3. The sanctifying value of the apostolate

Saint Teresa spoke forcefully of the unity of contemplative and apostolic life. With the same force with which she asserts that prayer is apostolic, when it fully becomes an expression of love, she also says that apostolic work is sanctifying and leads to a growth in contemplation and union with God. At the basis of this observation is her experience as a contemplative and «andariega» and also the witness that comes from others, who she sees have grown and matured in love of God in the midst of a busy apostolate or while occupied in works of charity ¹⁶. But together with experience she confirms the oft repeated principle which became the axiom of her spirituality on the inseparable relationship between love of God and love of neighbour: love of God lived in prayer impels one to manifest it in love of neighbour with works of charity and apostolate; love of neighbour makes our love for God grow mysteriously and leads to union with Him.

In her defence of active life which is similar to what is written today with regard to the «spirituality of action», it is sufficient to cite two texts from St Teresa which express very clearly this great teacher's idea of prayer and the apostolate:

The first is the final passage of the second Exclamation: « My Jesus, how great is the love Thou bearest for the children of men, if the best service that can be rendered to Thee is to abandon Thee to assist them and provide for their welfare and thus one comes to possess Thee more fully... The joys of this life, even those that seem to come from Thee, remain uncertain if they are not accompanied by love of neighbour. Anyone who does not love his neighbour, does not love Thee, since Thou showed, my Lord, thy love for the children of Adam by shedding thy blood» ¹⁷. As this passage shows, it involves serving one's neighbour to the point of leaving God for the sake of God who lives in our neighbour, knowing that in this way we grow in communion with Him. This is the wonderful apostolic ,exodus­ from prayer towards our neighbour, like Christ's «exodus» from the Trinity towards humanity so as to give himself for his brothers and sisters.

The second passage is a piece of advice the Saint gives to a close friend whose whole life is taken up with the apostolate and who will soon become Archbishop of Evora, in Portugal, Fr. Teutonio of Braganza. She writes to console him and en­courage him in his apostolic life: «Do not be surprised if at the beginning of your appointment you cannot continue to recollect as you would like. The Lord will soon reward you twofold, as he is often wont to do with those who abandon solitude for his glory. But it is my sincere desire that you will keep a little time for yourself, since our whole well-being lies in this» ¹⁸.

In this way, in unity of life, there can be a harmonious growth of profound prayer and real apostolate. If prayer and holiness demand works, then service too will be sanctifying. If God's will cannot be separated from God himself and from his Spirit, when we do God's will we let God live and work within us. If service starts from pastoral charity, love is always the divine seed that grows and bears fruit, and thus purifies, enlightens and unites us to God. If God's love abides in our hearts and grows into service, we are possessed by God when we let ourselves be guided by Him not only in prayer but also in our activity. It is a strange experience the experience of mystics and saints, who invented that «leaving God for the sake of God» and which carries the conviction that things done for love double, in a manner of speaking, the effectiveness of holiness and lead more forcibly to prayer.

We only need to look at Christ to be convinced of this. Prayer makes us like Christ and makes us receptive to the Father's will and real love of others. Jesus' life has recently been defined as «pro­existentia» , living outside himself, for the Father and for mankind: existing for. In all things and for all things Christ is the servant of the Father and does his will; he is the servant of his brothers and sisters and gives his life for them.

But Christ also reveals to us who God is. God is Love, he is communion, he is self-giving. Already in himself God is communion and self-giving, and thus every self-giving is like a reflection of the trinitarian love. We know Him because He gave himself for us - communicating himself to us eternally in creation and in the history of salvation, in the incarnation and in the paschal mystery, in the pentecostal sanctification.

Christ himself - the apostle, the one sent by the Father - accomplished his «exodus», emptying himself from the beatitude of the Trinity. And the apostle shares this wonderful and yet paradoxical trinitarian «exodus». In giving himself God does not empty himself, he fulfils his plan of love which is to communicate and to be communicated. Like the apostle. And if the apostle ever feels emptied for the sake of love it is because he then shares in Christ's abandonment on the Cross which is the purest love, arising from the purest pain. Fruitful pain, supreme apostolate which gives birth to the Church. It is with this theology of the apostolate that all our activity must be permeated.

But then, if he measures according to the example of Christ, he must also measure himself on the attitude of Christ, as the Council reminds us: doing the Father's will, accomplishing the Father's works, transmitting the Father's love sincerely. Thus the apostolate has a sanctifying value. The first to benefit from love is he who lives in love, which grows, as in God, to the extent in which it is communicated to others, to the extent in which it is expressed, because it is effective in the service of others.

It is normal that this apostolate should be a «suffering» because there is no gift that does not involve suffering, apostolic tiredness, the gift of self felt and perceived as giving one's life, giving one's life for others, like the Apostle Jesus, holy and consecrated to the Father for the gift of life.

There is a first essential dimension of apostolic service if it is validated with reference to Jesus: to accomplish the work of the Father, to build the Church, to gather the community.

It is the ecclesialization of apostolic service. Serving is building the Church as communion, communicating God's plan to people, spreading the Kingdom of God in the Church which grows in souls, i.e., in people. People are the priority and goal. All structures become relative to service for people. Building the communion of people, using the best forces in them.

Making the Church grow in extent and depth. We are often concerned with spreading the Kingdom and this is right But we cannot forget that the Church grows in depth, in consciousness in people, in communities, in the parish, in the mission, through prayer, the liturgy, personal maturity, responsibility for one's own life, the giving of self for others; creating a pastoral of holiness and spirituality. God helps us to learn that with us he performs a work deep down to the point of making us transparent in holiness. A Church more as communion, holier, more mature, can arouse a more efficacious mission in the expansion of the Kingdom. Holy people and communities are the guarantee of a more intense and efficacious apostolate because they become docile and clear instruments of God's action. This is one dimension of apostolate and service.

Apostolic humanization. Christian holiness is human, of the same humanity as the Incarnate Word. Apostolate and service must be of such human docility as to make the face of Christ shine. Meekness, congeniality, kindness; not brusque and authoritarian ways; mercy, acceptance, the witness awaited by so many people who are far away... Where the Church does not become incarnate - with that humanism that shines in the heart and face of Christ Jesus - she does not offer herself as service, she does not appear with the human face of Christ, she does not reach men.

Apostolate as the fulfilment of God's works. When one enters the movement of God's servants, one is also conscious of not doing human works, but God's works. Creativity, prophecy, apostolic newness comes from an intense familiarity with God. The saints did something new. The apostolate is often seeking something new, it wants to open new roads in creativity. God alone reveals himself and gives himself, he chooses instruments docile to his will and his action in those who place themselves entirely at his service. Therefore apostolate as transparency, attention to God's plans, docility to his works.

Great works or small works? God does not look at the greatness or smallness of works but at the love with which they are done. No work is great if it is without love; no work is small if it is full of love. In concreteness and realism, God demands that priority be given to services that are more in compliance with God's will. Provided they are done for love!

One final conviction. It is God who opens new paths to our service. It is he who increases our ability to serve in extent and depth. It is He who makes us capable of doing great things for Him.