“How do you expect them to listen to you if you never speak to them?” (Saint Josemaría).
I have been thinking about those people who I pray for so that they may experience the Grace of conversion.
It is one thing to think about those prayers theoretically, and quite another to realise how a lack of faith or an unwillingness to believe in the God who created them, invades every single part of their lives.
After all, when I am worried or scared, I can call on my Beloved to help me. And I feel the peace that only He can bring. When I am happy and grateful, I can call out to my Beloved and thank Him for His blessings and I can feel that same peace that He can bring. When I am heartbroken and sad, I can cry my tears onto His wounded side, and He holds me in His embrace, and I can feel that same peace that only He can bring.
And that peace is not only part of my own fears and hopes and tears. It is part of the fabric of my family. Because when my children or husband are worried or grateful or sad, they too can call on my Beloved to share that with Him and He too can bring them peace. In fact, I often wonder how a child could be raised without faith… how many nights did my frightened children fall back to sleep secure that their bad dreams would be banished by their guardian angel? How many days did my children fear something only to rely on the power of prayer and a patron Saint to be brave enough to face that obstacle and continue on? How many school camps troubled them before they were reminded that I had asked God to keep them safe and so safe they would be?
And I have been thinking about what a gift it is to me to be able to speak in such a way to my children and those who I love, and what a terrible burden to the soul it must be to raise a family without faith…
Saint Josemaría wrote in “Furrow” at 953, “I think it is very natural for you to want the whole world to know Christ. But start with the responsibility of saving the souls who live with you and sanctifying each one of your fellow workers or fellow students. That is the principal mission that the Lord has entrusted to you.”
And I have been thinking about that today. Because it occurs to me that I must increase my prayers for those who I love and who have not yet seen my Beloved. And it occurs to me that I should behave as though everything depended upon that!
Saint Josemaría described it like this in “Furrow” at 954, “If you come across a group at work who are a bit difficult, you lose interest in them. Perhaps they have become difficult because you have neglected them. Yet you throw in the towel and think of them as a dead weight which holds back your apostolic ideals because they do not understand you ... You may love and serve them with your prayer and mortification, but how do you expect them to listen to you if you never speak to them? You will have many surprises in store the day you decide to talk to them one by one. What is more, if you do not change, they will one day be able to point the finger at you and say quite rightly: hominem non habeo - I have no one to help me.”
And I have been thinking about that today, because it seems I have not yet done enough for them. I have just not done enough…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.