Every Catholic must realize that through their Baptism, they have been transformed. This transformation, however, has a meaning, a direction, a purpose. Through the grace and mercy of Christ, we are forgiven, transformed, and sent: we are called to be Apostles!
Now, to be an apostle means to “be sent” but it also means to be a “sender”. NOT a sender to ourselves, to our plans, to our human constructs, rather a sender to Christ. If we find ourselves thinking: “I am not prepared enough”, “I am not holy enough”, “I am not…etc” remember that, on the one hand, you are not alone, Christ is there to help you, and, on the other, that you are not there to present yourself, rather Christ.
As John the Baptist said: “After me, comes he who is mightier than I”. This is the humility that frees us of our paralyzing egoism and impulses us with a renewed vigor. Our role in the apostolic act is above all that of “making straight his ways”. We work so that the person may discover Christ! Remind yourself: “After me, comes Christ.” Christ knows how to change hearts! What have we to fear?!
Universal call to Apostolate
As far as what the Church has to say on apostolate and how we are all called to do it, I strongly suggest meditating upon Paul VI , Evangelium Nuntiandi. Here a few key passages:
14: It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.
15: – The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve…The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself… she always needs to be called together afresh by Him and reunited. In brief, this means that she has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel.
78: 78. The Gospel entrusted to us is also the word of truth. A truth which liberates and which alone gives peace of heart is what people are looking for when we proclaim the Good News to them. The truth about God, about man and his mysterious destiny, about the world; the difficult truth that we seek in the Word of God and of which, we repeat, we are neither the masters nor the owners, but the depositaries, the heralds and the servants.
