Thursday, October 20, 2005
As I read this, it occurs to me that chanceries have not held themselves to this standard in dealing with the legal challenges of the day. Do Catholic lawyers compromise themselves as lay apostles by conducting legal cases on behalf of the Church with no clearly "loftier" motives?
Finally, the laity should vivify their life with charity and express it as best they can in their works.
Okay.
They should all remember that they can reach all men and contribute to the salvation of the whole world by public worship and prayer as well as by penance and voluntary acceptance of the labors and hardships of life whereby they become like the suffering Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:10; Col. 1:24).
"Offering it up" endorsed by Vatican II.
I was thinking of this whole section in light of the reviews I've read on John Allen's Opus Dei book. My wife has been busy with a crunch of classwork lately. She's also been feeling under the weather the past week or two. So I've been asked to feed the rabbits a few nights I'd rather go to bed early, slap in a cd and read my book. The bunnies are cute, but preparing their fresh greens and hay: these pets were my wife's idea and her project, not mine. I grumbled when I figured out how much we spend monthly in feeding these pets. But it's a good thing for me to consent, feed the prey (cats and dog are the "predators"), and even do so as I talk to them like Anita does.
I have a hard time seeing this as "suffering," though. It's a bother, and more of a small emotional one than anything grave. But I think I can benefit from carefully watching my attitude as I ... ick ... offer things up. Being in service to others in ministry puts me in a position of doing those extra things often enough. But directing my attitude as I do these things: there seems to lie the real challenge.
