works without prayer, activism and passivity

Apostolic fruit cannot be lasting when a Christian falls prey to activism, which is the tendency to be ‘doing things’, to rush around, without the support of a deep prayer life. In the end, the furious activity turns out to be sterile and ineffective, and is often the sign of a lack of rectitude of intention. It is a purely human activity without any supernatural perspective. It is perhaps the consequence of ambition, of a desire to attract attention, which can infect everything we do, even the most sublime of undertakings.. So there is good reason for stressing the danger of activism - of multiplying deeds which, though good in themselves, have no interior life to support them. Saint Bernard, and many authors after him, called such works accursed occupations.

But the lack of real fruit in our apostolate can arise also from passivity, from the absence of deeds of love. And if activism is bad and sterile, passivity is deadly, for it can lead us to think that we love God because we perform works of piety: it is true that these pious exercises are carried out, but not perfectly, since they do not move us to good actions. Such barren pious practices are like the use less and sterile foliage on the fig tree, because true interior life will inevitably lead to a vigorous apostolate: in every situation it impels us to act with courage, daring and initiative. It means that we joyfully shed all human respect, go ahead imbued ‘with the joy of living’, with the joy that an ever-youthful love ensures. Today, as we converse with our Lord in these moments of prayer, we can examine ourselves as to whether there is fruit in our life, now, this very moment. Do I have initiative, as an overflow of my interior life, of my prayer? Or do I think, on the contrary, that in my surroundings - in my class, in the factory, in the office - I can do nothing, that it’s impossible to do anything more for God? Do I give my time, do I help effectively in apostolic tasks... or do I ‘only pray’? Do I try to justify myself, saying that between my work, my family and my devotional practices 'I haven’t got any time’? If that were the case, it would also mean that the circumstances of work and family life had ceased to be an occasion for apostolate.