The Cross of Christ Urges Us
Venerable Pope Pius XII wrote about the Cross and love for souls:
There is no duty more urgent, Verenable Brethren, than ‘to make known the unfathomable riches of Christ’ (Eph. 3:8) to the men of our own time. There is no nobler ambition than to unfurl the standards of our Divine King and let them take the wind, in the sight of men who have enrolled themselves under false colours; than to rally, in the joyful service of the triumphant Cross, those who have had the unhappiness to desert from it.
We see an immense multitude of our human brothers and sisters who have been blinded by error, or charmed away by passion, or led into false paths by prejudice. They have wandered far from true faith in God and from belief in the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. Who would not feel his heart glow with charity; who would not readily go out of his way to rescue them?” – Ven. Pope Pius XII (Encyclical Letter, Summi Pontificatus, October 20, 1939)
Zeal for Souls: The Outstanding Characteristic of the Saints
The Cross of Christ urges us to love for neighbour. Knowing that Christ died for all, who could not feel the urgency for Christ’s Cross to be fruitful for everyone? When Cain was asked, “Where is thy brother?” he replied: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Christ has died for all, and who cannot recognise in this fact a call to love all the poor children of Eve, to bring to all the saving power of Cross of Christ? Let us respond to the challenge of the Lord’s words to Cain, “Where is thy brother?”, and let us pray for and long and labour for the Blood of Christ, shed on His Holy Cross, to cover each one of our neighbours throughout the whole world.
Why did the Word become flesh? To reveal His love for God and souls; to gain souls for His Eternal Father, who will glorify the Most Blessed Trinity for all eternity.
The Saints knew this, and they saw in the Cross an urgent appeal to love, to work and pray tirelessly for the salvation of souls. They thus became living icons of this truth.
The following brief anecdote about the Oratorian from Turin, Blessed Sebastian Valfré (1629-1710), illustrates this.
Another day a priest named Garresio was walking through Turin with Father Sebastian [Blessed Sebastian Valfrè], who suddenly stopped at the door of a house and exclaimed, ‘Garresio, make haste and go up to the garret of this house, while there is yet time.’
The priest, without pausing to ask a question, ran up to the place mentioned, and there found a poor woman lying upon a little straw, evidently in her last agony, with no one to assist her. Garresio instantly begged her to make an act of contrition, and he gave her absolution, upon which she calmly expired, at peace with God. He then went back to the street and re-joined Sebastian, who had remained there till his return, and who quietly said, ‘Now we have gained a soul, we may pursue our way’.
Do Not Lose a Single Day
A day without prayer and sacrifice for souls is a day lost. “I willingly consent,” said Venerable Catherine Aurélie of the Precious Blood (1833–1905), the Canadian foundress of the Sister Adorers of the Precious Blood, “to abandonment and ignominy, provided I draw millions of hearts under the Bleeding Banner of Christ.”
Let us not settle for the salvation of our own soul! The Cross of Christ urges us.
Almighty, Everlasting God,…awaken in us that courage which the first Christians showed in the profession of their faith; fervour in prayer, in reception of the holy Sacraments, in love of God and our fellow men. May our labour and rest, our actions and conduct, our life and death, be entrusted to Thee, O God. Grant us Thy grace here on earth, and let us in the company of the elect in heaven, praise, honour and glorify Thee in everlasting happiness. Grant us this, O Lord, Heavenly Father, through Christ Thy Son, our Lord and Saviour. — St Peter Canisius.
Sources:
A Religious of the Precious Blood, Three Rivers, Canada, A Canadian Mystic: Mother Catherine Aurélie of the Precious Blood, Translated by a Religious of the Precious Blood, Brooklyn, NY: The Sisters Adorers of the Most Precious Blood, 1945), 116.
M.F.S., Stories of Holy Lives (London: R. Washbourne, 1875),77-78 .
Charles Rankin, The Pope Speaks: The Words of Pius XII, With a Biography by Charles Rankin (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1940), 151.
Hubert McEvoy, SJ, Devotions for Holy Communion (Spingfield, Il: Templegate, 1963), 59-60.