, passing up a movie or a dance, and the like. I shall find

that certain devils can still be cast out only by prayer and

fasting.

Discussion

1. Why must suffering enter a truly apostolic life?

2. What are the two main ways by which it can come

into such a life?

3. Where and how can an apostle suffer?

4. Why should he be worried if he does not suffer?
5. When God sends suffering, does He do so as a

punishment or as a favor?

6. What other forms of self-denial can you work out

together besides those listed above?

7. If your group has a project before it, how many of

you will pledge yourselves to make it succeed by

your voluntary mortification?

8. Can you think of any other divine apostolic arms

that you would like to discuss?

3* Theory-Practice Ferry

In the first portion of this outline we have tried to lay the

foundations of the why of the Christian apostolate, to point out

the qualities needed for effective work therein, to indicate some

— 39 —



of the equipment^
—

^natural and supernatural'—that the good

God has put in the apostle's hands in order that he may bring

all things under the headship of Christ and draw all souls to

live Christianly for Him.

The present page is a ferry to carry you over from what you

have seen, studied, and discussed in a more or less general way

to the actual fields of the apostolate at home, in the parish, at

work, and at play.

As we make the transit, there are two definite difficulties

which face an outline of this sort here.

First: Being limited in size, it can give no exhaustive sugges-

tions of apostleship as it might be exercised in manifold ways

in these fields.

Second: Since we do not know just what variety of groups

may be using it, or the people who are in those groups—old or

young, married or single, students, workers, nurses— it is impos-

sible to give specific directions, for directions would necessarily

vary with group differences. V, g„ a mother's exercise of the

apostolate will be different from that of the youngest daughter

in the same home.

To meet these hurdles waiting on the shore of practice, we

are going to do the following.

1. We confine our suggestions to the ways of bringing into
these various fields a love for and an exercise of the prin-

ciples of a Catholic social order.

2. We give the following outline of activity that anyone who
wishes to exercise his apostolic commission may apply to

himself and in the field at hand.

a. Look at yourself . . . your age, . . . your sex . . . your

position . . . etc*

b. Look at the field in which you are going to work . . .

at home ... at school ... at a dance ... in the parish

organizations ... in the shop ... in the office . . . etc.

c. From what you see of yourself and of that field, judge

what you personally can do there to bring Christ into

more vital impact with what goes on there and with

the people you find about you.

d. Pray,

e. Plan your activities.

f. Act,

— 40—



DISCUSSION VIII

FIELDS OF APOSTOLATE-THE HOME

The home is obviously the first, closest, and most vital field of

the Christian apostolate; not someone else’s home, mind, but

your own. If every Christian were a home saint and a home

apostle first, foremost, and always, the change in the face of the

land would be startlingly gratifying. Until the Christian home

is Christianized, there is little hope for any real swing toward

Christ in this country or in the world at large.

L A Warning!

One bit of caution to you home apostles: Please, for the sake

of the cause you are sponsoring, do not become sticky-nice at

home. Do not become as cloying as chocolate adhering to the

roof of your mouth. Do not go about with an air of conscious

virtue. Do not be 'Veddy, veddy*' superior about your aposto-
late there. Nothing else causes others to hate holiness more than

does the holier-than-thou air.

Discussion

Before going on to what follows, let the group

recall: 1 ) what the apostolate is, and 2) what it aims

at. Does each of you believe that Christ can be

brought more fully by you into the family circle? In

what ways can you do this? Make a composite list of

all the suggestions given. Add these to what is pre-

sented here. Now you are all ready for . . .

2* Action!

First of all there are numberless ways in which the apostolate

can be exercised at home in a rather indiscriminate manner.

You can bring Christ to others by:

Being in His grace.

Practicing His virtues:

His cheerfulness . . . with a smile, a joke, a good story.

His helpfulness. . . . Do things freely, without always hav-

ing to be asked to do them.

His respect for authority. . . . Parents exercise their author-

ity as His Mother and St. Joseph did. . . . Children obey

as He did. and for the same motives.

— 41—



His thoughtfulness. . . . Do not monopolize the telephone,
the newspaper, the radio, the bathroom. . . . Do not do
anything which annoys others.

His mannerliness. ... Be as courteous to family members

as you are to guests. ... Be kindly to yoiu: relatives

—

all of them^
—
^and to your in-laws.

All of these and countless other ways are at hand by which

you can work for God and for Christ in others there in the

family circle. Thus He lives again in your own family.

These are excellent means to soften the family up for further

ways by which to lead them to live His life more fully.

3.

Social Action!

The true Christian apostle's real aim is to bring about a

strong, vital Christian family life, to make his own home as

much as possible like the one at Nazareth. He knows that there

are two main avenues to this goal, and He uses them both.

1. He does what he can to strengthen natural family ties.

He tries to build strong natural family interests by means

of family hobbies, family games, family sings, and family

social and recreational life.

Discussion

What possibilities do the group members see in the

developing of the following ideas (either in the home

or through discussions at special group sessions?

1. Developing family cultural values in reading, art.

music, conversation, and courtesy.

2. Having a family round table for the purpose of dis-

cussing the nature of authority, respect for author-

ity, considerate application of authority.

3. Working together in the family for the correction

of the faults of family members.

4. Cooperative planning home entertainment.

5. The f2unily's using the radio for education, the

development of musical taste, practice in evaluat-

ing news comments, encouraging religious pro-

grams.

2. He does what he can to bring each family member to a

deeper realization and a fuller living of his together-in-

Christness.

— 42—



4« Through Family Worship

If the liturgy is the fountain source of sanctification » it is such

as a social thing. The real home apostle then aims at having the

family become as group-worship conscious as possible. He may

not so much as mention the liturgy, but he will gradually work

toward its fullness in his home life. The following are some of

the steps toward this goal.

1. Having the home blessed.

2. Consecrating the home to the Holy Family and to the

Sacred Heart.

3. Fostering family prayers . .

. . . Morning Offering oflFered together. He dreams of the

day when together the whole family will make daily at

the altar the Church’s morning offering, the Holy Sacrifice

of the Mass.

. . . Grace before and after all meals. Adding the petition

’’May God provide for the wants of others” will help to

create in the family a social attitude, a feeling of fellow-

ship with those other members of the human family and

o.f the Mystical Body. Such a petition too will make for

a deeper appreciation of God’s gifts, the cessation of

’’grousing” over rationing, the birth of thought, prayer,

and generosity for the poor.

... Family Rosary. Start with the family recitation of the

rosary during Lent, during May, during October. It may

then grow to be an everyday, all-the-year-round prayer.

One of the family might say a few words on each of the

mysteries just before the decade is recited and thus aid

all to make the mental prayer that is essential if the rosary

is to be recited well.

. . . Family Reception of Holy Communion, weekly or at

least monthly, followed by a communion breakfast at

home or at some restaurant near at hand.

. . . The Liturgical Year reflected in the life of the family.

. . . Compline recited by the family together for night

prayers.

. . . Patronal feasts of the family members, celebrated reg-

ularly, as well as anniversaries of baptisms, weddings, first

communions, and< confirmations.

A great advance could be made in all of the lines outlined
above Jf each of the families of the group members would see

— 43—



what could be done to foster the family-retreat idea. This is a

one-day retreat for mothers and fathers. It is conducted on a

small scale, productive of great good, and a most practical

project. Further information on such a retreat can be obtained

by writing to The Queen’s Work, 3115 South Grand Boule-

vard. St. Louis 18, Missouri.

5. Home Economics

A family will not long be praying and playing together before
they will be working together too. They will be interested in

the economic welfare of the family as a family and not merely

in their own individual money-making. A tiny cooperative might
be started in the family. The family could set apart one night

a week for a get-together and a discussion of such common

problems and helps as the following: Could the home as such

be made productive? How about a family budget? What could
be done to better things at home by planned economy there?

The discussion of co-ops and credit unions with a view to other

families' being interested in the idea. The discussion of financial

problems of the home: installment buying, family debt, borrow-

ing money, charge accounts, living beyond the family means,

teaching the children economy— the use of money, family
responsibility, family teamwork.

Discussion

The rest of the time for discussion can be profitably

taken up by the group’s return to the list of work and

worship projects just given. Take each one in detail

and discuss the practical ways and means by which

such projects can be gradually introduced into the

individual families represented by your group. The

obstacles can then be viewed, ways of meeting them

discussed, actual attempts planned, and then their suc-

cess or failure reported on.

Project

If there are any in the group who have home diffi-

culties and are humble and sane enough to pocket ^heir

pride about them, the following project could be

attempted.

1. State the difficulty as clearly, frankly, and com-

pletely as you can.

— 44 —



2. The other group members, having listened to the

facts, offer what they consider the best possible

solutions.

3. Out of all the solutions offered, one is decided

upon as best.

4. Plans are then made to bring that solution to bear

on your problem.

5. You take action.

6. You then bring the results back to the group.

7. If the suggestions were successful, then the ideas

are retained for possible future use. If they were

unsuccessful, the reasons for the failure are dis-

cussed. A new line of attack is planned.

8. Another attempt is made.

And so it continues, until the peace of Christ is

brought back again into that household.

DISCUSSION IX

FIELDS OF APOSTOLATE^THE PARISH

Discussion

1. How many of the group present know what the
word parish means? What the limits of his or her

parish are? How many families there are in the
parish? What activities are sponsored by the par-

ish? What are the hours of the Sunday Masses?

When the times of special devotions are? What
organizations the pastor has to help him in the

work of his parish?

2. Discuss the statement “The parish is the Mystical

Body in miniature.’'

3. Draw up a list of ways and means by which you

individually or as a group can be more active in

your parish.

4. Determine to be more active.

It is a human failing to “look before and after, and pine for

what is not.’’ It is equally human to think that other pastures

—

even apostolic pastures—are greener than those in your own

neighborhood, in your own parish. Yet after your home—one

of the most fertile and certainly specially God-ordained fields of

— 45 —



the apostolate^— is the parish in which you live. What can you
do there?

1* Volunteers

At the center of your parish are the church and the rectory.

At the head are your pastor and his assistant priests. The first

thing that you can and should do in your apostolate to the

parish is to go to them and offer them your services for any job

that they may think you can do with profit to the cause of Christ

(
V* g„ teaching catechism, taking up the collection, working for

the orphans, helping with convert classes, rounding up lax

parishioners).

It is amazing to realize the number of things that lay folk can

do in a parish, things which go undone because the priests in

charge haven’t at hand men and women of action.

2* Joining Up

Loyal support of all the activities to which you can give some

time and effort is the next step. Joining the organizations in the

parish which give you an outlet for your own special talents is

essential. The Sodality, the Holy Name Society, the St. Vin-

cent de Paul Society, the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine,

the Legion of Mary, the CYO, the Parish USO, the Third

Order, and the like.

Project

Arrange to have a survey made of the organizations

in the parish or the parishes represented by this group.

What arc the organizations? the numbers in them? the

activities? the vitality or lack of vitality of them? How
many of the group members belong to one or more of

them? If there are no such organizations, what could

be done to start them? If they do exist but are not very

active, what could be done to energize them?

3. For Service

Membership in parish organizations is not of itself enough.

There must be real activity as well. By this we mean work—

and work with others.

The apostle has dedicated himself to labor, to toil, to the

enduring of fatigue. He will work on a committee; he will

arrange the dull, uninteresting details that count so much

toward smoothness in action; he will wax floors or wash dishes;

46—



he will put up or take down decorations; etc. He has conse-

crated himself to just such unseen and unsung menial tasks as

these in order that by them he may build up the fullness of

Christ in himself and in the parish.

The apostle will also swallow his dislikes and his likes. He

works with equal cooperation with someone that he does not

care for and with someone that he does care for. If the group

asks him to peel potatoes or be president of the whole club, he

accepts either job with equal grace. Whatever the job, he aims

at one goal: greater parish holiness, greater parish solidarity,

greater vitality and oneness in Christ.

4« Parish Economics

A hungry man has not much stomach for holiness. A man
with an empty pocket is so worried about the necessities of life

that he has little time or energy left for the one thing necessary.

A woman with a large family and a small income is not much
impressed by a mere sermon on birth control. Catholic-college

education is often too expensive for many a boy or girl. Like

his master before him the parish apostle tries to care for the

physical and economic man as the first step in the vitalizing of

his spirit.

The apostle then does what he himself can to study and to

get a group of thinking and energetic parishioners about him

to investigate and discuss the feasibility of instituting parish

cooperatives, credit unions, buying clubs, maternity guilds,

unemployment bureaus, and Catholic-college scholarship coop-

eratives.

Beside the good that these things do in themselves, they are

in him means toward the developing of a Catholic social spirit

of cooperation . . . the living and laboring together in Christ.

The good efiFect of such a spirit and such parishes in the postwar

United States is easily imagined.

Project

1. Make another survey of the parish and find out

whether or not any such economic enterprises exist

in your parish. If they do not exist, could they be

started?

2. Do you think that the pastor or the curates would

be willing to help out in these matters?

— 47—



3. If not, what could you do as individuals or as a

group to interest them in such enterprises?

4. What enterprises would be most helpful there?

Capital and Labor

Along this same line^if the parish is sizable enough— the
apostle sets out under pastoral direction to see what can be done

about starting within the confines of the parish a labor school

for the training of young workingmen and workingwomen in

the principles of Christ the worker, principles according to

which they can live a twenty-four-hour-a-day Christian life and

spread His influence in their homes, workshops, and unions. If

the parish is made up chiefly of employers, then a school or dis-

cussion group could be formed for them, with the Papal social

encyclicals as the basis of their study and analysis.

Project

Formulate projects on the above two ideas.

6* The Mystical Body in Miniature Worships

The genuine Christian apostle in the parish as well as in the

home is liturgical-minded. He knows that it is the mind of Christ

that Catholics should not only work and play together but that

above all in their worship they should be social, corporate-

minded.

By the way just how interested in the liturgy are you your-

selves as a group or as individuals? If the answers are a bit on

the meager side, what would you think of appointing a sub-

group to begin a study of the liturgy through the medium of

such books as “Christian Life and Worship** and “Men at

Work at Worship,** both by Rev. Gerald Ellard, S.
J.,

or Dr.

Parsch’s “The Liturgy of the Mass,** or our own outline “Light

on the Liturgy**?

7* Our Mass

The apostle might ask the parish priests to give a course of

sermons or lectures on the Mass, Or he may persuade them to

allow him to organize discussion groups on the same subject. In

either case he will see that stress is laid upon the social nature

of its offering^— the Mystical Body— the laity*s share in Christ's
— 48—



priesthood » the social effects of Holy Communion, the idea of

living the Mass throughout the day.

He works to have the Mass leaflets or Father Stedmans

missals placed in the church each Sunday so that they may be

accessible to everyone who comes to church. He will try to

influence the person in charge of the pamphlet rack to display

prominently any and all pamphlets that he can get which deal

with the Mass.

He may be daring enough to have the dialogue Mass intro-

duced, with the pastor's permission, gathering a group about

him to train them so that they can carry the burden of the reci-

tation until the rest of the parishioners catch on.

He himself attends that parish high Mass and attempts to

lead as many others as he can to do the same. Either by himself

or through others in the parish who are perhaps better fitted he

may get groups together to learn plain chant, so that the day

will come when the congregation as well as the choir will par-

ticipate musically in the offering of the holy Sacrifice of the

Mass, as was done years ago.

He quietly and unobtrusively introduces his friends to the

custom, of the recitation of the Divine Office or parts of it,

beginning with Prime and Compline.

Discussion

1. How many of the above liturgical practices are in
effect in your parish?

2. How many of you are willing to do what you can
to introduce them?

3. What about saying the Office?

4. Why not end your discussion meetings right here
with the recitation of Compline, the Church's night

prayers? Copies of these sections can be obtained

at a very reasonable price from The Liturgical

Press, Collegeville, Minnesota.

8« Parish Retreats

Having heard elsewhere of the success of retreats, our apostle

uses his influence to promote retreats in the parish. These are

held for various groups, for workingmen especially. They are

conducted over the week end. although the retreatants return

to their homes each night. Where it is possible, the meals are

— 49—



served in the school auditorium or cafeteria. The talks and

meditations are directed especially at the social implications of

Christ's teaching. In some parishes the numbers of men making

such retreats have varied from twenty to three hundred and

fifty.

The smaller group seems more desirable for the conducting of

retreats, since thus there is greater possibility of maintaining

rigid silence, of giving personal attention to each man, and of

conducting practical round-table discussions— all of which

make up in a large way for the fact that the retreatants must

return home each night. The schedule where such retreats have

been conducted runs to a rather full day or two that include

Mass, four full meditations, rosary, stations, two round-table

discussions, and benediction.

Project

Make another survey of the parish through casual

conversation with other members of the parish: Try to

find out whether or not such retreats would be doable

in your own parish. If there seems to be a possibility

of your having them, approach the pastor and see

what can be done in an actual way to get them started.

DISCUSSION X

FIELDS OF THE APOSTOLATE-WORK

Project

Take a poll of the group with the ensuing questions

in mind.

1 . How many different kinds of occupations are rep-
resented by members of this group?

2. How many different places of work? How many
workers in each occupation or place of work can

each member contact?

3. That makes how many in all affected by the group

as a whole?

4. Offhand how Christian does each one think his

place of work to be, if the place is judged from the

standpoint of personnel, surroundings, wages,

physical and moral atmosphere?

— 50 —



5. Again offhand what corrections or improvements

can each one in the group suggest to bring Christ

more fully into his place of employment?

6. How could such improvements be brought about?
Recall that the apostle has a five-point program

:

L Prayer for vision and courage.

2. Observation and investigation of conditions.

3. Decision as to where and how Christ is

needed.

4. Plans for ways to introduce Him.

5. Action, that is, the actual impacting of these

conditions with Christ.

Minor Skirmishes

Lucy and Larry are lay apostles. Lucy works in an office,

Larry in a shop. They live at home with their mother and dad

and a younger sister. Lucy has never left a stag line dizzy, but

she has never flowered a wall either. Larry does not have to

have a police escort to get him through the line of his feminine

admirers, yet no girl seems completely displeased when he dates

her. Lucy and Larry are a couple of quite ordinary young peo-

ple, without anything visibly outstanding about them.

Christ however is invisibly instanding within them and out-

flowing from them. There's a calm peace and strength about

them that others feel even though they cannot define it. The

boss may blow up, but Lucy remains definitely on the ground

and is awaiting him when he lands back to normal. Somehow

the fellows in the shop swear only under their breath when

Larry is about. They still remember the day that one of them

spoke the Holy Name in vain in his presence. Lucy and Larry

both do their work conscientiously, accurately, extremely well.

They are both pleasant, cheery, and well liked. Everyone knows

that Larry does not believe in wasting company time through

loafing and gossiping. The others in Lucy's office have found

that telling smutty stories gets a rise from Lucy, and they also

know how amazingly uncomfortable such a rise can make them

feel. Neither of the twain argues about religion; but they are

both quite willing to discuss it, and gratifyingly enough they

know the right answers. They prefer to live Catholicism by

making their work a prayer for their fellow workers, by imitat-

ing in all they do Christ the wor}cer. People come to them in

51—



trouble and perplexity and sorrow. The fellows call Larry “reg-

ular/* and he is—with the “regularity** of Christ. The girls call
Lucy straight, and they are right; for she is straight with the

straightness of Mary*s Son.

2« Major Action

The Christian apostle-at-work has studied the social teaching

of Christ the workingman of Nazareth as that teaching has been

given to the world in the New Testament and in the Popes*
encyclicals. As a result he has a battery of Christian principles

which he strives to give to others. The heavy life-giving artil-

lery of those principles are the following.

1. The firm conviction of the dignity of every human being,

a dignity born of the fact that he is a creature of God, His

adopted son, a brother of Jesus Christ, redeemed by His

precious blood, and thus made an actual or potential mem-

ber of His Mystical Body, and hence destined for eternal

family life with the holy Trinity.

2. Because of man*s dignity and because of all men*s funda-

mental equality before God he is convinced that it is the

right of every human being;

a. To live in a way befitting the dignity of such a person.

b. To own such private property as is necessary for him

and his family to live in that way.

c. To work (and in fact he thinks it the duty of every

human being to work out the commandment “In the

sweat of thy face...*') in imitation of Jesus Christ

the worker.

d. To receive a just living wage.

e. To join with fellow workers (if he be a workingman)

in legitimate unions for the defense of the rights just

mentioned.

3. He is convinced of:

a. The dignity of labor and toil.

b. The need for the exercise of justice and charity on the

part of both capital and labor; for without justice and

charity there will be no harmonious cooperation be-

tween them, a cooperation so necessary for the pro-

duction of such goods as are needed if all men are to

live the human and Christian lives to which God has

called them.

52—



It is only when the apostolic worker is armed with these

weapons that he can really bring Christ into work with him.

Discussion

Consider each one of the above convictions. Think

about them, each part of them. Mull over them. Dis-

cuss them thoroughly from every angle until they

become a part of the thinking process of everyone

present. For as you can see, each one of them can

form the basis for a separate discussion or two.

When these principles have passed into your own
armory, look about your place of work. See how many

of these principles are observed there and how many

are violated. What can you personally do about the

matter? Certainly you can pray. You can offer your

daily Mass and live it throughout the day. You can

talk, converse. You can get some of your fellow work-

ers together and imbue them with your ideals. In this

way you can spread about you the good odor of the

sweaty brow and arms and back of the divine worker.

Project

Why not select the place of work of one of the
members of the group, one where one of the Christian

principles of social justice is being violated. State the

violation clearly and definitely. Then let the group

discuss ways and means to stop the abuse. These

plans are carried out in act for a period of two weeks

or a month by the member who works there. He then

comes back and reports his success or failure. If he

has succeeded, new objectives are marked out for him

to pursue. If he has failed, then the whys and where-

fores are talked over. New techniques are planned ...
more prayer, more sacrifice by all. And so the battle

goes on, until one salient at least is won for Christ.

Much experience and information are gained which will be

invaluable for all in the group in their own fields of endeavor.

It is only by such hard, prayerful, sacrificial, patient, persistent

labor that the world of work and workers is going to know the

vital peace^—^with justice for all—^that Christ would have reign
therein.

— 53—



DISCUSSION XI

FIELDS OF THE APOSTOLATE-PLAY

1* Christ or Pan?

Paganism has thrust its deadening hand into the home and

industry in the United States. There is no other place however

where paganism has a firmer grip than in the world of amuse-

ment, of recreation and play. Christ has been excluded from

our hours oflF. The ‘‘Pale Galilean*' is not a welcome companion

when we set out for an evening of fun. All of which adds up to

this: that the field of play is most fertile for the apostle. He

wants to bring everything under Christ's sway, and everything

includes good times as well as all other activities. It is the Chris-

tian's job to Christianize the play-life of the nation as well as

the home- and work-life.

Discussion

1. List the amusement activities of the majority of

Americans, of the majority of your own friends

and acquaintances. How Christian are they? Hoy/
pagan?

2. What suggestions can you make right off here and

now for Christianizing them?

3. Do you think that Christians should shun all these

amusements? keep away from some and baptize the

others? take them all in their labors?

4. What are the reasons behind your answers?

2, A Christian Attitude

The Christian attitude is essentially a positive one. Play, rec-

reation, diversion, relaxation are necessary parts of man's life.

He cannot pray or work well and efficiently for God unless he

has his needed play. That then is the Christian's prime inten-

tion in his enjoyment: to use the God-created gifts of fun and

frolic for the glory of God.

There are obviously some forms of diversion in the country

which fail to fit in with this intention. Any form of amusement

which is sinful or which leads to sin can hardly be used for the

glory of God. The apostle's attitude is to do all that he can

separately and with fellow apostles to:

— 54—



1
.

put a stop to such pagan amusements;

2. foster every good form of fun that he can.

Discussion

1 . Why is play necessary for sound Christian living?

2. What intention does the ordinary Christian usu-

ally have when he steps out for fun? What inten-

tion should he have?

3. What yardstick does he use to judge the value of

any amusement?

4. What is his attitude essentially, positive or

negative?

The apostle gets behind such national movements as the

Legion of Decency and the Campaign for Decent Literature.

He upholds any and all civic attempts to raise the play-tone of

his community. Privately he tries to dissuade his friends from

patronizing bad or shady places of amusement.

Discussion

1. Has everyone here taken the pledge of the Legion

of Decency and of the Campaign for Decent

Literature? Does everyone keep these pledges

religiously?

2. Where can you find the listing of movies and plays

in your community?

3. Are there any civic projects to which you can lend

your support?

Although the true apostle is definitely behind any and all

mass movements for the cleansing and Christianizing of stage

and screen, books, magazines and comics, radio, theater, night

club, and the like, he is more interested in the positive aspects of

fostering good amusements in his own home and in the parish.

Knowing that boys and girls, youths and maidens, men and

women are going to play, he does all that he can by work and

word to provide within the family and within the confines of

the parish such socials, good times, sports, and the like, as will

provide the desired recreation under the auspices of Christ and

His Mother.

He has heard of and. in so far as he can, he makes use of such

books as '‘Fun at Home,” by Jerome S. Meyer (Garden City

Publishing Company, Inc., Garden City, New York), “Good

— 55 —



Times for All Times/' by Lamkin (Samuel French, New York),
“Stunts and Games," compiled by Rev. George Nell (Co-op

Parish Activities Service, EflFingham, Illinois). He fosters and
supports amateur dramatics. He gives of his efforts to the CYO
recreational and sports program. Always and ever at playtime

he is in evidence, joyous, fun-loving, cooperative. And always
behind his activity is the desire to “head up" fun and frolic

—

as well as every other department of life—in Christ.

Discussion

1. Why not take a survey of the members of the
group as to the amount and kind of home fun that

each one has in his own family? From the total

contribution there should come new ideas for each.

2. Another survey might be conducted as to the recre-

ational life of the parish. If it is not so full as you

think it should be, what reasons can you offer for

the lack? Is it due to absence of cooperation with

the priests? Could they be persuaded to increase

the recreation or social life in amount or in quality?

3. What is the apostle's motive in his play?

Christ-ening Dating

Out of the whole field of play, which takes in everything from

listening to the radio and chatting with a friend to going to the

ballet or the opera, there is one sector which has become more

and more dechristianized. It is that department which is covered

by the current term dating. Outside of Catholic circles—^and
unfortunately too much Within them'—there has gradually devel-

oped a moral laxity which is saddening in its results on the hap-

piness and cleanliness of the young people who have adopted it.

Venus and Bacchus go hand in hand. A bottle of Four Roses
gives the initial shove to parking, “necking," petting, and even

worse. On altogether too, too many occasions the chaste Christ
is boycotted by daters.

Here then is another field that the Christian apostle can and

must go to work in. It must be a matter of like Christianizing

like, that is, student apostolizes (if there is such a word) stu-

dent. worker apostolizes worker, and so on. This whole phase

of social- and play-life must be brought back again under

Christ's healthy and pure sway.

— 56—



Discussion

1. Do you think that the opening statements of the

first paragraph under this heading are true?

2. Looking at yourselves and at your friends, do you

think that Christ is being excluded from the boy-

girl relationship?

3. How much drinking, promiscuous kissing, and the
like, go on in the parish?

4. What ways can you think of right now to bring

Christ along on a date w]lth you?

Once again it is obviously impossible to handle this whole

matter adequately in a pamphlet of this size. We give here the
indications of a program which can be worked out by the group

and which we think will do much to Christ-en dates and dating.

Fundamentally there are two things that the apostle must

give to others, two things which he himself must have first:

1 )
knowledge, and 2) a spirit of sacrifice born of the love of

Christ and chastity.

1

.

Knowledge. By this we mean a clear and adequate knowl-

edge of the meaning of sex as a sharing in God's creative power;

of the sacredness of the human body as a cell in the Mystical

Body of Christ and as a chalice of divinity; of the fact of con-

cupiscence and its clamors; of the suflFiciency of grace if we

play the game according to the rules; of the sacredness of mar-

riage and parenthood. The stress in the whole matter should be

put on the positive side rather than—as it has been so often in

the past—on the negative side. The Christian is not satisfied

merely to keep the commandments of purity. He wants to make

his own the splendor of Christ and His Mother.

Discussion

1. How many of you are of the opinion that most
Catholics have sufficient knowledge in these

matters?

2. Where can you yourselves get further information

about them or where can you send others for it?

(The Queen's Work and nearly all the other
Catholic publishing houses have books and pam-

phlets which amply and holily cover this field.

)

3. How many of you have ever heard positive instruc-
tions in these matters? Has not your experience

— 57 —



I

been that much more has been said about what not
to do than about what to do?2.

A Spirit of Sacrifice. A person loves only what he knows
and esteems. Hence the need of knowledge first of all. Once
chastity is seen in all its beauty however and in its close con-

nection with the all-pure Christ, then it is loved. And it is only
when the person does love it as something precious that he will
go through flame and flood to preserve it. Sacrifice is born of

love. And sacrifice is essential if in this day and age one is to
be pure. The martyrs of old were called on to choose between
preserving their chastity and losing their lives. They gloriously
threw the latter away in order to cling to the former. Few in
this day and age have to make the supreme sacrifice, but they
do have to face ridicule and taunts of being slow and old-

fashioned. They may be not nearly so popular as some who
are less clean. They may have to go ‘‘undated’* for a time. They
know however that they are members of a crucified head and
hence must accept their share of the cross of chastity too.

Because they love that virtue and Him however, they are willing
to be nailed to this small, bitter, but life-giving cross.

The sacrificial spirit is not suddenly brought into play just at
the crucial moment of temptation. It runs like a red thread
through the whole life of the apostle. Because he has trained

himself by self-denial in the little things ( a cigaret not smoked,

a coke not drunk, a crawling out of bed when every fiber in his
body asks for more comfort, a few extra minutes on his knees )

,

when the big test comes he is in command of his ship and brings
it through unmuddied.

Discussion

1 . Do you think that the young people you know are
possessed of a very sacrificial spirit? Give instances

to substantiate your answer.

2. Do you believe that love of Christ and chastity are
better safeguards than fear of impurity? Why?

3. What sacrifices must a person make in this day
and age if he is going to remain pure ... in the

matters of reading, seeing plays and movies, going

to places of amusement, making and keeping

friends, engaging in other activities?

4. Will you draw up a series of little daily sacrifices

and pledge yourselves to practice them? Will you

— 58—



go further? Will you with your confessors’ ap-

proval make a temporary (v, g., for a month) vow

of chastity as a safeguard for yourselves, as an act

of reparation, as an apostolic gesture to buy souls

back to Christian chastity?

5. Will you pledge yourselves to avoid: 1) hard

liquors, and 2 ) harder places of amusement?

DISCUSSION XII

FRUITS OF THE APOSTOLATE

A profitable way to begin this last discussion is the following.
Check back over the preceding discussions. Then state what

you have gained from them: 1) as to new ideas or as to old

ideas which you have seen in a new light; 2 ) in the line of action

of an apostolic nature; 3) as to concrete results that you as

individuals and as a group have achieved. Do you feel that you

have advanced in ‘wisdom and age and grace**? Have you

drawn up any plans of action to be carried out after these dis-

cussions are concluded? What profit have you gained from

your work so far? Is it sufficiently satisfying to make you want

to carry it on?

Fruits for the Individual

The chief product of apostolic action for the apostle himself

is an advance in holiness. It is impossible for a person to be a

true apostle, really to give Christ to others, without his becom-

ing more Christlike himself. The two interact. He advances in

the love of Him and wants to give Him to others. And as he

gives Him to others, he feels Christ growing within himself.

That is what we mean when we say that Christians must be

Christianizing souls. As a result of Christ*s sharing in his work,

he finds that the divine adventure of saving souls, which brought

a God from heaven to earth, is the most thrilling adventure in

the world. He has stepped out of that class of Catholics who

have been described as those who go to church to be “hatched,

matched, and dispatched.** He has passed from the ranks of

Catholic receiver and become a giver of Him to others. The

divine romancer has touched his life and everything in him,

from his action of brushing his teeth to his work of converting

an atheist. Christ has come to him as He came to Our Lady

centuries ago. Christ has taken over his mind, filling it with His

— 59—



ideas and ideals and principles so that he may get them to work

again in the world. Christ has filled his heart with the love that

flames in His Sacred Heart. Through his eyes Christ searches

for the poor, the underprivileged, the sick, the downtrodden, the

spiritually lame and halt and blind. Through his lips Christ

speaks again words of courage and comfort and inspiration and

light and life. The apostle’s hands work again His deeds of

mercy; his feet range the world in search of poor, blind, way-

ward, erring, dying souls.

The final result of all this is happiness. For the apostle can-

not become more like Christ, cannot live the life He lived, can-

not engage in the activity of spreading Him throughout his own

little world without his knowing a happiness that is beyond that

of this world’s giving.

Discussion

1. What are the three principal gains for the apostle

himself?

2. Do you from your own experience know the truth

of the statements made above? If not, are you will-

ing to push on until you can confirm them?

3. Have you found that trying to save and sanctify

others has made you yourself a more Christlike

person?

4. Do you think that the work of saving souls is a real

adventure? or do you regard the idea as merely a

pious fiction?

5. Is it true that constructive action always makes for

happiness (u. g„ the child building a house, the

artist painting, the organizer, the executive, the

general)? If so, is it still more true that apostolic

action brings the greatest happiness? Why?

2* Fruits (or Other Individuals

Two thousand years ago paganism stalked the earth. It was
in full sway, with all its blackness and degradation and misery

in the marts of trade, on the highways, at the baths, in the cir-

cuses, in the quarters of the slaves, and in the rich chambers of

the masters. Paganism sailed aboard the triremes and the gal-

leys. It swaggered through the soldier’s barracks. It sat down

in the winehouses.

— 60—



Then into that world came Christians bearing in their souls

the light and life of the world. Ordinary lay folk for the most

part they were. Slaves and masters, workmen, teamsters, sol-

diers and sailors, charioteers, highborn maidens and their slave

girls, men and women of the world^—all wanted to bring the
good tidings to that world of hate and death and darkness. So

earnestly did they want to do it that they gave up families,

careers, freedom, life itself. They spread about them the good

odor of Christ by their love, their prayer, their chastity, and

their sacrifices. All who came in contact with them, though they

had formerly fought and slain their ilk, had at last to bow to

the sway of the apostles. Like Longinus they had to admit

finally, “This man was the Son of God.“

From those beginnings we today have the freedom and love

and joyousness of the kingdom of God. We have the exercise
of certain human rights. We can walk the streets of Boston and
San Francisco and all the cities in between without chains on

our wrists or ankles. The American Way of Life that we enjoy
today stems from early Christianity.

Unfortunately there are many in these United States who do

not enjoy to the full the life and the light that is Christ. It is to

them that the modern apostle of Christ goes. On the street, in
the family circle, in the shop, at the hospital bedside, on the

playing field, from the teacher's platform, at the worker's bench

the modern apostle goes about giving the greatest gift that God

Himself could give to men. In the parlor, on the links, at the tea

and the bridge tables, on the dance floor, at the beach resort, or

along the ski trails these insatiable followers of the early Chris-

tians fight the new paganism and free men and women from its

shadow. They give them Christ and all that flows from Him—
peace, happiness, supernatural security, the protection of their

rights, the way of life that is eternal life lived here and now, the

following of a destiny that makes one laugh at the trials and

troubles of the winning of that destiny. Those are the fruits to

the men and women with whom these apostles come in contact,
the fruits that the Christian apostle wins for th^m.

Discussion

1 . Look about you today. Then recalling your ancient

history, draw up a list of gifts, goods, and benefits

that the ancients did not have and that we have.

— 61



2. Compare the ordinary way of life of the ordinary

person in the United States with that of people of

like level in such pagan countries as Japan, Ger-

many, etc.

3. Who brought Christ into the world of paganism
years ago? How did they do it?

4. Who can and must do the same job today in the
face of the new paganism? Are they doing it?

Why or why not?

5. Is it true that there are today many— even Catho-
lics—who do not enjoy to the full His gifts to men?

Why not? How and by whom are these people to
be contacted? Where?

6. What are the full benefits that Christians can give

to those who live around them? Will men and

women have a harder life if they accept these bene-

fits? Will their lives be fuller and happier? Why?

Fruits for the Nation

A nation is no better than the sum total of the people who
make it up. The United States can be no better than its citizens.

Now these same United States have been builded on fundamen-
tally Christian principles. They will not survive unless those

principles are kept constantly before the nation and unless the

citizens live up to them. As a matter of fact millions in the coun-

try are not too cognizant of those principles, being inclined to

ignore them or allow them to be stolen. Hence there is needed

a strong bodyguard for Uncle Sam if the dear old man is to

continue to exist.

It is here that once again the apostle of Christ is producing

fruits worthy of his master. Every single individual that he

makes more like Christ is another guardian of American ideas

and ideals. Commander Shea's words to his son, that by being

a good Catholic he would be a good American, are universally

true. Let the Christian apostle fulfill his commission, and you

will see these same United States holier, happier, stronger than

they have ever been before. If this present war is not being

waged to give Christ a chance to live more fully in His own

world, then it is futile and unavailing. Yet Christ will not be

born to that fuller life unless the lay apostle is truly apostolic.

— 62—



Discussion

1. Do you actually believe that the better a Catholic

a man is the better a citizen he is? Why?

2. What are the fundamentally Christian principles

on which the United States are founded? Do you
think that some of them are being undermined

today? Why?

3. What do you think of the apostolate of many
so-called Catholic politicians?

4. Is there anything that you as individuals or as a

group can do about any abuses that there may be

in your own locality?

4> For the Church

Christ Our Lord wanted the Church that He founded to be

like the mustard seed, growing from small beginnings until it

filled the world. Though today the Catholic Church is definitely

being spread across the known globe, there are still millions who

have not had the Gospel preached to them, and they are not all

in Timbuktu either. It was Christ's wish that the body of which

He is the head might increase both in numbers and in sanctity

until He could present it a perfect thing to God His Father.

The fruit of increase, the fruit of greater sanctity—'these are

the gifts given the Mystical Body by the apostolic members of

that same body. By their reading, study, self-denial, prayer,

sacrificial labors they do all in their power to build up to its full

strength and beauty Christ's body, which is the Church.

They themselves try to become saints and to make others

saints, not being satisfied that they should be merely stragglers

nor that their religion should be a part-time job.

They try to lift the moral level of all those with whom they

come in contact, showing them that it is not fully Christian to

stop at the mere observance of the Commandments. They are

all together to push on until Christ be full-grown in each of

them.

Loving souls, conscious of their responsibility to give the Lord

to men, loving Christ in His Church and wanting Him ever to

grow there, strictly obedient, they sacrifice time, energy, public

opinion, their own personal wishes to carry on the apostolate.

— 63—



The result? The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, does

grow in numbers and in holiness. It becomes more vital and
’

more acceptable daily in the eyes of God the Father. It comes 1

closer and closer to that final day when it will be led triumphant

to ‘that same Father, and with Him and the Son and the Holy

Spirit it will be at home at last for eternity.

Discussion
|

1 . Are there as many people in the Church at present
\

as Christ would like to have? How do you know?
\

is it merely a numerical increase that Our Lord
*

desires? i]

2. Is there a field for apostolic action among Catho-

lies as well as among non-Catholics?
|

3. What advantages come to the Mystical Body from i
the labors of Christ’s apostles? i

4. What is the fruit of their labors in itself? in God’s
^

eyes?

5. What place will the modern apostle have in the 1
final triumph of the Church?

Project

Go back over any of the points that are still hanging

loose. Tie them all in until everyone is satisfied with

the year’s labors. Have everyone learn and say daily

the jfollowing prayer.

Dear Jesus, help me to spread thy

fragrance everywhere. Flood my soul

with thy spirit and life. Penetrate and

possess my whole being so utterly that
;

all my life may be only a radiance of

thine. Shine through me and be so in

me that every soul I come in contact

with may feel thy presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me

but only Jesus.

CARDINAL NEWMAN

— 64 —





THE QUEEN'S WORK

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