Apostolate (16.11.2011) Apostolate is part of the Christian vocation.

We are all called to give service to Our Lord and to be apostles as a witness of our faith. Some times at the end of Mass we are reminded by the priest when he says Go in peace to love and serve the lord. Its not a nice add on to our practise as Christians. In this we are working for God. It is our task as Catholics to announce, peacefully and perseveringly, the good news of Jesus, and dispel religious ignorance by spreading the teaching that has been revealed to us. Jesus himself is urging us: 'You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a lamp and put it under a measure, but upon the lamp stand, so as to give light to all in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men, in order that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. How do we go about Apostolate, well there is no one way, there is no set formula. Some of the characteristics of Apostolate are; we have to have a prayer life and make mortifications, through friendship and trust, we have to adapt to other peoples capacity and mentality, so that they can understand what they hear, we have to try to create in ourselves and those whom Jesus has put by our side a hunger for God, we have to remember that Jesus works in us we are not on our own, the greatest treasure we have is the life of Christ and we want to talk about him to our friends and relatives and others that cross our path, organize some gatherings, preferably in the home but the location does not matter, show some videos especially about St. Josmaria, meet regularly with those we are trying to evangelize, start some catechism classes preparing boys, girls and others for first communion and confirmation in some cases baptism, take advantage of the multiple contacts that in our ordinary lives, but always gently, patiently, understandingly and affectionately

In all of this we are only the instruments God does the sowing and reaping we do the watering as it were. Some of the obstacles most of us face in practising apostolate are human respect, time, formation, maybe a certain lack of caring for the spiritual well being of others. There can be many reasons according to ones circumstance. But we should not underestimate the power of the devil who does not want us to succeed in our spiritual life and our closeness to Jesus. An important aspect of Apostolate is through formation. In the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, the Second Vatican Council teaches that The apostolate can attain its maximum effectiveness only through a diversified and thorough formation. There are many means of formation available, study, circles, recollections, retreats, spiritual reading talking to priests and other having knowledge of doctrine and faith. In Friends of God 258 St. Josemaria writes

If we pray and meditate on these words of St Paul, we will realise that we have no alternative but to work, in the service of all souls. Anything else would be selfishness. If we look at ourselves humbly, we will see clearly that, in addition to his gift of faith, Our Lord has also granted us a number of talents and qualities. None of us has been mass-produced. Our Father has created us one by one and shared out different goods among his children. It is up to us to use these talents, these qualities, in the service of all men. We are called to use the gifts God has given us as instruments to help others discover Christ. Please don't think that the desire to help others is in the nature of an extra, a lace trimming for our ordinary lives as Christians. If leaven is not used for fermenting, it rots. There are two ways leaven can disappear, either by giving life to dough, or by being wasted, a perfect tribute to selfishness and barrenness. We are not doing Jesus a favour when we make him known to others: 'When I preach the gospel, I take no credit for that; I act under constraint,' obliged by Jesus' command; 'it would go hard with me indeed if I did not preach the Gospel.' I recommend to read Chapter 16 Friends of God. I think the thing we want to avoid is that when we meet Jesus face to face we have no fruit to bear. We also want avoid others complaining to Jesus that there was nobody to tell them about the Good News. Someday we will have to give an account of our life on earth.