SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION URGENTLY NEEDED

GOOD FRIDAY - April 4th, 1969

Alone in my small room at our Seminario de los Santos Apóstoles of Chosica, Perú, I am today thinking of, and praying for, the great family of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles and of each of its members. The mystery of the Cross is with us, startlingly so, telling us how the world is saved, how Easter - our Passover - is getting ready, - telling us also the meaning of suffering, this constant companion of our life.

Besides, in an advertisement of one of the main American dailies, I have just read this paragraph:

“Are electronics going to fill your home with pleasant surprises? Soon you will own a portable piano, wireless electric clock, and a telephone you will be able to answer without lifting the receiver. Learn how these new marvelous discoveries will make your life easier and happier.”

Commercial advertisements flatter our appetites and stir up new necessities for us. But luxury, science and technique do not make man happy. On the contrary, the spiritual vacuum seems more and more pronounced in our world.

Does material comfort and social security really bring happiness along with them? It is rather surprising to realize that it is in Sweden, - the country where an extraordinary degree of economic stability has been achieved, with the highest standard of living, - that one finds also the highest number of suicides among young people.

Professor Knut Sveri, Director of the Institute of Criminology of Stockholm, declared recently:

“Here, nobody steals now because they are poor. We are facing a new criminality: that of welfare...”

The number of young people in Sweden who take drugs reaches now frightening proportions; - one third of the new cases of syphilis during the last two years were related to girls between the ages of fifteen and nineteen.

Young people in Sweden have so much ... and they commit suicide because they are disgusted with life...

In fact, we all tend to forget the mystery of the Cross, - “o the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the pagans madness.”					1 Cor.1, 23.

- “Was it not ordained that Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?”
											Luke 24, 26.

-  “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.” 							Luke 9, 23.
-  “As for me, the only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”			Gal. 6, 14.
-  “I have told you often, and I repeat it today with tears, there are many who are behaving as the enemies of the cross of Christ.”						Phil. 3, 18.
-  “…because God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.						Col. 1, 19-20. 

Man thirsts for...
 
“Man’s knowledge has gone beyond his wisdom and he is afraid of what he knows.”
Guy D. Newman, President of Harvard.

We organize dialogues on peace, and the threat of war is hanging above our heads; psychiatry and psychology promise us complete personalities, but there are more mental disorders than ever before; we write more and more books about sexual education, but more and more are men obsessed with eroticism.

The intellectual climate in which modern man now lives is a paradox.
Our technique creates scientific miracles but it does not succeed in satisfying our deepest needs.  We have more comfort but no contentment, no true joy.

Millions of sleeping tablets are swallowed every day to help people rest; thousands of sedatives are consumed daily to relax and millions more of stimulating pills counteract in the morning the excesses of the night before.

Man thirsts for something that will fill his heart. We own great education houses, universities more and more complete: however, degrees do not seem to solve man’s interior crisis. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MAN? What is the answer to our problems?

“There is but one problem, only one, throughout the world: give back to men a spiritual meaning, spiritual anxieties. One cannot live of frigidaire, of politics, of balance-sheets, of cross words...” 						Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

It is a fact, there is only one problem. It will serve no purpose to change the structures if man’s heart remains selfish and impure.

-  “Si quis sitiat, veniat ad me… 							Jo. 7, 37.
-  “...my soul is thirsting for you, my flesh is longing for you,
a land parched, weary and waterless”			Ps. 63, 1. 
-  “How my soul yearns and pines
for Yahweh’s courts!
My heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.”								Ps. 84, 2.

-  “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; 
though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money, and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk.”							Is. 55, 1. 
President Eisenhower said:
   “Unless there is moral and spiritual regeneration, no hope remains for the human race. Without religion, we are called to disappear in the darkness of an atomic explosion.”
Dear collaborators Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, do you now realize more acutely your primordial spiritual task towards your brother, modern man? and your part - eminently vital - in today’s society? This task is this:
1.	- To maintain the presence of Christ: man, way, truth and life – in the midst of     creation: this is Holy Mass. It is the most essential function of the priest
Christ: who alone is great 
who alone is holy 
who alone is Master,
Christ - who gives creation its justification, its meaning, its achievement;
Christ - love of God for us 
    love of man for God;
Christ - who is “He who fills the whole creation...” 				Eph.1, 23. 

2.	- To re-attach men, our brothers, to Christ – 
God has wanted to need us for this task: it is the apostolate.

“The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.”
“Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness at practicing deceit.”								Eph. 4, 10-14. 

Our own apostolate is, first of all
a.	- prayer: “…we will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the
 service of the word.   							Act. 6, 4.
b.	- the word of God:
“But they will not ask his help unless they believe in him, and they will not believe in him unless they have heard of him, and they, will not hear of him unless they get a preacher...								Rom.l0, 14.
 “…proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience - but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching.”								2 Tim.4, 2.
c.	
- the example of a life of sincerity and authenticity:

· “…be an example to all the believers in the way you speak and behave, and in your love, your faith and your purity.” 								1 Tim.4, 12.
· “Keep doing all the things that you have learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.” 		Phi1.4, 9.
· “…and in everything you do make yourself an example to them of working for good;   Tit. 2, 7.
· “For your example, brothers, in submitting with patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord...” 								Jm. 5, 10.

d.	- assiduity in the celebration of the Eucharist, the Holy Mass that makes Christ Jesus present on 
        the altar, in the act of his sacrifice:
Christ who adores in his own name and in our name,
Christ who offers thanks in his own name and in our name,
Christ who intercedes in his own name and in our name,
Christ who asks forgiveness in his own name and in our name,
in a word, Christ who loves God and men, in his on name and in ours.

.	·   the Eucharist, centre and summit of the whole life of the People of God,
·    the Eucharist, to which every apostolic task, every sacrament, is linked and toward which they all are directed;
·   The Eucharist, which contains the whole treasure of the People of God, that is to say, Christ himself,
“...our Passover and living bread. Through his very flesh, made vital and vitalizing by the Holy Spirit, He offers life to men. They are thereby invited and led to offer themselves, their labors, and all created things together with Him.”
Vatican II. Presbyterorum Ordinis. No.5.
This assiduity to celebrate the Eucharist, we owe it, in justice, to the People of God: it is a strict engagement taken at our sacerdotal Ordination.
·  “…and for their sake I consecrate myself
so that they too may be consecrated in truth.”   					Jn.l7, 19.
·   “Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so he can sympathize with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honor on himself, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was.”				Heb. 5, 1-4.
·  “…This hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us. We were still helpless when at his appointed time Christ died for sinful men. It is not easy to die, even for a good man, though of course for someone really worthy, a man might be prepared to die - but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
Having died to make us righteous, is it likely that he would now fail to save us from God’s anger? When we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we were still enemies;

now that we have been reconciled, surely we may count on being saved by the life of his Son? Not merely because we have been reconciled but because we are filled with joyful trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation.” 				Rom. 5, 5-11.

e. -    the true acceptation by each of us of our vocation as victim with Christ in order that we may be glorified with Him:

·  “Indeed, as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so, through Christ, does our consolation overflow.”		2 Cor. l, 5

·  “With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.” 										Heb. 12, 1-4.

·  “You see, there is some merit to put up with the pains of unearned punishment if it is done for the sake of God but there is nothing meritorious in taking a beating patiently if you have done something wrong to deserve it. The merit in the sight of God, is in bearing it patiently when you are punished after doing your duty.
This, in fact, is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took. He had not done anything wrong and there had been no perjury in his mouth. He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his trust in the righteous judge. He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and live for holiness; through his wounds you have been healed.”					1 Pet. 2, 19-25.

·  “If one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it. If one part is given special honor, all parts enjoy it.”											1 Cor.12, 26.
·  “And if we are children, we are heirs as well: heirs to God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.
I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us.”						Rom. 8, 17-18.

·  “And so they left the presence of the Sanhedrin glad to have been given the honor of suffering humiliation for the sake of the Name.”		Act, 5, 41.

·  “It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church.”		Col, l, 24.
f.	
-    evangelical exercise of authority affirming itself especially through an attitude of meekness and humility:

·  “Jesus called them to him and said: “You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No: anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”					Matt: 20, 25-28.
·  “Brothers, if one of You misbehaves, the more spiritual of you who set him right should do so in a spirit of gentleness, not forgetting that you may be tempted yourselves.”	Gal. 6, 1.
·  “You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility gentleness and patience.” 		Col. 3, 12
·  “Remind them…to be ready to do good at every opportunity;
not to go slandering people or picking quarrels, but to be courteous and always polite to all kinds of people.” 									Tit. 3, 2.
·  “You should all agree among yourselves and be  sympathetic; love the brothers, have compassion and be self-effacing.” 						1 Pet. 3, 8.

g. -   to be witnesses of Christ through disinterested, daily Charity:

·  “…but you will receive power when the Holy spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but through Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.” 										Act.1, 8.
·  “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind testifying to all you have seen or heard.”								Act. 22, 14-15. 
·  “By this love you have for one another,
everyone will know that you are my disciples.” 					Jo. l3, 35
·  “One of the scribes…now came up and put a question to him: ‘Which is the first of the commandments?’ Jesus replied ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him: ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ 			Mk. 12, 28-33

Conclusion:

What is imperative right away:
To start, a spiritual revolution in our own life –
It is futile to speak of true peace in the world between countries, families, between individuals if interior peace is not, first of all within each person.
“Peace needs must be first and foremost in the hearts in order to realize this same peace in human institutions and in historical events.”				Paul VI.

All human systems have failed; so far revolutions have made man a slave while pretending to liberate him. One solution is left, and one only: it is to cause the Christian revolution to burst out in the hearts of men, - and for these men to live it integrally.

“The Church is conscience of bringing a revolution to the world, if one means by this a change of mentality, a radical transformation of our scale of values.”	Paul VI.

Spiritual revolution or collective suicide: there is no other alternative. This revolution must start in each of our hearts. World problems are but a continuation of our individual problems. The most urgent need for humanity is a radical change: ALONE can Christ transform man’s heart, - and the priest is the most powerful agent to ensure this spiritual revolution.

Dear Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, here is your vocation you are the greatest revolutionaries in the world - revolutionaries of charity, agents of Christ who, first of all, has taken possession of you and who has wanted to need YOU in order that he may take possession of men, your brothers.

This will be the greatest revolution of all ages.

Together in Christ,

Rev. Father Eusebe-M. Menard, 
Superior General 
Missionaries of the Holy Apostles.