Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
16th July 2017

Zeal for the Salvation of Souls
by Rev. Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen O.C.D.

One who has penetrated the mystery of God's love for men cannot remain indifferent to their fate: by the light of faith, he has understood that all that God does in the world is for man's good and for his eternal happiness. He longs to have some share in this action, knowing that he can do nothing which will be more pleasing to God than to lend his humble collaboration for the salvation of those who are so dear to Him. This was always the ardent desire of the Saints, a desire which impelled them to perform heroic acts of generosity to benefit even one soul. St. Teresa of Jesus writes: "This is an inclination given me by Our Lord; and I think He prizes one soul which, by His mercy and through our diligence and prayer, we may have gained for Him, more than all the other services we can render Him".

It is true that the primary end of God's action is His own glory, but He who is infinitely good wills to obtain this glory especially through the salvation and the happiness of His creatures. In fact, nothing exalts His goodness, love, and mercy more than the work of saving souls. Therefore, to love God and His glory means to love souls; it means to work and sacrifice oneself for their salvation.

Zeal for souls finds its source in charity and in the contemplation of Christ crucified. His wounds, His Blood, the excruciating sufferings of His Agony all tell us how much God values souls and how dearly He loves them. But this love is unrequited, and it seems that ungrateful men strive more and more to elude His action. It is this sad spectacle of all the ages which is renewed even today, as though men wished to insult Jesus and renew His Passion. "The world is on fire. Men try to condemn Christ once again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against Him. They would raze His Church to the ground." If Teresa of Jesus could speak these words in her century which was troubled by the Protestant heresy, how much more can we say it in ours, when the struggle against God and the Church has increased immeasurably, and has now spread over the entire world. Happy shall we be if we can say with the Saint: "It breaks my heart to see so many souls travelling to perdition. I would the evil were not so great I felt that I would have laid down a thousand lives to save a single one of all the souls that were being lost". But it is not a question of merely formulating desires; we must work, act, and suffer for the salvation of our fellow men. St. John Chrysostom affirms: "Nothing is colder than a Christian who does not care about the salvation of others". This coldness comes from a very languid charity. Let us kindle and revive our charity, and it will inflame us with zeal for the salvation of souls.