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201.1 First Point
Reflect on what Saint Paul says, that it is God who has established in
the Church apostles, prophets, and teachers,
[i]
and you will be convinced that he has also established you in your work.
The same saint gives you another expression of this when he says that
there are different ministries but there are different operations, and the
Holy Spirit manifests himself in each of these gifts for the common good,
that is to say, for the good of the Church. One receives by the Spirit
the gift to speak with wisdom, another the gift of faith by the same
Spirit.[ii]
You must not doubt that it is a great gift of God, this
grace he has given you to be entrusted with the instruction of children,
to announce the Gospel to them and to bring them up in the spirit
of religion. But in calling you to this holy ministry, God demands that
you fulfill it with an ardent zeal for their salvation, because this is
the work of God and he curses the one who does his work carelessly.[iii]
Let it be clear, then, in all your conduct towards
the children who are entrusted to you that you look upon yourself as
ministers of God, carrying out your ministry with love and a
sincere and true zeal, accepting with much patience the
difficulties you have to suffer, willing to be despised by
men and to be persecuted, even to give your life for Jesus in the
fulfillment of your ministry.[iv]
The zeal that ought to inspire you is meant to give you
these dispositions, recognizing that it is God who has called you, who has
destined you for this work, and who has sent you to work in his
vineyard.[v]
Do this, then, with all the affection of your heart, working entirely for
him.
201.2 Second Point
What
ought to engage you further to have great zeal in your state is the fact
that you are not only the ministers of God, but also of Jesus Christ and
of the Church. This is what Saint Paul says when he expresses the wish
that everyone should regard those who announce the Gospel as ministers
of Jesus Christ,[vi]
who write the letter which he has dictated not with ink but with the
Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh
which are the hearts[vii]
of children.
For this reason, and in this spirit, you must have the love
and the glory of God as your single aim in the instruction of these
children, for the love of God ought to impel you, because Jesus Christ
died for all so that those who live might live no longer for themselves
but for him who died for them. This is what your zeal must inspire in
your disciples, as if God himself were appealing through you, since you
are ambassadors for Jesus Christ.[viii]
You must also show the Church what love you have for her[ix]
and give her proof of your zeal, since it is for the Church (which is
the body of Jesus Christ) that you work. You have become her
ministers according to the order God has given you to dispense his word.[x]
Since the Church has a great zeal for the sanctification of
her children, it is your duty to share in her zeal, so that you can say to
God as the holy King David, the zeal of your house has consumed me.[xi]
For this house is none other than the Church, since the faithful form
this building which has been built on the foundation of the apostles, and
raised up by Jesus Christ who is the main cornerstone.[xii]
Act in such a way through your zeal that you give tangible
proof that you love those whom God has entrusted to you, just as Jesus
Christ has loved his Church. Help them enter truly into the structure of
this building, and be in condition to appear one day before Jesus Christ
full of glory, without stain, without wrinkle, without blemish.[xiii]
This will make known to future ages the abundant riches of the grace
that God has given them[xiv]
by procuring for them the help of instruction, and the grace he has given
you to instruct them and educate them, so that they may one day become
heirs of the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ Our Lord.[xv]
201.3 Third Point
since your ministry has for its purpose to procure the salvation of souls,
the first concern you ought to have is to procure this goal as far as you
are able. You must in this imitate God to some extent, for he so
loved the souls he created[xvi]
that when he saw them involved in sin and unable to be freed from sin by
themselves, the zeal and affection that he had for their salvation led him
to send his own Son to rescue them from their miserable condition. This is
what made Jesus Christ say that God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal
life.[xvii]
See what God and Jesus Christ have done to restore souls to
the grace they had lost. What must you not do for them in your ministry if
you have a zeal for their salvation! How much you must be disposed toward
them as Saint Paul was toward those to whom he preached the Gospel, to
whom he wrote that he was not seeking anything they had, but that he
was seeking only their souls.[xviii]
The zeal you are obliged to have in your work must be so
active and so alive that you are able to tell the parents of the children
entrusted to your care what is said in Scripture: Give us their souls,
keep everything else for yourselves,[xix]
that is, what we have undertaken is to work for the salvation of their
souls. It is also the only reason you have committed yourselves to take
responsibility to guide and instruct them.
Tell the parents, too, what Jesus Christ said
about the sheep of which he is the shepherd and which must be saved by
him: I came, he said, that they might have life and have it to
the full.[xx]
For this had to be the kind of ardent zeal you had for the salvation of
those you have to instruct, when you were led to sacrifice yourself and to
spend your whole life to give these children a Christian education and to
procure for them the life of grace in this world and eternal life in the
next.
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