All called to holiness and apostolate

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE have to be most aware of this basic truth about ourselves. We are all called by God, our Creator and Father, to be holy and to do apostolate for the simple reason that we have been created by God in his image and likeness. And even if we fall into sin, we are also given the means through Christ, our Redeemer, of how to handle that condition so that in the end we can manage to be what God wants us to be.

We have to overcome the thinking that this duty to seek holiness and to do apostolate is only for priests, religious and other so-called special people. It is for everyone. And so, we just have to sharpen our awareness of this truth about ourselves and to spread this truth as widely as possible, since we all know that many still are ignorant of it, let alone, making their life consistent to that truth.

Ever wondered why Christ chose his apostles practically randomly? He, for example, would just pass by Matthew in his tax collector’s table and say, “Come, follow me,” without as much checking on Matthew’s background.

Same with brothers Peter and Andrew, and James and John. Christ would just call them, and without asking any question they simply left their nets, for they were fishermen, and followed Christ.

In the end, he would also call Judas Iscariot who would later betray him. Christ, being God, would have known that Judas would turn him in. But that did not deter him. He called Judas to be one of the original 12 apostles just the same.

The only reason I can find for this behavior of Christ is that he has the right to call anyone and everyone to follow him. And that’s simply because, as God, he has that right since all of us come from him and belong to him. As redeemer, he calls everyone to follow him.

And just as there is the universal call to holiness, there is also the universal call to the apostolate. This is what is to be an authentic Christian. No one can be a true Christian if he fails to pursue this dual goal of holiness and apostolate. In a way, we can say that a Christian is both a saint and an apostle.

This universal call to the apostolate stems from the basic human need of ours to be concerned always with everybody else. As persons, we are not meant to be by ourselves. We are meant to be always in relation with the others. And that relation should be one that is good and helpful to the others.

And from the human need to be good and helpful to everyone, we are asked to elevate that concern to the supernatural level where we can be with God. That means that our relation with others should not just remain in the human and natural level, but should be developed in view of our common supernatural goal to be with God, to be holy and to truly love one another as Christ himself as loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34)

We need to train ourselves to be apostolic all the time. We have to realize that if we simply are aware of this universal call to the apostolate, everything in our life can and should be an occasion to do apostolate. Even when we are isolated, we can still do apostolate by simply praying and offering sacrifices for the others, etc.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com