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Dear Members, Benefactors and Apostles of the Living Rosary,
In Ukraine, we have lived through the imposed collectivism used by Stalin to stamp
out nationalism and crush the Church. Every attack on freedom of worship and
ownership of private property, takes on a different face. Today, the persecution
of the Church bears the same marks as that which we have suffered in the past.
Yet, the approach surprised us and caught us off-guard. We need apostles who
will defend the Faith, repair the wrong and lead us to victory over the present
evil whose goal is world domination.
Through Baptism, we are all called to be apostles: those who are sent, who
come in the name of another, to speak not of themselves, but to speak of God
and to plead the cause of God. The apostle goes forth to sow the seed. If he sows
human seed, he will never reap divine fruit. He must sow divine seed for from it
will come divine fruit. Whatever he gives must be given gratuitously, for he must
seek no personal advantage or renown. It is his duty to show the way to the Master,
and then disappear. Our Lord Himself sought to win love for His Father. For Him
that was everything. He wanted nothing else. To live a life of charity is, above all
else, to have the spirit of service. We must be ready to show sympathy toward a
suffering people, suffer with those who are suffering, share in their unhappiness
and endure their pains. We must love all souls because, in doing good to another
soul, we do good to Christ in His Mystical Body.
The apostle must imitate the Master. There must be no element of self. It is not
the person who speaks but what is said, that matters. While firmness on principles
must be absolute, adaptiveness to individuals should be cultivated to the utmost.
Our Lord adapted Himself to sinners, to condemned criminals and to children.
Like St. Paul, we must be all things to all men that we might win them for Christ.
Many times in the Gospel, it is told that Our Lord sat by the seashore, sat teaching
on the mountain, went up into a boat and sat. What a lesson for us!
Sitting down is equivalent to saying:
“See, I am at your disposal; I am
entirely at your service.” The majority
of people today suffer from a sense of
neglect; they are unhappy because
nobody takes them in hand; nobody is
ready to accept the confidences they
offer. This is what is needed: the Gift of
Understanding others, the spontaneous
offer to help; engaging a person in conversation
on trivial matters and to give
him a chance to share what he wants
to say but does not dare. We must be able to listen to the seed that is growing in
men’s heart and help it to sprout. We must have a kind word for those at hand, a
smile and ready welcome, and give them our attention, in a word, devote ourselves
to them. An apostle is at the service of Christ: A service which takes up every
minute of his time. We must be apostles 24 hours a day, for sixty minutes of every
hour, for sixty seconds of every minute. At every instant, souls stand in need of
us; every instant, the Father wants us to glorify Him; every instant, the Son asks
us to help Him. The apostle puts himself within the reach of all.