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PRÓLOGO
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FOREWORD
Awakening the Laity is the second volume of Fr. Tomás Morales’ pedagogical trilogy,
published in 1967, following the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. The text was
expanded and corrected by the author in a later edition, published in 1976; a third edition,
which included the magisterium of Pope John Paul II was published in 1984, as the Holy
Year of Redemption was coming to an end. It is one of the key books for understanding him
as an educator of lay people, the fruit of his experiences of his apostolate in Madrid in the
1950s. In the post-conciliar ecclesial climate in which the book was penned, Fr. Morales' goal
is to contribute to the mobilization of the laity in the Church.
Church life during the first half of the twentieth century experienced various tensions.
The Catholic movement in Spain was promoted by various initiatives in the catechetical,
educational and social areas. From the 1920s onwards, in parallel with the creation of Catholic
Action and of the Marian Congregations, other institutions with a specific charism for the
formation of the laity started to appear. Among these was the National Catholic Association of
Propagandists, founded by the Jesuit Ángel Ayala (1867-1960) in 1909, with the aim of forming
young Catholics who would have a presence and influence in the world.
After the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the 1940s were marked, like the previous
period, by an apostolic drive and increased fervor among the lay apostolate. Catholic Action
underwent an overall, general reorganization at the parish and diocesan level. These groups,
together with the Marian Congregations and the National Catholic Association of Propagandists,
which included many members of Catholic Action, were the most active Catholic organizations
in Spain at the time.
In the 1950s, in Madrid, people were still experiencing the consequences of the
international isolation imposed on Spain during the rule of Francisco Franco (1892–1975).
These were difficult years of rationing and shortages. Social security was absent and health
care was barely available. The incipient development of tourism and industry led to a certain
economic recovery and changes in lifestyle. From those years onwards, the Spanish capital
experienced a process of urban expansion, which would lead to the growing wellbeing of its
populace; emigration of the young rural population increased, with the consequent problem
of finding suitable living conditions for them in the suburbs of Madrid. The charitable/social
welfare organization El Hogar de Empleado (The Home of the Worker), developed by Fr.
Morales, would make a notable contribution to overcoming those difficulties in a society that
was still experiencing the consequences of war. To this end, he founded a charitable building
company, which constructed thousands of homes for employees in the suburbs of Madrid,
as well as technical and professional schools, cooperatives and a sanatorium in close
proximity to these residences. Young people would play a key role in the Home of the Worker.
Most of them had emigrated to Madrid and worked in the tertiary sector, in businesses, banks
and insurance companies. […]
Even though Awakening the Laity saw the light in the immediate follow-up to Vatican
II, the work appears as an alternative answer to the social confusion of the time. It was the
fruit of a long gestation, and was born out of Fr. Morales' rich experience in training young
people for the apostolate. It captures the new conciliar view of the laity, and with prophetic
intuition, it opens the way to the future, laying down the luminous path they must follow.
With a broad ecclesial view, he responded to the signs of the times, by giving full weight to
the laity in the Church as a source of social transformation.
The most violent temptation that the fledgling priest experiences in his burning desire to save souls is the rush
to convert them. With a new fire in his belly, but without the experience or deep knowledge of men he needs, he
thinks it's possible to achieve a quick and lasting return to the gospel for the masses that have undergone long years
of dechristianization. To achieve this, or at least appear to, to attract those flocks he yearns for, he begins, without
realizing it, to make dangerous concessions.
He is seeking a balance between two incompatible extremes: God and the world. Without realizing it, he begins
to preach, and perhaps to live, a gospel that is different from that of Jesus Christ, and that is instead more in
accordance with the mentality of his congregation. He fails to cultivate in them a deep inner life grounded in prayer
and penitence. He lets himself be mislead by the masses, always pleased to be able to offer them a more agreeable
gospel. But at the same time, those masses betray him. As the days go by, those who once crowded around him –
practicing Christianity by half-measures like so many others – vanish, and after a few months there are none left.
Let us learn from the great masters. Their teachings are valid for all time. Saint Vincent de Paul gives us the key
to apostolic success. True to his motto, “the good which God desires is accomplished almost by itself, without our even
thinking of it”, he describes the beginning and development of his works as follows:
“None of the above was deliberately undertaken by us, but God himself, who wanted to be served in
such circumstances, brought them imperceptibly into being. If he made use of us, we had no idea, however,
where that was leading. That is why we allow him to act, far from busying ourselves with the development of
these works, any more than we did when they were just beginning [...]
The company [the Vincentians] began without any plan on our part. It has multiplied by God’s guidance
alone [...] without our having contributed anything save only our obedience. Let us continue to act in the
same way. Such abandonment will please God greatly, and we shall be at peace.”1
This supersonic speed is swallowing us all up. And it has also infected the apostolate. It has become fashionable.
And fashion is “the great charmer and the great manufacturer of conformists,” in a word-perfect phrase of Paul VI.
The young man foregoes the planned action that will bear fruit in the long-term in favor of the opportunism of the
moment.
This temptation is not exclusively felt by those new to priesthood. It is also faced by the young man who had
previously felt removed from the Church, but now discovers Christ in the privacy of the Exercises. Carried away by
his neophyte fervor, he intends to convert all his friends and colleagues at once, and gets discouraged when he does
not manage this. He no longer feels the peacefulness and joy of a soul in communion with God. He starts neglecting
his duties at work, or his studies, to devote himself to what he calls the apostolate, forgetting that the best apostolate is
accomplished by being a good example to others. If the priest, who guides young people, is not a man of character,
possessed of a deep interior life, he will allow himself to be swept along by his pupils, to whom he will transmit his haste, and thus,
his fruitless apostolate. He will forget that the spirit of God is very active, but it is not hasty (Chaminade).2
1 SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL, Biografía y selección de escritos [Biography and Selected Writings] (BAC, Madrid, 1955) 752.
2 FR. CHAMINADE, Letters, IV, 436.