Meditation on the Vocation of the Apostles

Commencement and preparatory prayer as usual.

Prelude 1.—Let us recall how Jesus comes forth from the desert, selects His companions, and destines them to become His Apostles.

Prelude 2.—Let us picture Galilee and the shore of Genezareth.

Prelude 3.—Let us beg what we want, which is an intimate knowledge of the Heart of Jesus Christ, that loving Him we may imitate Him.

Point 1.—Peter and Andrew first were called to a certain acquaintance with Jesus; ² secondly, to follow Him and then return to their own employment; ³ thirdly, to follow Him absolutely. ⁴ God can call us without any previous disposition on our part, but generally He looks to the gifts which He has bestowed on us, be they natural or virtues infused or acquired, and gradually prepares us to follow His call. So it was with Andrew, who in his first meeting with Jesus was inflamed with love and zeal for Him, and who introduced his brother Peter, upon whom Jesus gazes and to whom He assigns a future. Later, from Peter's boat He addresses the crowd, and asks the brothers, after He had spoken, to follow Him. Finally, He commands them to follow Him. And at once they break away from every earthly tie to home, family, and friends, and join Him, never even by death again to be separated from Him.

Here is a lesson for us! Is there no sacrifice which our Lord calls upon me to make, no tie to be broken, no affection to be rooted out, in order that I may follow Him perfectly in my state of life? Does He not call upon me to make greater efforts than I have hitherto made, to acquire more perfect detachment from carnal and sensual things, and more perfect hatred of the spirit and maxims of the children of the world? We have resolved to respond to His call, and have made it the subject of election. Oh, may His grace enable us to imitate the example of Andrew and Peter, and may it be said of us at last, “And leaving all things, they followed Him,” and said with truth.

Point 2.—He called Philip ⁵ and Matthew ⁶ and James and John. ⁷ Our Lord calls them in the same spirit of love, and gratuitously, and meets with equal docility, promptitude, and generosity. Long and inveterate habits, strong affections, opposition of character, all yield easily and with pleasure to the sweet and gentle call of Jesus Christ.

So also if we only generously correspond to the call which our Lord makes upon us during this retreat, we shall find that neither rooted habits, repugnances of nature, nor natural disposition will prevent the efficacy of God's grace, and we shall be able to say with St. Paul, “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.” ⁸

As to the other Apostles, whose vocation is not mentioned in the Gospels, we see how they differed in character, gifts, position, customs, and habits; yet by God's grace they were all, except Judas, moulded and formed to the same high vocation, proving to us the omnipotent power of God's grace. Let this give us unbounded confidence in God, who “is faithful, by whom we are called to the Society of His Son,” and let us resolve to respond to this His vocation by the fidelity we show to the resolution we have taken in our matter of election. This grace will not be wanting to us if only we are persevering in prayer and in companionship with our Lord.

Point 3.—(α) These Apostles were of a low estate. The worldly-wise are distinguished by the choice of the fittest means for the end they have in view; but God, by choosing means out of all fitness and proportion. Thus in His Apostles there was no culture, no birth, no wealth, but they were poor, rude, illiterate fishermen. This He did to convince us that it was all His own work, and to take away all grounds for self-conceit. ⁹ Let us then take no credit to ourselves if He has chosen us to do any work for His praise and glory. (β) Yet they were called to an exalted dignity—to the dignity of intimate friendship and companionship with Christ, and of being His colleagues in the work of His Father, founders and pillars of His Church, dispensers of His mysteries. There is no earthly dignity to compare with it, no matter how glorious or exalted it may be. (γ) They received gifts and graces, by which they were raised above all the Fathers both of the Old and New Law. They were endowed with the spirit of wisdom and fortitude, the gift of miracles and tongues, and the power to conquer the great idolatrous world and all its powerful princes, and the devil himself. So too we may rest assured that God will generously grant to us those graces which are required to carry out those duties of our state of life to which He has called us.

Let us pray for this in a triple colloquy, such as we made after the meditation on “Three Classes of Men.” End with “Our Father.”

1. “The next day again John stood, and two of his disciples. And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. . . . He saith to them: Come and see. They came and saw where He abode, and they stayed with Him that day. Now it was about the tenth hour. And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John, and followed Him. He findeth first his brother Simon and saith to him, We have found the Messias; and he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus, looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter. On the following day He would go forth into Galilee, and He findeth Philip. And Jesus saith to him: Follow Me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him: We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth. And Nathanael, said to him: Can anything of good come from Nazareth? Philip said to him: Come and see. . . . Nathanael answered Him, and said: Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.” (St. John i. 35—49.) “And passing by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea, and Jesus said to them: Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And immediately leaving their nets they followed Him. And going on from thence a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were mending their nets in the ship; and forthwith He called them. And leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with his hired men, they followed Him.” (St. Mark i. 16—20.) “And when Jesus passed on from thence, He saw a man sitting in the custom-house named Matthew, and He said to him: Follow Me. And he arose up and followed Him.” (St. Matt. ix. 9.) ↩
2. St. John i.
3. St. Luke v.
4. St. Matt. iv.
5. St. John i.
6. St. Matt. ix.
7. St. Matt. iv.
8. Philipp. iv. 13.
9. “But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath He chosen, that He may confound the strong; and the base things of the world and the things that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that He may bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in His sight.” (1 Cor. i. 27.)