To be like an Apostle; we must not water down the truth

Why as Catholics we forget that we have an apostolate to fulfill and reminded after each mass, we must go out and preach the word of God.  We are living in times of people needed to hear the word of God by mouth and example.We can not depend on the secular world or media to help us with our salvation.

Frank Duff states: We can make a mistake , that relying on the mass media or mechanical means for the getting of religion over to the people. Those media play an effective part in the molding opinion today, so why not enlist them in aid of religion...Likewise that century has been a time of religious shrinkage..Whatever those mass media have in regard to secular subjects, I cannot see them as having produced any religious influence. St. Paul says that faith comes from hearing.

In order to hear, a person needs to announce Christ word and must be willing to be unpopular at times. Our first obligation is to those who are to hear us and in frequent contact. We present Christ teaching in a attractive and heart warming way.  We will not attract anyone to the faith if we are rash and impetuous, we will if we are kind and patient.

However, this doesn't mean we give a message that is convenient for others to accept, it must be as Christ would say it. Pope Benidect XV quotes: When St. Paul taught was all truths and precepts of Christ, even the most demanding ones, without silencing or watering down any.  He spoke of humility, of self-denial, of chastity, of detachment from earthly goods, of obedience...And he did not fear to stress that one had to choose between serving God and serving Belial, because it is not possible to serve the two together.  He taught that after death all had to undergo a woeful judgement; that no one can bargain with God; that one can only  expect eternal life if one has kept Gods laws; that seeking pleasures by breaking these laws once can only expect damnation...Never did the preacher of the truth think he had to omit these things because they might seem harsh to his listeners.

So just as God chose Jonah to speak out to the city of Nineveh.  We are reminded by what St. John wrote in his Gospel: "You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you that, you should go and bear fruit."

The apostolic mission is also to sow without seeing the fruits; at other times it is to reap; such as what we or other have said by word; by suffering in a hospital bed, or doing our job well and patiently.

We may not see the fruits or results in our life time and if we get discouraged than this can be a sign having sown without upright intention.  We must trust God to grow the seeds we have planted, those are the fruits we care about

This is a reflection from several resources; From Conversation of God: The Fruits in the Apostolate and Maria Legionis : Prime Principles of Survival